Yes, at this stage of the war they had advantages in being able to find us before we could find them. That doesn’t mean they can get into an attack position without us knowing they are there. If we find them we can make it very unpleasant for them.
The subs were also faster on the surface than the ships we have. But they need 5 hours on the surface to charge their batteries in order to operate submerged.
They can not fight us on the surface however, and submerged they are slower and can’t keep up with the convoy. It also depletes their batteries.
The greatest danger is for a night surface attack where they get among the convoy its self. During the day we can keep them far enough away, if we are diligent, that they can’t do much harm. At night it is radar and star shells that can help us most.
If I read the chart correctly the convoy we are escorting is SL 89. The article makes it sound like nothing happened prior to convoy HG 76 but if you look on convoy. net you see there were two ships lost west of Ireland from SL 89.
It could be that the escorts were exchanged off southern England but I don’t know, and it will depend on how the boss runs the game.
Something important to remember is that the merchant ships should be in a box formation and zig zag on the mean course. At twilight it is a good idea to make a radical course change to defeat any U-boats laying in ambush ahead of us.
Also remember that to launch a torpedo the U-boat has to work out a complex geometry problem using estimates of speed and course before they can fire. It will take them several minutes to complete, so altering course and speed frequently reduces the chance that their target solution will find a target.
We are not totally without long range attack weapons either. Subs don’t zigzag until an escort is above them. One of our ships carry torpedoes that can be set deep enough to target a sub at periscope depth. Those torpedoes are quiet enough that the sub can’t hear them coming until it is too late.
Bookmarks