Lurker has evil airplanes too!

[Rockin Robbins]

Well Ducimus is no longer the only one I can celebrate with evil airplanes. In lurker_hlb's Operation Monsoon, I have been attacked several times by airplanes sporting nasty rockets that make fighting back slightly less appealing than soaking my pants in gasoline and lighting them up while I am wearing them.

And twice, I have been attacked at periscope or below, destroying both periscope heads before I am out of the Bay of Biscay! My damage control parties have saved the boat three times and I'm limping back to port for badly needed repairs. No need to worry about rounding the Horn for now. I'll be happy to survive to get back to Lorient.

Folks, Operation Monsoon is much, much more than a bunch of Allied boats in your path hoping to give you grief on the way to the Indian Ocean. We have new planes, killer destroyers with hedgehogs, convoys of a hundred ships...... this is amazing! And scary. Sure could use a good old American Fleet Boat right now!

[Sailor Steve]

Well good!

It's nice to know that the U-boat war in SH4 is off to a nice deadly realistic start.

[Wilcke]

RR,

Right now, I lose two out of three boats leaving Lorient. Its working good. I have one boat East of Africa going to Penang. I am going to park it and leave the "dark side" for awhile. V200 should be coming pretty soon and then we can go see Coney Island and have a hotdog! Maybe even ride the Ferris Wheel.

[GerritJ9]

I agree about the "Evil Aeroplanes" in Operation Monsoon. Strangely I had no probs crossing the Bay of Biscay, made it to the refuelling point, then to my patrol area off the southwestern tip of India. All went well for a week or so, sank several ships, then, minding my own business at 150 metres.............. BANG!!!!!!!!! BANG!!!!!!!!!! End of the line. Since when did Allied aeroplanes have MAD in late 1943?????????? Not to mention such pinpoint accuracy........

[Rockin Robbins]

If you're lurking at periscope depth in clear water they only need Mark I eyeballs to blast you to kingdom come. However, your lurking at 150 meters leads me to believe you had some hull damage and bought it for venturing too deep for conditions. The Type IX isn't good for 200 meters perfectly sound. I found crush depth at 157 with 32% hull damage.

Whew! Got back to Lorient. That 1000 km was about three times longer than my blind 3000 mile return trip in the fleet boat! I was attacked more times by airplanes in that approximately 500 miles than on the return journey of six times that in the fleet boat! And the Allied planes packed much better accuracy, more deadly weapons and better locating ability than my Japanese friends. There is NO CHANCE of sitting on the surface and making with the AA guns. You might as well spit at them. Into the wind.:rotfl:

So after a refit I am ready to descend into the pit of Hell once again! Those worn-out ugly girls with makeup caked like plaster looked mighty good, considering what we'll be looking at for our next attempt at the Indian Ocean. We looked death in the eye and came back to tell about it. But ole Death said he'd be back...

[Der Kolkrabe]

Starting my trip in Lorient last night. Coming periscope depth to see if safe to surface...wrong move

Allied plane drop her loads and CE reported much and much damage reports....

Maybe start new career :hmm:

[Rockin Robbins]

Somehow I think those Allies are upset with our being here....:hmm:

[Wilcke]

Originally Posted by Rockin Robbins

Somehow I think those Allies are upset with our being here....:hmm:

Thats the thing about the "dark side", the end is quaranteed. There is no other way.

I just had another boat lose all its con and "wintergarden" gear off the deck by those airplanes. So I am off to see if at MV Brake we can get spares. Don't think it will matter much as the end is pretty predictable. A well deserved deep and watery grave for the "dark side".

Have you started out for Coney Island yet?

[Der Kolkrabe]

Whew...made it

Start new career, days I'm submerged (deep) and nights surface. Shut down radar and promised to keelhaul all watchcrew if we been attacked

But now I'm west of Spain and sink small merchant... only little over 2000 but it's start

Just read "Iron Coffins" and remember what happens U-boats there at Biscay Bay...

[Rockin Robbins]

I'm yo-yoing, trying for safety by minimizing the amount of time I spend in the danger zone. I learned the hard way not to wait around to evaluate the situation. When you spot the plane, whether on radar, by detecting radar signal or visually, immediately dive to at least 20 meters. Usually I dive to 25, periscope depth at night. The frequency of air attacks is at least three times what people are crying about in the Pacific. I throttle back to ahead 1/3 to save battery, stay at depth for fifteen minutes, come to periscope depth, poke up the scope (if I have one:p) and surface for more fun and games. It worked well on the way back to Lorient, even without any scopes. Even with no scopes I sank a merchie in a surface attack at sunrise. I'm running ahead standard on the surface.

This would be a lot safer in a fleet boat! In combat, the U-Boat is very far from the fleet boat standard of excellence. The contrast is really vivid here.