Attacking Convoys?

[con20or]

Uboats werent real submarines, so they prefferred to attack on the surface. plus they used to like to close to around 500metres or so before firing. Im just after a violent depth charging because when i was 3000m odd out from the convoy, in the pitch black, at slow ahead to minimise wake, i got detected. all of a sudden i was taking damage, then i span my binoculars round, and lo and behold, a destroyer with searchlights blaring 1000metres away.


How close have any of you gotten UNDETECTED?

How close do u generally aim to get?

Do you stay surfaced or go to periscope depth?

[BlitzPig_Rivet]

I suppose this is going to depend to a degree on what year you are in.

I started out doing surface attacks before the merchants got themselves armed. I always try to get to between 450 and 600 meters before taking a shot. At the moment I'm in August 1941 and I can still manage that, although at around 1500 meters I'm usually submerged. One lucky hit on your pressure hull from a merchant's gun and you're history. Even they find it hard to miss at that range

If you find a nice juicy convoy, but the destroyer escort gets too inquisitive it might be worth trying a different approach. Somtimes I find sneaking up from the rear can pay dividends. It takes a bit longer but if you have a nice T3 Tanker or liner you wouldn't mind bagging, but can't get near because of that DD that keeps sniffing around - set a torp on magnetic pistol and fire one under its stern. It's risky but I managed that from 2000m and blew one of its props off.

A nice target like that and its worth risking a torp. It drops out of the convoy (reduced speed), the DD makes a half hearted sweep for you and returns to the main convoy, leaving you to pick off the wounded straggler at your liesure.

If there is another big target in there, rinse and repeat.

The first convoys I met, I just decimated them, but now it's a bit more difficult without having a death wish.

16th patrol now and with the same boat and crew. That's got to say something for patience . My crew is well qualified now with good morale and experience, and I don't want to throw that away just yet.

[HW3]

I've managed to get inside a convoy by getting in front of one submerged and rigged for silent running with the engines off. I wait for the escort to go by then creep up to periscope depth in the middle of the convoy and have fun.

[Komradsky]

in the early years of the war, convoys were sent on "suicide" missions coz they were unescorted. on my first convoy attack (2nd patrol, late 1939), i made them target practice with both my torpedoes and deck gun.

on my second convoy attack (3rd patrol, early 1940), the convoy was escorted by a lone destroyer leading their route. i avoided the dd and maneuvered inside the convoy. i fired my torpedoes at very close ranges. it's impossible to miss when they fill up your periscope view! naturally, the escort would try to find you, but when your inside the convoy, your chances of success would be higher compared to when your outside. but i still sunk the lone escort so i can finish off the stragglers with my good old deck gun.

on my third convoy attack (9th patrol, late 1940), i spotted this convoy steaming slowly in the english channel, just south of portsmouth, and heading for the atlantic. the convoy was now escorted by at least three ships: a dd and two armed trawlers. the two armed trawlers were probably just patrolling the channel, and not part of the convoy. i found it very hard to survive this attack without sinking the warships as they converged on the convoy when i began the attack. as soon as i began my attack, two other dd's patrolling near the area began to stalk my lone u-boat. so, it's best to attack a convoy when there are no other warships in the area patrolling, i.e. the english channel.

[con20or]

How do you approach a convoy on the surface and get that close without being seen? even in the early war, i cant get any distance. either the escort sees me, or the merchants and then they start zig-zagging.

[Komradsky]

my first and second convoy attack (2nd & 3rd patrols) were so because i received a radio message from bdu saying that there's a large convoy with a specified heading and speed. with that valuable information, i was able to intercept the convoys.

during my first and second convoy encounters, my boat was on the surface first; the weather was fine, a bright sunny day with little or no wind --- perfect for deck gun attacks. when i have spotted the ships, i usually do "send contact report" (this will generate an attack by other kriegsmarine or luftwaffe units nearby on the targets you have spotted) before i will dive to periscope depth to avoid being detected. then, i'll identify the ships present in the convoy, evaluate the scenario and plan my attack.

if there are no escorts, as in the case of my first convoy encounter, i just maneuvered my boat right on their path. i waited at periscope depth, with my persicope barely above the water to avoid being detected by the closing merchants. i waited until they were very, very close before attacking, taking out the big ones first with torpedoes and working my way down to the smaller merchants on the surface with the deck gun.

if there are escorts, as in the case of my second convoy encounter, i avoided the escort early on and moved slowly at periscope depth with my periscope barely above the water to avoid being detected then, i maneuvered straight to the merchants.

varrying the height of the persicope prevents you from being detected. for example, at daylight your persicope can easily be spotted if you raise it up fully. so, i only raise my persicope barely above the water, and my boat moving at 1/3 or slow speed to reduce the size of the wake it creates. though visibility will be hampered by the waves at that restricted height.

[Dominico Baggio]

con20or said:

How do you approach a convoy on the surface and get that close without being seen? even in the early war, i cant get any distance. either the escort sees me, or the merchants and then they start zig-zagging.

You need to make sure you stay end on, and also dont go too fast. If you go fast you make a wake and at night wakes are very bright!! Once when we were in Scotland we did some night fishing, our boat and a friend, and we lost the friend (not important since he knew his way home) but a few minutes later i could see the wake a long way off lol, but not the boat. The white water is almost luminescent at night.

Keep nose/tail on, keep the escort near the edge of your visual range if you can, though you can get quite a bit closer before he sees you. Also dont use the deck gun.

If a convoy ship sees you escorts will come in so you must be constantly moving and then they will go to the last place you were sighted. Cargo ships usualy have shocking sight, and wont see you even very close. Of course perfect weather and light makes surface attacks difficult. Its a case of finding a chink in the defences and sneaking in. It takes patience, usually the convoy covers a massive area, and the escorts cant defend it all at once. Take advantage of this and sail round till you find the spot. Another way to do it is submerge and come up inside the convoy, but early war you will find the range they can "see" you at is worse when you are underwater. Usually its safer to be on the surface.

[con20or]

yeh, i do all that,but they still spot me. AND its the pre radar days. I suck!

[con20or]

By the way ,im STILL on that mission, still getting depth charged by the same destroyer. I lost him once, but i surfaced to take out the only ship i hit with my torpedoes(blew his prop off) with my deck gun. when i started trying to overtake the convoy again, all of a sudden i was caught in the searchlights (i think they are a GREAT touch btw) getting shelled, had my my flak gun destroyed and had to crash dive.

Thats three nights of playing about 2 hours each night of constant depth charging. I thought he was supposed to run out!!! He's not doing much damage,but I cant lose him. Im getting some great practice on the Hydrophones though.

[Komradsky]

all my three convoy encounters were at broad daylight and at good weather. i have yet to experience one at night, and in bad weather too. though i have been depth charged twice already, and narrowly escaped. it's a damn thrilling encounter! on my first depth charge attack, two destroyers were hunting me. the second was only one destroyer, but the english channel was just too shallow. i took minor damage only.

[Lane]

I am setting at P-dept have a contact report convoy
moving east toward Irland and England. I am waiting
for a sonar contact or visual I have Radar but antenna
damage, from surface attact on a merchant.
If I can get my the escorts on the front end as they
pass then you attack the oncoming ships
What I all ways fear is getting run over by a oncoming
ship when you are looking forward to fire bow tubes
and 180 deg for a stern shot. Would be very easy to
get run over " Boy that would mess your attack. If you
lived and conning tower and scope all messed up ;D
Last time I got into a convoy I froze up and just
got a hit but no sinkings.
Got to go check sonar for any contacts
U-46 West of Irland
Lane

[con20or]

Good luck! i restarted my career last night after installing 1.3. hadnt been concentrating properly. Going aweay for a few days 2mrw, im going to miss it so badly.