Flower-Class Corvette: Historical Inaccuracy

[lukins]

I really enjoy this simulation, but I noticed an anachronism: during patrols in October and December 1939, I encountered Flower-class corvettes, protecting a convoy or patrolling in groups of four, in a "hunter/killer" fashion.

However, according to Wikipedia, the first Flower-class corvette, HMS Gladiolus (K34), was commissioned on April 6, 1940.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Gladiolus_(K34)

Other sources mention the commissioning of HMS Arabis (K73) on April 5, 1940.

In his excellent novel, The Cruel Sea, Nicholas Monsarrat (a former Royal Navy officer and veteran of the Second Battle of the Atlantic) emphasizes how rare these corvettes were in 1940.

By having them appear as early as 1939 and patrolling in groups of four in 1940, the game deviates significantly from historical accuracy.

[Promi]

Unfortunately, the more you dwell into details of this game the more discrepancies you will find. I changed my mind compared to first 300 hours.

[DECAFBAD]

You only figured this out? We've all known this for years, and guess what: nobody gives a damn

[lukins]

Originally posted by Promi:

Unfortunately, the more you dwell into details of this game the more discrepancies you will find. I changed my mind compared to first 300 hours.

Don't the developers want to fix this "error"? It must be quite simple. Otherwise, I hope a mod will fix this problem.
It's like the planes taking off and landing from the HMS Illustrious in the middle of the night; I doubt it's historically accurate.
Sorry for the attention to detail; I'm used to SH3 GWX, which is more historically accurate. But UBOAT is still an excellent game.

[9erRed]

Greetings,

So, the next question is, just how many escort ships models are in the game.
- What does the game code list for ship types?
- And are they listed by years when available?

If the Flower class is appearing before it's actually been constructed, can the code be "modified" to remove that class before 1940?
- What other ship class's can be used in it's place, for the 1939 timeline? And is there a game model for these?

[Mouse Rat]

Originally posted by lukins:

Sorry for the attention to detail; I'm used to SH3 GWX, which is more historically accurate. But UBOAT is still an excellent game.

I don’t think attention to detail is the issue. The game allows for ahistorical decisions and researching tech ahead of its time.

Yes, UBOAT takes some liberties. The inaccuracy you noticed is valid, but it has minimal gameplay impact. Will it be addressed? Probably. Does it significantly matter? Not really.

I'm also not sure the comparison quite holds. SH3 GWX Gold came out in 2008, three years after the original 2005 release, and by then it had evolved into something quite different.

If anything, a fair comparison would be with SH3 as it launched, not with a heavily modded version years down the line.

[nihilcat]

There are indeed some classes of ships that start to show up a bit earlier than they should for gameplay reasons.

This is especially problematic for Flower-class - historically it was the only corvette class of the war and omitting it left too large a hole in gameplay for that stage of the campaign.

We plan to narrow, or eliminate, these offsets over time so that historical accuracy gets better with each update.

[9erRed]

Greetings,

Did some research through the game files to see just what ships are present.

This will be Destroyers, Corvettes, Cruisers, And the series of Naval Trawlers we see.
(the dates in brackets is the IRL time period this class was commissioned.)

- I could not find any data in the files (I was looking at) as to when or how the game "assigns" ship class or type to spawn.


- Hunt class Destroyer (1917)
- V-Class Destroyer (1917)
- Country Class Cruiser (1928)
- Type 1934 Destroyer (1937)
- Gnevny Destroyer (1938)
- Tribal Destroyer (1938)
- Kirov Cruiser (1938)
- Sims Destroyer (1939)
- Isles Class Naval Trawler (1939) Sub Classes - "Isles, Dance, Tree, Shakespearian"
- Black Swan Sloop (1939) "larger and faster than a Corvette"
- Benson Destroyer (1939)
- * Flower Class Corvette * (1940) "128 ordered in 1939"
- Wicks Destroyer (1941) "unlock in `1939 mission"
- Caldwell Destroyer (1941) "unlock in 1939 mission"
- Town Class Destroyer (1941) "unlock in 1939 mission"
- F Class Destroyer (1941) "unlock from mission"
- E Class Destroyer (1941) "unlock from mission"
- River Class Corvette (1942)
- Allen M. Sumner Destroyer (1943)

This is what I have found in the game files, now do we see all there types during the years they are listed?
- Were some Class's "only" used in certain locations or missions we play?
- Are some used for coastal use and others for Convoy escorts?

Anyway, that's what the game contains. (for those class's)

Side note here:
The last surviving Flower Class Corvette is located in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
- Fully restored to it's 1941 layout, including camo.
"HMCS Sackville"
https://www.cnmt.ca/visit-the-ship

Additionally, The Movie "Greyhound" used a 3D scanned copy of Sackville to model there set on.

[lukins]

Originally posted by 9erRed:

Greetings,

So, the next question is, just how many escort ships models are in the game.
- What does the game code list for ship types?
- And are they listed by years when available?

If the Flower class is appearing before it's actually been constructed, can the code be "modified" to remove that class before 1940?
- What other ship class's can be used in it's place, for the 1939 timeline? And is there a game model for these?

626 / 5 000
According to "The Cruel Sea," the Royal Navy's dire shortage of corvettes in 1940 led to:
- the use of naval trawlers as convoy escorts. There were two classes of these ships, operational as early as September 1939: the Basset class and the Tree class. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trawlers_of_the_Royal_Navy) It would be nice if one of these ship classes could be modeled in the game.
- the requisition and outfitting of 215 civilian trawlers, some of which were used for anti-submarine warfare, such as the HMT Arab (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMT_Arab)