U-518 IXC
 

Patrol No3 (7th for the crew)
August 5 1940
21:41 hours
U-518 set out to sea with orders to patrol grid AL22 and return to Lorient

August 10 1940 Grid AN14
04:45 hours Small merchant sunk by 5 105mm rounds
Before she went down she called for help and a V&W destroyer showed up. A misjudge in the DDs course put U-518 in danger.
The first two DC attacks either missed or were avoided.
In his third run the DD scored a hit may be direct but sure a very close miss. Bow planes destroyed , hydrophones out of action and the port propeller damaged beyond repair. Flooding was controlled and U-518 was able to maitain depth at 68m at 1 kts despite the attacks.
For 10-11 hours game time (I don't know in real time) U-518 was trying to shake the DD off. He must have run out of charges since no more attacks were pressed.
As we couldn't hear a thing we continued straight at 1kt maintaining depth.
At that point we blew ballast and came to the surface. He was gone. U-518 was unable to dive any more.
Desicion : Return to Wilhelmshaven

18:15 hours Small trawler sunk with 13 105mm rounds targeted at long range.

August 12 1940
14:38 Docked at Wilhelmshaven with 68% hull intergity.
2 ships sunk
2494 tons

We survived this time.

Welcome back kaleun, and good hunting! :arrgh!:

Good work, :up:

Not a bug.

He knows you'll eventualy have to come up for air, or to recharge batteries.
If he can hold contact, he'll be looking forward to meeting you.

Good luck.

Hmmm. Guess they'll have to kill me first.
You won't be able to catch up to the dates any other way (unless we both survive). My IXC goes out for longer periods of time than your VIIC, and we consistently get 56 days in port between patrols.

Don't use Commander but, I run Boat Careers instead of Kaleun Careers. If one gets too many patrols, or has tonnage that's beginning to go beyond historicaly acceptable numbers, they get retired into school-boat status. (It only hurts when I have to retire a IXB, and climb into a IXC.)

U159 IXC. Patrol 2. Not too good.
 

Underway from Lorient on 28.jul.42.
Bound for patrol grid DC71, 150 miles W of Florida, USA.

Everything was going well until we got to DC67, on 27.aug.42.
It would seem that U159 is much more popular with american flyers, than with the RAF. They just couldn't wait to meet her, and shower her with gifts. By patrol's end the the Aircraft Alarm Game score will be USA 7 - England 1.

Did our grid without reward. No surface contacts, at all. We then worked our way northward, deciding on the scenic route, in search of targets.

U159 was finaly introduced to a whole convoy full of eligable merchants, BY ONE OF THE ESCORTS. He didn't make the introduction until after he tryed shooting her, and then drowning her. Both attemps failed, but not without "injuries" (damage).

U159 made her way home, and was again assaulted in The Bay, by an RAF pilot.

She docked on 17.okt.42 with 0 ships sunk, 20% Fuel Reserves, and 75% Hull Integrity.

U159's history to date:
2 war patrols completed between 11.apr.42 and 17.okt.42.
1 ship sunk for 11.654 GRT.

Glad you survived it.
They beat up my girl on her last patrol too.
She too headed for home, but empty handed.

Quite a patrol. It must have been a nervecracking experience. And then back to port with a sub that can't dive! Excellent:salute:


Oh I see the problem. With different boats, you have really long patrols and rest periods and my patrols are often really short - on the last one I bumped into heavy traffic at BE66 and a convoy and was out of torpedoes in three days of action. The patrol lasted only something like 10 - 12 days. If the need arises, I'll adjust the time period when SH3Commander retires my current Kaleun.

Cool.
You'll probably score alot higher tonnage than I do.

I think having GWX's 16 km visibility mod, Raduz's hydrophone mod and noticing glitches in the time compression makes it a little too easy finding ships. It would be nicer and more realistic to have longer patrols and less contacts. I think I might make some experiments with a schedule of regular checks with the hydrophone and just ignore the glitches in TC and only accept hydrophone contacs farther away than 20 kilometers if the sounds come from a convoy and not a single ship.

U-518 IXC
 

Patrol No 4 (8th for the crew)
September 15 1940
20:29 hours
U-518 left Wilhelmshaven with orders to patrol ET17 in Freetown and return to Lorient

September 25 1940 Grid AM76
13:05 hours Coastal freighter sunk with 1 stern torpedo

October 16 1940 Grid ET28
2 ship convoy
02:43 hours Q-ship sunk with 1 bow torpedo
03:05 hours Emprire type freighter sunk by 1 bow + 1 stern torpedoes

Convoy attack
Escorts : 1 Flower 1 Black swan 1 armed merchant cruiser
Penetrated escort screen (easily this time) and attacked at close range
6 torpedoes fired 3 hits scored
14:40 hours Small freighter sunk by 1 stern torpedo
14:42 hours Medium merchant 03 sunk by 1 bow torpedo
14:43 hours Heavy merchant 01 sunk by 1 bow torpedo after massive secondary explosions
Armed merchant cruiser missed twice by 2 bow torpedoes and 1 stern torpedo.
Escaped undamaged

November 8 1940 grid CG95
19:56 hours Armed convoy repair ship sunk with 2 bow + 2 stern torpedoes (1 stern torp was a dud)

November 9 1940 grid CG95
17:06 Aircraft attack, it came out of the sun and it was spotted when it was too late to dive. A duel begun in the calm seas: My flak gunner drove him away twice but round 3 was his : Very close miss on the std side with two bombs resulted in a destroyed diesel and the IWO and flak gunner dead by splinters. U-518 was unable to dive deep , only until periscope depth was safe.
But neither the pilot lived to tell the tale. His plane crashed due the AA fire.
Desicion : Return to Lorient following the coastline

November 10 1940 grid CG95
03:32 hours Spotted emprire type freighter : She was armed with a 3 inch stern mounted gun.
Submerged torpedo attack
The ***** took 4 torpedoes and sat on the water with no sign of listing or fire.
When tube No1 was reloaded (it looked like it took for ages staying submerged) it was fired against her. She was still there, so I decided to finish her off by gunfire - maybe not a wise move.
Range was 2500m and she took 17 105mm rounds to die. Her gunners managed to fire two rounds which led to the desicion never to engange am armed merchant again like this.

07:44 hours grid CG94
Granville type sunk by 27 105mm rounds

08:34 hours grid CG94
Medium merchant 04 sunk by 32 105mm rounds

20:38 hours grid CG85
Medium merchant 17 sunk by 19 105mm rounds
A full day of action for the the deck gun crew.

November 15 1940
06:36 hours U-518 reached Lorient with no more incidents.
62 days at sea
11 ships sunk
52498 tons
1 aircraft shot down

2 men dead

My dear Mr. and Mrs. Kreutz,

My name is Oberleutnant s. Z. Heinz Ehlers. I had the honor of serving eleven war patrols as your son Wilhelm's commanding officer aboard two ships, U-46 and U-109.

The Kreigsmarine has already informed you of the fact of your son's death, and I would not presume to tell you of exemplary young man you knew for 17 years, but if you will indulge me, I feel an obligation to tell you of one of the finest young sailors it has ever been my priviledge to know, and what I am able of the circumstances surrounding his loss.

I first met Wilhelm in July 1939, when he was assigned to my new command, U-46. On his very first patrol, it became apparent he knew more about the operation and repair of diesel engines; in fact, all things mechanical, than anyone aboard with the possible exception of his Chief Engineer. Skills, I understand, he acquired working alongside his father at the Dusseldorf Locomotive Works.

He was a young man of exemplary character, quick wit, and was well liked by his shipmates, and highly respected by his officers. He was promoted as quickly as I could manage, commensurate with his abilites.

When I was transferred to a new command, U-109, Willy and his closest friend, Waldemar Forster, whom I understand you have met, requested transfer to U-109 as well, by-passing a chance for promotion to Bootsman. I was honored to have them both. Please know that your son was instrumental in the training of the new, young crew of U-109. I relied heavily upon him, and he never once let me, or his crewmates down.

On the night of 13 February, 1941, we had just completed an attack very near the african coast during a violent storm, confident that we could escape the patrol boats in the reduced visibility as we had so many times before.

Thirty minutes after the attack, two British destroyers converged on our position and opened fire simultaneously. Wilhelm was at his station in the engine room, both engines running at their highest revolutions. The opening salvo struck the hull outside the engine room. From what I have learned, two of the starboard engine's mounts were severed, resulting in the destruction of the engine, and a considerable amount of shrapnel in the engine room. Wilhelm, his friend Waldemar, and a new shipmate Hugo Rausch were killed.

I assure you, Wilhem did not suffer.

We eventually evaded our pursuers. When we were able to surface, a brief service was held, and the bodies of our brothers were commended to the sea, as their souls were commended into the safekeeping of our Lord and Savior. I performed the service myself.

Wilhelm always carried in his trousers a silver pocket watch, a gift from his father he told me, as well as a picture of his mother in his front shirt pocket. These items, and his Saint Nicholas necklace, were buried with him. This letter should reach you with the remainder of his personal effects.

I was very fond of your son, and I feel his loss as a crippling blow, yet I know my feelings are but a pale, mooncast shadow to your own. Please accept the sympathies of the officers and crew of the U-109. The memory of this fine young man will be kept close in our hearts until the end of days.

Sincerely,

Heinz Ehlers
Oberleutnant z. S. Kreigsmarine
U-109 Commanding

Kptlnt vonHarris and the crew of U-518 are sad about the loss of such a promising young man.

May his sacrifice won't be for nothing.

We are saddened to hear of this loss, but rest assured - though he may be gone he is not forgotten. Thank you for your outstanding service and great sacrifice. :salute:

Patrol 9, U-451
 

:salute:


___________________________________________
5.5.1942
Ob.Lt. z S. Erich Scheide
U-451 ("die Elster"), VIIC, 7.th Flotilla, St.Nazaire
Orders: Patrol AM77

29.4.1942, 05:17 hours. Clear, no rain, visibility 11-12 kilometers, wind 0m/s, BE35.

Spotted and sunk a 10000 BRT walfabrikschiff with two torpedoes. The ships course was 347 degrees, speed estimated to be 13 knots, but might actually have been 12 knots.

5.5.1942, 04:45 hours. Cloudy, no rain, visibility 8-9 kilometers, wind 12m/s, BE32.

Received a report of a ship sighted and sunk an American 26000 BRT passagierlinienschiff after a 150 kilometer interception run from our patrol grid at AM77. The ship was travelling behind a fully lighted hospitalship at a meager speed of 10 knots, course 92 degrees. The initial contact report was almost spot on. Decided to use a salvo of four torpedoes to make sure that the ship would not be able to use it's maximum speed of 31 knots. The ship was hit by at least 3 torpedoes, the fourth torpedo was not heard exploding nor was it's screws heard at the hydrophone. Possibly it was damaged by the explosions or it exploded simultaneously with the explosions on the ship. Since the ship was hit by so many torpedoes, it sunk in only six minutes, probably leading to a very great loss of life.

What the Americans were thinking by putting the ship in such danger, I cannot imagine. The hospital ship was lighted like a Christmas tree, so there was no trouble at spotting the passenger liner following it. And since the liner followed the hospitalship we had no hurry in estimating the liners course and speed quite precisely just by measuring the hospital ships speed and course. If the passenger liner had used even half of it's maximum speed in trying to make it to England, we would not have even been able to make the long interception run.

The crew's younger members seem to be very happy with the success, but one or two the crewmembers, who are familymen, seem to a bit shaken by the devastation we caused. That said, my estimation is that the moral on the ship is high.

5.5.1942, 08:13 hours. Cloudy, no rain, visibility 8-9 kilometers, wind 12m/s, BE32.

We are now heading back to our patrol grid with 8 torpedoes left.