19.9.40. 0929 Patrol 16
U-51, 2nd Flotilla Left at: September 19, 1940, 09:29 From: Lorient First mission from our new base in France. Manouvering to open sea is hell compared to Wilhelmshaven. But the distance to the Atlantic makes up for the pain at the start of the patrol. Mission Orders: Patrol grid AM32 20.9.40. 1917 Grid BF 21 Spotted a lonely Large Merchant, moved into striking position and hit it with 2 torpedoes. Finished it off with the deckgun. During the attack a message from BdU came in about a convoy steaming towards England, so we set an intercept course and steamed ahead. :salute: After a day and a half we heard noises during our periodic sonar sweeps and tracked the position of the convoy. Ambushplan was conceived and executed. Launched 4 torpedoes at two different Empire-class freighter. 3 Torpedoes hit and 1 missed. Got attacked by 2 flower class destroyers and an A&B class. Evaded for a while then went up to periscope depth and launched stern and 2 bow torpedoes. Stern torpedo hit a Flower class, which immediately exploded. First bow torpedo missed the A&B class, second one hit and sank the crippled Empire-type. 22.9.40. 0824 Grid AM 51 Flower class, 950 tons 0831 Grid AM 51 Empire-type Freighter, 6784 tons Picked up more warships on the hydrophone so decided to get out. Had some trouble evading patrols and got hit good with depth charges and made heavy water. Sank from 60 to 115 meters before regaining control and started rising again. Made it home with 50% hull and no casaulties :D Drank a beer with the crew and fellow Kaleuns !!:up: |
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Patrol #10
VIIB - U-336 6 Sept, 1939 07:00 Multiple sound contacts from the sonar. A periscope up reveals bad weather, and we've drifted out of their course quite a bit. We take up a position about 8000m from their left-flank. A Lone Flower Corvette patrols this side. 12:00 The bad weather continues, and the daylight doesn't give us much space to attack, we shadow the convoy more. 19:00 Sun is starting to set. It's getting time. After starting a few different plots, and comparing them with each other, we get the course and speed of the convoy down to an entire knot; 12 knots, 354 degrees true. 22:00 Now ahead of the convoy, we start to turn on a perpendicular track to get into position. Bad weather is in our favor, and we manage to sneak past all the escorts, on the surface. A Black Swan class was just 1500 meters away! 23:12 In the convoy. Behind us a large merchant, in front of us a Fiji class and a large merchant. Torpedo's los! 23:13 Torpedo 5 hits the merchant, it limps on at 12 knots. 23:14 Torpedoes 1 misses the Fiji, one detonates prematurely. The other 2 hit the Merchant, sending it down. 23:21 Reached the other side of the convoy undetected. We take up position and shadow them. 05:00 All tubes reloaded, external torpedoes are inside. Taking up a second position 05:48 There's the Fiji again. 2 torpedoes. One hits the ammo bunker, she explodes and starts sinking. The 2nd one hits the bow. A medium cargo on the stern. Sinks by one torpedo The last 2 bow torpedoes miss their marks (Probably a wrong range) The escorts have no idea what's happening ,and run in the wrong direction 08:00 Time to surface and set course to Lorient, our new base as per BDU orders. We transmit a message to BDU telling them of our attack. "Return to port as situation permits. First round on Flotilla command" |
:salute:
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U-103 IXB
Patrol No3
U-39 returned home safe and sound having sunk an enemy troop transport, The Werhmacht would have less soldiers to fight against U-552 is still out but alive 01 April 1940 03:15 hours U-103 left port for her 3rd war patrol 07 April 1940 Grid AN14 15:49 hours Coastal freighter sunk by 1 stern torpedo. When we surfaced we were spotted by an enemy aircraft. U-103 crash dived and avoided any damage. Two explosioms were heard far away. 18:50 hours A warship sound contact was heard at long range. It looked like that the aircraft called in surface units. U-103 remained at 100m until nothing was heard 13 April 1940 Grid AM51 Convoy attack in bad weather fog and rain No visual contact could be made 11:52 hours Medium cargo sunk by 2 stern torpedoes. She came out of the fog and presented a nice target 12:30 hours No other ships could be seen but we were spotted by a Flower class corvette and attacked. Flooding begun in the Zentrale and fuel started leaking. The situation was out under control but the fuel kept leaking The escorts didn't spot the trailing fuel because of the heavy seas so we survived. 21 April 1940 15:35 hours U-103 docked at Wilhelmshaven 21 days at sea 2 ships sunk 6950 tons 96% hull integrity |
Good work, :salute:
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U-552, patrol 2, fourth convoy attack and the return
Leutnant. z.s. Alfons Dietzmann
U-552, VIIC 11. Flotille, Bergen Orders: Patrol AM21 12.2.1943 AL36 clear, 8-9 km, 0 m/s. During the night of 7.1.1943 attacked the convoy for the fourth time. Course estimated as 245 degrees, 9 knots. 5 columns of 3-4 merchants line astern. Six escorts around the convoy, Black Swans and Flowers identified. At 2151 hours an 8500 BRT freighter on the port side column of the convoy targeted. Two FAT I's and one G7a launched. Depth 4 meters, impact pistol. Shot at an estimated range of 2500 meters. Estimated impact time was 2 minutes 31 seconds. Expected AOB at impact time 90 degrees port. Rohr 1 (FAT) aimed at just off the bow of the ship, Rohr 2 (G7a) at the middle of the ship and Rohr 3 (FAT) just off the stern of the ship. The idea was that one of the torpedoes would miss for certain, aimed either too much to the front or too much to the back, but two of the torpedoes would hit for sure, no matter what kind of reasonable error we had made while estimating the right solution. Rohr 1 and Rohr 3 were FAT's in order to make sure that whichever torpedo missed would be a FAT torpedo and would eventually start zigzagging in the convoy. The FAT's initial run was 3200 meters, then a turn to port with a 1600 meter leg. Speed 30 knots in order to make sure the missing FAT would have the maximum running time. The attack was made at night so that the enemy would not be able to see the bubble stream. An explosion was heard after a run of 4 minutes 24 seconds, indicating a run of 4400 meters and a big error in the estimation of range. A second explosion was heard shortly after, but it was unclear if the explosion was caused by a torpedo. After about 8 minutes after the launch of the torpedoes a third torpedo was heard exploding. The torpedo had traveled about 8 kilometers in that time. 12 minutes after the launchings, sounds of a sinking ship heard on the hydrophone. I have no idea of the type of the ship sunk. Escaped diving silently at 100 RPM, straight towards the convoy. At 2240 hours I decided to start turning away from the convoy, which was another mistake as we were picked by ASDIC. Slight pinging heard at first, then harder, from 2242 to 2245 hours. DC's dropped spot on, but managed to evade by a hard turn, speed AK. Two Bold's launched. After the second one we went immediately to silent running at 1 knot and 70 RPM's. The escort lost contact after it's initial run and started DC'ing an area relative bearings 220 - 170 from our stern, probably the area where the Bold's were. Six sets dropped with intervals of 4 - 5 minutes. At 0011 a merchant heard with hydrophone. At periscope depth identified as a 4500 BRT freighter, stopped dead on the water. I assume this ship was hit by a FAT torpedo, which destroyed it's moving capability. Approached submerged to 1500 meters from it's unarmed bow. Ship engaged with deck gun and Flak guns. Initial rounds aimed on deck to keep the crewmen from using any light weapons. Sunk by 0205. Began the return trip to base with no torpedoes left. Enemy contacts during return trip: 7.1.1943 0552 AL36 Metox warning. Dived. 8.1.1943 2236 AM16 Airplane sighted 36 degrees relative bearing at a medium range. Crash dive. 9.1.1943 0440 AM16 FuMo 29 contact long range 1 degrees relative bearing and right after that an airplane sighted. Dived. 0944 AM16 airplane sighted 340 degrees relative bearing at a long range. Crash dive. 2018 AM23 Two Metox warnings. Dived. 10.1.1943 0955 AM24 Metox warning. Dived. During the 10th of January 1942 the weather luckily changed to rainy and there were no more airplane sightings or Metox warnings. Returned to Bergen at 0217 hours 15.1.1943. The hull was badly damaged from the airplane attack 2.1.1943 and took 25 days to repair. During the repairs new Flak guns of the fastshooting type C/38 were fitted. We also got a new type of radar FuMo - 30, which Gott sei Dank revolves. Equipped with this radar I expect we can't be surprised again in low visibility. BdU has credited us with 5 sunken ships and 25000 BRT. Some of the sinkings were a bit unsure, since I hadn’t witnessed all of them on the periscope, but intercepted radio distress calls confirmed some. BdU’s comment on my patrol report said that I should be more aggressive and stay in periscope depth and use the periscope more, even in mirror clear waters, to stay aware of the situation. That way I would have more information about the impact of our torpedoes too. In my end report to BdU I made a suggestion that FAT torpedoes could be launched one just off the bow and one just off the stern and one G7e or G7a in the middle. That shooting method would guarantee two hits if the estimations are anywhere close to reality. One FAT would miss, but would still have a decent chance of hitting something else after it starts it’s course changes. Ob.lt. z.s. Arnold Tente and Lt.z.s. Hans Fleischmeister were given orders to join training courses for taking command of U-boats of their own. Their skills will be badly missed. We went to the officers’ mess for a farewell drink and heard that U-336 has sunk a Fiji-class cruiser. U-103 had a lucky escape after getting a fuel leak and U-39 was hit so that it couldn't dive very deep, but still managed to return with everyone on board safe and sound. We are now getting ready for a well deserved and very much needed leave. Dietzmann |
Good patrols everyone :) A little dicey at times, but you all made it back, well done.
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I'd post mine but driving a Type XXIII with only two eels and no room for reloads would look unimpressive.
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Oberleutnant z.s. Baum reporting.
2nd Flotilla. 2nd patrol, 9th October 1939 The patrol started in good weather. My target grid was AM51. Evening of 9th Oct. Visual contact made with a tramp steamer, East of Hull. I ordered to man the deck gun and begin firing at long range. Several confirmed hits under the waterline and after a few minutes the ship was going down. 14. Oct. After an uneventful trip to AM51 and patrolling it for 24h a convoy was reported in AM46, heading ENE at 5 kts. I immediately plotted an intercept course and burned fuel to get into a good position ahead of the convoy. The weather was messy, 16 m/s winds with mediocre visibility. Then again it was perfect for a night attack and I arrived to ambush the convoy just before midnight. After some time we picked up the convoy with the hydrophone. Heard clearly an escort right in front of the convoy as well as one behind the convoy. Lots of merchants. Through the periscope I could see three columns of five ships, mainly small or coastal merchants with one large merchant in the middle. I was positioned between the first and the second row of ships, hoping to take out 2-3 of the small merchants plus the large one. As the large one was getting close, about 800m I began firing my torpedoes at the small merchants further away. I fired two at the smaller ones plus fired two at the large merchant. Both torpedoes aimed at the small merchants hit. My crew was ecstatic! Unfortunately I must have made a mistake entering the TDC data as both of the torpedoes meant for the closest target, the large merchant missed but after a while a third explosion was heard as one of the missed torpedoes had actually hit a third small merchant. Three ships were confirmed going down. I discreetly exited the scene running at 1 kts away from the convoy heading to a safe depth of 60m. After getting a safe distance I surfaced and prepared for a second run against the convoy. Early morning 15. Oct. We were again in position ahead of the convoy. Again our main target was the large merchant. The weather was getting worse and visibility was decreased and a thick cloud cover was hanging above us. Measuring the ranges on targets was proving to be difficult as the periscope was continuously dipping under the surface. In a perfect position 700m from the large merchant I fired one torpedo at a small merchant further away and three torpedoes at the large merchant, magnetic going right under its keel. Two torpedoes hit the large merchant, the third went right under the keel but did not go off for some reason. The torpedo aimed at the small merchant missed. After 10 minutes the large merchant exploded violently and went to the bottom. The escorts never realized what was going on. Once again I exited the scene running silent. A few hours later I attempted a third attack on the convoy. Running low on torpedoes I fired two at a small merchant in a terrible weather. Unfortunately both missed and with only one torpedo remaining I decided disengage the convoy and head back to Wilhelmshaven. Just north of Scapa I ran into three warship contacts, apparently two destroyers and one larger ship by the sound of it. With the weather being awful and the fact that I only had one torpedo I decided against my curiosity to leave them well alone which was probably a very wise decision. Total tonnage sunk: 18812 tons. |
Good work, :up:
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On the contrary. Luno's reports here are impressive, although his boat is only a type II with 5 torpedoes. A XXIII is a boat I don't even have modded and you probably play in 1944 - 1945, which is an era I and probably many more of the readers of this thread haven't played yet at all. That alone would make the reports interesting - even if you carried no torpedoes at all. :) If you got the time to write the reports, I'd bet they would be interesting. And who knows what you do with those 2 torpedoes. Maybe you sneak into Scapa Flow and sink a carrier and a battleship in 1945. :arrgh!: |
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Well now, I didn't think my reports were impressive. I'm sure you aces have seen it all already, but it's all a new experience to me. This is only my second ever campaign, and my first lasted four sorties :oops:
But I agree with, Sublynx, let's hear those reports Jimbuna! :up: I didn't know a single thing about subs until I bought this game, so hearing about the XXIII will certainly be very interesting! (In fact I'm looking at the Wiki page now...it sank the last allied ships of the war. That's pretty important!) I think I may just have to get this mod. :D |
U-552, Patrol 3. Report 1
Lt.z.s. Alfons Dietzmann
U-552, VIIC 11. Flotille, Bergen Orders: Patrol grid AN48 12.1.1943 1728 AN24 cloudy, 8 – 9 km, 4 m/s. I think BdU wants to make a point to me of not diving deep at the first sign of trouble and has assigned AN48 with it’s shallow water as a patrol grid. We didn’t get the leave we wished either. We had to leave as soon as the boat was ready. My LI reports that the crewmen are pretty mad about this and blame me. The former commander of this boat didn’t get his boat this shot up that I have and now this thing of getting a patrol grid in shallow water, near the English coast with it’s airplanes and hunter killer groups. We will probably have to attack a group of destroyers, because it’s not very likely we’ll see any other type of ships. 1804 AN24 cloudy, 8 – 9 km, 4 m/s. A lucky sight suddenly. Dolphins in the waters near Bergen! I let the crewmen watch this happy sight in turns and then even a type VII returns from it’s patrol in good shape too. I think the more superstitious crewmen take this as a good omen, thinking that maybe we’ll come back from our patrol safe and sound too. If one can see dolphins in Bergen, one can imagine us coming back without a scratch too! If all goes well on this trip, I’ll let a dolphin to be painted on the side of the conning tower. http://img815.imageshack.us/img815/8...dolphinvii.png 2257 AN24 cloudy, 8 – 9 km, 4 m/s. I have made diving experiments. Taking our new FuMo-30 antenna down when diving does not slow the boat down. A usual dive at AK or GF takes 39 seconds, HF 40 seconds, LF 50 seconds and KF 65 seconds. A crash dive is at least 10 seconds faster than a usual dive. 16.1.1943 1431 AN48 clear, 15 – 16 km, 1 m/s. Patrolling the grid has been a total surprise. There is no traffic at all, no airplanes, no destroyers, no freighters. Nothing. The depths we have measured at the grid have varied from a minimum of 73 meters to a maximum of 118. Continuing our patrol. Dietzmann |
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