The monthly Subject Silent Hunter 5

Silent Hunter battle of the atlantic. Campaign

Total Germany campaign. September 1939.

Britain and France declared war on Germany following their invasion of Poland. The player’s long term goal is to try to cut off Britain’s supplies forcing them out of the war. Great Britain possesses one of the largest naval fleet and Germany is no match for her. This will make the U-boats Germany’s main offensive weapon against the British.
Being an island nation, Britain is highly dependent on imported goods taken from their colonies to the mainland. Attacking these ships would ultimately diminish their ability to wage war and even the will of the people to fight. Also, they have a system of coastal convoys routing supplies all over the country where they are needed. This means there is shipping to be sunk in coastal areas. Few in numbers, but deadly against British convoys, the German surface fleet operates in the Atlantic too. In order to reach this area, they have to go across England, through the Denmark Strait or between Faeroe and Iceland. The British know this and have created dedicated patrols through these areas. The U-boats can help the surface fleet by engaging the patrols or acting as spotters for the German “big guns”. Later on, Germany will invade Norway to secure the vital supply line of ore coming from Sweden. The Allies will try to strike back and force their way into Norway. Once again, the U-boat -will will be on the front line by providing early warning and assistance to the invading fleet against the British retaliation.
There is one main goal, but there isn’t only one way to complete it. One event leads to another, thereby altering future events in the world.

Here’s one possible scenario that a player can go through during the Total Germany campaign:

Coastal convoys are important to England as they route the transatlantic supplies all over the nation. Most of the convoys sail without escort, relying only on the air cover provided from the mainland. Disturbing these supply lines will create a great deal of damage to the British, but mostly, will force them to provide escorts for these convoys. This will make the ocean going convoys more vulnerable with fewer escorts covering them.

The German surface fleet can engage the Atlantic convoys too if they break in. The only place through which they can break is the Denmark Strait or between Iceland and Faeroe. The British know this and have formed patrols in these areas. U-boats can be very successful against these patrols and due to their vital importance, the British will continue to replace their losses. This will affect them in other areas too as their pool of escort ships is limited. Also, there are other benefits if this objective is achieved. The German surface fleet can break into the Atlantic, the coastal waters or oceanic convoys will have less cover, while sinking highly valuable ship types, like aircraft carriers, will force the British to remove them from patrols.


With fear that the Allies may invade Norway and cut off their vital ore supplies, the Germans decided to invade first. The British will retaliate and send their “big guns” against the German invasion fleet. U-boats have a personal stake in it as Norway can provide great submarine bases, closer to the Atlantic, allowing them to spend more time on patrol against the Atlantic convoys.

The most important supply routes pass through the North Atlantic. Coming from Nova Scotia or Gibraltar, they reach England through South Western approaches. These supplies allow the British to wage war against Germany. Strong and in high numbers, the British can’t go down in one swift blow, but without supplies, their war effort will be diminished, their people’s will tested and it will be only a matter of time until they’ll break down.

Silent Hunter Pc requirements

Minimum system configuration

CPU: Intel® Core2Duo® E4400 or AMD® Athlon™ 64 X2 4000+ or higher
Operating System: Windows® XP (with Service Pack 3) or Windows Vista® (with Service Pack 2)
RAM: 1 GB (XP) / 2 GB (Vista)
DVD-ROM: DVD-ROM speed 4x, dual-layer drive
Minimum Drive Space: 10 GB
Video Card: 256 MB DirectX® 9.0c-compliant video card (ATI® Radeon HD2600/GeForce® 8800 or better)
Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c-compliant sound card
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (included on disc)

Recommended system configuration

CPU: Intel® Core2Duo® E6850 or AMD® Athlon™ 64 X2 5600+ or higher
Operating System: Windows® XP (with Service Pack 3) or Windows Vista® (with Service Pack 2) or Windows® 7
RAM: 2 GB (XP / Vista / Win7)
DVD-ROM: DVD-ROM speed 4x, dual-layer drive
Recommended Drive Space: 15 GB
Video Card: 512 MB DirectX® 9.0c-compliant video card (ATI® Radeon HD3000 series / GeForce® 9 Series or better)
Sound Card: DirectX® 9.0c-compliant sound card
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (included on disc)

Internet connection required