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[Erkki]

Welcome to my Silent Hunter III AAR! I will be playing the game(very heavily modded btw, now also including AI submarines, both friendly and foe, plus wolfpacks) and write the Type VIIB boat U-46's war diary for you to read. The game will be played at full difficulty, starting from early November 1939 when the war begins. The idea is to try to survive as long as possible...

You, dear reader, may claim a person aboard the ship, but you may join the ship only before the first real patrol(2 pre-war shakedown cruises have been made to make sure that the installed mods actually work) or as a new crew member between the patrols.

Here is our ride, the U-46, and I am her Kaleun:



Currently every crew member is available. They all have names, skill, special abilities, morale, patrols and medals tracked. After each patrol the Captain is given a number of medals, depending on how well the patrol went, to give his crew.

Depending on what crew member you claim, you will get to have a (small) say in the Kaleun's decisions, and he may consult you.

All crew members are free, but remember that only officers and petty officers may learn special skills... At the moment, the important guys are:

Navigation, Weapons, Watch, Chief Engineer(1st Officer) and Chief Mechanic officers, various petty officers with deck gun, torpedo, medical and engine tech skills. I'll also teach someone to handle the flak gun ASAP.

The real U-46 was easily more than averagely successful boat, with over 80,000 confirmed tons of shipping sunk, mainly early in the war.

Here are our hunting grounds... Poland, France and the UK + Commonwealth will become our enemies by November 3rd, which should be a day or 2 before the beginning of the 1st combat patrol.



I dont know at what point the British East Coast gets mined and trapped... The Kaleun is considering sailing around the island and hunt for prey somewhere on the coast of Scotland or even near Liverpool. Every ship met close to Britain is in the Blockade Zone and free to be shot at. Further away though we need to be aware that there will be a lot of neutral or even German or her allies' naval traffic so all targets must be ID'd first. Dönitz told me something about these "Prize Rules" but for the safety of the boat I have no intention to follow them in hostile waters, where we're going.

[MonkeyHead]

I am so in! Chief Mechanic please, or failing that weapons/gunnery/torpedoes.

[Erkki]

August 22 1939, Pre Patrol 1

Claimed crew(please do only claim the more useful crew members if you plan to be active!  ):


MonkeyHead: Chief Mechanic Oberfähnrich Erwin Schaefer



U-boot U-46
Submarine Type: VIIIB
1st Flotilla
Home Port: Kiel
Damage: none
Fuel: 100%, Compressed Air: 100%, Compressed Air(ballast): 100%
Armament: 14 torpedoes, type G7a (standard steam torpedo), 88mm deck gun (210 shots), 20mm Oerlikon AA machinecannon
Crew morale: high
Assigned patrol grid: AN52(off the eastern coast of Britain)
Estimated date of departure: November 5 1939


I hope to be able to get this started at some point tomorrow. I hope you guys dont mind the sub-par graphics that my laptop offers... But I believe that this AAR will be mostly in text, like my WitPAE AARs. Daily reports with stuff like weather, coordinates etc. and more detailed stories each time something happened. Like IRL, war diary entries are written ASAP after each action while the 24h report has the lesser stuff + possibly thoughts or regarding the previous events.

The submarine will also keep a signal book. Of the hundreds of messages that are received weekly from other U-boats as well as the BdU, only the ones that have something to do with the U-46 will be listed on this AAR, as will be all the messages sent or relayed by the U-46.

[MonkeyHead]

AN52? Could be a happy hunting ground. Some pretty big industrial ports near there and some fishing grounds.

[Burnt Pies]

Ooh, I'll take a weapons officer, please!

[Stworca]

I'll take the motherflipping flak.

[USEC_OFFICER]

I'll handle Navigation if you don't mind. Monkeyhead has already picked the Chief Mechanic, and I can't handle the responsibility of Chief Engineer.

(Also, posting to watch)

[warhammer651]

I'll take a crewman. any officer.

You playing with SH3 commander? because that might transfer some of us out randomly

[Mithras]

The petty officer with medical skills is unimportant right? I'll have him.

Also, does that make him ship's doctor?

[thobal]

Oh, can I be someone with a cool job that wont need to be consulted too often? Like a gunner or something?

[Anvilfolk]

Posting to watch

I likely won't be involved, so let's just say I will be whoever is the most unfortunately person on that ship, unless he ends up already having been taken! So, if there's some guy who is closing the hatch, gets his hand caught, falls in pain, breaks a rib, gets the air kicked out of his lungs and then takes in a deep breath only to find himself full of bilge water - that'd be me.

[Erkki]

I'll take a crewman. any officer.

You playing with SH3 commander? because that might transfer some of us out randomly

Nope, because of that... I've so far manually edited the game files to make all the changes I've wanted without the commander. Playing with the modified "v 1.6" .exe too... I love the details in it, like periscope vibration at high underwater speeds(or well, above 4 knots...).

The petty officer with medical skills is unimportant right? I'll have him.

Also, does that make him ship's doctor?

In Type VII boats the "doctor"(= the guy witheven some first aid training) was typically either the radist or sonar operator. I've understood that there was a 4-6 man team responsible for the electronical equipment(they would also at least take part to the watch) and their leading petty officer would be the "doc", as he would be the man with the cleanest hands.

Oh, can I be someone with a cool job that wont need to be consulted too often? Like a gunner or something?

Sure!

[Jarod Cain]

If Mithras doesn't have dibs yet, I'll take Watch Officer.
-J-

[Mithras]

Could I be whichever petty officer has the medical skill and the least useful job then?

[Haspen]

PTW from sheer curiosity (and maybe I will get interested in teh games )