North Atlantic / Southwest of Rockallbank
8 Oct. 40, 0115, Qu. A L 8261, Wx: E7, Sea 6, cloud cover, <1000 mb, limited visibility. Detected HMS Ark Royal (91), hiding in outbound convoy headed for Canada - 18 vessels in 3 columns, including 2 American Ore Merchants. Ark Royal probably, looking to join Force H, which is suspected to be operating in the North Atlantic. Convoy also, covered by HMS Bonaventure (31) and one A&B Destroyer.
While shadowing convoy, was able to get as close as 1500m during night and 4500m during day. I'm approaching the convoy from the port side. Submerged attack against HMS Ark Royal in the middle column, with a spread of two, scattering angle 1°, G7e, Pi-1 (G7H), K-b, Contact Pistol, Running depth 6.5m; Distance to target 580m, Inclination 80° to port, Target speed 6 kn, Firing angle 005°. Both torpedoes are hits after 38 sec.! Just before firing a second spread of two torpedoes at a South-African Tanker, I have to dive from an approaching merchant of the port column. When back to periscope depth, the aircraft carrier has disappeared - I notice debris and survivors in the water. As I am gathering the torpedo firing data of a large merchant in the stbd column, I have to dive again from an approaching tanker of the middle column. Too late, the tanker ramms the uboat, fortunetly, without serious damage. The stern torpedo aimed at HMS Bonaventure, which is trailing the convoy, understeers and runs underneath the cruisers forecastle: G7e, Pi-1 (G7H), K-b, Contact Pistol, Running depth 4.5m; Distance to target 540m, Inclination 90° to stbd, Target speed 5 kn, Firing angle 020°. This concludes the first round of this convoy battle... |
I died with my crew in the Bay of Biscay.:wah:
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Set sail on our maiden voyage from Wilhelmshaven on Friday, March 1st 1940 with Leutnant ZS Gerhardt Johlke. Our type VIIB is assigned a patrol in the Skagerrak. Sail north in fine weather and spot nothing other than a couple of German ships.
After 24 hours patrolling, we're about to head west when our watch spots an unlit vessel. It's a little tramp steamer heading west and sure enough it's British. She's dispatched to the bottom quickly for our first sinking. We're now going to head north-west for the Northern Isles. |
"Come to the mittelmeer", they said.
"It'll be fun." they said. For the life of me, I can't remember why we thought it was a good idea to transfer to the 29th fleet to help out the macaronis. I liked to think it was because I was lending a hand to my old friend Erwin and his Afrika Korps, but could just as easily been something I said out of context back at fleet HQ. Either way La Spezia is our home for the time being. This is our 3rd patrol here and our 16th overall. We departed La Spezia at 10:21 am, the morning of June, 18, 1942. While we were in base, after our last outing, the naval armaments office added a few upgrades to our boat (U99, too bad about Kretschmer)and we are just looking them over now. The most important of all (besides some of the prototype torpedos) is the new advance in electro-engineering, the Fumo-29b radar. Previously, radar was too large and bulky to have on anything other than a heavy cruiser on up, or a land installation. It looks so small and unworthy and I am doubtful, but maybe it will surprise us and prove itself. As we left port I noticed something different. Maybe it's nothing, but it seems like a bad omen. In France, even Norway, the navy band plays us off. Out here in Italy, no music for u-boats. We learned a few things about our new radar set. It worked fairly well, helped us keep track of a few friendlies in the dark, so we feel if we had to rely on it we could, and, it doesn't like salt water. Who knew? Ok, so we can't use it unless the sea is reasonably calm, or else the thing shorts out. Fine, we still have our ears. One of the things that makes me happy this patrol is that my contacts at HQ managed to secure me a consignment of the new zaunkönig "acoustic seeking" torpedos, 4 in fact. 3rd time in a row he's done it. I don't care how or whose strings are being pulled, just as long as they keep coming in. I have found them to be immensely useful and am reluctant to end a patrol until the last one is fired... June 21. Patrol is complete with no shipping sighted. Totally routine. Decided to check out Malta. The last time we were in the area of Valletta, we left behind 4 sunken warships and 2 tankers. The place is probably getting a bad name, but I know a few tricks. Afternoon, June 21. Malta. Through the lens I see pretty much what I was expecting. Apparently the Tommie skippers had been spoken to about shoddy seamanship because now the heat is on. 5 DDs I count. My sonar man tells me about 3 more outside of visual range. Nope, not today I think. Even 4 seekers would not sink enough of them before the others finished the job. I have nightmares about this... "Helm, set new course". "Keep us close to the island, but get us out of here". "Jawohl, Herr Kaleun". Cursing our misfortune, we leave Malta behind, in search of shipping elsewhere. June 23, 12:18pm, lunchtime. Our 1WO spotted smoke on the water. Bright sunny day, flat seas, winds calm. Deck gun weather. Perfect. A slow smile brightens my face. I head below and work out the charts with the OberSteuermann and before long we have the range and speed for intercept. "Prepare for surface action, gunnery crew to the bridge". In a clear moment, the 3 man crew dashes up the ladder, and down to the foredeck, quickly strapping themselves on to the gun. Loading the High explosive ammunition they await the order to fire. On the bridge, with the 1WO, I raise my binoculars and scan the enemy ship for evidence I can use against it. Looks like... coastal merchant, 2000 tons. Greek. Good. A target. What's that? There on the after deck. A gun! Great, she's armed we can claim 'self defense' -a snicker. Decks loaded with crates, don't really care what's in 'em. "Range?" "3000m, sir". "Gun crew!" "Aim for their bridge." "Try to put their helm and radio out of action". "Let's cause some confusion over there." Feuer frei! The boatswain rips at the firing lanyard and with a roar, the 88mm cuts loose with the first HE shell. "Counting...3, 2, 1 Hit!" "Nice shot!" "Quickly, a few more while the range is good!" Our luck is good and our aim is true, and as a result, we got a little sloppy. No worries, I assure the chief engineer blithely, as he directs the damage control parties, I will gloss over this in the war diary... Seems some of those Greek sailors were paying attention in naval gunnery class and they managed, much to my chagrin, to return some of our "medicine". Fortunately for us, the damage was more severe to my pride, rather than our hull. Dashing back to the bridge I survey the scene. We are laying on some speed now, pulling ahead. The merchant is on fire and his bridge is smashed, but his turret still works and I guess the helm wheel is not on the bridge, because he is still taking evasive action. Through the UZO, I see he is 1300m at 210 degrees. "Open tube 5, set 4m, aim...and...loss!" Normally the seeker would only be sensitive to targets going 12 knots or faster and this guy is only doing 9, but he's starting to lay on the speed, and he's on a bearing favorable to our attack anyway at this point. Just as expected our seeker does its job and slams into the props and rudder of the merchant as he tried to turn a broadside on us to keep shooting. Raising the glasses, I see the plume of water jetting up the side, aft, of the merchant, glittering as it falls back down. Soon fire, smoke. Was pretty sure I saw the gun crew get blasted from their mount but was too hard to confirm with the confusion. Within minutes, an oily slick and a few burned crates are all that's left. After the damage is repaired and the spare externals hoisted in readiness, we resume course towards Gibraltar. June 24th, 6am, surfaced. Up enjoying some fresh air, while we can, because, well...you never know... W/T message sir. Cargo ship in the area, be on the lookout for opportunity. Worked it over with the Navigation officer again. "Take us to periscope depth"! Clips pulled, vents closed, crew piling into the forward torpedo compartment to hasten the sinking, U99 slips beneath the waves, until the surface is peaceful and quiet again. Our hydrophone guy has a good set of ears and once below, has our bearing worked out for us. Sounds big. Heavy. Engine labouring even though the seas are fairly calm. I ask for a weather report. Calm enough for the deck gun? Yes, comes the reply. Looking back into the control room from the radio shack, I still see the signs of our last encounter. Broken glass, missing bulbs, a few blown bolts. Pretty sure I can hear a dripping coming from somewhere, but nevermind that now, how's that freighter doing? "Range, 4500, bearing red 340, speed, 7 knots" "We'll stay under" "open tubes 2 and 3", set 9 meters, standby to fire" I hop up the ladder and take my seat at the captain's saddle. Up scope. Papenburg shows 13.5m. Let's have a look. Eye to the lens I see a C2 class merchant edging into range. Greek. Aft turret. Again seems to be cargo. Range, 2950. Not yet. Just a little closer. The angle looks off, and if I fire these fish now, they almost certainly will not hit. I study the target a little more to kill some time to go. Looks old, worn, a workhorse. Probably why the engine is working so hard even though the seas are pretty nice today. And those stacks on her decks, she must weigh in at 6000 tons, easily. Choice morsel for the lack of success lately. Oh my! what time is it? Better check the range... 2100 meters and closing, bearing 350, solution positive for firing. "Tube 2, fire!" Waits 5 seconds "Tube 3, fire!" The boat shudders as the fish leave their tubes, and the diving officer has to put on the trim so that the bows won't break the surface, giving our position away. Down scope. Back down the ladder. Sharing an earphone with the hydrophones guy, I notice his cheek is rather scratchy and he has an odd smell, likely the colibri that he got from the watchman. Listening... waiting... counting down the minutes... Times up! first fish... impact! Second fish... impact! Checking the observation scope because it's closer, I get the lens up in time to watch an abandon ship operation in progress. Note time and position in the log, so that when feasible, we will radio that information to help facilitate the rescue of the survivors... "Helm, resume course to Gibraltar". "We'll stay under for now". |
^ Very nice :cool:
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Current campaign
Part 2.
June 25, 1942. 13:46hrs. Seas, moderate. Sky, medium fog. We're submerged at 40 meters. Not long after we left our last victim, we had surfaced to refresh the air, and because the weather rushed up in a sudden squall, I had decided it was better to find smoother sailing under the waves. Checking the map, we found ourselves at grid CH76, when our soundman caught a tramp steamer in his hydrophones. Going to periscope depth and taking a look through the "pencil" we see a lone, small merchantman, of about 2400 tons. British. Probably on his way to Gibraltar. Angle and range are O.K., so with a bit of careful plotting, we work out a more favorable solution. Torpedo depth setting, 6m. Range 2.5km. AoB-66 to port. "Open tube 4" Just..a..few..more..seconds.. "Fire!" This time I watch at the scope and time the run, until I see the effects of our torpedo strike, confident that in these seas, our scope will remain undetected. With a single, massive explosion, the torp strikes home just under the midships. Engine and boiler rooms. Like gutting a fish, the critical parts were instantly torn out, and with neither time for an SOS call or evacuation by lifeboat, the steamer heels over and sinks without a trace. June 26, 1942. 10:00hrs. Seas, dead calm. Sky clear, winds slight breeze from the south east, visibility, perfect. Surfaced. Map reference, CG96, close to land. Given our location, I take the precaution of manning the surface weapons, with the explicit warning to be watchful of aircraft. Expecting my orders to be obeyed, I head back down below to my 'office', to compile my reports. I'm barely 15 minutes into my paperwork, when a jarring blast sends me against the writing table. Near miss, but not by much... "What the hell!?" Climbing through the hatch to the control room, I lock eyes with the Chief. We trade concerned glances, and I continue on up to the bridge. Poking my head through the upper conning tower hatch, I see our 1WO crouching behind the dubious safety of the tower bulkhead. "What the hell, man!" "I said watch out for aircraft!". Coming out fully on to the bridge I too duck below the the tower structure. Not that I think it will protect me, I just want to be less of a target as now that I am forced to deal with this situation. Quickly scanning the skies I see 2 flights of 2 British hurricane fighter/bombers. One set outbound, obviously the ones who just attempted to bomb us, and one set inbound, looking to fix the aim of the first two. Our AA guys are a bit new at the job. Still getting used to firing at airplanes from a tiny submarine platform. Over and over we hear the jack hammering of the AA guns as they swivel and fire at the British fighters. We've gone through about 4 magazines when the lower platform AA gunner hit his first target. Looks like through the cockpit. No fire, no smoke, no fuel tank explosion. I raise the glasses to see the stricken fighter pull a snap roll to the right, and fall silently into the sea. I think to myself 'I'm gonna put that guy down for a medal when all this is over. If I remember his name...' When all of a sudden, a sharp blast grabs my attention, and I look up in time to see the upper tower AA guy bag his first kill. The Brit was flying just ahead and our guy must have tagged him in the fuel tank, because he just came apart in a massive explosion. Close enough off our starboard bow, that we could feel the heat from the wreckage, as the main fuselage, minus the wings and tail, fell in a crumpled heap, into the sea. Looks like I have at least 2 new medals to award. Funny thing, but I don't recall these crewmen. I can't remember them before today... Seeing that two of their wingmen got shot down so quickly, the remaining fighters left the area. Within 2 minutes, the sky is clear and the sea is peaceful. Which means they're flying off to get reinforcements. Keep an even sharper lookout now. Expect to see aircraft and destroyers. I look at the watch officer, "I'm going below to finish my reports. Keep the speed at maximum so we can get out of this area a.s.a.p. Give us 1 hour and if nothing else by then, dive." |
Bought the Farm
Alas, U-1009 went down with all hands on 6 Jan 1945, SW of Ireland, on Oblt. Fricke's 3rd patrol. It was a successful convoy attack, except for the getting-away part. Damn those Hedgehogs! :dead:
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Part 3.
Grid CG96, 50km east of Gibraltar, heading south. Midday. That itchy feeling I've come to rely upon suggested to me that maybe we should dive sooner than the hour time limit I originally ordered. Reducing to 1/3 ahead, our soundguy, Heinrich I think, picked up the sound of slow screws, closing from the left. Playing the wheel about the dial, he then tells me "contacts, sir, 3, fast screws, closing, bearing green 020". Ah, the welcoming committee that I was expecting a few minutes ago has show up to escort a lone frieghter into the Gibraltar staging area. Possibly to reload and head out to malta, or Alexandria, or who knows where really, but if I have my way, there is a destination for them already picked out...
Increasing speed it still takes us about twenty minutes to close the range and angle for attack, the three destroyers shadowing about 8km away. They have yet to notice us, but I'm willing to bet that as soon as we hit this merchant (totally unaware of our presence), they will move in at high speed to investigate. That moment will give us our chance with the remaining 3 seeking torpedos. Forward tubes 2 and 4, and aft tube 5 are loaded with these technical wonders, and I am eager to set them loose. Tube 3 on the other hand, has the early compressed air torpedo loaded. The one that leaves a visible wake on the surface. No time to take it out and swap with another, I will just have to make do. Up scope. Take a look. Coastal merchant, 1990 tons. British. Favorable solution to fire. Speed, roughly 6 kts. "Weapons officer, open tube 1, set depth 6 meters, standby to fire" The loading crew cranks open the outer door for tube one, with the PO standing by to squeeze the firing handle. "Tube one, fire!" U99 rumbles a bit as the torpedo starts its fateful journey, with the LI telling the guy at the trimming panel, "pump 1000L forward", "maintain trim". "Bow planes, down 3 degrees." Taking a chance, I keep the scope raised to watch our progress, telling Heinrich to keep an ear out for those escorts, and if he notices any change in their disposition, to tell me right away. Checking the chronograph, I watch the seconds tick down until the last moment, when our torpedo glides under the merchant hull. With a singular explosion, a jet of water blasts up midships and fully engulfs the steamer, still completely unaware that there are sharks in these waters... Expecting to see a ship sink more or less in half, I am surprised to see it still making headway. Not as quickly as before, but still going forward. "How about those destroyers?" I ask the soundman. "No change, sir, constant speed". Taking a look through the lens, I now see the effects of our strike. Nose down, forecastle awash, the merchant is sinking. No time to abandon ship, but looks like plenty of time to radio an SOS. "Sir!, 3 contacts, speed increasing, bearing green 015, range, 7km and closing". Yep, that got their attention. "Slow to 1/3". "Open tubes 2 and 4, get our star performers warmed up". Swinging the scope around to the bearing supplied by our soundman, I up the magnification on the lens to see a Tribal class destroyer (with 2 hunt 1 destroyers as outriders), shear off suddenly and start closing the distance to our position, not the one radioed by the sinking ship. Like he spotted our scope... "Tube 1 ready to fire, sir". Informs the weapons officer. It looks like a normal torpedo will work for this one, the math is encouraging, so rather than fire a more valuable seeker, I quickly change to tube one. Still a prototype, but one of the standard wakeless models with better range and yield. Lining up our shot on the lead escort, I send the fish from tube 1. on its way. By this time one of the Hunt destroyers had sped into the area where the merchant sank, and now turned around on us from another vector. Lining him up in the brackets, I order "tube 2, fire!" Quickly checking the status of the tribal destroyer, I notice with dismay that our angle is off now and there is no way we will hit. Nice going "captain", you just wasted 25,000 reichsmarks. The standard monosyllabic curse. I didn't want to, but I probably should have anyway... "Tube 4, fire!" Suddenly, a bang, and a scratchy, static-y sound from the earphones, when Heinrich tells me "tube 2 hit, sir". Angling the scope around, I see the hunt class destroyer is not closing quite as quickly as he'd been a few seconds ago, fire and smoke now coming from the afterdeck. "Oh yeah," I mutter to myself, "that's gonna make them mad..." Swinging the scope around to the right again, I catch it in time to see the tribal class get hit by the seeker from tube 4. Suddenly, the 3rd escort comes into view, to the right of us. Closer by the second, we don't have a lot of time for finesse with this shot. "Tube three, fire!" The compressed air torpedo leaves an agonizingly obvious trail of bubbles as it speeds towards the last Hunt 1 destroyer, now aware of our location, and heading to intercept at 20 kts. By this time, the first Hunt destroyer has gone under the waves, and the Tribal class is going down by the stern quite rapidly. "Weapons officer, get ready for tube 5, set depth 3 meters, raise the cover, standby..." Putting my eye back to the lens I see our lives flash in front. This may have been a mistake. When suddenly, totally unexpectedly in fact, we take out the third escort. Like a boxer landing the knockout punch into the left cheek of his opponent, our T1 slams into the forward quarter, right into the powder magazine. Squinting a bit, I am bit blinded by the flash as the whole front end of the enemy ship disappears in a massive fireball. Down scope. Coming down from the tower I take up a position at the charts table. With the navigator, we lay in an exit course. "Helm", I order, "take us down to 30 meters, ahead full, let's get out of here, we've done enough for today". Going back to my bunk I compile the results of our actions thus far. 9 units lost, 3 of them warships. Current patrol tonnage, 16,645. 2 aircraft shot down. Resuming patrol in the quadrant east of Gibraltar. |
part 4.
June 27, 1942, 07:21hrs, Grid: CH81, heading east.
Came upon a small British merchantman, worth about 2400 tons. Fully loaded, on his way west, likely into Gibraltar. All conditions conducive to surface attack, but decided not to overplay my hand, and dove to periscope depth. Textbook run out. Perfect shot, 1 hit, 1 kill. My torpedo weapons instructor would have been proud... June 27, 15:18hrs, Grid: CH58, heading east. Came upon a lone, British C2 cargo vessel. 6446 tons. Clear skies and seas, again, perfect weather for surface action, but decided to dive. Took them out with a hit from a T1 torp, fired from tube 2. We now have 3 eels left on board. A T2 wakeless loaded in tube 1, a TIV seeker in tube 5, and a T1 spare for tube 5. Damaged, the C2 cargo ship does not sink right away, and after about five minutes of observing the target from 2 km off, I give the order to surface, and finish them with the deck gun. The enemy ship spotted us when we broke the surface, and did what they could to lay in a ramming course, but with hardly any forward motion, it didn't amount to much. Our deck gun crew is pretty good at their job, and before long, the 6400 tonner is standing on its stern, flipping us off like a giant middle finger, as it slides down under the waves. June 28, 03:24 hrs. Grid: CH91. Early morning but with no light on the horizon yet, and with the weather and waves perfectly calm again today, I put the radar set on watch. Pretty soon the operator has some encouraging news. Confirmed by the bridge crew. Found another lone merchantman sailing along, not a care in the world. All that changed a few minutes later, after the last eel from tube 1, introduced itself... With fire and smoke now raising up into the sky, providing some kind of light, I then order the gun crew to finish this one as well. About 10 HE rounds it takes, and after the seas are quiet again, I head below to contact BdU. Date: June 28, 1942. Map reference, grid CH91 Time, 03:45 From: U-König To: BdU RE: Patrol report. Status: 2 aft torpedoes remaining Sunk 7 merchant, 3 warship and shot down 2 fighter-bombers. Total patrol tonnage, 27,556. Reply: "Return to base for some R&R, U-99, you've earned it". At the end of 16 patrols, U-99, under my command, has put down 93 cargo ships, 29 warships, and shot down 3 aircraft. Not bad for the underdogs... |
Okay, first career when I have a decent idea of what I'm doing. The basics:
Starting with U-27 (VIIB) 60% Realism (Fuel and other limits, but still have automatic targeting and the WO) Running GWX 3.0 and SH3 Commander. Only edit made with SH3C was to split the qualifications (Helmsman and Watch) on a double qualified petty officer (since double quals on a petty officer has no effect as I understand). Patrol 1. (August 1939) Shakedown cruise. Tooled around in the North Sea for a few days. Qualified a petty officer in radio and sonar. Patrol 2 (8/15 - 9/10) Sent to BF19. Moved up to observe traffic in the Dover straights as tensions grew and war was declared. Once all clear was given U-27 would move to deliver an early blow in Dover Harbor. A Southampton class cruiser (SH3C: HMS Southampton) was anchored outside the breakwater. Two torpedoes set for magnetic fired at her bow magazines and engines but the engine shot failed to detonate. A third torpedo set to impact finished her. With the shots fired just inside 5km the single ASW trawler had no chance of finding U-27. Once the alarms died down the harbor was infiltrated, though U-27 did bump the anti-sub net. A small merchant, and a floating dock went down as dawn approached. A small tanker was also hit and was assumed to be a navigational hazard in the making but it steadfastly refused to sink. The idea of surfacing and attacking the harbor with the deck gun was entertained but a dawn shot at the ASW trawler just missed as he saw the incoming torpedo. With the ASW trawler still circling the idea of using the deck gun was ruled out. After sneaking out U-27 moved East rounded into the Thames Estuary and claimed the biggest prize of the patrol. A 24,000 ton large troop transport at Southend. With 3 patrolling defenders and very dicey shot angles and with the idea of being caught this far inshore at daylight in the back of the Captain's mind. U-27 chose not to push its luck and moved back out to sea. The remainder of the patrol was spent off East Anglia attacking inshore traffic. With adequate weather conditions U-27 saw good success even only a very limited quantity of torpedoes left. Total tonnage: 121K, 10 total ships, 8 Merchant, 2 Warship. |
welcome aboard!
Ifernat! Good first patrol report!:Kaleun_Salute:
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Patrol 3 (9/26 - 10/11) Sent to patrol AM19, but a far more devious plan was to be carried out under secret orders (Yes its Scapa Flow)
U-27 moved NNW, angling approach Scapa Flow from the east after passing South of the Shetlands. While passing through the shipping lanes between the Firth of Forth and Norway several contacts were made and sunk with gunfire. As U-27 approached Scapa though, the weather turned bad. With conditions very poor, U-27 had to wait...while doing so... two destroyers maintaining long distance patrol circuits were sent to the bottom with impact hits. With the weather finally beginning to break U-27 moved closer to shore but a freak wave was going to make sure that U-27 did not escape the storm totally unscathed. Fortunately the bow scraping the bottom did only minimal damage. With the weather breaking U-27 infiltrated through the eastern pass into Scapa Flow and quickly located the HMS Royal Oak. Four torpedoes were sent at the battleship, shallow to avoid nets. It turned out that the 3rd and 4th hits were entirely superfluous as the 2nd torpedo aimed at the B turret magazine found its mark. Over the next few hours U-27 would add the Tribal destroyer attending the Royal Oak. The Auxiliary Cruiser. The V&W destroyer patrolling the western third of the bay just barely avoided a torpedo by making a scheduled turn 10 seconds before a G7e arrived. That miss nearly came back to bite U-27 in the ass later but as it was dark and a G7e the destroyer was not alerted to the attack. With the twilight of dawn arriving the floating dock was added to the tally. As U-27 moved across the north west quadrant tragedy almost struck. The same V&W that was missed so recently was making a patrol pass and the Captain misjudged where the destroyer would turn. Instead of passing astern, the destroyer passed in front of U-27 and turned. The corner of the destroyer's ASDIC arc solidly passed over the boat. The crew of the U-27 went white as the Captain turned the sub into the destroyer's turn. Sacrificing distance to the destroyer in order to keep the acoustic profile of the submarine as small as possible. Knuckles were white all around. On the nearby destroyer a tired ASDIC operator furrowed his brows trying to decide if he was actually getting a return after a night spent searching the harbor over and over again...For a long moment the destroyer continued its slow turn...and then continued on the next leg of its patrol. No alarm had been raised. Feeling relieved... the U-27 crept across the north side of the harbor...keeping the periscope down as dawn slowly transitioned to morning. After all...the anchorage positions of the two V&Ws on the east side of the harbor were known, there was no reason to check the position.... what could possibly go wrong. Finally in position, with 2 torpedoes left and two stationary targets left (2 V&Ws) the Captain quickly snapped up the periscope and rattled off the first torpedo. Turning the periscope quickly to confirm the exact orientation of the patrolling V&W's I nearly had a heart attack when the scope was completely filled with a warship... seconds later I really, really wanted that first torpedo back. It turns out I wasn't the only thing sneaking into Scapa Flow harbor the night before. 1.5 km almost direct astern next to the wreck of the Royal Oak was the HMS Hood. 1 torpedo...either a near guaranteed kill on the V&W or a chance (albeit a slim one) to take out the Hood... The last torpedo shuddered out of U-27's stern tube and raced true to explode with a magnetic fuse directly under the Hood's B turret.... it hurt the pride of the Royal Navy badly...but it wasn't enough. With all torpedoes expended the U-27 slipped out the eastern pass. The hunt for merchants continued as U-27 moved back towards the Shetlands. With 20 rounds left the weather worsened again and we headed for home. We qualified a second Petty Officer in radio/sonar. Not surprising as the crew got ALOT of practice tracking destroyers on the patrol. Total tonnage 126k, 20 ships, 7 warship, 13 merchants. HMS Royal Oak, HMS Scotstoun. 5 destroyers. |
Patrol 4 (10/29 - 11/10) Orders to BE69.
The standard route north to Shetland was taken. A few unlucky ships were found as U-27 turned the corner. Transiting west north of Scapa Flow the sub left a string of ships sunk by gunfire. With a brief wait for night U-27 began an aggressive transit down The Minch. The crew was starting to feel rather like pirates of old as much use as the deck gun was getting. The weather held though until well after U-27 rounded south of the Hebrides. Turning west U-27 sailed out into the North Atlantic but contacts grew few and far between. After two days and little action we moved back into the waters off Northern Ireland. After some more deck action in a second period of calm weather the U-27 had finally expended all of its 88 mm ammunition. A contact moving north in The Minch pulled U-27 back north towards Loch Ewe. For a moment the refrain 'Be More Aggressive' tempted the Captain but a task force moving at 14 knots 100 km North of the Hebrides offered a potentially juicier target. U-27 raced north, but ran into a patrolling J&K destroyer running a search grid off the NE corner of the Hebrides. Thanks to the morning mist U-27 saw the destroyer and was able to go to periscope depth without being detected. Given its location however, the only way U-27 was going to make it to the intercept on the task force was going to be to remove the destroyer. The only G7e currently loaded though was in the stern. The destroyer would pass approximately 5km away. The range on a G7e is 5km. This was going to be interesting. In what would prove to be one of the tightest intercepts pulled off U-27 crept into position at 4.5 knots or as fast as the Captain dared go. Swung the boat around and threw the engines into a slow reverse to check the forward momentum. Between the destroyers heading and the AOB the angle was over 30 degrees off center so it would have to be a magnetic hit. Luck however was with the crew as the torpedo detonated directly under the destroyer's engines...after traveling just over 4.9km. With the destroyer removed U-27 raced north to the intercept...down to periscope depth and got the bad news... 2 warships, long range, moving away at 14 knots... Disappointed the U-27 turned back south slowly under battery power. Later that afternoon after tracking down a 300 ton coal tender that wasn't worth expending a torpedo (with all gun ammo expended). An interesting thing occurred. A task force contact, 14 knots...this time moving east. This time U-27 would have a much easier time of making the intercept...and so back at almost the same spot the crew spotted two warships emerging from the afternoon haze. "What do we got WO? Cruisers? They're definitely bigger than destroyers." The Captain looked through the UZO scope. "Not cruisers...a battleship and a battle cruiser...The Hood in front, the Nelson behind...unescorted.... It was in that moment that the Captain stepped away from the UZO...blinked...and slapped himself. "Not dreaming...," he mumbled. "Two unescorted capital ships...are you sure?" "yes.." The watch officer would record in his log that the Captain nearly suffered a seizure induced by dangerously high levels of joy at that moment. But getting down to business...how to proceed...it was 2 pm on a sunny day with light chop...and all four forward tubes were loaded with G7a torpedoes.... After much deliberation it was decided that it would be better to guarantee at least one kill than to get greedy. The Hood would be the target. Magnetic impact for maximum damage and against the possibility of the Hood maneuvering. U-27 was able to close the range to 2 km at a speed considered safe against the periscope kicking up a wake. At the moment of decision 4 G7a's went out on a spread as wide as the Captain dared. To the U-27's surprise the 2nd torpedo in the spread prematured 750 m out. The Hood's lookouts saw the torpedoes at 500m and the ship began to turn away and accelerate. The first torpedo detonated cleanly under the forward part of Hood's fist engine room, the third torpedo at the far aft of the 2nd engine room. The 4th caught Hood directly on the propellers and was knocked away without detonating. The crew was not feeling good having only scored two hits...but as they say in the restaurant business location, location, location.... it only took a minute to see that while only two hits had been scored those hits had completely knocked out power to the Hood's engines...she was dead in the water. U-27 was already turning...trying to bring the stern tube to bear...it was not expected to be a clean shot...A secondary intercept was expected to be necessary on the Nelson... The Captain however had not considered just how much effort and speed the Nelson would lose to avoid crashing into the back of the crippled Hood. As it turned out U-27 was able to line up the stern tube...but what would one torpedo do...against a Nelson class battleship...this shot would be a down payment...a start on slowing the battleship down to the point where an additional intercept could be made... Tube 5 fired...90 seconds later...the entirety of U-27 shook as the Nelson exploded like a Roman Candle... 15 seconds after torpedo impact the Nelson was sinking. The Watch officer would record in his log that at this point the Captain, on having realized he had just sunk the HMS Nelson with a single torpedo and still had the HMS Hood at his mercy began twitching and laughing maniacally. It would take another 3 torpedoes, each an hour apart, to finish the Hood. The Captain considered waiting longer...but expected at any moment for the rest of the Royal Navy to show up to aid the beleaguered battlecruiser. With four torpedoes remaining the Captain decided to do something quite fool hardy. Something...'more aggressive'. 3 ships in Loch Ewe would be the result. A modern a tanker, a V&W...and the only sour note being that the floating dock refused to sink. With all torpedoes and all gun ammunition expended the U-27 headed home. The only damage suffered was minimal as a result of bumping into an anti-submarine net in Loch Ewe. We qualified a Petty Officer in the use of the Deck Gun and handed out a rather substantial number of medals. Total tonnage 150,330 tons. 20 ships, 4 warships, 16 merchants. HMS Nelson, HMS Hood, 2 destroyers. |
Welcome to Subsim Ifernat...looks like a lively patrol is being had :sunny:
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My interest has been reignited in SH3.
I kinda forgot how to play it, I had to break the habit of using WASD to move the screen. :O: Diving while nailing a fishing boat with a deck gun is annoying. I got my keyboard control back thankfully. I am currently doing a 1939, starting with the humble IIa, I want to "earn" my way up, and I hope to survive the duration. My first patrol was near Scapa Flow, but I sailed to Hartlepool instead. I got there before the declaration of war, submerged and waited. I managed to use 5 fish to sink 4 decent sized ships in thier moorings. The next 3 hours of game time was dodging depth charges, and fixing leaks. The IIa is horrid at evasion, as you cannot go super deep. I limped back into port 2 weeks later with a modest 15k in tonnage. Impressive for such a small boat. I reckon it will be difficult from here with it, as I had the element of surprise, and sniped non moving ships. I hear about people bagging Destroyers, and find it an exercise in sadism, I die when I try to face one, even if I get the jump on it. I hope to last until '43....(no reloading) But we all know that is a pipe dream.:D |
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