Patrol 37 Kaleu Eckhardt - U-68 - Dec 16th 1944 14:33

Left Trondheim for kvadrant AL66 on Dec. 8th. Very quiet crossing with calm seas untill we got north of the Shetlands, then the air traffic started. Had a brush with a Catalina. Soon after picked up a passenger/cargo that had been reported via the BdU. The Catalina came back and while our DG was engaging the merchant the flak guys kept the Cat at a distance. After one pass it went home. Eventually we expended our DG ammo - the firing started at long range - but then his speed had gone down so approached him submerged with the help of the schnorkel. Gave him a torp for good measure even if he certainly had gone down sooner or later. Didn't have time to hang around, Coastal Command would return for sure.

The schnorkel has its drawbacks. Using it during daytime is very dangerous, the water streaming around it can obviously be observed by the air patrols. Obs. periscope must be used at all times on such occasions. It's OK to use in the dark but one has to consider that the diesels can be heard much farther away than the electrical power source. Also own detection sensitivity decreases. And the speed shall always be less than when cruising surfaced. With other words - the fuel economy suffers.

We are presently in kvadrant AM12 having been interrupted by a large convoy coming out of the east. Probably a Murmansk-convoy returning. Based on info from the BdU we have been able to position us straight ahead of it. We have picked up some of the escorts on the sonar and some of the first merchants. Among the TI's and TIII's we also have 3 Falke. 2 loaded in the rear tubes and one forward. There were many more available in Trondheim, T5 and T6, too - but, we were not able to scrounge these out of the quartiermeister. Probably earmarked for the new E-boote.

Crew is getting quite rash now, most of them having served with me on my 36 patrols. I am getting hints all the time not to save on torps if the escorts are coming after us. Which they shall. The margins are closing.

Patrol 38 Kaleu Eckhardt - U-68 - Feb. 23rd 1945 09:10

Left Trondheim this morning 08:54. Some quick checks unravelled serious technical problems again. Max speed at surface 10-12 knops. What's worse - we only achieved 3 knots submerged. Looks as if we have to abort mission and return to base.

Patrol 37 almost ended with disaster. The escorts of the convoy we ambushed in AM12 was on us like wild dogs even before we sighted any merchants (extremely bad weather, BTW). Had to use half of our torps to keep them on bay, including the 3 Falkes. 2 of these accounted for 2 Captain I class. Our second try to sneak in resulted in our losing both scopes and the port diesel engine. Was also hit by one Hedgehog bomb, but no serious damage. Luckily, the weather was so bad that it was quite easy to escape their circle at 120 meters depth. The Bold III's seems very effective when used for quick dives and sneak-outs.

On the way back we made a typical mistake. To avoid being detected on radar we started up schnorkel/diesel about 10 nm from the convoy. One destroyer obviously snuck up on us in our blind rear angle - suddenly something was hitting us! We crash-dived and lowered the schnorkel simultaneously. He was so close upon us that we were inside his side-thrown D/C's. Again we could escape at 120 m. Didn't dare go deeper as HI was only 54 %.

The crew doesn't mind us returning to base.

Patrol 40 Kaleu Eckhardt - U-68 - May 8th 1945 09:00

War is over! The engines of U-68 obviously are completely shot. Had to RTB on Patrol 39, too. Before repairs could be made - no spare engines - the war ended. Thank you!

Thank you - I was - untill after october '43 when I had technical problems 6 times in row - till Sept. '44. Lost all my goodwill because I used it to load up with expensive self-seeking torpedoes each time. Which I lost when returning to base. Even got degraded.

While we are at it how do I fix these two minor irritants:

1. When, for example, an aircraft is approaching, a warning/choice fills the screen. When selecting, for example, to stay on the surface or engage the enemy it comes back in a few seconds and asks again. It is very tiresome and interferes with the work. It doesn't help to tick the little square, it still comes back.

2. The other is when on the limit of sighting a vessel - each time it is resighted the X drops to one. Also the annoying voice - vessel sighted. How do I get rid of this. I have been into it once but cannot remember it now.

Be a little agressive to find out about this for me....:DL

Thank you! On it again....