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The game may have counted that patrol as a failure, but I lived and didn't have to do any work. Sounds like a win to me!
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Mar 28, 2014 05:45
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Skanky Burns posted:The game may have counted that patrol as a failure, but I lived and didn't have to do any work. Sounds like a win to me! Are you saying you're bored? We can increase the amount of drills if you want. Or, since as 1WO I am responsible for the weapons among other things, maybe you could take a look at our deck gun? You know, being an engineer and all. I was thinking perhaps we could get our hands on one of the Bismarck's batteries? Surely they don't need them all, it's not like anything bad could possibly happen to that ship anytime soon.
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Mar 28, 2014 11:51
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Alright, I've rolled an Abwehr mission! So I need a volunteer! Roll up, roll up.
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Mar 28, 2014 13:37
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Tekopo posted:Alright, I've rolled an Abwehr mission! So I need a volunteer! Roll up, roll up. I'll volunteer for it.
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Mar 28, 2014 13:58
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 After a month of downtime, Cythereal and his crew were back on patrol. The intervening months had been incredible: the French had been defeated and now U-37 would be transferred over to the french port of St. Nazaire. Leaving the Kiel Canal for the last time, Cythereal did not know if to be glad or dissapointed.  U-37 had a guest: an Abwehr agent, Lt. RZApublican. Cythereal had been tasked to land the agent on the English eastern coast near Skegness. The Kaleun didn't trust the officer: he seemed very officious. Hopefully they would be able to get rid of him quickly and then proceed north around the British Isles and then down towards the French west coast. The trip out of the Kiel Canal and the through the North Sea was uneventful, but the crew had been put on edge due to the presence of the RZApublican. He seemed very insistent on asking about how the boat was run and quite frankly, he was annoying the crew with his questions.  Still, it wasn't long before the boat arrived at its designated mission area. With an inflatable boat ready, soon RZApublican was ready to head for the british coast, a cloudy night providing cover. Fortunately, neither the U-Boat nor RZApublican seemed to have been spotted and the Abwehr agent was soon on his way to complete whatever his mission was. Cythereal was glad to get rid of him. Soon U-37 was heading northwards, towards the Orkneys.  The trip to the Orkney was uneventful, with no targets spotted by Keksen or Last Transmission. Rounding the islands by the North, soon U-37 was heading west towards the Hebrides. A few hours into the trip west, Keksen finally spotted something in the horizon: a single ship, the 4.2k ton freighter Gro, escorted by a single destroyer. Since it was already night, Cythereal got in to medium range submerged before firing two torpedoes. One of the torpedoes missed, but the other hit the freighter, slowing it considerably.  Unfortunately, the destroyer was soon on the hunt and although Cythereal had made the boat go deeper, it wasn't enough to avoid detection. A brace of depth charges exploded near the u-boat, rocking the ship. Reports came from aft that one of the diesel engines had been severely damaged by the attack.  Unfortunately, the destroyer wasn't done and soon came around for another pass. The depth charges were less accurate this time, but a spar suddenly broke after an explosion, hitting the doctor in the chest. Rogue Norwegian didn't last long and soon was lying lifeless on the floor of the the u-boat. As Cythereal ordered the u-boat deeper, the explosions could be heard going further and further away and soon the u-boat was clear of their effects altogether. Once again they had avoided detection, but this time at the cost of Rogue Norwegian's life.  There was one piece of good news, however: Skanky Burns reported that the Diesel Engine had been fixed and thus U-37 wouldn't need to abort their patrol altogether. When the u-boat surfaced, the stricken freighter was still in sight and therefore Cythereal decided that he needed some payback, approaching the Gro at medium range in the dead of night and firing two torpedoes yet again in order to finish off the freighter. Unfortunately, both torpedoes missed. The destroyer was once again on the hunt, probably having spotted the torpedoes even though they had missed the freighter. Another set of depth charges exploded near U-37, damaging the radio but doing little else. The next pass of the destroyer was much more accurate, however, with explosions severely shaking the boat. The aft torpedo room was damaged, along with the flak guns outside the ship. As well as that, the operators in the control room reported that the dive planes had become unresponsive.  Even with the unresponsive dive planes, it was still possible for U-37 to dive deeper and soon the ship avoided detection once again, returning to the surface. Skanky Burns reported that the Radio and the Dive Planes could be fixed, but the aft torpedo room and the flak guns were completely out of operation. Not wanting to give up the chase without a prize, once again Cythereal got the u-boat in position to attack, firing two torpedoes once again. One of the torpedoes hit this time, but proved to be a dud and thus the freighter continued to survive, against the odds. Fortunately, this time, the destroyer was not in position to detect the u-boat.  Frustrated at his lack of success, Cythereal decided to do one final attack: if the freighter was not going to be sunk now, he would give up. Getting up to medium range, he fired two more torpedoes. This one, one of them finally hit and the freighter was sunk: the first success of the U-37 for many months. Quietly slipping away underneath the surface, U-37 was able to avoid detection and after a few hours, surfaced once again to return on its set patrol around the British Isles.  The rest of the patrol did not show any further targets and soon U-37 was forced to head down to the Bay of Biscay and into its new home of St. Nazaire. As the u-boat entered the Bay of Biscay, however, Keksen, the current watch officer, suddenly shouted alarm: a plane had been spotted on the horizon! Fortunately, the u-boat was able to dive before the plane attacked and apart from the explosions on the surface, no harm came to the ship. Half an hour later the u-boat was able to surface and enter St. Nazaire, its new home.  Final Status Patrol Summary Ships Sunk: 1 Total Tonnage: 4.2k tons Campaign Summary Ships Sunk: 5 Total Tonnage: 22.8k tons
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Mar 28, 2014 22:19
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Cythereal is going to skate on to the end of the war over the corpses of his dead crewmen. 
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Mar 28, 2014 22:23
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Cursed ship! U-37 is cursed, I tells ya! Stay off the boat if you don't want death to pass by! 
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Mar 28, 2014 22:24
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Insert name here posted:Cythereal is going to skate on to the end of the war over the corpses of his dead crewmen. The question, then, is whether I'll exceed the body count of my predecessors who lost them all in one go.
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Mar 28, 2014 22:30
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Insert name here posted:Cythereal is going to skate on to the end of the war over the corpses of his dead crewmen. Dead Doctors, if nothing else.
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Mar 28, 2014 22:33
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Right guys, who wants to be our next doctor? Any takers? I'll share my cocktail recipes with you! By the way, I find it suspicious that we deliver a guy to England and suddenly their destroyers can find us so easily. Also I checked that spar that killed our doc before we left port and it looked fine then. Just sayin'. Out of curiosity, what was the deal with that Abwehr mission, gameplay-wise? What happens if you fail it? Keksen fucked around with this message at 22:46 on Mar 28, 2014 |
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Mar 28, 2014 22:43
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Keksen posted:Right guys, who wants to be our next doctor? Any takers? I'll share my cocktail recipes with you!
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Mar 28, 2014 22:46
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You could also fail by getting an RTB from losing a diesel engine or fuel tanks.
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Mar 28, 2014 22:49
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On the plus side, Operation Bad Idea was a complete success 
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Mar 28, 2014 22:50
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So, volunteers for anyone to fill the
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Mar 28, 2014 23:53
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Yes, come on, step right up, step right up! We need more ...
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Mar 28, 2014 23:55
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Tekopo posted:So, volunteers for anyone to fill the Ok, can I volunteer to be the third We need a suitably appropriate meme now that we're on Doc #3 
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Mar 29, 2014 00:27
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Wouldn't that mean that we just had the same doctor reincarnated three times?
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Mar 29, 2014 00:32
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No, my engines! You Allied monsters will pay for that!!!  Oh, and shame about Rogue Norwegian.
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Mar 29, 2014 00:36
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A White Guy posted:Ok, can I volunteer to be the third I am 100% okay with this development
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Mar 29, 2014 00:51
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I was a wounded chief engineer but I'm pretty sure I can basically substitute for being a doctor
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Mar 29, 2014 00:57
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dscruffy1 posted:I was a wounded chief engineer but I'm pretty sure I can basically substitute for being a doctor Machines. People. What's the difference, right? If it's screaming/sceeching find what's wrong and fix it. Easy!
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Mar 29, 2014 01:08
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He's squeaking when we poke his wound. Probably needs more oil!
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Mar 29, 2014 01:24
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I am annoyed that it isn't possible to sink destroyers. That was always the first thing I did in Silent Hunter games.
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Mar 31, 2014 07:45
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 The loss of yet another doctor had troubled KptLt Cythereal deeply, yet something that troubled him more was the new doctor, OfzS A White Guy. For a start, he seemed insistent on being called 'The Doctor': he also seemed heavily puzzled about where he was and what year he was in. Cythereal hoped that this wouldn't affect his performance aboard U-37. Skanky Burns, for his part, had also been promoted to LtzS due to his exemplary duty on the last patrol.  This time, U-37 had been assigned for the first time to an Atlantic patrol: the number of these patrols had increased recently due to the increase in Allied convoys over lone ships. Hopefully Cythereal would find one of these convoys while the ship was out. The journey out of St. Nazaire and into the Bay of Biscay was uneventful, with the escorts soon leaving the U-boats to travel alone into the Atlantic. The patrol zone assigned to U-37 was directly west of France, and thankfully no airplanes or enemy escorts were spotted in the journey outwards.  The first week and a half of the patrol was boring. Doctor A White Guy still proved to be slightly crazy, talking about screwdrivers that made sound. LtzS Keksen, of course, disgusted everyone with one of his special u-boat cocktails. The crew seemed an equally worried and bored at the same time and soon the routine seemed to drag people into apathy. The mood in the boat only picked up after Keksen decoded a message from BdU: a convoy had been spotted nearby. Cythereal immediately set a course to intercept. It was night by the time that U-37 reached its attack point, and Keksen and Last Transmission excitedly called off the targets.  The targets spotted were the 3.2k ton Hatasu, the 3.5k ton Baron Pentland, the 2k ton Sea Glory and the 5k ton Arlington Court. Coming in submerged at medium range, Cythereal calculated a firing solution for the Baron Pentland and the Arlington, firing two torpedoes at each before lowering the periscope. One of the torpedoes aimed at the Baron Pentland missed, but all other hit, sinking both ships in quick succession. At least the torpedoes had proved to be more reliable this time. U-37 was even fortunate enough to avoid being detected by the escorts, which seemed to be busy elsewhere. It wasn't long before U-37 surfaced again and had its forward tubes reloaded. Cythereal plotted a course to double back and get into position to attack the convoy once again. Fortunately, it was still night by the time that the boat was in position again.  This time, the available targets were the 2.6k ton Bengore Head, the 4.7k ton Aeas, the 5.4k ton Balzac and the 8.3k ton Chilore. Opting to target the two larger ships, Cythereal got in at medium range and fired two torpedoes at each of the Balzac and Chilore. One of the torpedoes aimed at the Balzac missed, but the other hit the ship well, slowing it down considerably. As for the Chilore, one torpedo was a dud, but the other hit the ship in the fore compartments, again slowing the freighter considerably. Once again, the escorts seemed to be sleeping, as no one bothered U-37 as it slipped away to reload its torpedo tubes.  It was obvious that the escorts were busy elsewhere, since no destroyers dropped out to help the two crippled ships. However, they had enough power to create distance between each other, heading in separate ways in order to hope to draw out U-37 one way or the other. Cythereal opted to follow the Chilore, as the heavier ship and after waiting to make sure that the freighter was truly alone, Cythereal ordered the u-boat to surface and finish the freighter off using the 10.5 cm cannon. 25 rounds directed by Keksen were enough to sink the freighter, although both the Balzac and the convoy were now too far away to follow further. Another week followed before U-37 got news of another convoy in the area, as reported by a nearby u-boat. Calculating the route and the remaining fuel in the tanks, Cythereal decided that it was worth pursuing and soon set a course towards where the convoy had been reported.  It was still day by the time U-37 reached the convoy and Keksen and Last Transmission spotted the enemy freighters. Not wanting to attack during the day with G7a's in his tubes, Cythereal opted to wait until dark and after a few hours, darkness descended with U-37 still in contact with the convoy. This time the two watch officers could spot the 5.3k ton Silverbelle, the 11.9k ton tanker Astral, the 6.9k ton tanker British Viscount and the 1k ton tramp steamer Truro. Deciding that the big tanker was too much of a prize to let it pass by, Cythereal opted to fire three G7a's at it and a single G7a at the Truro.  Of the three torpedoes fired at the Astral, only one hit and since it was a glancing blow, it did not seem to hinder the large tanker much. The Truro was also hit, damaging it heavily but not causing the small ship to sink. Once again, luck seemed to be blessing U-37, as the submarine slipped away without even being noticed by the escorts, leaving it time to resurface and reload its tubes.  Even though it was only lightly damaged, the tanker was still slowed down and weirdly, none of the escorts opted to defend it, making it an easy target for the stalking U-37. The Truro, even though it was crippled, was soon forgotten and after making sure that the destroyer escort was not planning a trap, Cythereal approached the tanker at close range and let loose with the 10.5 cm cannon. The cannon only lightly damaged the enemy tanker and after some contemplation, Cythereal opted to fire two of his G7e's at the tanker. Both missed: not wanting to let the tanker get away, U-37 rounded and fired both its aft tubes, but yet again both missed their mark: it seemed that the aim was off today.  Before Cythereal could get into position to attack once again, a shot suddenly landed worryingly close to the submarine, spraying the bridge with foam. The deck was quickly cleared and soon U-37 slipped underneath the waves. Fortunately the destroyer that had come to spoil the party chucked its depth charges too far away to worry the submarine. One thing was clear: Cythereal did not want the tanker to get away. Deciding to finish it off once and for all, Cythereal opted to fire all four tubes at the tanker, hoping that this would finish it off. All four torpedoes hit the tanker splendidly and it was almost like the tanker evaporated, such was the speed at which the ship sunk. There was no time for cheering, however: the enemy destroyer was still on the prowl. This time, it easily found the location from which U-37 had fired its shot and quickly converged on the submarines, depth charges hitting the water right on top of the u-boat. The depth charges were deadly accurate and soon explosion enveloped the submarine. Damage reports came in from all over the ship: both diesel engine 1 and electric engine 1 had been damaged by the explosions. Above the ship, the deck gun was also damaged severely.  Cythereal could only ask for the u-boat to go deeper and deeper: they hadn't exceed test depth yet but this would soon happen if the u-boat continued to descend. Fortunately, the next batch of depth charges was set to explode at a too shallow level and after a few more clutches of depth charges that missed their mark, it was clear that U-37 had managed to slip away. After a few hours, the u-boat finally surfaced. Skanky Burns reported that the deck gun was beyond repair and that the electric engine was impossible to repair at sea, but fortunately the diesel engine could be easily fixed. With fuel starting to run low, it was now time to return home. The trip back towards and through the Bay of Biscay did not meet any unexpected surprises and soon St. Nazaire was back in sight. This patrol, at last, had proved to be both fruitful and lacking from officer casualties. In a single patrol, U-37 had more than doubled its previous tally, built over the course of a whole year.  Final Status Patrol Summary Ships Sunk: 4 Total Tonnage: 28.7k tons Campaign Summary Ships Sunk: 9 Total Tonnage: 51.5k tons
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Mar 31, 2014 22:25
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Success! And what a feast! But more importantly I'm still alive  Now was that the first time someone here shotgunned a single target with all four tubes at once?
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Mar 31, 2014 22:42
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No one died to establish how serious the situation was and how war sucks for everyone involved. I'm worried.
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Mar 31, 2014 22:55
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I take back everything I said about RZApublican's mission. I don't know how you got the drugs into the destroyer crews' rations but it worked like a charm. Also nobody died horribly. That's kind of cool, I guess.
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Mar 31, 2014 23:30
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Last Transmission posted:Success! And what a feast! But more importantly I'm still alive
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Apr 2, 2014 20:52
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 The crew seemed happier now than they had been at the start of their last patrol. Doctor A White Guy was still crazy and seemed to be almost time-displaced, but he was finally being accepted by the rest of the crew. Cythereal hoped that his next patrol would be a similar success to his last.  BdU had assigned U-37 to patrol the Atlantic once again, this time further south from the first patrol. Fully into spring already, this was happy news for the crew of the ship, who had gotten sick of the cold and stormy weather of winter in the middle of the Atlantic ocean. The trip out through the Bay of Biscay and to the patrol zone was uneventful: the number of Allied aircraft in the air had increased but so far U-37 had been relatively lucky in avoiding most of them.  Three weeks passed without a single spotting, any report from BdU or anything from any other U-boat. There wasn't even adverse weather to keep the crew entertained. Cythereal, as time passed, got extremely frustrated with BdU: they were here in the middle of the Atlantic doing absolutely nothing but burning up fuel. It was at the end of the third week that finally Keksen finally spotted a convoy. It was still day by the time U-37 was in position to attack, so Cythereal elected to wait until night, constantly reporting the position of the convoy as the submarine stalked its prey.  The targets were the 7.4k ton tanker San Alberto, the 9.5k ton tanker Inversuir, the 2.6k ton Bengore Head and the 4.5k ton Cape Rodney. Approaching at medium range, Cythereal elected to fire two torpedoes at both of the tankers. One of the torpedoes aimed at the San Alberto missed, but the other exploded against the side of the ship, creating a huge secondary explosion that split the ship apart, quickly causing the tanker to sink. One of the torpedoes aimed at the Inversuir was a dud, but the other exploded, heavily damaging the tanker but not causing it to sink.  Unfortunately, the escorts were ready this time. Quickly converging on the position of the U-37, the ASDIC pinpointed the submarines position before Cythereal could dive deep enough and soon explosions rocked the ship. Skanky Burns reported that one of the diesel engines had been hit, but no other damage was reported. The destroyer came down again, and while Cythereal ordered the ship deeper, yet more depth charges hit around the boat. Skanky burns, working on the diesel engine, was lightly wounded, but fortunately A White Guy was able to patch the wound without any further problems.  Damage to the hull was also reported: Cythereal immediately ordered the ship to exceed test depth, they HAD to get away from those depth charges. Unfortunately, this wasn't enough to shake off the destroyer and another clutch of depth charges was released into the water, hitting near the submarine. Fortunately, only the 2cm flak cannon was seriously damaged. The next round of depth charges, however, was way off target and the next one was even further away. U-37 quietly slipped away. Once the u-boat surfaced, Skanky Burns' expert skills were able to fix both the 2cm flak cannon and the diesel engines.  As the tubes were reloaded, Cythereal could see that the wounded tanker had dropped off the convoy, but a destroyer was still hanging around. Approaching at medium range, Cythereal fired two more eels at the tanker, hoping to finish it off. One torpedo missed, but the other hit true, striking the fore of the tanker and quickly causing it to sink. Cythereal immediately ordered the u-boat to dive, but it wasn't enough and soon the destroyer was again on the hunt, dropping its deadly explosives around the ship.  The explosions this time only affected the upper part of the u-boat, striking the flak guns and the radio mast of the boat. For some reason, however, the escort gave up on the chase almost as soon as it had started and U-37 was allowed to slink away. Maybe another u-boat had attacked the convoy? A few hours later, U-37 surfaced. Skanky Burns reported that the 2cm could be fixed, but the large flak gun and the radio were completely inoperable.  With the convoy too far away to intercept again, U-37 returned on its patrol. To be continued...
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Apr 3, 2014 18:45
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Tekopo posted:To be continued... And as is tradition already I'm staying the gently caress away from either work or dangerous equipment when under fire.
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Apr 3, 2014 19:01
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Last Transmission posted:And as is tradition already I'm staying the gently caress away from either work or dangerous equipment when under fire. We have an alive doctor for once, you could at least try to get hurt a little so we get some use out of him before he dies.
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Apr 4, 2014 02:06
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Keksen posted:We have an alive doctor for once, you could at least try to get hurt a little so we get some use out of him before he dies. For now...
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Apr 4, 2014 03:03
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Keksen posted:We have an alive doctor for once, you could at least try to get hurt a little so we get some use out of him before he dies. I'm doing my part. Hell, I got injured and still managed to fix almost everything that was damaged. Bow down before my highly efficient mechanical prowess!
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Apr 4, 2014 05:34
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Apologies for slowing this down, I should be able to at least end the patrol by the end of the weekend and get back into regular scheduling by next week.
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Apr 11, 2014 21:29
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U-37 April 1941 Part 2 It wasn't long before another report from BdU was received: another convoy had been spotted nearby. There wasn't much fuel left in the tanks, but the convoy location was close enough to allow U-37 to head for an intercept course, although the engines couldn't be placed at flank speed. Keksen and Last Transmission spotted the convoy half a day later: since the sun was still up, Cythereal elected to wait until night, stalking the convoy at a distance far enough not to get spotted.  The targets spotted were the 3.4k ton freighter Tweed, the 5k ton Broompark, the 2.7k ton Vingaland and the 8.7k ton tanker Castor. Electing to target the two larger ships, the Castor and Broompark, Cythereal fired two eels at both at medium range, submerged within the depths of the ocean. Only one torpedo hit each of the freighter and tanker, damaging the Broompark enough to slow it down but only superficially damaging the Castor. Fortunately, the escorts were nowhere to be seen and thus Cythereal managed to slip out and come around again for another pass.  By the time U-37 was in position again, the two damage merchant ships had split, having been left behind by their escorts. Deciding to strike the tanker rather than the smaller freighter, Cythereal fired three torpedoes at it at close range with the hope of finishing it off. One torpedo missed, but the other two hit, sending the tanker down to the bottom. With the rest of the convoy too far away and the fuel situation critical, it was time to return home. Fortunately, the trip back was uneventful and the crew seemed happier about the lack of casualties and the nice number of enemy ships sunk in this particular patrol.  Final Status Patrol Summary Ships Sunk: 3 Total Tonnage: 25.6k tons Campaign Summary Ships Sunk: 12 Total Tonnage: 77.1k tons
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Apr 15, 2014 20:37
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Are you telling me we had a successful patrol with no casualties where we increased our total tonnage sunk by roughly 50%? This does not bode well.
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Apr 16, 2014 13:34
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Heads-up: You've posted the "Final Status" image twice and skipped the second round of combat. e: Or not? I see the torpedos are different. That was a pretty successful patrol, I can't wait to see what the dice gods come up with to get you guys back to the median.
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Apr 16, 2014 13:41
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Keksen posted:Are you telling me we had a successful patrol with no casualties where we increased our total tonnage sunk by roughly 50%? This does not bode well. Don't think I've made any mistakes with that last update, although I forgot to put the crew to trained rather than green.
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Apr 16, 2014 14:08
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It almost doesn't feel like a Cythereal patrol without any officer deaths. Not that I'm complaining.
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Apr 17, 2014 07:52
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| # ? Apr 24, 2024 05:44 |
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I'm an up and coming officer with a bright future ahead of me. Signing up as WO1 on Insert Name Here's boat.
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Apr 21, 2014 01:35
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