These pics are from one of the easier, more fun missions included with SH3 that will be familiar to most players. It starts with the player on the surface almost directly ahead of a large but weakly-escorted convoy, early in the war before the widespread availability of ship-borne radar.
The mission objective is to sink at least 25,000 tons and I've opted to play with the default Type VIIB.
The bridge watch are alert and spot the convoy at once.
I've recently installed the FM new interiors mod which includes the diesel room; IIRC these pics were taken after submerging, and the animated camshafts were still.
There's no sign of machinist Johann of 'Das Boot' fame; just the fellow above who's standing next to the door into the e-motor room astern (not modelled) and another one, seen in the pic below, studying some logs or manuals, at the door leading into the galley and petty officers' accommodation (which is modelled, complete with 'smutje' or cook).
This is the trimming panel from the re-positioned F2 control room view. Turn to face forward and the upper part of your view is largely obscured by rows of large sausages swinging from the deckhead. Apparently, the mod arranges things so that the quantity of these and other stored food items deceases with fuel usage!
Here are the helmsman's instruments in the conning tower. I believe these are used in place of the duplicates at the front of the control room, below, when the boat is running on the surface (although one of the many excellent photos taken by Lothar-Gunther Buchheim aboard U-96 and featured in 'U-Boat War' - a must-have book for any enthusiast - show the helmsman still in the tower with the upper hatch shot and the boat just submerged, perhaps before the control room position was manned). The port and starboard engine telegraphs are on top, both currently set to 'kleine fahrt voraus'.
Also on the starboard tower wall is the vorhaltrechner or torpedo data controller, with the base of the attack periscope to the left of the shot.
We start the mission just outside of the oncoming convoy's starboard column. I quickly submerge and manoeuvre so as to be able to cut into this column from the outside, going to 50m and silent running so as to be able to slip under the widely-dispersed escort. This is the view from the opposite side of the convoy, looking roughly towards my sub's position. At this point the convoy is steaming a straight course, with no zig-zag.
Once level with the convoy just outside its starboard column, I turn hard towards it, increase speed and race into position inside the convoy. From here, I fire off all my torpedoes, taking the more distant targets first and concentrating on tankers. I get three hits from the four eels, including this one, the tanker being the only ship of the four to go down.
The escorts can only look on while they race to get into a better position, like this Hunt Class destroyer.
One of my targets was this armed merchant cruiser, but she escaped unscathed.
After the attack, I went back to silent running and slipped away to the south and astern of the east-bound convoy, without being detected. My plan was now to let the convoy get ahead, surface astern of it and while the tubes are reloaded, catch it up as darkness falls, for a night surface attack.
...to be continued!