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I think we have some budding authors here, judging by the highly entertaining patrol reports I read here. :salute:
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I agree!
I can't personally explain the appeal of the U-boat and the Atlantic war, except that maybe in a past life.... In any event, I grew up in a Navy family and my hometown of Halifax was heavily involved in operations against the Germans, in both world wars. For me, I take a kind of 'perverse pleasure' in fighting for the other side, as it were. I said before a few years ago that in NS, we were raised to regard the Germans as traditional enemies, not with outright hatred exactly, but with extreme distrust, so for me, joining the virtual Kriegsmarine is a stab at that animosity. As is my half-German wife. Like most of us here on this forum, we seem to have an unhealthy devotion to the subject matter, and as such, I try to write my patrols into quasi-sounding real life events, because it is so involving. Just my 2 bits. |
:salute: Writing things up makes the game a lot more entertaining for me, it feels like I can immerse myself in the role of a u-boat skipper to a much greater degree too.
I was inspired by this thread to give it a go and I've spent the last few weeks writing patrols up in different ways to try and strike the right balance. I think I've found it now, styling it more as a Kaleun's personal journal with key events instead of a KTB with something for every single day of the patrol, not to mention the occasional photo! Either way as long as I'm still playing SH3 and people are still reading them, I'll still be writing them up and posting them. It's great being able to contribute to this fantastic community :) :subsim: |
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11th March, 1941 - 20:07 - AL 9597
Arrived in our assigned grid. No activity as of yet and no change in the weather. 16th March, 1941 - 11:37 - AL 9582 Fifth day in our patrol area. No contacts. Nothing. Winds 6 E, sea 7. 18th March, 1941 - 08:01 - AL 9581 Finally received new orders - head NW to AK51. Weather is partially cloudy, excellent visibility, winds 5 N, sea 2. 20th March, 1941 - 05:06 - AL 7133 Sunk our second ship! This time it was a coastal freighter for 1,869GRT. We thought it odd to find such a small vessel this far out. Unescorted, too. Straggler from a convoy? Maybe. We approached her at full speed on the surface before slowing to engage her with the deck gun. We scored 8 hits above and below the waterline. I ordered a temporary ceasefire to allow them time to evacuate the ship before continuing to fire. After another 10 rounds there were several massive explosions wiping out the bridge and most of the upper deck. She sank within minutes after. We saw a single lifeboat drifting in the water but despite my ability to speak English, we did not engage with them. Continuing to our new patrol area. 22nd March, 1941 - 21:26 - AK 5199 Arrived in new patrol grid. Heavy rain, visibility is poor. Wind 2 ENE, sea 3. 23rd March, 1941 - 00:08 - AK 5168 Received two reports of convoys - on in AK 01 heading ENE and the other in AK 29 heading WSW. As the second convoy is closer and heading in our direction I have decided to attempt to intercept it in spite of bad weather. 03:26 - AK5132 Improvement in the weather. Visibility is now up to around 7km. 08:40 - AK 5135 Attacked the enemy convoy at around 04:30. We began by sneaking into the centre columns and firing at a ceramic-type liner, followed immediately by another large tanker. Our luck was in, all four torpedoes found their mark. Both began to sink quickly. Shortly after we attacked an ore carrier with our stern torpedo, again scoring a hit. Aware that one hit on such a vessel was not enough I ordered our remaining bow torpedoes to be reloaded while moving us into position for a second attack. With one of the torpedoes reloaded a short time later we fired at the ore carrier. Another hit, we couldn't believe our luck! As we got our last bow eel loaded we attempted to target another tanker, since they catch fire so easily. To our disappointment this one failed to explode. I ordered us to dive to 80m and we managed to give the escorts the slip yet again. We have 2 reserve torpedoes left but we're waiting for better conditions before we can reload them. Ship tonnages were 12,392 (liner), 12,959 (tanker) and 9,108 (ore carrier). Adding this to our previous kills takes our total so far to 50,090 - phenomenal! I've decided to begin our return passage to St. Nazaire, provided BdU do not have other ideas for us. |
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During WW1 my great grandfather was in the Royal Navy, in WW2 his son was in the merchant marine. I agree with your sentiments, it does seem strange to be sailing for the other side, but it is only pixelated mayhem we commit. No kittens are harmed during our fun. |
30th March, 1941 - 05:58 - BE 6189
A whole week since our last contact. Nothing has happened. It's as though every British ship in the North Atlantic has disappeared. Very few reports from other boats. A couple of steamers sunk. One small convoy off Iceland, lost contact. That's all. Weather is no better, either. This swell has been in just over a week. No chance to get these torpedoes out of their upper deck compartments while it's like this. Still nothing from BdU. The lowest point of our patrol so far, even with the news of us losing Prien and then Kretschmer. 12:45 - BE 6521 Spotted a freighter at long range off our port beam. Outward bound. Weather conditions and the fact we still haven't been able to reload meant we were forced to sit and watch her disappear off the horizon. Morale has really taken a battering over the last 48 hours. 21:33 - BE 6617 As if things could not get any more frustrating for us. A convoy in BE 63, heading straight for us. Even in the knowledge that we currently have no way of attacking them, BdU have ordered us to locate and shadow it. We're praying for calmer seas so we can get these reserves reloaded and get back into action. As we aren't far off the Spanish coast, I had requested permission to sneak in to the Spanish coast to find a quiet spot to reload in calmer waters. Denied. 31st March, 1941 - 01:18 - BE 6627 Convoy sighted. One vessel appears to be on fire. Have relayed the relevant information to BdU and shadowing her. Looks as though there are 24 steamers with 4 escort destroyers. Now we simply watch and wait. 12:13 - BE 6921 After what has felt like an eternity two boats are no in contact with the convoy. BdU have relieved us and ordered us to break off and continue on course to St. Nazaire provided there is no change in weather. 4th April, 1941 - 01:45 - St. Nazaire We're finally home. After 31 days at sea. Our arrival back home was less than glamorous - miserable weather, visibility almost nil. No marching band, no crowds to welcome us in. There had been a collision in the harbour too between two freighters. One had caught fire, must have been some impact! The boat is now safely in it's pen and following a debrief with Korvettenkapitän Sohler I've been promoted to Oberleutnant zur See. http://i.imgur.com/MynsYgk.png The only other photo from this patrol - SS Aage, the coastal freighter we sank, well ablaze following our deck gun attack. Patrol results: Ships sunk: 5 Tonnage: 50,090 Days at sea: 31 |
On Patrol 2 playing real time.
This is my first and last Message which i sending from Sea. 2 At Sea during patrol AL 39 riding high waves 13kn. Hard stress for the Crew 8Days Storm... Hard to sleep, Hard to watch :doh: For now on, Funk is Offline. Cya on the ground. :rock: http://fs5.directupload.net/images/151211/wkolkjuo.jpg |
Today, for the begining, standard, an eight thousand ton
merchant ship in the quadrant BC 17 Firing of the fourth tube, one torpedo from a distance 15 kb http://prikachi.com/images/788/8510788l.jpg A little earlier, however, I had a meeting with some old friends, meeting, as seen ended in my favor http://prikachi.com/images/801/8510801I.jpg |
11th April 1940 in grid AF81 my type IIA boat intercepted British Task Force - HMS Nelson and 9 destroyers. I fired to battleship from distance 3200 m. Salvo of three. Spread angle 3 dgr. Immediately diving. We have heard two explosions at expected time. After 40 mins of bombing task force gone to east. When i engage a periscope depth i was shocked - HMS Nelson lost speed and was at 2000 m away from me. Destroyers leave him alone! :salute:
http://prikachi.com/images/745/8511745T.jpg We reloaded two last torpedoes and fired one just under cannon X, and another one - under the tube. At 0545 we watched third and fourth hits. http://prikachi.com/images/746/8511746J.jpg Sorry for image quality - there was a storm. We watched big fire in cannon X http://prikachi.com/images/748/8511748E.jpg At 0602 HMS Nelson sunk http://prikachi.com/images/749/8511749H.jpg GWX 3.0. Realism - 100 %. |
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I'm following certain historical Kaleuns and his U-Boat staying within the confines of the patrol dates and grids whenever possible. At the moment it's Helmut Rosenbaum with U-2 and am in the middle of his second and last patrol before he moved to U-73 (which I will also follow). Incidentally KingOfNothing did you type the post straight into the forum or attach your report from SHCmdr? :subsim: |
Interesting! I'm looking forward for your reports!
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The sea is calling
After a long time in retirement, this old sea dog has been re-called to the service of his country. While my Bosun is helping my 1st with provisions, I pack my collection of 78 RPM records for our voyage; "Sing, sing, sing" by Benny Goodman, "When you're smiling" by Billie Holiday, "It's a long way to Tipperary", "Jerusalem", "South Australia", "Ain't misbehavin' by Fats Waller, "Finnegan's Wake", "Don't forget your old shipmate", "When Irish eyes are smiling" by John McCormack, "Dizzy Fingers" by Zez Confrey, "Souza: The Stars and Stripes Forever", "Eternal Father Strong to Save" by the U.S. Navy Band, "Jattendrai", "Lil Marleen", "Panzerlied", "My hat's on the side of my head" by Roy Fox, "Suite Bergamasque, L.75:III: Claire De Lune, sixteen records in total, a few that would make the propaganda ministry a bit nervous. In my sea bag, I've added a supply of Cuban cigars.
One last evening in the tavern with the crew. I notice one greenhorn, passed-out, face-first in his plate of macaroni & cheese. Upon my waking him, he lifts his head, pulling a good portion of the cheese with him. He says, "take me drunk, I'm home!". *sigh* |
U-33, Erich Walz type VII b.
Day 7 of patrol in grid AM28. Day 12 at sea. Only action I had was a few days out off the coast of Norway- sunk a polish merchant with the deck gun. Currently running at 20 meters submerged cruise due to a nasty North Atlantic Storm up top. Bugger the rain and seasickness! Lone Wolf Flotilla Campaign |
Welcome back
Arnold!:Kaleun_Salute:
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^ Thanks!
It's good to be back at sea again. We have a great bunch of gentlemen, here at SubSim. A few convinced me on Facebook to play SH3 again, after several years away. My video card broke back then and I didn't play again after the replacement was installed. I downloaded the game yesterday, via Amazon, played it , did a shakedown cruise in a harbor, then saved the game. Everything worked! The only Mods I've done is to fix the fatigue numbers and add Mp3 music files to the record player.
As we left the harbor, the band was playing while I was on the bridge. I could hear the crew singing the old sea shanty, "South Australia" below decks. When I grow weary of listening to the news of trouble in the world, it's nice to just to stand on the bridge on a clear evening, light-up a cigar and watch the stars and the waves, listening to favorite song from that era. 1st patrol 1 Sept 39 19:00 hrs With a full moon, we set sail to AN56, as ordered. I order ahead slow and plot a course. I set the torpedoes to contact/ fast speed. The light from the Frensel lens of each of three lighthouses mark the entrance of the harbor. I tell the Bosun I want the duty watches set to match the merchants we hunt. "Aye! aye!" he replies. I have more important things to do than play "musical chairs" with the crew. If six on, six off is good enough for the merchants, it's good enough for my crew. So that's it, I change the watch every six hours to provide rest, rather than every time they "look" tired. Once we leave the harbor, I order ahead one third. On the bridge, I look for the constellations I learned years ago, when I was a Boy Scout. These kids today have 'The Hitler Youth", instead. There it is! The Big Dipper, pointing to the North star. Seeing these stars remind me of the time I saw Halley's Comet streaking across the sky, back in April of 1910. I was watching it, amazed, then went into the house to yell to the upstairs bedroom to my wife, 'Honey! Come outside to see Halley's comet!" She yelled back, "You're not going to the Hale bar with Bob!" |
1st Patrol
28 SEPT 39
Patrol 1 U-4 00:50 hrs 2nd watch, ten minutes early. How considerate. 0:500 hrs test dive/sound check at 30 meters The morning sun feels good. Fresh bratwurst & sauerkraut on fresh bread for breakfast. A clear day with a light wind. The sea is almost as smooth as glass. A good time to use my own eyes to scan the horizon for smoke. Noon. Daily position report sent to Bdu. 12:27 hrs The radioman reports hearing a position report from a German freighter, bearing 80 degrees, course SW, heading in our direction. Ahead standard. Let's get ahead of their course, gentlemen. I wouldn't want to get in a position where we have to fire a shot across the bow, like the Russians did recently to avoid a collision in the Aegean with a Turkish fishing trawler. 13:00 1st watch. I order ahead 1/3 and grab a bit of sleep. 19:00 2nd watch 01:00 1st watch Let's play SH3 musical chairs, shall we? My Chief, Otto Totenhagen, takes a well-deserved rest. He likes the bow compartment, for some unknown reason. sub-Lt. Friederichs takes his place, after R&R in the stern quarters. Our Navigator, Adolf Carlewitz retreats to the stern quarters, replaced by sub-Lt. Hartenstein. Six hours from now, these officers will trade places again. The controlroom mates change watch with men from the bow compartment. Those in the engineering sections are used to six hour watches. As with the controlroom, men are replaced, one-at-a-time with those in the bow compartment Warrant Officers with those in the stern compartment. With the exception of foul weather, bridge watches are replaced every six hours. This leaves the sonorman and radioman who work six hour watches, replaced by officers from the stern compartment. Of course, some may get less R&R from time to time. It all goes out the window during battle stations. It's all done to keep the good order on the boat. |
10th Nov 1939
39 days at sea. 20+ days of scheiss weather in the north Atlantic. Have been plagued by torpedo failures and bad weather. Two ships sunk, one by deck gun in the first days out, one by torpedo West of France. Now in AM43. Convoy attack a few days ago failed despite textbook setup - torpedoes either ran too deep, missed, or failed to explode. Found a lone merchent of at least 7,000 GRT in my patrol zone in the early hours of this morning. 1 failed impact pistol, 1 premature detonation, 1 miss. The boys are demoralized. For most of them, their first time on a U-boot and the first wartime patrol of all of us. We won't be returning completely empty handed, yet still it feels like a failure. Cannot reload the remaining eels as they are stored externally. Fuel down to 50%. Awaiting orders from BDu to return home. Erich Walz, Officer Commanding U-33. |
1st patrol
U-4
2 OCT 39 10:00 hrs Patrol area AN56 reached without incident. How ironic it seems that men have made rules regarding war. As if mankind is forever resigned to resolve our conflicts with violence. I have decided on my conduct during this war. Once an enemy sailor is free from the duty of his ship, as it sinks below him, I will do my best to see the lad return home safe and sound. Our Navigator has plotted a patrol course. 10:22 A call is received from the voice tube on the bridge, rain has started, hand up rain gear. I order two hour bridge watches. I climb into my foul weather gear. I climb to the bridge, light a cigar and raise my glasses to scan the horizon. I lower my glasses to finish my cigar. The rain is cold, the sea remains calm. I go down below. Noon: Daily position report to Bdu. We steer West. I catch some sleep. Carl Lange Jr. sub-Lt. |
What's for dinner?
U-4
2 OCT 39 I had a conversation with our cook, Henning Sauer, in the gally this evening. "Good evening, Sauer" "Good evening, Cap'n" "You're married, aren't you, Sauer?" "Yes, sir, 5 years!" "That's good Sauer, do you and your wife have pets?" "Yes, sir, a canary named "sparky" "No dogs?" "No sir" "Never had a dog, even as a kid?" "No sir". "I have two dogs, Sauer, Labrador retrievers". "When I open a can of dog food, I immediately can tell what it smells like". "Yes, sir". "You getting where I'm going with this, Sauer?" "No, sir" "You served spaghetti and dog food to the crew this evening" "But, sir, the cans did not have any labels on them!" "Go on" "When I opened a few cans I found spaghetti noodles and I opened some other cans and found meatballs". "Sauer, I want you to inventory the entire provision of food in the forward head and throw over the side any can without a label." "Aye, aye" |
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