Battle of the Atlantic

Battle of the Atlantic was an event for War Thunder's 11th Anniversary lasting from 3rd November until 13th November 2023. The event involved battles between Type VII submarine and He 111 H-6, and USS Fletcher destroyer, USS Tacoma frigate, and PBY-5 Catalina.

Event introduction

It’s currently the height of World War II. Battles are raging on all fronts, including the Atlantic Ocean, where the most critical supply routes cross.

Welcome to the Battle of the Atlantic event, which pits two teams of players against each other in asymmetrical ship and submarine combat!

Attacking

The attacking team uses the customized German Type VII Submarine, which is armed with 10 torpedoes in bow tubes, and 11 mines launched from stern torpedo tubes! In addition to this, two twin 20 mm cannons and one 37 mm cannon. Submarines are unreachable for depth charges and detection at great depths. On the surface, they’ll have great visibility range and can move faster, but here they’ll be highly vulnerable and easily detected by the enemy.

For a submarine to attack, it’ll need to be on the surface or at the depth of its periscope. Look for targets through binoculars or with the periscope and identify — keep your crosshairs on the ship, as this will allow you to calculate the lead for attack. You can also launch torpedoes, which is possible at a depth of up to 20 meters as well as contact mines down to a depth of 60 meters!

There are three types of views available for submarines. You can use the third-person camera at any depth, however it will not allow you to begin calculating torpedo fire. When you submerge to a depth of 7 meters, you’ll be able to raise the periscope and observe the surface through it. If a submarine is in motion and you have your periscope raised, it’ll be easier to spot due to foamy water forming. The periscope is not too high above the surface of the water, but is still safer than binoculars that can only be used on the surface. However, binoculars have the best zoom and highest vantage point, so choose wisely!

Remember to keep in mind the noise level emitted by your submarine! The higher the speed, the higher the noise level. A stationary submarine can only be detected when in close proximity, while a submarine at a depth below 60 meters cannot be detected at all!

Therefore when playing in your submarine, make sure to find the right balance between safety, speed and precision in attacks.

Defending

In this event, the convoy is defended by US ships, specifically the USS Tacoma frigate and the USS Fletcher destroyer. Both can respawn at dynamic points around the convoy cargo ships and use any method available — depth charges, guns, torpedoes and good old ramming speed to defend against the attacking wolfpack. Having accumulated the required amount of spawn points, defenders can fly out in an anti-submarine aircraft to help defeat submarines from the air too!

Defenders can detect enemy submarines both visually, for example at longer ranges if it’s on the surface, or if it has its periscope raised as well as with the help of special equipment. Using a hydrophone will allow you to obtain the bearing and approximate distance to a submarine based on sound, but not depth. The faster the enemy submarine’s speed is, the greater distance at which it can be detected. At a short distance around the ship, sonar works — it can detect a submarine at depths down to 60 meters and will show you its silhouette!

Good luck and have fun in this challenging naval battle!

Controls

Pre-set controls for the submarine

Realism

Event has several interesting mechanics inspired by the real behaviour of the World War 2-era Battle of the Atlantic.

• Type VII was the most common type of the German submarine in World War 2, making it perfectly representative of the Battle of the Atlantic on the German side.
  • Submarine seems to be a mix of various variants of the Type VII. For example, it has a declared maximum depth of VIIB, armament of VIIF or a maximum surface speed slightly higher than even the VIIC/42. Meanwhile the speed under water is 19 km/h, which is much higher than any of the Type VII variants (the fastest one being VIIA and VIIB, topping at 15 km/h, 20% lower).
  • Much like in real life the noise submarine makes depends on the current speed of the submarine, but the game doesn't simulate noise of the engines or screws - it simplifies the noise to the one directly dependent on the current speed of the submarine.
  • In the event submarine has a crush depth of 100 meters and start taking damage at 60 meters. In real life different variants of the Type VII had a maximum operating depth between 200 and 270 meters, with crush depth between 220 and 350 meters respectively.
  • Similarly the number of torpedoes (10) and TMA-I mines (11) is smaller than on the Type VII submarines, where it typically was 14 torpedoes (11 in Type VIIA, 16 in VIIC/42) and usually 26 mines.
  • G7e torpedoes have a several changes compared to their real-life counterparts:
    • Severely limited range, from 7 km late war and 5 km early war to 2 km in-game.
    • In real life these torpedoes were powered by a lead-acid batteries, thus they never left a trace of bubbles on a surface. Behaviour of the torpedoes in the event is much more similar to a wet-heater G7a.
    • The moment torpedoes raise to the depth stroke of 1 meter they can instantly explode on target. In real life G7e torpedoes had a minimum arming distance of 250 meters. Similarly torpedoes will not bounce off the target, while in reality pistol needed to hit the target at an angle of no less than 20 degrees to fuse.
    • Torpedoes lack program steering, forcing submarine to turn in the exact desired heading, which is more typical to the World War 1-era torpedoes. During the World War 2 torpedoes like G7e could have their bearing set independently of the heading of the submarine. Torpedo would perform a desired turn immediately after the launch, allowing submarine to strike multiple targets without performing any maneuvers. In G7e this was called "LuT" (for Lageunabhängiger Torpedo - bearing independent torpedo) - an alternative program steering was FaT (Flächenabsuchender Torpedo - area searching torpedo) which allowed torpedo to follow S-shaped pattern, circular pattern or zig-zag pattern, depending on a specific version used.
    • There is no option to set torpedo depth stroke, even though it could be set up to 15 meters deep.
• USS Fletcher in the event has Bomb mortar modification and additional shell types unlocked, but otherwise comes stock, without any of the mobility improvements unlocked
  • In real life Fletcher used QC sonar, which could ping targets only in a 14 degree arc at a distance of up to 3.3 km in perfect conditions at 9 km/h speed - range dropped significantly with the speed of the vessel, something that isn't reproduced in the event. It also couldn't determine the submerged depth of the submarine or its shape.
• Tacoma-class frigate was introduced by the USA in 1943 specifically to counter the German U-boats attacking convoys, but USS Tacoma herself actually served during the World War 2 in Pacific, escorting vessels off Alaskan coast. USS Tacoma used the model of USS Hoquiam (PF-5) during the event.
  • It's unknown what exact type of the sonar did Tacoma used, but most likely it was the same QC sonar that Fletcher-class used. In game sonar of Tacoma has a higher ping frequency than the one of Fletcher.
• PBY-5 Catalina was most extensively used Anti-Submarine Warfare aircraft during the World War 2. Spotting was done purely by the visual means until the introduction of the ASV radar in 1940 which was mounted on top of fuselage just behind cockpit (as visible on ▄PBY-5A Late) - this however allowed only for a detection of the surfaced submarines or a kiosk - submerged submarines and periscopes still had to be spotted visually. Airdropped sonobuoys were invented only after the end of the war.
  • In-game submarines present shallow below the surface are additionally highlighted for all the vessels and aircraft, making them an easy targets for the bombs of Catalina.