U-2502 - XXI - Oberleu z.S. Müller - Nov. 060629 1944 - AN13 - Patrol 7

Left Bergen on the morning of the 3rd.

We came back safely from Patrol 6 by taking a wide northerly detour to avoid air patrols after our major loss of propulsion power - diesel and electric. These constant malfunctions are getting tiresome. If we had met any enemy forces on the return trip we would have had serious problems with defending ourselves. We also brought back a dozen unused torpedoes which is not very popular with the brass.

This patrol has worked out nicely, the boat works fine. Set the course to cross into the Alantic South of the Shetlands. Stopped for a period in the sound to see if any traffic showed up. It did - among them a fat little convoy with three ships.

Continuing westward a report on a large convoy, heading south-west, ticked in. North-East of the approaches to the Hebrides Channel we picked up the radar emissions of its escorts. We submerged and are now awaiting its arrival. The point escort has just passed behind us but he is suspicious, he has been dropping d/c's at the point we went under. He had obviously registered us on his radar. I had a homer ready for him if he discovered us but it seems he is moving on. I shall certainly get use for that homer later. It's a large convoy!

Fred

Below:

1. Fat little convoy of three ships
2. Scoresheet so far

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U-2502 - XXI - Oberleu z.S. Müller - Nov. 09 1944 - Bergen - Patrol 7

Arrived back in Bergen this morning. This was the first satisfactory patrol since the first one and also the only with no malfunctions on the boat. However, we have never had an operational radar. I do not put too much importance on that as we all the time see how radar reveal the presence of the enemy. The only use would be in bad weather or the dark but with the submerged speed and endurance on this boat we may as well operate submerged and use our sonar under such conditions. The schnorkel should only be used in the dark and at a low speed as its wake can be observed by airplanes in daylight and the diesels veil our own sonar, at the same time increasing the enemy's potential to hear us.

The attack on the convoy, it wasn't that big, went quite well even if some time and many torps were used to keep the escorts away. We used all our torps except 1 Zaunkønig for self-defense on the return voyage.

Fred

Below:

Patrol Log

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U-2502 - XXI - Oberleu z.S. Müller - Nov. 231041 1944 - Bergen Approaches - Patrol 8

We left Bergen this morning for patrol area BC33. The boat has been properly checked out - all systems go. I have taken onboard 7 homing torpedoes for self-defence. Plan to get undetected to the patrol area and use everything on one large convoy, no small fish.

The war is going bad. In october we lost 12 boats for 1.700 tons shipping sunk.

Fred

Below:

1. Vorpostenboot escorted us out to the North Sea
2. A Type XXIII left Bergen at the same time.

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Cool, Admiral - some pictures?

Fred

My last couple of patrols have been marred by a strange sort of CTD's. Every time a homing torpedo hits a Flower class the game CTD's. On the last occasions I have saved just before impact, started anew after the CTD - the same happens every time. It does not happen when other vessel types are hit or other torpedo types are used on the Flower class.

I'm in February '45 with a Type XXI now. This is really irritating.

Fred

Correction - now it CTD's with all torps hitting a Flower corvette.

U-2502 - XXI - Oberleu z.S. Müller - May 071400 1945 - Bergen U-boat base

We were about to leave Bergen this morning when we were ordered to cancel the patrol. The war is over.

We left Bergen on May 5th for Patrol 13 but had to abort as both the diesel and E-engines acted up. We got only about half speed out of the boat.

The last months of the war for me has centered around the use of the new homing torpedoes. Correctly used they are amazing. I am sure the Allies shall benefit much from this technology. On Patrol 12 we left with 12 of these on board. The QM's have been much more lenient on supplying these lately. Probably because the war has been going so badly. Six have been issued as a minimum on the last missions and I have been able to scrounge a few more myself.

We sunk 9 of the 12 warships on Patrol 12 with homers. Three of them went astray, one for technical reasons, it went under the target, did not detonate and disappeared. The two others missed because we launched it under less than ideal conditions. If one fires two with short separation in time it is important that targets are clearly separate or else both can hook up to the same target. The third was diverted by a merchant not far from the target.

After a homer has been fired it can be smart to show oneself in one way or other, to lure the target over the initial torpedo track.

As I have hinted here earlier the proper tactics should be pairs or more of U-boats with one specially designated as escort destroyer. This one should operate on some distance from the convoy to lure the escorts away (so the homers do not go for the merchants) and destroy them there. The field should then be (more) open for the other U-boats in the flock. The ideal position to start such an attack would be in the rear of the convoy.

As can be seen from the personnel file there has been several aborted missions due to technical problems - mainly with the engines. This has also occured in the middle of some missions, once very seriously.

Fred

Below:

1. Captain's personnel file

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