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