U159 IXC. Patrol 6.
 

8.mar.44
Present location is the eastern border of GR81.
Enrout to patrol grid GR83 (South of Capetown).

Managed to remain undetected up to this point.
CPA to Capetown will be approx 100 miles to the SSE.
No contacts of any kind since departing Lorient.
Should the grid prove to be dry, U159 will extend the patrol SSEward along the shallows, unless or until detected.

Herr Kaleun M.Miklaszewski reporting that Rodney has been destroyed, 36k tons for just 1 ship :) fired 4 fast magnetic torpedoes , 2 malfunctioned the other 2 hit near the engines, that's it. No fireworks, no explosions, too many water flooded and he just went down pretty fast. His escort was not smart, never found me. They were not even near :) Will Hitler invite me for a drink ? :D

Very likely! Now you have a chance to speak your mind up! According to Wikipedia, this is how Reinhard Hardegen did it, when he got the chance to have a drink with the leader:

"Before this, however, he and fellow Oak Leaves winner Erich Topp were invited to a dinner with Adolf Hitler. During the dinner, Hardegen caused great embarrassment by sharply criticizing the lack of priorities given to the U-boat war by Der Führer, causing Hitler to go red with anger and Hardegen to receive a reprimand from Chief of Staff Alfred Jodl, to which Hardegen replied, "The Führer has a right to hear the truth, and I have a duty to speak it."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinhard_Hardegen

Now's your chance to make a lasting impression to the war and to the Battle of the Atlantic!:arrgh!: Just don't make him so mad, that he'll send you to the Russian front or even worse, to a cozy desk job...

U159 IXC. Patrol 6 continues.
 

18.mar.44
Presently in GR49.

U159 spent 6 days in her assigned grid of GR83, and beyond in GR91 when nothing turned up.

Following our last report, on 8.mar.44, we had a warship sound contact.
We came to periscope depth, but never gained visual contact.

In GR91 sound reported 2 medium speed merchants approaching, during daylight hours.
Upon coming to periscope depth, there was nothing to be seen but Heavy Fog.
Came up with a hydrophone based speed & course guesstimate, and decided to try one of our new fangled accuistic torpedoes fired via the hydrophone.
Must have been a good guess, as there was a giant flash directly at 000 on the periscope.
Never actualy saw the target, before or after the shot.
The impact stopping of the stop watch tells me he was at about 600 meters.
Had to add a little speed on our way down to 50 meters, as his companion was close abeam. Target slowed from Medium to Slow, but never went DIW.
With the air and base at Capetown being just over 100 miles away, U159 did not persue on the surface.

Along our departure route, in GR81, sound reported a medium speed warship approach, off our stern. Turned my stern toward his direction of travel, and came to periscope depth at high speed. Estimated course 270, at 12 knots.
Laid the settings in, and waited for the proper time to fire my second accuistic torpedo of the patrol.
Very briefly slowed boat to under 1 knot, fired tube 6, and headed for 100 meters in anticipation of becoming the hunted. Bang! A Hunt III Class destroyer went down, 175 miles SW of Capetown.
This time I had to feel for ship and crew.

We've left our mark, and it's time to vacate the area.
Present plan is a return to Lorient along the Freetown - UK shipping lanes.
Hopefuly, a convoy will turn up, and I can put the FAT torpedoes to work.
Now that I know they can be fired normaly, and in a fan, I'm coming to like them.
(My first SH3 install wouldn't allow them to be fired in salvo, and I hated them).

Now this sounds like a megaimprovement on the weaponry we have on board :rock: It will be most interesting to get a chance to try these torpedoes! :/\\x:

Near Gibraltar with only one torpedo left. Along came a large merchant, which I figured would be a waste of the torpedo, since I've never taken a large one down with fewer than three torpedos, so I decided to try a magnetic shot under his keel right below the stack.

It worked. He sunk right quick.

BdU is buying the first round.

U-36 VIIB
 

U-552, back at port after patrol 2
 

Leutnant z.s. Helmut Unger
U-552, VIIC
11. Flotilla, Bergen

10.8.1942
Convoy attack. Three attacks made against an inbound convoy, at grids AM27 and AM28. The convoy's course was estimated as 117 degrees, speed 7 kn. The convoy had five columns of ships, each with four ships line astern. The columns were estimated to be 500 meters apart. The convoy was guarded by a destroyer as a front guard, and five corvettes at the sides and back. All of the attacks were made submerged, windward at a perpendicular course, torpedoes shot from inside the convoy during two of the attacks and from outside during one of the attacks. AOB of 80 - 90 was used, but at one attack at very short range, the shots had to be made at an AOB of 45 degrees and 79 degrees, in order to give the torpedoes time to arm. The ranges varied from 500 meters to 2200 meters. Four ships were sunk for 19000 BRT and one 4000 BRT tanker damaged. 11 torpedoes were used, 9 hit their targets. Escape was made diving at silent speed of 1 - 2 knots to a depth of A+60 or A+70. During two of the attacks the escorts didn't find us and no DC's were dropped. During one of the attacks, we were found, probably by ASDIC and approximately 40 DC's were dropped in groups of 5 - 6 charges at a time. Evaded DC's at AK and turning hard, then going back to silent running. Four BOLD canisters were released and seemed to be helpful in confusing the escorts.

Enemy contacts.
Grid AE86 A pair of destroyers
Grid AM33 An airplane. Warship sounds on hydrophone
Grid AN41 A trawler

70 km out from Lorient, I decide I'm going to engage an aircraft to test out my IXB's shiny new flak tower. I shoot down a Hurricane, absolutely no problem, I'm congratulating myself and the crew, when suddenly my Watchman calls out, "aircraft spotted." Hmm. Better check that out.

My jaw hits the deck as I see over a dozen Short Sunderlands incoming, 2 km out. Before I'm able to give an order, I've got 1 watch crewman dead, 1 wounded, and 2 Sunderlands damaged. I was going to flee, but now I'm mad. Those guys had been with me since I shipped out in '39. I order us up to flank speed and reload the flak guns. We're in for a fight.

I've noticed that travelling at flank speed limits the willingness of aircraft to expend DCs, and its working here. They seem content to strafe back and forth in waves. My replacement flak gunners are having a field day, with over half the enemy air force smoking. But now they're diving in from both sides at once, my officer yelps something about too many enemies for our flak cover to handle, but I ignore him. At this point I'm afraid to slow the boat for any reason, even to dive. I take over the guns intermittently to help out. The Sunderlands begin to drop out of the sky. Two collide in their attempts to remain airborne. Several explode and nosedive into the Biscay. Another of my gunners cries out and goes down, and is quickly replaced. 3 crewmen repairing my flak guns, including my watch officer, receive light wounds and are hustled to the medic below. The remaining Sunderlands - 4 from what I could tell - had enough and turned for home, smoking. One eventually drops into the ocean, no idea if the rest made it.

70 km into my patrol that was expected to last a minimum of a month, I'm turning back to Lorient. 3 crewmen dead, 3 wounded. 1 flak gun destroyed, damaged radio and forward decking. In exchange, my boys were credited with 12 enemy aircraft destroyed, 1 Hurricane and 11 Sunderlands, an indescribably fortunate outcome.

I gambled that I would be able to negate the chances of being DCed while running at flank speed, and it paid off. In retrospect, it was a risky assumption that I was fortunate to survive, and even more fortunate to have worked so favorably. Not a choice a captain wants to make, but 3 crewmen for a squadron of Allied aircraft seems like an acceptable trade-off. Although I can't imagine I'll be very popular after this patrol.

Christ, you're even crazier than I am...

I think you'll like the accuistic torpedoes.
The historical loadout for '44 is generiouse with them.
They do seem to come in handy for odd situations.

The FAT plan:
Convoy, confident shot = salvo of 3 fired normaly.
Convoy, unconfident shot = 1 or more fired as pattern runners.
(With all the settings to be laid in, there may only be time for 1. The escorts seem to start zeroing in on my firing position the instant a torpedo is fired. They've come a long way.)

Get well soon Hr Kaleun.

(U36 is a VII(A), with an external stern tube, non-reloadable at sea, and must be fired while submerged as the tube sits above the waterline. How's that for a challenge?)

VII(A): 27 - 36.
IX(A): 37 - 44.

Great job, and report. I love all the details included.

U159 IXC. Patrol 6. Onward, very slowly.
 

10.apr.44
Present position is FS35.

On 31.mar.44 at 2241 the lookouts spotted a ship. Grid = GF81.
("Ship spotted" brings a different sensation now, than it did in '39!)
Turned out to be a C2 Cargo.
At 2255 a single Fat torpedo is fired from tube 2.
Course 247, speed 6 knots, range 1000 meters.
FAT set to reverse course at 1400 meters, with 800 meter legs.
The guesstimation turned out to be spot on, and the additional settings unneccesary.
FAT struck the target 52 seconds after firing, sinking her for 6447 GRT.

Our first merchant of the patrol sunk, and it "only" took 3 months.

7.apr.44 (FS63) and 8.apr.44 (FS39): A L A R M !
Our thus far undetected status has come to an end.
With the fuel economy requirements of this patrol, on the surface we're just like a USN LST (Large Slow Target). Should we survive, this is going to be one long patrol.

Thanks Snestorm, I have to say you are very good at giving positive feedback :salute:

I feel that reading well written patrol reports by other commanders (like yours are) gives me information I can use and try on my own patrols. I try to write mine so, that anyone reading them can get some info he might find helpful.