Silent Service: Seawolf

We've seen the instant action scenarios, but these are just practice runs for the real game - the war patrol, where you have 52 days of fuel, free reign of the Pacific, and any scenario possible within the constraints of the engine could happen.

 

The USS Seawolf SS-197 was the one of ten Sargo-class submarines used in the earliest war patrols against Japan following the attack on Pearl Harbor. Older in design than the Gatos that made up the mainstay of the US Navy, the Seawolf had one of the longest careers of any US WWII submarine, serving 15 war patrols from December 1941 to January 1945 when she was lost at sea, presumed struck by friendly fire in Indonesian waters.

Silent Service offers as one of its scenarios a recreation of the Seawolf's seventh war patrol, in which she departed Fremantle on October 1942 and navigated the constraining Davao Gulf, where she sank the 7,189 ton troop ship Sagami Maru and endured a two hour depth charge retaliation at 200 feet. She would return to Midway in December for repairs and an overhaul.

The war patrol scenarios do not require you to follow the historical route, nor do they ensure historically accurate engagements. You begin at the departure port - in this case, Freemantle, and are free to move the black dot representing your ship anywhere in the pacific, at a greatly accelerated timescale and simplified sailing model. The scenario simply dictates the technological advancement of yourself and your enemies, and the areas where Japanese ships are most concentrated. When an enemy convoy is spotted, the screen border turns orange and you may press the joystick's fire button to engage (or not), causing the time scale to slow down, the map view to zoom in, and the normal simulation engine to engage. Think of it as an overworld view in a CRPG with invisible random encounters.

For this session, I am using some house iron man rules:

• I get one shot at this, and am recording video (using WinVICE's lossless video capture) as I play.
• No practice runs, no saves, no restarts if I don't like the outcome of an engagement.
• No warp mode. 
• I can pause, which is something the game normally allows, but I will be using the emulator pause so that the video doesn't capture it.
• I can and will use GIMP to help plot my attack courses.

 

For difficulty, I will use the second-highest skill level (Commander) and also enable some reality options past the default settings, which will improve my score if I survive:

• Dud torpedoes, which were historically a major problem for submariners in the first half of the Pacific War.
• Port repairs only. If my boat catches a 300 GPS leak during a depth charge attack and I can't shake the destroyer, tough noogies.
• Convoy search. I'll need to use binoculars on the bridge myself to get the enemy's orientation from far away.

 

But I won't enable the others:

• No expert destroyers. I don't want being spotted to automatically mean I lose.
• No angle-on-bow input. This could have been an interesting option, but you kind of need to know your target's heading in order to calculate how much to lead them, and the TDC won't tell you this if you have this option enabled!

 

 

Day 3, 2200 hours

  

In the strait between Java and Sumatra, a convoy of 4-5 is spotted off the port at patrol range. I stay silent and monitor their course.

 

This could not be better for me. I am well positioned to intercept at a nearly perpendicular angle! 

I approach surfaced at 205-225 degrees, 14kn, keeping an eye on the white dots for unexpected changes in course, and at 6000 yards I can identify.

  

One troop ship, one oil tanker, one cargo ship, and a destroyer up front. Delicious.

I run silent and wait for the troop ship to pass in front, and unload at 3500 yards.

 

Five out of six miss!

I turn about, fire my aft tubes, and dive to 290 feet before the alerted destroyer closes in, and sonar picks up one more hit, but not a sink.

Evasion is child's play. The destroyer drops one charge which explodes far too close to the surface, and we slip away and continue the patrol.

 

Day 4, 2200 hours

 

Catching them at a good angle will be trickier this time, but I move due north in an attempt, this time at 20kn until I'm in visual range.

Two cargo ships, two Kaikoban, and two unidentifiable ships behind their starboards.

At 3500 yards I launch a frontal spread and immediately dive. At least three of my torpedoes hit, but still, none of my targets sink!

Once again, I evade the alerted destroyer effortlessly and continue the patrol.

 

Day 19, 0400 hours

 

Convoy of six, heading 294 degrees. I'm down to my last six torpedoes. Perhaps if I am lucky, I can try to flank them underwater and possibly catch them right at nautical dawn?

I submerge and try my luck. Alas, I am way too early, but my blind interception course was excellent.

I heard them. But did they hear me?

I wait for them to get a bit closer. Then surface and unload everything I have left.

At this distance, I can't dive fast enough to avoid eating a depth charge, but I get the destroyer off my back by jettisoning some debris and oil.

At least the quartermaster recognizes one kill. The convoy's other destroyer.

Out of torpedoes, I return to Australia early. I blame the munition engineers for this disappointing performance.

  

 Commander Ahab will return for one last patrol and a rating!