Another letter from Rex's personal archive (this one just happens to be written by Anna instead of Rex) regarding rationing (clothing rationing in Germany began in October 1939, an assortment of food rationing began in September of 1939, but wasn't nearly as bad as during WWI) and Rex's lack of new crew members for his harrowing antics.
Girl's photo courtesy of the German Bundesarchiv through Wikipedia.
Random photo stats: according to photobucket pictures of game heroines I posted in a random H/A thread have about 25x as many views as any of my LP pictures. I think I have Ice Nein to thank for the 20k + views of my tiny iron cross graphic. So there's that.
Otherwise, Akilae seems to be the unanimous medal winner (and the IXB is winning with ...all the votes so far). Don't think I've seen anyone's opinion regarding promotions.
Fk MtAkilae (December 31st, 1939/January 1st, 1940)
Funkmaat Akilae was awarded the Iron Cross Second Class for distinguished service on the Thirty-First of December in the year of our Lord Ninteenhundred and Thirty-Nine continuing on into the early morning of the new year. Aboard the Type VIIB submarine U-34 on patrol west of Ireland, he carefully monitored the hydrophone contacts for an entire enemy convoy. His zen-like accuracy and devotion allowed U-34 to sink multiple freighters and one enemy cruiser with no losses.
Sonar can keep his title of Schiffslyriker (...for now :P ), and the next patrol should head out sometime soonish...maybe.
Just for this sonar should be promoted two straight ranks! Slight aside, your mic seems to be cutting out in the intro and the end. Is this intentional?
And about the promotion thing i'm fine either way, it could be fun to vote on promotions aswell as medals but i'd be okay with you picking aswell Rex, especially if it has a big impact on actual game-play.
And about the promotion thing i'm fine either way, it could be fun to vote on promotions aswell as medals but i'd be okay with you picking aswell Rex, especially if it has a big impact on actual game-play.
That was indeed awesome Sonar.
As to the votes, I never actually piloted a type IX for any appreciable length of time when I played, so it looks like we're heading into uncharted waters for me. I stuck to the VIIs usually.
As to promotions, I don't care. Is more squabbling amongst the crew a good thing or a bad thing? :P
It's never too late! Well, unless we all die horribly, then you won't be able to join us. However for the time being we're alive and still not at 100% crew capacity.
I should probably rewatch some submarine movies so I've got more references to work with. Crew lists are updated, but Wheezer and Damoonrulz didn't make the boat yet. And sonar's honorary title of Schiffslyriker has been revoked!...in favor of the more fitting title of Shantyman.
Other than that, the long and long-awaited 4th patrol has arrived.
U-34
Type VIIB
4th wartime patrol - "Fette Beute"
Once again U-34 departed the safety of Wilhelmshaven under the cover of darkness. Early on the morning of January 26th, U-34 was accompanied by the Saar once again and was quickly out to sea.
Those conniving officers at BdU had heard of Captain Rex’ contact with a suspicious woman from Cologne and saw to it that his next assignment was duly dangerous. U-34 was assigned grid AN 55. The submarine would be contesting mine-infested English waters and Allied airspace near the city of Newcastle.
U-34 once again followed the Dutch coastline along the Frisian island, but turned northwest to her patrol grid. Extra watchmen were stationed on the conning tower in order to safeguard the submarine. However, the only objects divebombing the submarine were a flock of seagulls. Not content to drive the submariner’s mad with 80s music, they bombed U-34 with something more notorious before moving on.
While traversing the patrol grid slowly – in order to help prevent inadvertently hitting a mind – Rex’ crew saw no signs of English naval or merchant activity until the last few hours of their designated patrol. Then around 1800 hours on January 28th, Mtr Gef PolloDiablo spotted the smudge of merchant exhaust smoke on the horizon.
The large freighter Klondike was soon struck with two torpedoes. While the first destroyed the engine room, the second hit near the keel and blew off the rear propeller. It was at this point that Rex noticed that the ship – now dead in the water – was perilously close; Rex ordered full reverse and a sharp turn to avoid a collision. Masch Gef Bloodysloth, Kayne Rottalar and von Schwarzenbeck immediately set to work, making sure that the strained batteries could handle the effort. Rex kept a watchful eye on the periscope as the submarine slowly turned away from t-boning the freighter.
The ship was immobile, but also uncomfortably close to the English coastline. When it was apparent that the boat was only sinking slowly at best, Rex ordered to boat surfaced in order that Bootsmann mere_immortal’s gun crew could begin shelling the ship immediately. Mech Mt von Klykahausen was brought up to man the FLAK gun to ward off unwanted visitors, but the shelling continued uninterrupted and U-34 was soon on her way to the North Atlantic after successfully completing her patrol near the English coast – sinking one large freighter.
Despite intermittent reports of enemy task forces – mostly within the Irish Sea – U-34 didn’t encounter any other naval traffic until February 2nd. The watch spotted a long, heavy freighter heading East just before dawn. An intercept course was plotted.
German U-Boats – even when operating as far West as the Caribbean or assisting Japanese allies in the Far East kept time according to German local time. This was +1 GMT. Accordingly, U-34's log noted that the attack began at 9:30 – seemingly well after dawn, but only about 7:30 local time.
With the sun creeping over the horizon regardless, Rex opted to use one of only a handful of electric torpedoes onboard. A G7e was armed with a magnetic pistol and soon on its way. It was around this time that U-34’s radio and hydrophone operators Fk Mt Akilae and recently promoted Funkobergefreiter sonar picked up another contact coming from the East.
Despite an atrocious early war failure rate, U-34’s torpedo armed and detonated under the portside of the ship’s hull. With concerns of an incoming military vessel, U-34 was forced to stay submerged and attempt to interdict the other vessel to assess the threat.
On the Canadian freighter that had just been hit, flooding seawater spilled in through the engine room, immediately weighing down the port side of the ship. The extra weight was too much for the starboard engine room and the ship drew to a halt with a heavy list.
Meanwhile, U-34 had crept into position of the oncoming ship. While OFzS Sceptre occasionally checked in on the damaged freighter with the observation periscope, Rex and the on duty weapons officer OFzS Synthesis classified the incoming vessel as a small freighter and began their attack run.
Delayed firing brought the torpedo to bear a bit late, but it managed to clip the American-owned British merchant vessel Chippewa near the stern. The impact from the torpedo had apparently stirred up grain dust from within the cargo hold as the ship was soon rocked by a series of explosions.
Rex had already ordered to boat surfaced to provide assistance to shipwrecked crew, but none was needed. U-34 headed back to the stationary Canadian freighter, which was miraculously still afloat despite the fact that portions of its superstructure were awash. Rex ordered the sight brought up for the deck gun and ordered the ship brought down with artillery fire. Bts mere_immortal handled the firing while Mtr Stealtharcadia and von Strikor handled range finding and loading. Despite a 10-second flight time for the shells, soon the ship was on its way to the bottom of the North Atlantic.
That evening U-34 encountered a small freighter heading towards the British Isles. After refusing to stop, Rex once again ordered the deck gun sights brought up. Despite a warning shot, the vessel refused to stop and Rex had the gunnery crew commence shelling of the ship. Within minutes it floundered as well. Allied post-war reports mention this was likely the unmarked British vessel Hornchurch carrying Canadian-built degaussing machinery to England.
Within hours of sinking the mysterious ship at 0040 early the next morning, U-34 received a contact report regarding a (very) nearby convoy. Rex had navigator Sceptre plot an intercept course and soon U-34 was once again engaging an English merchant convoy.
At 1:15AM, Mech Gef travathian on watch spotted a small military vessel soon confirmed as a Black Swan-class escort sloop. In the late of night, U-34 crept into the presumed convoy course undetected. With the forward escort out of the way, Rex brought up the periscope and attempted to determine ship types with combined information from Sceptre on the observation periscope and an assortment of bearing reports from Fk Mt Akilae and Fk Gef dojango.
Rex had the forward tubes aimed at a pair of large freighters near the edge of the convoy. In attempting to locate a suitable rear target, Rex found that a column of the convoy was now heading on a collision course. With many of the ships identified, the convoy made an unexpected course change and U-34 was forced to make an emergency course correction to remain on target.
With a view on the central column, U-34 caught sight of another prize near the middle of the convoy: the HMS Gloucester, another Southampton-class light cruiser. Despite BdU’s suspected attempt to get the crew of U-34 killed patrolling near the coast of England, Rex and the crew were determined to make this the most successful patrol yet and the rear tube was set for the light cruiser.
With pre-plotted times Rex gave the order “Rohre eins bis vier los!” once the nearest freighter cleared the submarine’s firing line. A G7e from tube 1 and G7a from tube 4 were sent after the leading freighter, while the other pair of torpedoes was sent out towards the other freighter. Under 400m from the closing light cruiser, U-34 was forced to wait for the light cruiser in the 500 meters between convoy lanes.
The G7a from tube 3 struck first, completely decimating the Glengarry and its load of paper products.
The other G7a destined for the Glengarry failed to arm, but proved unnecessary.
Moments later, the Ato from tube 4 struck the Ajax, which proved all the more combustible with its load of explosives.
Ships on the edge of the convoy immediately shot out illuminating starshells. Luckily for U-34, they were launched in the wrong direction and the submarine’s position within less than a kilometer of the HMS Gloucester was not compromised.
With the Gloucester finally in range, OFzS TrippyJing in the rear torpedo room was ordered to have his ragtag band of reserve crew fire the rear torpedo. With the torpedo clear, U-34 immediately dove for the depths.
Crew onboard the Gloucester subsequently captured film of the Ajax sinking…until they too were hit by a torpedo and crew were forced to undertake damage control.
The escorts immediately returned back to the 25-ship convoy, but U-34 had already gone deep and silent. Friendly star shells and search lights initially led them in the wrong direction and they had no chance of catching the elusive submarine.
Within hours U-34 was back in position for another run on the convoy. With space opened by the large freighters that had been sunk and knowledge of the limited number of escorts (two Black Swan-class sloops and a light cruiser), Rex set up surfaced on the edge of the convoy. Spotters Schiffskoch Igel, Mtr Gef PolloDiablo, Heroth von Strike, and mr weenis on the conning tower tried to reidentify the ships in the convoy under TrippyJing and Synthesis’ leadership.
Unfortunately for the crew, the Southampton-class light cruiser could not be located; it was presumed to be on the hunt for the u-boat. U-34 was also approaching the threshold of allied airspace. Watchmen were ordered to be extra vigilant and (and to stop posing for propaganda photographs). Rex selected a large freighter and a mid-sized freighter on the convoy’s periphery as targets.
Soon the silhouettes of the convoy were passing by and crew in the torpedo room were ordered to prepare to fire.
From a protected position U-34 released a load of torpedoes. The hollow metallic sound of a torpedo ineffectually striking the hull could be heard throughout the submarine; the torpedo aimed at the large freighter had failed to arm. Searchlights flickered to life and quickly located the surfaced u-boat; messages sped through the convoy by semaphore.
Moments later the other torpedo detonated as it struck the steam freighter Norseman. Rex ordered an alarm dive; crew on the conning tower dropped to the deck while all available crew rushed to the bow torpedo room to accelerate the dive.
Within moments escorts were overhead. Depth charges sank near U-34 but failed to do significant damage.
Rex ordered full power to dive deeper. Zephos shouted unnecessarily loud to accomplish the order.
Diving at a speed of 7 knots, Rex ordered head machinists Masch Mt pslong9 and uean to ease down the power and rig for silent running while Mtr Gef Zahrkon at rudder control followed through with a 90° turn to port. The escorts above failed to detect Rex’s immediate course change, and U-34 was free to creep away unmolested.
With all high value targets accounted for, increased vigilance from the escorts, and a close proximity to allied airspace, Rex ordered the boat back out to sea.
With a destination back out to the North Atlantic, U-34 spent numerous days without any contacts at all. On February 9th, watch crew spotted a passenger-freighter heading northeast. Lit up brightly, it was quickly identified as a neutral American vessel.
On February 11th around 1PM, U-34 caught sight of a V-Class destroyer. Not thought to be an ASW patrol so far from allied waters, Rex immediately assumed he had caught sight of an unreported convoy. Soon, Rex’ intuition would be proved correct as the smudge of closely-packed merchant exhaust began to fill the horizon.
By the time U-34 had ascertained the convoy’s general course, speed and boundaries dusk had arrived. However, the calm waters and partly cloudy skies still required extreme caution, while U-34’s dwindling armory of just 3 torpedoes required diligence and care. Soon the forward escort destroyer was passing nearly overhead.
By 6:50PM the sub interior had switched to red light. U-34 had crept into position ahead of the convoy. The sub seemed secure with the destroyer still patrolling well ahead; it had passed the submerged u-boat seemingly oblivious.
Attack preparations began. The u-boat was brought to a dead stop; LzS Zephos, Masch Mt uean and Firmus Piett rigged the engine for silent running. Ob Fk Gef sonar on the hydrophones was ordered to closely monitor the position of the nearby destroyer. The periscope went up.
Rex, with the assistance of OFzS Synthesis and OFzS Sceptre identified two suitable large freighters at the edge of the convoy for the two forward G7e torpedoes. The team set about resolving suitable firing solutions when the call came from the sonar room, “Kriegsschiff, kommt näher auf 130°!” The destroyer had returned.
Rex spun the periscope in an attempt to quickly locate the destroyer, but gentle wave actions obscured the view. The targeting scope was brought below the surface. In a hushed shout hydrophone bearings came from the radio room.
Then the contact was lost. Through the periscope – just below the surface – Rex imagined he could make out the propellers and keel of the destroyer mere meters away. Tension gripped the crew as the waited to see if the ominous splash of depth charges or the soothing beat of the retreating destroyer's propellers would come next.
Minutes later the throb of propellers filled the water and the destroyer began heading back out in front of the convoy. The destroyer’s curiosity was, however, not satiated and it continued changing positions and stopping to listen.
Rex was forced to fully resolve firing solutions only once the convoy was nearly on top of U-34. By then the sun had sunk below the horizon, but convoy had made a small course adjustment.
By 7:43PM U-34 was in the midst of the convoy and OFzS Adus’ torpedo room crew in the bow and OFzS TrippyJing’s in the stern were ready to fire. Two G7e’s departed nearly simultaneously; moments later the rear crew had let loose their torpedo at an ore freighter.
Just over a minute later, the first G7e’s magnetic pistol detonated under the large freighter Aden at the convoy’s edge. Before any ships in the convoy could react, seconds later the second G7e detonated beneath Erria, another large freighter.
The torpedoes caused catastrophic damage in both freighters, causing them to start sinking almost immediately. Within seconds, U-34 had sunk over 22,000 tons of merchant shipping.
Rex dove the boat to 100m slipping beneath the burning freighters above as their flooded hulls slowly started their journey to the Atlantic seabed.
The rear torpedo missed its target (and the rest of the tightly-packed convoy), but the last of U-34’s torpedoes provided a brilliant climax to the u-boat’s 4th war patrol.
The convoy’s escorts threw of charges in random patterns, but had no idea where the submarine had fired from or gone, and U-34 once again escaped detection and danger.
News of U-34’s success echoed far and wide, and soon other boats were trying to boast of similar successes.
With nearly one third of her fuel remaining and out of torpedoes, U-34 made the journey back to Wilhelmshaven without incident by circling beyond the Faroe Islands to avoid British air cover.
On February 21st, she reached the inlet to Wilhelmshaven, accompanying the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper before it would join the battleship pair of Gneisnau and Scharnhorst in operation Nordmark. After a prestigious parade into dock, U-34’s crew unloaded for some well-deserved rest after the most successful patrol yet.
Once back in port, Rex heard through his superiors that the attack of February 3rd against a light cruiser had actually been successful. U-34 had claimed a second Southampton-class light cruiser: the HMS Gloucester. It fell out of convoy formation and floundered due to flooding. Bringing U-34’s total patrol tonnage to 82.5k tons.
Random Notes
-Once again convoy designations are pretty random.
-The HMS Gloucester wasn't sunk until May 1941 off Crete.
-In all three convoy attacks the rear torpedo tube (when used) was the only one with a firing solution calculated by the weapons officer.
-In the last attack the torpedoes hit about 2 seconds apart.
Random Promotions
sonar, von Klykahausen, pslong9, uean
Patrol Results
January 26th, 1939 - February 21st, 1940
In addition there are 3 medals to give away (technically the game gave us 6 and a U-Boot-Frontspange that won't be created until 1944, but that's ridiculous...which is why we have SH3-Commander). So feel free to vote
Again, not many specific heroics, but I'll recommend anyone from the engine rooms or the torpedeo rooms (generally anyone with Masch or Mech before their rank). If that's too vague for you feel free to pick from:
Sonar – for detecting an approaching freighter/keeping track of a warship before an attack
Stealtharcadia/von Strikor/mere_immortal – for long distance naval artillery (with some accuracy)
TrippyJing – for his command of the torpedo room sinking the Gloucester
Adus – for getting pretty much every torpedo out there pretty quick; less than a 30% failure rate
uean/pslong9 – for quickly rigging the boat for silent running
Zephos - for shouting "DIVE!" so well
Still short the prestige for a new boat (and the VIIC isn't avilable yet anyway...not that it has any votes), but u-boat upgrade voting is still open.
ZephosClimbin in yo ski lifts, snatchin your people up.MichiganRegistered Userregular
edited April 2010
I second Zephos for his needlessly loud shouting, and previous acts of valor including gettting us kicked out of that bar in Wilhelmshaven on leave last time for my ear drum splitting rendition of "Oh Furher, Mein Furher," on karaoke nacht at the our favorite bar, the Seamen Hole.
also giving votes for TrippyJing and Adus (again adus, stand up job.)
I saved the picture of me to Captain Rex its pretty rad. (i cant read the hand writing on the bottom of it, could i trouble you for a translation?)
Zephos on
Xbox One/360: Penguin McCool
0
ShockwaveBack In BlackOntario, CanadaRegistered Userregular
edited April 2010
Looking good, good job getting us back after that whiskey-tango-foxtrot mission.
Shockwave on
0
TrippyJingMoses supposes his toeses are roses.But Moses supposes erroneously.Registered Userregular
If the spots for gunner or flak gunner have too many applicants you can put me wherever needs it most. I'll guard the screen door or help shovel the coal.
The qualifications (especially for regular sailors) will generally be used if we lose a lot of officers or if you manage to get promoted high enough. Otherwise I put you where your desired qualifications best fit. Gunner/FLAK tend to become a Matrosengefreiter which is a more general sailor; they tended to do weapons loading, helm control and go on watch.
But a lot of the people in the torpedo rooms got rotated into the watch as well ...something that is difficult to simulate in the LP since I'm not spending time constantly watching the crew management screen.
I saved the picture of me to Captain Rex its pretty rad. (i cant read the hand writing on the bottom of it, could i trouble you for a translation?)
The Zephos-picture caption reads:
Offizier Zephos ruft für mehr Kraft! Tiefenmesser lautet fast 100m.
Officer Zephos calls for more power! Depth gauge reads almost 100m.
I did have another picture that's somewhat Zephos-related. I planned on adding it to the archive of Rex-related miscellanea and non-specific LP materials since I'll be going somewhere not in the North Atlantic this weekend.
The fraktur writing = "Germany's uboat service fights for victory!"
Not only did I get to: find a postcard; edit out swastikas (really, did they need that many?); find a fraktur font and learn how to use its special characters (DYK the lowercase S is written differently if it's in the middle or end of a word? And that ch has different kerning than just c and h?); and edit in a suitable picture. I had to think of a propaganda phrase too.
...I don't think I'd be a good minister of propaganda, but that's why we have Synthesis onboard.
It's looking like Zephos, TrippyJing and Adus...since they're the only individuals with votes.
In other news, this thread is now Let's Play Where's Waldo: Silent Hunter 3 Edition.
My edited pictures might be for atmosphere, but sometimes they also serve a practical purpose. The above screenshot was taken about 500m from the edge of a convoy with calm seas and partly cloudy skies (the last attack in patrol 4, if you're wondering). This is why it's sometimes possible to sit within 100m of a ship and remain undetected.
There were active night vision devices in WW2 (more prominently used by the Germans, but American-developed systems famously saw action on Okinawa). Of course, you basically had a giant spotlight with an infrared filter over it, so anybody else using a similar device could see your beam of light clear as day.
Unfortunately, u-boat crews didn't get to see that fancy technology. On the high seas, crew on both sides had to rely on their eyes and ears (and possibly noses, in the case of Igel's Cabbage Cake) and occasionally some phosphorescent algae churned up by a propeller or a periscope sticking out of the water.
In rough weather (or when it's just really foggy), it can be pitch black outside at night. For anyone reading in that has never played SH3: this is the only game where you'll squint at the center of your periscope trying to see if you actually see what you think you see.
And Agustin Justo's all about harboring Germans, so he'll probably work out better than Chile. Otherwise we'd have to go all Francis Drake and sail around Cape Horn, because our Type VII sure doesn't have the fuel to invade Chile.
So I'm in the mood to watch some Submarine movies: which are the best? Hunt for the Red October, Das Boot, Down Periscope come to mind, but what am I overlooking?
So I'm in the mood to watch some Submarine movies: which are the best? Hunt for the Red October, Das Boot, Down Periscope come to mind, but what am I overlooking?
There was Widowmaker, but I don't know the general concensus on that <_<
So I'm in the mood to watch some Submarine movies: which are the best? Hunt for the Red October, Das Boot, Down Periscope come to mind, but what am I overlooking?
There was Widowmaker, but I don't know the general concensus on that <_<
If you want a good submarine movie, skip The Hunt for Red October, I'd say.
For a lot of people, the essence of submarine warfare excitement is the nature of smaller diesel submarine. The cramp quarters, the threat of crush depth, the mechanical nightmares, the constant presence of others, etc. It is at least for me.
Crimson Tide is pretty good, and can capture that in some regard. Definitely look for it. Consider K-19: Widowmaker for the different cultural perspective, if a bit shallow, and Liam Neeson and Harrison Ford both being very strong. Down Periscope is just fun.
If you want some general Cold War [strike]propaganda[/strike] wankery, incredibly improbable situations or people, a rather detached feeling of submarines, or some of Sean Connery's best eyebrow work (it is quite intimidating, make no mistake), ignore the above. Sorry about my impassioned opinions.
So I'm in the mood to watch some Submarine movies: which are the best? Hunt for the Red October, Das Boot, Down Periscope come to mind, but what am I overlooking?
There was Widowmaker, but I don't know the general concensus on that <_<
If you want a good submarine movie, skip The Hunt for Red October, I'd say.
For a lot of people, the essence of submarine warfare excitement is the nature of smaller diesel submarine. The cramp quarters, the threat of crush depth, the mechanical nightmares, the constant presence of others, etc. It is at least for me.
Crimson Tide is pretty good, and can capture that in some regard. Definitely look for it. Consider K-19: Widowmaker for the different cultural perspective, if a bit shallow, and Liam Neeson and Harrison Ford both being very strong. Down Periscope is just fun.
If you want some general Cold War [strike]propaganda[/strike] wankery, incredibly improbable situations or people, a rather detached feeling of submarines, or some of Sean Connery's best eyebrow work (it is quite intimidating, make no mistake), ignore the above. Sorry about my impassioned opinions.
I only saw them when I was a lad, but I am somewhat partial to Run Silent, Run Deep and Destination Tokyo as well.
Posts
caffron said: "and cat pee is not a laughing matter"
Random photo stats: according to photobucket pictures of game heroines I posted in a random H/A thread have about 25x as many views as any of my LP pictures. I think I have Ice Nein to thank for the 20k + views of my tiny iron cross graphic. So there's that.
Otherwise, Akilae seems to be the unanimous medal winner (and the IXB is winning with ...all the votes so far). Don't think I've seen anyone's opinion regarding promotions.
Sonar can keep his title of Schiffslyriker (...for now :P ), and the next patrol should head out sometime soonish...maybe.
caffron said: "and cat pee is not a laughing matter"
caffron said: "and cat pee is not a laughing matter"
Seriously.
And about the promotion thing i'm fine either way, it could be fun to vote on promotions aswell as medals but i'd be okay with you picking aswell Rex, especially if it has a big impact on actual game-play.
That was indeed awesome Sonar.
As to the votes, I never actually piloted a type IX for any appreciable length of time when I played, so it looks like we're heading into uncharted waters for me. I stuck to the VIIs usually.
As to promotions, I don't care. Is more squabbling amongst the crew a good thing or a bad thing? :P
Damoonrulz
Gunner, Flak Gunner
Wheezer
Watchman, Flak Gunner
Always happy to have more cogs for the German war machine.
Glücklich you!
I love that movie!...Really, I do.
Other than that, the long and long-awaited 4th patrol has arrived.
U-34
Type VIIB
4th wartime patrol - "Fette Beute"
Those conniving officers at BdU had heard of Captain Rex’ contact with a suspicious woman from Cologne and saw to it that his next assignment was duly dangerous. U-34 was assigned grid AN 55. The submarine would be contesting mine-infested English waters and Allied airspace near the city of Newcastle.
U-34 once again followed the Dutch coastline along the Frisian island, but turned northwest to her patrol grid. Extra watchmen were stationed on the conning tower in order to safeguard the submarine. However, the only objects divebombing the submarine were a flock of seagulls. Not content to drive the submariner’s mad with 80s music, they bombed U-34 with something more notorious before moving on.
While traversing the patrol grid slowly – in order to help prevent inadvertently hitting a mind – Rex’ crew saw no signs of English naval or merchant activity until the last few hours of their designated patrol. Then around 1800 hours on January 28th, Mtr Gef PolloDiablo spotted the smudge of merchant exhaust smoke on the horizon.
The large freighter Klondike was soon struck with two torpedoes. While the first destroyed the engine room, the second hit near the keel and blew off the rear propeller. It was at this point that Rex noticed that the ship – now dead in the water – was perilously close; Rex ordered full reverse and a sharp turn to avoid a collision. Masch Gef Bloodysloth, Kayne Rottalar and von Schwarzenbeck immediately set to work, making sure that the strained batteries could handle the effort. Rex kept a watchful eye on the periscope as the submarine slowly turned away from t-boning the freighter.
The ship was immobile, but also uncomfortably close to the English coastline. When it was apparent that the boat was only sinking slowly at best, Rex ordered to boat surfaced in order that Bootsmann mere_immortal’s gun crew could begin shelling the ship immediately. Mech Mt von Klykahausen was brought up to man the FLAK gun to ward off unwanted visitors, but the shelling continued uninterrupted and U-34 was soon on her way to the North Atlantic after successfully completing her patrol near the English coast – sinking one large freighter.
Despite intermittent reports of enemy task forces – mostly within the Irish Sea – U-34 didn’t encounter any other naval traffic until February 2nd. The watch spotted a long, heavy freighter heading East just before dawn. An intercept course was plotted.
German U-Boats – even when operating as far West as the Caribbean or assisting Japanese allies in the Far East kept time according to German local time. This was +1 GMT. Accordingly, U-34's log noted that the attack began at 9:30 – seemingly well after dawn, but only about 7:30 local time.
With the sun creeping over the horizon regardless, Rex opted to use one of only a handful of electric torpedoes onboard. A G7e was armed with a magnetic pistol and soon on its way. It was around this time that U-34’s radio and hydrophone operators Fk Mt Akilae and recently promoted Funkobergefreiter sonar picked up another contact coming from the East.
Despite an atrocious early war failure rate, U-34’s torpedo armed and detonated under the portside of the ship’s hull. With concerns of an incoming military vessel, U-34 was forced to stay submerged and attempt to interdict the other vessel to assess the threat.
On the Canadian freighter that had just been hit, flooding seawater spilled in through the engine room, immediately weighing down the port side of the ship. The extra weight was too much for the starboard engine room and the ship drew to a halt with a heavy list.
Meanwhile, U-34 had crept into position of the oncoming ship. While OFzS Sceptre occasionally checked in on the damaged freighter with the observation periscope, Rex and the on duty weapons officer OFzS Synthesis classified the incoming vessel as a small freighter and began their attack run.
Delayed firing brought the torpedo to bear a bit late, but it managed to clip the American-owned British merchant vessel Chippewa near the stern. The impact from the torpedo had apparently stirred up grain dust from within the cargo hold as the ship was soon rocked by a series of explosions.
Rex had already ordered to boat surfaced to provide assistance to shipwrecked crew, but none was needed. U-34 headed back to the stationary Canadian freighter, which was miraculously still afloat despite the fact that portions of its superstructure were awash. Rex ordered the sight brought up for the deck gun and ordered the ship brought down with artillery fire. Bts mere_immortal handled the firing while Mtr Stealtharcadia and von Strikor handled range finding and loading. Despite a 10-second flight time for the shells, soon the ship was on its way to the bottom of the North Atlantic.
That evening U-34 encountered a small freighter heading towards the British Isles. After refusing to stop, Rex once again ordered the deck gun sights brought up. Despite a warning shot, the vessel refused to stop and Rex had the gunnery crew commence shelling of the ship. Within minutes it floundered as well. Allied post-war reports mention this was likely the unmarked British vessel Hornchurch carrying Canadian-built degaussing machinery to England.
Within hours of sinking the mysterious ship at 0040 early the next morning, U-34 received a contact report regarding a (very) nearby convoy. Rex had navigator Sceptre plot an intercept course and soon U-34 was once again engaging an English merchant convoy.
At 1:15AM, Mech Gef travathian on watch spotted a small military vessel soon confirmed as a Black Swan-class escort sloop. In the late of night, U-34 crept into the presumed convoy course undetected. With the forward escort out of the way, Rex brought up the periscope and attempted to determine ship types with combined information from Sceptre on the observation periscope and an assortment of bearing reports from Fk Mt Akilae and Fk Gef dojango.
Rex had the forward tubes aimed at a pair of large freighters near the edge of the convoy. In attempting to locate a suitable rear target, Rex found that a column of the convoy was now heading on a collision course. With many of the ships identified, the convoy made an unexpected course change and U-34 was forced to make an emergency course correction to remain on target.
With a view on the central column, U-34 caught sight of another prize near the middle of the convoy: the HMS Gloucester, another Southampton-class light cruiser. Despite BdU’s suspected attempt to get the crew of U-34 killed patrolling near the coast of England, Rex and the crew were determined to make this the most successful patrol yet and the rear tube was set for the light cruiser.
With pre-plotted times Rex gave the order “Rohre eins bis vier los!” once the nearest freighter cleared the submarine’s firing line. A G7e from tube 1 and G7a from tube 4 were sent after the leading freighter, while the other pair of torpedoes was sent out towards the other freighter. Under 400m from the closing light cruiser, U-34 was forced to wait for the light cruiser in the 500 meters between convoy lanes.
The G7a from tube 3 struck first, completely decimating the Glengarry and its load of paper products.
The other G7a destined for the Glengarry failed to arm, but proved unnecessary.
Moments later, the Ato from tube 4 struck the Ajax, which proved all the more combustible with its load of explosives.
Ships on the edge of the convoy immediately shot out illuminating starshells. Luckily for U-34, they were launched in the wrong direction and the submarine’s position within less than a kilometer of the HMS Gloucester was not compromised.
With the Gloucester finally in range, OFzS TrippyJing in the rear torpedo room was ordered to have his ragtag band of reserve crew fire the rear torpedo. With the torpedo clear, U-34 immediately dove for the depths.
Crew onboard the Gloucester subsequently captured film of the Ajax sinking…until they too were hit by a torpedo and crew were forced to undertake damage control.
The escorts immediately returned back to the 25-ship convoy, but U-34 had already gone deep and silent. Friendly star shells and search lights initially led them in the wrong direction and they had no chance of catching the elusive submarine.
Within hours U-34 was back in position for another run on the convoy. With space opened by the large freighters that had been sunk and knowledge of the limited number of escorts (two Black Swan-class sloops and a light cruiser), Rex set up surfaced on the edge of the convoy. Spotters Schiffskoch Igel, Mtr Gef PolloDiablo, Heroth von Strike, and mr weenis on the conning tower tried to reidentify the ships in the convoy under TrippyJing and Synthesis’ leadership.
Unfortunately for the crew, the Southampton-class light cruiser could not be located; it was presumed to be on the hunt for the u-boat. U-34 was also approaching the threshold of allied airspace. Watchmen were ordered to be extra vigilant and (and to stop posing for propaganda photographs). Rex selected a large freighter and a mid-sized freighter on the convoy’s periphery as targets.
Soon the silhouettes of the convoy were passing by and crew in the torpedo room were ordered to prepare to fire.
From a protected position U-34 released a load of torpedoes. The hollow metallic sound of a torpedo ineffectually striking the hull could be heard throughout the submarine; the torpedo aimed at the large freighter had failed to arm. Searchlights flickered to life and quickly located the surfaced u-boat; messages sped through the convoy by semaphore.
Moments later the other torpedo detonated as it struck the steam freighter Norseman. Rex ordered an alarm dive; crew on the conning tower dropped to the deck while all available crew rushed to the bow torpedo room to accelerate the dive.
Within moments escorts were overhead. Depth charges sank near U-34 but failed to do significant damage.
Rex ordered full power to dive deeper. Zephos shouted unnecessarily loud to accomplish the order.
Diving at a speed of 7 knots, Rex ordered head machinists Masch Mt pslong9 and uean to ease down the power and rig for silent running while Mtr Gef Zahrkon at rudder control followed through with a 90° turn to port. The escorts above failed to detect Rex’s immediate course change, and U-34 was free to creep away unmolested.
With all high value targets accounted for, increased vigilance from the escorts, and a close proximity to allied airspace, Rex ordered the boat back out to sea.
With a destination back out to the North Atlantic, U-34 spent numerous days without any contacts at all. On February 9th, watch crew spotted a passenger-freighter heading northeast. Lit up brightly, it was quickly identified as a neutral American vessel.
On February 11th around 1PM, U-34 caught sight of a V-Class destroyer. Not thought to be an ASW patrol so far from allied waters, Rex immediately assumed he had caught sight of an unreported convoy. Soon, Rex’ intuition would be proved correct as the smudge of closely-packed merchant exhaust began to fill the horizon.
By the time U-34 had ascertained the convoy’s general course, speed and boundaries dusk had arrived. However, the calm waters and partly cloudy skies still required extreme caution, while U-34’s dwindling armory of just 3 torpedoes required diligence and care. Soon the forward escort destroyer was passing nearly overhead.
By 6:50PM the sub interior had switched to red light. U-34 had crept into position ahead of the convoy. The sub seemed secure with the destroyer still patrolling well ahead; it had passed the submerged u-boat seemingly oblivious.
Attack preparations began. The u-boat was brought to a dead stop; LzS Zephos, Masch Mt uean and Firmus Piett rigged the engine for silent running. Ob Fk Gef sonar on the hydrophones was ordered to closely monitor the position of the nearby destroyer. The periscope went up.
Rex, with the assistance of OFzS Synthesis and OFzS Sceptre identified two suitable large freighters at the edge of the convoy for the two forward G7e torpedoes. The team set about resolving suitable firing solutions when the call came from the sonar room, “Kriegsschiff, kommt näher auf 130°!” The destroyer had returned.
Rex spun the periscope in an attempt to quickly locate the destroyer, but gentle wave actions obscured the view. The targeting scope was brought below the surface. In a hushed shout hydrophone bearings came from the radio room.
Then the contact was lost. Through the periscope – just below the surface – Rex imagined he could make out the propellers and keel of the destroyer mere meters away. Tension gripped the crew as the waited to see if the ominous splash of depth charges or the soothing beat of the retreating destroyer's propellers would come next.
Minutes later the throb of propellers filled the water and the destroyer began heading back out in front of the convoy. The destroyer’s curiosity was, however, not satiated and it continued changing positions and stopping to listen.
Rex was forced to fully resolve firing solutions only once the convoy was nearly on top of U-34. By then the sun had sunk below the horizon, but convoy had made a small course adjustment.
By 7:43PM U-34 was in the midst of the convoy and OFzS Adus’ torpedo room crew in the bow and OFzS TrippyJing’s in the stern were ready to fire. Two G7e’s departed nearly simultaneously; moments later the rear crew had let loose their torpedo at an ore freighter.
Just over a minute later, the first G7e’s magnetic pistol detonated under the large freighter Aden at the convoy’s edge. Before any ships in the convoy could react, seconds later the second G7e detonated beneath Erria, another large freighter.
The torpedoes caused catastrophic damage in both freighters, causing them to start sinking almost immediately. Within seconds, U-34 had sunk over 22,000 tons of merchant shipping.
Rex dove the boat to 100m slipping beneath the burning freighters above as their flooded hulls slowly started their journey to the Atlantic seabed.
The rear torpedo missed its target (and the rest of the tightly-packed convoy), but the last of U-34’s torpedoes provided a brilliant climax to the u-boat’s 4th war patrol.
The convoy’s escorts threw of charges in random patterns, but had no idea where the submarine had fired from or gone, and U-34 once again escaped detection and danger.
News of U-34’s success echoed far and wide, and soon other boats were trying to boast of similar successes.
With nearly one third of her fuel remaining and out of torpedoes, U-34 made the journey back to Wilhelmshaven without incident by circling beyond the Faroe Islands to avoid British air cover.
On February 21st, she reached the inlet to Wilhelmshaven, accompanying the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper before it would join the battleship pair of Gneisnau and Scharnhorst in operation Nordmark. After a prestigious parade into dock, U-34’s crew unloaded for some well-deserved rest after the most successful patrol yet.
Once back in port, Rex heard through his superiors that the attack of February 3rd against a light cruiser had actually been successful. U-34 had claimed a second Southampton-class light cruiser: the HMS Gloucester. It fell out of convoy formation and floundered due to flooding. Bringing U-34’s total patrol tonnage to 82.5k tons.
Random Notes
-Once again convoy designations are pretty random.
-The HMS Gloucester wasn't sunk until May 1941 off Crete.
-In all three convoy attacks the rear torpedo tube (when used) was the only one with a firing solution calculated by the weapons officer.
-In the last attack the torpedoes hit about 2 seconds apart.
Random Promotions
sonar, von Klykahausen, pslong9, uean
Patrol Results
January 26th, 1939 - February 21st, 1940
Ships sunk: 10 (9 merchant, 1 military)
-1 Light Cruiser (HMS Gloucester)
Total tonnage: 82489 tons
Crew lost: 0
Overall hull condition: 100% intact
In addition there are 3 medals to give away (technically the game gave us 6 and a U-Boot-Frontspange that won't be created until 1944, but that's ridiculous...which is why we have SH3-Commander). So feel free to vote
Sonar – for detecting an approaching freighter/keeping track of a warship before an attack
Stealtharcadia/von Strikor/mere_immortal – for long distance naval artillery (with some accuracy)
TrippyJing – for his command of the torpedo room sinking the Gloucester
Adus – for getting pretty much every torpedo out there pretty quick; less than a 30% failure rate
uean/pslong9 – for quickly rigging the boat for silent running
Zephos - for shouting "DIVE!" so well
Still short the prestige for a new boat (and the VIIC isn't avilable yet anyway...not that it has any votes), but u-boat upgrade voting is still open.
also giving votes for TrippyJing and Adus (again adus, stand up job.)
I saved the picture of me to Captain Rex
I finally did something of note?
But a lot of the people in the torpedo rooms got rotated into the watch as well ...something that is difficult to simulate in the LP since I'm not spending time constantly watching the crew management screen.
The Zephos-picture caption reads:
Offizier Zephos ruft für mehr Kraft! Tiefenmesser lautet fast 100m.
Officer Zephos calls for more power! Depth gauge reads almost 100m.
I did have another picture that's somewhat Zephos-related. I planned on adding it to the archive of Rex-related miscellanea and non-specific LP materials since I'll be going somewhere not in the North Atlantic this weekend.
Not only did I get to: find a postcard; edit out swastikas (really, did they need that many?); find a fraktur font and learn how to use its special characters (DYK the lowercase S is written differently if it's in the middle or end of a word? And that ch has different kerning than just c and h?); and edit in a suitable picture. I had to think of a propaganda phrase too.
...I don't think I'd be a good minister of propaganda, but that's why we have Synthesis onboard.
In other news, this thread is now Let's Play Where's Waldo: Silent Hunter 3 Edition.
My edited pictures might be for atmosphere, but sometimes they also serve a practical purpose. The above screenshot was taken about 500m from the edge of a convoy with calm seas and partly cloudy skies (the last attack in patrol 4, if you're wondering). This is why it's sometimes possible to sit within 100m of a ship and remain undetected.
There were active night vision devices in WW2 (more prominently used by the Germans, but American-developed systems famously saw action on Okinawa). Of course, you basically had a giant spotlight with an infrared filter over it, so anybody else using a similar device could see your beam of light clear as day.
Unfortunately, u-boat crews didn't get to see that fancy technology. On the high seas, crew on both sides had to rely on their eyes and ears (and possibly noses, in the case of Igel's Cabbage Cake) and occasionally some phosphorescent algae churned up by a propeller or a periscope sticking out of the water.
In rough weather (or when it's just really foggy), it can be pitch black outside at night. For anyone reading in that has never played SH3: this is the only game where you'll squint at the center of your periscope trying to see if you actually see what you think you see.
I vote for Adus, mostly because getting torpedoes out reliable is not an easy feat.
I'll let you guys decide where to invade--just give a place, and I'll get to work on a slogan for it. :winky:
And Agustin Justo's all about harboring Germans, so he'll probably work out better than Chile. Otherwise we'd have to go all Francis Drake and sail around Cape Horn, because our Type VII sure doesn't have the fuel to invade Chile.
But do we really need more than one to invade Chile?
There was Widowmaker, but I don't know the general concensus on that <_<
If you want a good submarine movie, skip The Hunt for Red October, I'd say.
For a lot of people, the essence of submarine warfare excitement is the nature of smaller diesel submarine. The cramp quarters, the threat of crush depth, the mechanical nightmares, the constant presence of others, etc. It is at least for me.
Crimson Tide is pretty good, and can capture that in some regard. Definitely look for it. Consider K-19: Widowmaker for the different cultural perspective, if a bit shallow, and Liam Neeson and Harrison Ford both being very strong. Down Periscope is just fun.
If you want some general Cold War [strike]propaganda[/strike] wankery, incredibly improbable situations or people, a rather detached feeling of submarines, or some of Sean Connery's best eyebrow work (it is quite intimidating, make no mistake), ignore the above. Sorry about my impassioned opinions.
Arg! I was afraid someone would bring that up.
(Sorry, I just really dislike that film. Especially when Das Boot is so good by comparison, though it's unfair to compare them, I admit....)
There's a reason I brought it up
U-571 is a textbook case of how to NOT make a submarine movie.
Das Boot still reigns supreme... nobody has yet to top it.
I only saw them when I was a lad, but I am somewhat partial to Run Silent, Run Deep and Destination Tokyo as well.