Willi Schmidt at sea during patrol 1, Kaleu of U-471 out of Salamis. Dec 3 1941. Encountered an Italian warship firing on a Greek merchant shortly after leaving port, that was quite impressive to watch. Got our own turn that night when we came across another Greek merchant. Came alongside, warned the crew to get out and then sank it with the deck gun, pointed the survivors in the direction of land, tossed them a few supplies and then got out of dodge.

It seems the patrols in the mid-late war period are either very dangerous or they fail to pick up anything interesting. Keep at it :up:

I'll post my last patrol in my VIIB. BdU has been satisfied with my and the crew's performance for quite some time and has offered a newer type of U-boat. VIIC types were available for a while now but I made the decision to wait till an IXB became available. Shortly before departing news came from BdU that our new IXB has completed all trials and ready for active duty. This will be our final mission in our old duck :).

1.12.40. 0457 Patrol 18
U-54, 2nd Flotilla
Left Lorient at: December 1, 1940, 04:57
Mission Orders: Patrol grid DH53

Nothing interesting on the way to our patrolgrid and all was silent during our patrol in the assigned sector as well. After a quick meeting with the senior officers I decided to try and sneak into Gibraltar harbor. Course was set and we got underway.

Sank a lonely Medium Cargo, 5082 tons with one torpedo and some shells. Resumed our course for Gibraltar. Approached the strait in the morning and was halfway through on the surface when we went down to periscope-depth and moved in. Silent-running was ordered and we mapped out the defenses, A couple of warships patrolling on the eastern side but nothing in the strait itself. After 2 hrs we picked up a fastmover and confirmed it was a torpedo boat.

Infiltrated the harbor area at about 2 o'clock. Spotted a freighter leaving and nailed it with 1 torpedo. Continued into the harbor and mapped it with the periscope. Found 4 anchored warships on the northern edge and lined up my boat. Approached to 1.5km and launched 1-4. All 4 hit (1 per ship), sinking the two destroyers immediately.

1714 Grid CG 96 Ship sunk! Tribal class 1850 tons
1714 Grid CG 96 Ship sunk! C&D classes, 1375 tons

Reloaded my tubes and fired 2 more at the frigates. Both torpedoes hit right under the mast and they quickly sank.

1736 Grid CG 96 Ship sunk! Southampton class, 10725 tons
1737 Grid CG 96 Ship sunk! Southampton class, 10725 tons

After that 2 Flower class and others came looking but I evaded them easily by running silent and keeping to the Western shoreline.

Total tonnage: 31627 (Merchant: 6952/Warship: 24675)

Returned to harbor and said my farewell to that rusty coffin which we called home for a long time. :cry:

Good work,:yep:

Dolphins!? :o I wonder if they thought you were their long lost cousin :)

I don't know about '43, but in '39 there is plenty of small fry hugging the coast...but also plenty of DDs. Good luck! :ping:

U-103 IXB
 

Patrol No4
21 May 1940
U-103 left Wilhelmshaven with orders to patrol grid AN34. Somebody in BdU must have drunk several bottles of Becks before assigning this grid to an ocean going IX type Uboot.
U-39 was still in port refiting. In the officer's club vonHarris tried to pursuade Snestrom to use his deck gun from time to time.
U-522 has left Bergen for her next patrol. Valuable experience was gathered by her Kaleun for the use of the FAt torpedoes

00:57 hours U-103 left port

After patrolling AN34 with no incidents , vonHarris requested new orders. This time he was told to move to grids AD59 and AD83

8 June 1940
Grid AD59
Convoy attack
13:09 4 bow + 2 stern torpedoes fired at the convoy
Two converted whale factory ships and a large cargo were the targets and they were all hit but no ship sunk. So much for my confidence in the TI torpedoes.
U-103 dived to 90m undetected and reloaded.
14:23 hours A Flower class frigate was sunk by 1 stern torpedo
14:28 hours A converted whale factory ship sunk by flooding from the first attack.
3 more bow torpedoes were fired but they either missed or were duds.

U-103 surfaced after everyone was gone and the torpedo crew brought the external reloads in sice the weather was very good , 2m/s winds.

10 June 1940
Grid AD83
Convoy attack
06:08 hours 4 bow torpedoes were fired outside the destroyer screen but they all missed. Possible miscalculation of the range.
U-103 turned and fired both stern tubes with no result.
It looked like as if the torpedoes vanished in thin air.

13 June 1940
Grid AD83
Convoy attack
17:36 hours For one more time all 4 bow torpedoes missed. We were shooting at the fishes not the enemy ships!
U-103 dived at 100m and escaped unharmed and undetected.

After this attack no torpedoes were left. U-103 started her return passage.
24 June 1940
U-103 docked at home port
We have wasted some 17 torpedoes in three convoy attacks
35 days at sea
2 ships sunk
12967 tons
No damages or casualties.

Something was wrong during this patrol, At least we returned home alive.

U-552, Patrol 3. Report 2.
 

Lt.z.s. Alfons Dietzmann
U-552, VIIC
11. Flotille, Bergen
Orders: Patrol grid AN48

18.1.1943
1325 AN48 clear, 15 – 16 km, 1 m/s. Airplane sighted at long range relative bearing 194. Crash dive.

19.1.1943
1836 AN48 clear, 15 – 16 km, 1 m/s. BdU informs that U-103 has been in convoy action, but lots of torpedoes have missed. Possible depth keeping problems with TI torpedoes shot at long range. U-54 has raided Gibraltar.

21.1.1943
0128 AN48 clear, 15 – 16 km, 0 m/s. Airplane sighted at long range relative bearing 242 and FuMo – 30 contact at long range relative bearing 242. Dived to periscope depth. On the periscope two twin-engined airplanes observed. Could not be identified.

http://img860.imageshack.us/img860/5...enginepair.png

22.1.1943
2100 AN48 cloudy, 8 – 9 km, 15 m/s. Warship screws heard and followed on the hydrophone. Probably two destroyers on a course of 260 – 270 degrees, speed estimated at 18– 22 knots. Could not be intercepted. Continuing patrol.

Dietzmann

Nice work, :up:

:salute:

I think it's high time you two just went ahead and got a room already. :O:

Although I've favored that method, the thought of adding two FaTs to the mix never occurred to me. Brilliant!

Our IWO, 2 Torpedomen, and myself, are looking forward to FaT classes aboard U552.

The interesting tidbits of patrol #4 - not done yet, kameraden!

5-07-1940, 1713. Wilhelmshaven.
Set off to help operations off Bergen, AN24.

5-11-1940, 0917. AN2411.
Dove to test out boat.
1045.
Depth of 265 meters reached. CE recommended against further testing. Heading for the surface.
1051.
Broke the surface. Crew shaken but proud.

5-15-1940, 2006. AE9893.
Ship spotted, bearing 240, course NNE. Approximately 9km away. Diving to periscope depth.
2010.
Target moving at approximately 9 kn. No other contacts. Full speed to intercept.
2023.
Target confirmed to be British. Fired G7e from aft tube V. Impact, 2m. Target expected to be dead astern. Estimated range and time to impact: 4.2km, 5:45.
2028.
Hit observed, just behind the bow, 5:46 after launch. Target is slowing down. Smoke.
2032.
Target is down by the bow, smoking heavily. Surfacing and heading over.
2042.
Explosions. Target is now down very heavily down the bow, sinking rapidly. Crew appears to be abandoning ship.
2044.
We have arrived. Ship is barely visible. Count two rafts.
2119.
Target found to be the SS Beecher, departed from Blythe and heading to Reykjavik. 5000 GRT, loaded with munitions and timber. Crew given water, food and bearing to land. Allied forces expected to arrive soon.

U39 IX(A). Patrol 5.
 

Underway from Willy on 25.aug.40, for patrol grid BF19.


On departure, we watched with great interest as U103 was having some major work done on her fuel tanks. Prior to that, there had been some leakage about the harbor.

Recieved a message on 1.sep.40, informing us of a base change to Lorient.

4.sep.40
AM51
2135: During a convoy engagement, both stern external tubes were fired at a T2 Tanker.
Both G7As impacted the target, without result.

5.sep.40
AM52
0337: Same convoy. Same target.
Tubes 1, 2, 3 (G7E) are fired with a 4 degree spread.
All torpedoes struck the target, sinking her for 10.871 GRT.

10, 11, 12.sep.40
BF15, BF16, BF12, BF13
Numerouse contact reports sent, and attacks made on outbound convoys.
Operated primarily in depths between 100 and 130 meters.
No daylight hours spent on surface.
Regular escort groups beefed up localy with Armed Trawlers.
5 attacks are carried out, and 3 additional ships sunk.

Passed through BF19 with empty tubes, enroute to Lorient.
There were no encounters in patrol grid.

Docked at Lorient on 16.sep.40. Awaiting the arrival of U103.

Patrol results:
4 ships sunk for 17.599 GRT.
U39 remained undetected throughout the patrol.
Boat and crew in good health.
12 of 12 torpedoes expended (3 G7A, and 9 G7E).
One C2 Cargo (3 G7Es) was missed due to a bad range estimate, and the limited range of the G7E.

U39's history to date:
5 war patrols completed.
10 ships sunk for 45.520 GRT.

U-103 IXB
 

Patrol No5
24 July 1940
11:54 hours After refit U-103 left Wilhelmshaven to patrol Grid AM13. This is much better than the previous patrol

28 July 1940
Grid AN14
21:17 hours Aircraft attack. We had no time to dive as the palne was spotted at medium range so we exchanged gunfire with it. Flames erupted from its fusalage but it kept flying. The plane passed overhead without dropping bombs. At the same time U-103 crash dived. Nothing else was heard.

31 July 1940
Grid AM33
15:04 hours Small merchant sunk by 14 105mm rounds

05 August 1940
Grid AL33
17:54 hours Aircraft attack Exchanged gunfire and suffered minor damages, Crash dived to safety,

15 August 1940
Grid AD83
11:14 hours Aircraft attack Crash dived immediately

20 August 1940
No contacts in this area. I decided to leave and head for AM52

29 August 1940
Grid AM53
15:04 hours Small merchant sunk by 1 stern torpedo. This time the TIs are working in order.

31 August 1940
Grid AM52
03;37 hours Two hospital ships were spotted. U-103 dived to PC and remained there until the ships were out of sight.

02 September 1940
Grid AM51
15:43 hours . Tried to intercept convoy after BdU message. The bad weather - 15m/s winds - made operations very difficult

08 September 1940
Grid AM53
16:09 hours Granville type freighter sunk by 2 stern tropedoes

13 September 1940
Grid AM35
08:06 hours Aircraft attack. Crash dived Minor damages by near by DC explosion

14 September 1940
Grid AN11
11:26 hours. The LI reported that we had already used up half of our fuel

15 September 1940
Grid AN11
18;06 hours Small freighter sunk by 15 105mm rounds

19 September 1940
Grid AN14
12:37 hours Ore carrier sunk by 3 bow torpedoes. 4 torpedoes fired 1 was a dud.

23 Semtember 1940
20:33 hours
U-103 docked at Wilhelmshaven but something was wrong. The flottila HQ was no longer there.
We had never received the message informing us of our base change to Lorient France. U-39 was already there after a succesful patrol.
62 days at sea
5 ships sunk
19857 tons
88% hull integrity
no casualties

Just started a new carrer

Current location an13 . On the way we had few encounters with enemy aircrafts , only one had managed to spot us an subsequently bomb us. No damage sustained.

Two enemy ships sunk in the eastern scotish coastal waters.
- Large trawler for 4-500 tons
- Middle Merchan for 3 5-800 tons

Atmospheric conditions:
-visibility 1500 or less.
-light waves

-Ammunition - 16 shells and 2 torpedoes fired.

Expected "hunting time" 2-3 weeks in northern and eastern coastal bristish waters.

U-103 IXB
 

24 September 1940
04:00 hours U-103 left Wilhelmshaven to reach the port of Lorient France

21:14 hours
Grid AN95
New orders came in : Patrol Grid CF23 and then return to Lorient

28 September 1940
Grid AN14
13:25 hours Heavy merchant sunk by 2 bow and 2 stern torpedoes

02 October 1940
Grid AM52
Convoy attack in bad weather and rain. Visibility through the attack scope : 500m max
03:11 hours Empire type freighter sunk by 2 bow torpedoes
03:16 hours Ore carrier sunk by 2 stern torpedoes
1 bow torpedo fired at a passenger/cargo but was a dud
1 bow torpedo fired at a large merchant
Since the escorts didn't have a clue what was going on the bow torpedo crew managed to reload tube No1
The torpedo was fired against the large merchant and exploded but she went on.
U-103 dived at 100m and left the area undetected

03 October 1940
Grid AM76
19:55 hours Granville type freighter sunk by 2 bow torpedoes + 1 dud
At that point all internal torpedoes were used up and the weather didn't permit the externals be brought in.
vonHarris radioed Bdu and requested new orders
He was told to return to Lorient

04 October 1940
Grid BE36
19:55 hours Empire type freighter spotted at the surface. With empty tubes U-103 dived to PC and waited for the ship to move out of sight.

05 October 1940
Grid BE36
00:06 hours Still submerged , U-103 picked up the screws of a merchant but ignored it.

07 October 1940
09:47 hours U-103 docked at Lorient.
14 days at sea
4 ships
28661 tons
No damages or casualties
U-39 was in port preparing for her next patrol.
Kaluens Snestorm and vonHarris had some beers at the officers club while crew members of both Ubooten had some fun in the city's bars.
There were no news of U-552.
A new twin 20mm flak gun was installed at U-103 to use at the next patrol