noobermenschen said:
... In real life offensive patrols were horribly inefficient, with the deadliest sub killer being the convoys themselves once they received adequate surface and air escort - the baited trap.
Exactly... one lesson that was forgotten between the two World Wars, and had to be painfully re-learned, was that U-Boats were not a threat unless they were in the immediate vicinity of a Convoy. Also, they were extremely hard to locate by random searching, except (again) in the immediate vicinity of a Convoy... where the area to be searched is greatly reduced.
Offensive Patrols were both unproductive... sinking very few U-Boats... and also strategically pointless, since they were hunting for U-Boats in places where the U-Boats threatened nothing anyway. Not until Airborne RADAR became a mature technology could Offensive Patrols actually accomplish anything.
noobermenschen said:
How would it have affected your sub offensive if Britain had say, 600 escorts with more in the que; would a more powerful convoy escort have driven off or even sunk some of your wolfpacks?
In-game, Convoys Escorts do not sink U-Boats... a flaw in the game system, since it is my understanding that in real life, the MAJORITY of U-Boat losses were to Convoy Escorts. What Convoy Escorts do in-game is to sharply reduce Convoy losses... instead of losing (for example) eight Convoys, a well-escorted run might lose two Convoys and one Escort.
Had my opponent started with more than his actual 160 Convoy Escorts and with more Destroyer flotillas, his losses would have been lighter, and my losses heavier... but note that it wasn't really neccessary for me to sink
all of his Convoys before the historical date of the Vichy settlement (as has happened in this game), and that I could have afforded far more combat losses than the five flotillas actually lost. If it cripples the UK, I could have afforded ten times the losses.
noobermenschen said:
BTW emu, Don't know it this has been mentioned yet, but you also adopted another policy that Doenitz was wailing for - Luftwaffe cooperation with subs, which was woefully, even criminally from a German POV, inadequate during the war.
Correct... in my game, Goering is not quite the self-inflated buffoon that he was in real life. The major contribution that the Luftwaffe has made in my game has been Air attacks on ASW forces... rather than Anti-Shipping operations. Both types of operation were on a grossly inadequate scale in real life.
noobermenschen said:
Though a bit ahistorical, wouldn't CVs have worked better that BBs for escorting Sealion transports? Even with the crappy positioning they get from your doctrine, they should keep the RN away from the transports longer by engaging them at longer range shouldn't they?
CVs might have worked better for that one operation (Sealion), just to hold off the British forces... but I am building my Navy for the long term, and my Doctrines favor a surface fleet... also, there is an element of role-play involved.
I expect that my U-Boats plus my surface fleet plus my Luftwaffe should be able to hold off the Royal Navy.
noobermenschen said:
And by the way, may not be hearing from blue emu today, as this is the first day he can legally stand on his front porch in golf shorts and sock garters, yelling at the kids to keep off his lawn...
HAPPY BIRTHDAY OLD MAN!!!
I'm here... just got back inside from chasing the dang kids off the lawn...
========= ========== ========= ========= ========= =======
Update : 00:00 hours, July 1st, 1940.
The Russians are making very slow progress in subduing the Baltic States... Lithuania has been annexed, but Estonia and Latvia are still fighting. The Bessarabia-Northern Bukovinia region of Romania has been demanded and occupied by the Soviets. In response to this, a coup in Romania has replaced the Democratic government with a Totalitarian one.
It looks like Barbarossa is ready to go... Latvia and Estonia will not join the Allies when attacked, since they are already in alliance with each other.
The fourth HQ has arrived from the West, and a fifth HQ has been newly constructed and deployed on the German/Russian border. That should be plenty.
Stocks on hand for the operation:
692 Manpower, with an income of 1.49 Manpower per day.
80 k Rares.
89 k Oil... which should be plenty, given my shortage of Armored Divisions (only 14).
TC: 454/776.
Convoy losses continue at a greatly reduced level... 16 Convoys and 8 Escorts being sunk in this two-week period, bringing the total losses to 1070 Convoys and 160 Escorts. That should just about wrap it up... ten months from start to finish.
British warship losses continue to mount, reaching a total of 84 RN vessels (almost all ASW vessels, almost all to Air attack) and 32 Allied warships. German and Italian Naval forces have suffered no additional losses.
Starvation and disease continues to claim isolated British garrisons around the world... half of the Divisions on Malta are gone, and the Crete garrison is shrinking. Italy has resumed their offensive in Egypt against the unsupplied British forces, pushing Southward up the Nile Valley towards Khartoum. I would much prefer that the offensive had been aimed at Suez...
All German forces in Poland have been placed on the highest state of alert... the operation is expected to commence within hours.