Lets Play: Silent Hunter IV U-Boat Missions

[Sergiu64]

My dad knew a guy who served on a merchant ship. A few minutes before they were hit by a U-Boat all the rats on board scurried off the deck and swam away..

Did he also have a theory for the cause? I believe animals have keen senses but I don't believe in superstition.

A possible explanation is that they sensed another torpedo that missed the ship and knew what it meant, from previous experiences on another ship.

I don't get the point of that. It's not like they're going to be able to swim to the shore unless the boat was in harbor.

 

[Burning Bridges]

Still it is said that rats will always leave a sinking ship.

I would also not be surprised if some of them actually manage to survive, and climb on another ship.

 

[Sergiu64]

Still it is said that rats will always leave a sinking ship.

I would also not be surprised if some of them actually manage to survive, and climb on another ship.

Really doubt it. They're smaller so they have higher metabolism and would lose heat and freeze to death faster.

 

[Norfleet]

I don't get the point of that. It's not like they're going to be able to swim to the shore unless the boat was in harbor.

Your odds of surviving a sinking are improved if you get off the ship before it sinks than if you wait until the ship actually sinks to leave, so as to avoid being sucked down with the ship.

 

[The Thin Man]

I don't get the point of that. It's not like they're going to be able to swim to the shore unless the boat was in harbor.

Your odds of surviving a sinking are improved if you get off the ship before it sinks than if you wait until the ship actually sinks to leave, so as to avoid being sucked down with the ship.

and you get access to the lifeboats before everyone else knows that they need them.

 

[oscar]

It was a Red Cross ship (got wounded in Egypt) and he spent the next three days on a raft and was circled by sharks. And when he was in London he opened the train door at the wrong time and got caught on a train going the other direction. Survived it all though :D

 

[Burning Bridges]

Some things sound wrong here.

German submarines torpedoed no Red Cross ships. The closest you get is the Laconia incident, but that was not an Red Cross ship either. It just happened that after the Germans discovered they had sunk a ship with thousands of (Italian) POWs, they painted Red Cross flags on their U-Boat, but which were then ignored by American Liberator bombers.

I believe there were a few cases in the Pacific, but I highly doubt that the survivors would have been left for days in rafts, facing sharks on their own.

If I also think of the rat story, it could be that this is another case of a grandfather inflating his war stories for the younger ones.

Look, I know this from my own grandfather. He was in the 6th Army at Stalingrad, as a truck driver. On the day the Russians closed the cauldron, he happened to have the tour back from Stalingrad. Pure luck. After the war, everyone wanted him to tell the same stories over and over, and every time it was told, a little bit was added. Now that he is no more, when some family members retell his stories, it sounds like he made a wild escape through the forest, hiding from the Russians, and other nonsense.

 

[Burning Bridges]

At the moment it does not look too good with my career, the game will CTD every time I reload a savegame. It doesn't matter if I am in port or at sea.

 

[Drakron]

I believe there were a few cases in the Pacific, but I highly doubt that the survivors would have been left for days in rafts, facing sharks on their own.

There is the AHS Centaur, a Australian Hospital ship sunk by a Japanese sub, 64 survivors (out of 332) and 36 hours until rescue, the SS Junyō Maru sunk by the HMS Tradewind British submarine with 723 survivors (out of 6343) but the Junyō Maru was a Hell Ship, it was carrying POW and Javanese slave labourers and also the SS Montevideo Maru sunk by the American sub USS Sturgeon when carrying POWs with 18 survivors out of (1140), all survivors were crew.

In Europe you have the MV Wilhelm Gustloff, German Hospital ship sunk in the Baltic by a Soviet sub S-13 estimated 9400 dead, 1252 survivors (largest loss of life on a maritime disaster), the SS General von Steuben, also sunk by the S-13 with about 300 survivors (out of of 4267) and the MV Goya sunk by the Soviet sub L-3 (minelayer submarine) with 183 survivors (out of 7000).

Those are the only incidents concerning submarines, with aircraft there is more, SS Cap Arcona (German), SS Thielbek (German), RMS Laconia (British, already mentioned), HMT Rohna (British) and the SS Armenia (Soviet).

Of course listing all civilian transport ships sunk in WWII would take a long time, the only ships sunk by U-boats seem to be the SS Athenia, SS Arandora Star, SS City of Benares, RMS Lady Hawkins, SS Caribou and SS Leopoldville besides the already mentioned incident.

 

[oscar]

He also had an enduring hatred and phobia of rats after having them claw his face and often had nightmares about it.

Of course I'm not saying this gospel, and unless you were there you can't really know for sure but this LP just reminded me of it. He wasn't my relative or anything, just my father's neighbour.

 

[Burning Bridges]

I have a permanent savegame failure. I can still use one of my earlier saves, but after my return to base reloading will always result in CTDs (after St.Nazaire, January 1941). It must be something happens in base that irretrievably breaks the career.

There seems no way I can continue this career except if I only resupply and stay at sea forever, like the Flying Dutchman

Should I continue with the Silent Hunter LP? Any suggestions?

Would it be ok if I retire U-52 and continue with a new boat?

 

[DwarvenFood]

I came across a little weird "sim" of a ACTUV which is an ASW- device still in development

https://actuv.darpa.mil/

Quite interesting, but I have not tried it yet. Placing it here, because it is not exactly a game.

 

[DwarvenFood]

...

the SS Junyō Maru sunk by the HMS Tradewind British submarine with 723 survivors (out of 6343) but the Junyō Maru was a Hell Ship, it was carrying POW and Javanese slave labourers.

Hmm I never heard of them being called that way before, interesting - do you have any more info ? Also, reading up on the murmansk route convoys, basically there were nly survivors if one was lucky enough to get taken out of the water soon enough before hypothermia sets in.

I remember a Pacific story about some dude (US Pilot) he had his leg(s) chewed off by a shark but something about already having no feeling in them .. wow I read that one far too long ago. As for the rats and leaving ship.. always thought it as a folks tale/ urban myth (well, not really urban) or whatever you call it. Would make a cool research paper I reckon.

 

[Drakron]

Hell Ships?

Term is older, originates in the American Revolution since the British used ships in the New York harbor to house prisoners, needless to say how conditions were so they were refereed as that.

Needless to say the Japanese had very little regard to POW and so ships that transported POWs were at best like their POW camps, they were call that as the picture shows.

As for Japan SNR efforts they were poor even to their own, Japan lost many experienced pilots not because they were killed in combat but rather they were never rescued, unlike the US that put effort in that.

 

[Ulminati]

FFS people. When you ressurect an old LP, you make us think there's an update!