Scapa Flow Attack - any tips?

[Andy2012]

So, after reading a lot of hate and frustration in these forums, I thought about switching topics for a second (or two):

Any suggestions for tackling Scapa Flow?
I feel quite challenged to catch the British carrier and keep my new naval Stukas in the air. A frontal attack is definitely not working or not working well enough for my absurd perfectionism.

I have Naval Academy, Flight School, Radar and Plan Z. Have all commanders and all of them in Hippers (best ship in the fleet, lets face it). I also have some DD for antisub, AA support and torpedo dashes. Two subs, two CV Zeppelin, one supply ship, two subs. (BTW, is there any difference between VII and IX class. In real life, there was, but the stats dont seem to say anything). Also, have two naval 109s and two naval stukas, two recon. Stukas are now with torpedos to catch that carrier.

At first, I thought I go in for a quick Pearl Harbor style assault. Have my Hippers and DD kick in the front door while avoiding mines and coastal arty, my Stukas, recon and figher cover dash in, knock out the carrier and then retreat, repair, rearm with bombs and then do the rounds on the enemy DDs. However, they just have too many fighters and naval AA in that bay. So this is not working without losses.
I thought about flanking them from the south and catching the carrier in the northwest close to the exit. Also, I want to pick up the extra 2 SP by doing 4 sub damage - best way to do that?
Any suggestions? (Come on, drop the hate for a second...)

[Horst]

Type VII sub has buggy defense-stats in v3.3.7, so better stick to the Type IX one.

[Mojko]

I recommend viewing my Kriegsmarine replay thread for detailed instructions on how to beat it.

I took down the carrier by using two submarines and one torpedo Stuka. If you have two torpedo Stukas you should be fine.

[Andy2012]

Thanks, managed to do it differently.
I took my whole force around the base to the south, then to northwest. This makes the mission pretty easy. But I still enjoyed it and this little ruse.

[euramer]

I had another solution using the South entrance with just one Carrier (One BF109 and 1 Stuka with bombs) and one tender with 2 fighters for old time sake. My main attack force was based on 2 "Pocket battleships" and 4 CA Deutschland (they have a better range with their guns) to anihilate any smal ships and fighters and act as advance guard .

[Andy2012]

I had another solution using the South entrance with just one Carrier (One BF109 and 1 Stuka with bombs) and one tender with 2 fighters for old time sake. My main attack force was based on 2 "Pocket battleships" and 4 CA Deutschland (they have a better range with their guns) to anihilate any smal ships and fighters and act as advance guard .

My 'fleet' was two Zeppelin, 2 fighter, 2 Stukas (first bombs, then torpedoes), one supply ship, rest mostly Hippers and some DDs. (Half and Half)
Also 2 recon and 2 subs. Still havent figured out the difference between VII and IX (in the game. Back then, VII was the mainstay attacker, IX long-distance).
Kind of underlines the broken game mechanics when you are forced to ignore BBs. I mean, a torpedo dash with my hipper gang on the broadside of a BB mostly took 3-4 damage each. Each. Which means they own destroyers, BBs with torpedos, fighters with their AA and are also fast. Only need the DDs for sonar and some AA support. The last mission, they went through the US fleet like carving a cake...
The sneak attack on Scapa Flow was still fun, though.