paulhager
Subtitle: I officially hate the Mark 18
Departed Majuro, 6 June 1944 with mission to patrol in support of Operation Forager. Running with the RSDC and TMO mods, I could participate in the Marianas Turkey Shoot as I had several times in the past.
Sub was the SS-285 Balao armed with 24 Mark 18 electrics. I figure if that loadout was good enough for O’Kane, it should be good enough for me.
I’ve played through the Turkey Shoot (Battle of the Philippine Sea) enough times that I have a preferred approach. If I try to engage the entire IJN fleet, I run into the dread save-file-crash. Therefore, best is to ambush pieces of the fleet. The 6 June departure made it impossible to contact the CV force, which was too far west. However, the BB force would be in range to intercept on or around 15 June. Accordingly, I set course to intercept at what I hoped would be the early morning hours, allowing me to make a night surface attack.
I was able to realize my goal, picking up the IJN task force heading NNE at 15 knots a little before 0300. Weather was clear, winds at 8 m/s. The TF was in two columns with two Yamatos in the near one. Six escorts were arrayed in a circle around the capital ships.
Because I was using electrics, I had to get in close. I set up around 3,400 off the track, pointed 30° off a parallel track toward the enemy, thus permitting a ten torpedo, dual salvo. At least ten conventional torpedoes are needed to kill a Yamato.
I sent in a report to HQ, received a sink ships objective, and then closed. The attack was executed without incident. All ten torpedoes hit my target: the lead Yamato.
I was able to extricate myself (barely) but the Yamato seemed to be completely unaffected by the ten electrics. I began to wonder if I should have left port with Mark 14’s in the bow.
After withdrawing and reloading torpedoes, I closed to 23,000 yards and began pacing the TF. If the Yamato fell behind, I’d pick it off once it was without escorts.
The Yamato didn’t fall behind. The TF continued on.
By noon, I had taken up a position directly ahead of the TF. This would give me maximum flexibility in setting up for the second attack, which I’d deliver after sundown.
By 1700, the TF had changed course. I did likewise to maintain position.
At around this point two events happened that were to have a bearing on the impending attack. The first was that the wind dropped to zero. The second was there an incident of some kind that resulted in the loss of an escort. It appeared to be one of the leaders.
With a hole in the defense, the attack should be easier but with perfect weather, I was less confident I could escape without being detected.
As the Sun began to set, I got into position for the attack, this time setting up 2,800 yards off the track, stern first at 45°. Using all four stern torpedoes should suffice to get the kill.
I sent in another report and got a second sink ships mission. Everything was now ready except that I wasn’t sure which of the Yamato’s I’d attacked before. The fleet layout was the same, which would mean that the lead Yamato was the one I had damaged.
When I finally had a good visual, I couldn’t tell. Worse, I had figured the track wrong – it was going to be a couple of hundred yards closer. I decided to submerge.
Following the progress of my target through the scope, I did a quick comparison with its sister immediately behind. The lead ship appeared to be riding low. It must be the damaged ship.
There was nothing for it but to roll the dice and attack the leader. As the last torpedo left the stern tubes, I dove the boat. As the boat passed 180’, the first of the four torpedoes hit.
This time the escorts closed in. Two made a couple of runs but by diving deep, I was able to elude them. While I was attempting to survive the DC attack, no checkmark materialized to offer a measure of solace. Had I attacked the wrong Yamato?
The DD’s prosecuted the attack in a half-hearted fashion and then withdrew. I circled around and made a sonar check to look for a big ship moving slow and dropping out of the TF. No joy.
I moved to P-depth and did a quick scan. About 6,000 yards away I saw a Yamato. There was a small fire in evidence but otherwise no significant damage. I continued the scan and experienced a brown pants moment: a DD was sitting quietly 1,800 yards away. If I was going to resume my pursuit, that DD had to go. I targeted it with tubes 1 & 2. Both hit.
With the DD gone, I reversed course and went to radar depth to observe how the enemy reacted. One DD made a desultory move in my direction but quickly returned to the TF. After a half hour, I surfaced and resumed the chase.
One problem in tracking an IJN TF late war is many/most of the ships have radar. Not only must one maintain a healthy distance, the AoA lines make it hard to track individual ships. It is necessary to pause the game during the scan and catch the moment when the ship symbol appears.
I was able to ascertain that the formation had changed. About the only consolation was that I was reasonably certain that I’d attacked the right ship. A Yamato doesn’t have fires burning without having sustained significant damage. But that would mean that I’d used 14 electrics on a single BB and it was still steaming.
After midnight, the sub was ahead of the TF, which was now missing two lead escorts. But I had no idea where my Yamato was. My best chance was to position right on the track and then adjust port or starboard once my quarry was in sight. Attempting such a maneuver was risky given the conditions, ameliorated somewhat by the fact that a portside, close-in attack would not meet with any enemy DDs.
As ill luck would have it, I spotted the damaged Yamato – no longer burning but definitely down a bit by the stern – but it was on the starboard side of the TF. There was a DD on that wing that I couldn’t possibly avoid on the surface. I made a virtue of a necessity and set up close – about 2,000 yards off the track and at P-depth. Adding to the ill luck, my call to HQ had gotten bupkes – there would be no additional mission/objective.
I had 8 torpedoes left. I wasn’t going to make any more attacks on this TF – that’s assuming I survived the pounding I knew was coming. I opened all 6 bow doors and prepared to hit the Yamato with a full spread.
Just before firing, the TF alerted. There wasn’t time to continue tracking the Yamato. I did a guestimate of how the Yamato would react, adjusted the solution accordingly, and fired the salvo. Then I crash dived. All six torpedoes hit.
No check mark appeared but there were plenty of DDs converging on my location as the sub crossed 300’ going 8 knots.
How could a ship take 20 torpedoes and still be afloat?
I leveled off at 400’ and went to silent running. The first DD passed above and dropped a stick of depth charges. While eluding the pattern, the check mark appeared! The Yamato had finally succumbed to its wounds. I could now accept career death with a measure of equanimity.
This attack was much more concentrated and persistent than the previous one. Three of the four escorts buzzed overhead, pinging intermittently. Several times I took the boat below 550’ to avoid DCs. As I was rising past 450’ follow one of these deep dives, I heard more splashes. I put the sub into another dive but maintained 1 knot and silent running, while making a 10° port turn. The explosions were several hundred yards away. The DD’s had finally lost me.
The sub was passing 530’ at that point and I began frantically hitting the “P” button for P-depth. No good. I increased speed to 2 knots – the most I’d dare. At about 570’ the dive ceased and the sub slowly started to rise. I reduced speed back to 1 knot at 550’. When the sub was a 450’ I leveled off. There were no further attacks.
In due course I was able to surface. Setting course for the patrol zone, I arrived on the 18th. I’d have to remain for 72 hours in order to satisfy the objective and head for home.
Late on the 18th, the weather turned bad: rain, heavy fog, and 8 m/s winds. A little after sundown, a large TF appeared heading south. This was too far west for the American fleet – it had to be Japanese.
What could I do in a rain storm with only 2 torpedoes? Attack, of course!
This would be a surface, decks awash, attack. Radar wouldn’t detect the sub nor would sonar. I’d be invisible.
I could see the enemy – I just didn’t know what kind of ships I would be firing at. I briefly considered going after one of the escorts but decided that a real captain would try to make his last two torpedoes count.
I penetrated the screen going 7 knots and picked out the lead ship in the near column. From past experience, I know that a radar map image of a CV will disappear when you zoom. That was the behavior I observed on the lead ship.
I got a good radar solution, fired, and turned, threading my way between the escorts. There were two hits. I paused the game and did a couple of external camera sweeps until I could find my target. Here’s the screen shot, enhanced to make it visible.
It appears to be down by the bow. Egress from the engagement was a trivial exercise. The CV didn’t sink. I hate electrics.
After the objective was achieved, I returned to base having fired 24 torpedoes, gotten 24 hits, and sinking two ships. No medals. Not even an attaboy.
I loaded 16 Mark 14’s in the bow before departing on Patrol 4.
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Originally Posted by TravellerMods
