I recently dipped back into the new U-boat sim - called, strangely enough, UBOAT - and finding it still very unsatisfactory compared to modded Silent Hunter III, decided instead to start a new campaign. As before, I'm using the excellent GWX OneAlex edition.

This time, the plan is to begin at the outset of World War II and see how far into the war I can survive. I'm using the Silent Hunter 3 Commander utility to pick a captain, flotilla and boat. I have no intention of starting off in one of those 'dugout canoe' Type II boats but was able to pick a Type VIIB serving with the 2nd U-Flotille out of Wilhelmshaven. Being on the North Sea coast, there's no need for a tedious transit of the Kiel Canal to exit the Baltic.

For some reason, the list of Type VIIBs SH3C presented me with was mostly the earlier VIIA, with an external stern tube and single rudder, from which I chose U-33 as it matches my forum name. SH3C started my first patrol on 4 August 1939, a month before the war's outbreak; this is to reflect the fact that the Kriegsmarine sailed its warships and submarines ahead of the attack on Poland, so as to be at their wartime stations if and when the balloon went up. Our patrol area is Grid AM51, in the Atlantic north-west of Ireland. This is a much better tasking than trying to catch faster warships in the North Sea.

I make no apology for starting with several pics showing our sailing. With mods having added shipping in ports, escorts for your boat, and the ability to furl or unfurl the battle ensign and have the off-watch crew on deck as you leave, I find it very immersive to play this phase in real time, including conning the boat to stay astern of my escort, till she turns back.

Here we are getting under way...



...leaving our berth...



...and dieseling up the channel towards our minesweeper escort.



Passing the harbour entrance and closing on the minesweeper ahead, we see to port the battleship Tirpitz under construction, still lacking her main armament and its four turrets. Her camouflage scheme is really later war but her presence at this her home port is a nice touch...



...as are the other moored or berthed ships, including a pre-war torpedo boat and a modern destroyer.



Crew ordered back below deck, we're soon well out into the bay under the watchful eyes of our escort.



The long journey out to our patrol area is uneventful, apart from the occasional encounter with merchant shipping, including this modern motor ship...which of course we can't touch, as hostilities haven't started!



We reach AM51 and start tracking back and forth across it, at low speed to conserve fuel - of course I happen to know we'll need to be on station for just over three weeks until the war kicks off. It's not long before we have poor weather to content with. In these conditions, I can't use the deck guns and torpedoes invariably miss. encountering targets in this weather is one of the big frustrations of SH3, as per real life.



By 17th August we're still ploughing back and forth in bad weather.



After another couple of weeks, the incoming radio reports, civil and naval, begin to report the gathering storm of war. It looks like our journey won't have been wasted!

...to be continued!

Finally, we are advised by radio that hostilities have started, first with Poland and then, on 3 September, with Britain and France. The war is a few hours old when - having earlier had our conning tower damaged by a strafing Swordfish, was we crash dived - we have a chance for revenge when we run into a solitary steamer, flying the Red Ensign and now an enemy. It's dark by the time we're in a firing position but the weather has settled enough for us to get a torpedo hit. One is enough - the 8,397t SS Empire Mallard breaks her back when the eel explodes...



...and her burning remains are soon sinking. At the time I don't know her name, but later, SH3C's patrol report will confirm it, and that sadly, only 3 of here crew of 65 survived.



By the time we're on the surface, she's gone - a coup de grace with the deck gun will not be necessary.



First light finds us back on our search pattern, but day follows night follows day and there's nothing to be seen, despite conditions being calmer and clearer.



In frustration, having scoured my assigned patrol area for several days after the outbreak of hostilities, I move further north-east, into what I hope will be a shipping lane for Liverpool traffic into the North Channel between Northern Ireland and Scotland. The wind has by now picked up a little but not so much that it will inhibit torpedo attacks...I hope.



We finally meet some shipping - a medium-sized tanker sailing independently and riding high in the water, so possibly in ballast.



Laden or not, she's British Commonwealth-flagged and fair game, so in we go!



...to be continued!

Our target is quite fast and we're starting well astern of her. Fortunately, she's not armed. The sea state isn't too bad but just bad enough to prevent the deck guns from being manned. The ship isn't zig-zagging, so I try a first torpedo shot at long range, even though the impact angle of a hit would be rather acute.



No dice! In fact I end up getting three misses, including one from close range and at a good angle and the eel set to run at a shallower depth!



I resolve for the next session to disable the HSie 'torpedo failure fix' which adds to the vanilla SH3 torpedo unreliability factor in an effort to simulate the German 'torpedo crisis' of the early war. I'm re-reading the excellent 'Hirschfeld' by the senior telegraphist of Type IX U-109 and they were having many similarly frustrating multiple failures as late as Spring 1942. More realistic the 'fix' may be, but not for me!

I turn away for a final shot with the stern tube...



...but this will also miss. The wake of the compressed-air-driven torpedo didn't appear on the far side of the target so this one looks like a failed fuze.



My intended victim sails on serenely.



In frustration I fall back and shadow her while waiting for the weather to improve so that I can use my deck gun.



It's not long, however, before the bridge watch spots an aircraft closing from astern.



Alarm! It's a Swordfish - it looks like's been shadowing the shadower!



Down we go, narrowly missing the bombs - 100 lb and 200 lb bombs fuzed to explode after impact with the surface being all Coastal Command and the RN had, until modified 450 lb and later 250 lb depth charges became available from later 1940.



By the time it's safe to come up again the ship has long gone. After further fruitless searching, I decide to go home. Fuel's getting low, as we've been at sea for over a month. I plot a course north-north-east between the Faroes and Shetlands, then east towards Norway, then south-east across the North Sea towards Wilhelmshaven.

The voyage home is uneventful. No other shipping is spotted until near Heligoland and in murky conditions, we pass one of our S-Boats.



Nearing harbour we meet a minesweeper. I don't wait to see if he turns to escort us and carry on.



Turning in towards our berth with the off-watch crew on deck, we pass close under the stern of the moored destroyer, an 1934 Class with the higher funnel caps (compared to the similar 1936 Class) I believe.



We're still travelling quite fast as we come in towards our berth...



...so the engines are briefly thrown into reverse to bring U-33 to halt under the eyes of the 'welcome committee' on the quaysides.



Just one victim this time, but not through want of time on station or effort expended! We'll do better next time, not having to waste most of our time waiting for the war to start!

Great stuff Lima

Thanks mate!

U-33's second patrol begins on the early morning of 6th October 1939. You can see our escort minesweeper up ahead, just outside the harbour entrance.



I order revolutions increased to catch him up and we slide quickly past the warehouses and shipbuilding sheds which line the wharves on either side.



We're soon in the outer harbour...



...after clearing which, we turn to port to follow our escort. Tirpitz is still fitting out where we last saw her, and the torpedo boat is still tied up nearby.



The duty seagulls bid us a noisy farewell as we rumble out into the Jade estuary astern of our escort. The mod comes with pull-down maps which show the locations of the mine and boom defences of all friendly ports, but I can safely just follow the minesweeper.



A thick fog suddenly envelops us, before we reach the open sea.



And soon afterwards, our escort turns back...



...and sweeps past us to starboard as we continue northwards, before turning to the north-west to transit the North Sea.



Once again, we're bound for the Atlantic - Grid Square AM13 to be precise, off neutral Ireland's western shores, not far from our original hunting ground but closer to the Rockall Banks. I've disabled the HSie torpedo failure mod so I'm hoping to have to contend with slightly fewer missed opportunities, this time - we'll see soon enough!

...to be continued!

Our first few days in our patrol area west of Ireland are uneventful...apart, that is, from the seemingly-inevitable air attack while en route south of the Faroes.



Despite spotting our attacker to late to escape being accurately bombed, we get away with it.



On 14th October, we plot a course to intercept a ship reported to our south-west...



...but fail to make contact. More than a week later, still tracking back and forth across our patrol area, the lookouts spot smoke and mastheads on the horizon, to port.



It's a solitary freighter, and this time. we're in an ideal position off her bows. U-33 submerges and closes slowly for a torpedo attack in daylight.



Doors to tubes 1 and 2 are opened...



...and we wait patiently for a strike, as the steamer plods on, blissfully unaware that death and destruction are headed her way.



This time there's no doubt about the result. Our victim is slipping beneath the waves by the time we are back on the surface for a closer view of our handiwork.



After that, the traffic seems to dry up, so we relocate to the north-east, towards likely shipping routes into the North Channel.



We have plenty of eels and diesel left, so are hoping for better results here than on our first patrol!

...to be continued!

We still have no contacts so I extend our search pattern into a deeper series of north-west zig-zags. Finally, on the early afternoon of 28th October 1939, the lookouts spot tell-tale funnel smoke on the horizon.



There's at least two ships headed roughly in our direction and U-33 alters course to cut them off.



The trick now is not to submerge so soon that I can't get into a good firing position, while not being spotted myself. I need to be able to complete the run-in at our much slower submerged speed. As we get nearer, I can make out that there's a destroyer...



...leading two freighters.



Still closing on the surface and adjusting my intercept course accordingly, I suddenly notice that the destroyer has swung around towards us and is showing a prominent bow wave. We've been spotted! No chance of escaping on the surface - we need to get down quickly and go deep. As we reach 100 metres, we're pinged by ASDIC.



We get down to 140 meters and the destroyer's depth charges explode noisily but harmlessly above us. There follows the usual cat and mouse game, during which the hydrophones tell me I'm more or less between the destroyer and the freighters. It occurs to me that if I could nail this escort, I can wipe them out. So I charge up to periscope depth, secure from silent running, open all torpedo tube doors and turn hard to face the oncoming destroyer.



Things happen very quickly in this situation. I loose off an eel at under 500 meters just as the enemy seems to have settled onto his depth-charge run. However, having seemingly spotted the torpedo, he breaks off just in time to avoid it. I crash dive at once and throw in a change of course, in turning causing him to miss when he comes around again and drops a pattern of his tin cans.



Instead of staying down, I decide to take another big chance and reverse the dive. I'm still between the destroyer and the freighters so the closer I get to them, the more awkward it will be for him to attack me without running the risk of collision. Back up at periscope depth, I manage to get off two eels at the leading freighter. At this range I can hardly miss...



...and neither torpedo is a dud!



I turn sharply away from him then give him the coup de grace with the stern tube, but while on target, this torpedo runs underneath him without exploding.



Then we dive for the depths again. The ship, which was actually an armed merchant cruiser, goes down soon after.

The destroyer seems more interested in ensuring the remaining big freighter doesn't share the same fate, than in hunting us. By the time the moon has come above the horizon, we have left them both behind, steaming off to the west.



Auftauchen! Back to the surface we come, silent running over so we can reload. I haven't finished with these people yet!



...to be continued!

I plot a course designed to hook around the estimated track of what's left of the small convoy...



...and U-33 thunders on through the night, in an effort to get ahead of the enemy again.



But once day breaks, the only contact we make is a Coastal Command Anson, which races in to attack us.



This time, the lookouts have spotted the danger in good time and we have no difficulty in getting below well before the bombs fall.

Back on the surface just after mid-day, we finally spot a ship, off the port bow. A slight change of course is all that's needed to bring us abeam of him.



He's a steamer, not the one I was after, but he'll do! Our submerged torpedo attack from close range goes off without a hitch.



The vessel isn't sinking, but he appears unarmed, so we come to the surface to finish him off.



We get a good, close look at him...



... as he sweeps past, on fire in a forward cargo hold.



He's still under way and zig-zagging. The deck gun is brought into action as we pass astern of him.



The 8.8 cm HE rounds are soon crashing into the helpless merchantman.



Slowly losing way, he begins to settle in the water, firing a red distress flare as he goes.



The binos give me a clear view of the ship's final moments. Seconds later he slips beneath the surface.



The drama's not quite over yet, though!

...to be continued!

I order the boat towards the oil slick and debris field that's all that's left of the freighter. Through the binoculars, I see them - survivors, in and around a large life raft.



Thankfully, the raft is clear of the oil slick. U-33 slows down as we come up.



Though some are hanging onto the outside, there appears to be plenty of room on the raft. The bridge watch of course keeps a keen all-round lookout - we don't want to be caught out and join the enemy in the water.



I come alongside, so as to simulate providing provisions and directions - but without a proper lifeboat the survivors are a long way off the coast of Ireland.



We can but hope that they will be spotted by the regular air cover and picked up by a ship or flying boat. At least the weather is good.



Nothing else for it - we resume the hunt.



We make no further contacts before shortage of fuel forces us to set a course back to Wilhelmshaven. By the time we arrive on 3 November, after twenty-nine days at sea, wet and murky weather pervades the German Bight. We still get a warm welcome from the quayside.



We're credited with nearly 24,000 tons of shipping...



...and I'm able to hand out some medals and awards to the crew, although I receive none for myself - apart from the U-boat Front Clasp. It's a pity my first patrol was so much less successful.



Next time, we will do better! And we've survived the first two months of the war!