What is the best Anti Submarine Fleet composition ?

[inselkammer]

i am having a game as UK with Stony Road right now, and the german subs are driving me crazy. so i tried to compose 3 fleets to react on convoy attacks with 2 BB 2 CVL 2 CA 2 CL and 10 DD. they also get the job done but i have the feeling, besides the enormous costs, that this is not the most efficient way to deal with it.

so i hope some cracks here could help me with that. how should an anti sub fleet look like. and in regard of the UK, whats the best way for them to deal with the subs ?

 

[unmerged(144541)]

I have not played UK before, but I have played Germany many times. Every time my u-boats would get destroyed by the RN there fleets consisted of a few CVL's (like two), CL's (like ten) and then a shit load of DD's (another ten to fifteen). Anytime my subs encountered those fleets I would lose atleast a few u-boats everytime. After that the RN would just keep wearing me down until I had only lvl 1 and 2 subs left. Try it I guess, but keep the pressure up and then suddenly there will be hiding in port rather than hiding in the depths.

That may not help you at all, but thought to say it anyway, you never know.

 

[inselkammer]

it actually does help. so cvls are essential, but are CLs doing anything good in those fleets ?

but maybe i should explain why i use BBs. its because the germans are building a lot of surface ships as well and, yes it happend, the spanish took gibraltar so the italians are now pouring into the atlantic. so i need a bit of defense in my ASW fleets against them too.

 

[unmerged(144541)]

but maybe i should explain why i use BBs. its because the germans are building a lot of surface ships as well and, yes it happend, the spanish took gibraltar so the italians are now pouring into the atlantic. so i need a bit of defense in my ASW fleets against them too.

Well i think the BB idea is great, better be safe than sorry right! I believe the CVL's find the subs faster than any other ship, because of the Aircraft. I find the CL's have a little more punch than DD's. But DD's work just as fine if you rather have your CL's escort the rest of your surface fleet. I just found that CVL's, CL's and DD's work quite effectively together. Atleast they did against me. lol

The only thing I like about the CL's being included is that they have a fairly good air defence, because most of the time you will be ASWing in coastal regions where bombers can reach your fleet in the sea. Just extra protection I guess!

 

[unmerged(42723)]

I'd still use DD-only or DD/CVL fleets for ASW only (use 'spotter' admirals). If there's a surface threat, have fast SAGs or CTFs to patrol the area on naval interdiction to deal with it (under 'superior tacticians').

With mainly screens and CVLs on ASW you don't risk valuable capital ships that might be lost when some subs get a lucky shot. Always keep up with research esp. naval doctrines, and use DDs that are not too old for ASW.

I'd only change that pattern if the enemy surface threat is really massive (llike having most of the RN shipping around in a large SAG wiping out smaller fleets). Then I'd stop ASW for a while, deal with the surface ships first and then go back to the original pattern.

And nav bombers can always be helpful of course, if only to plot enemy fleet movements.