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January 4, 1941
U-65 12th Patrol cont'd....

0001 Weather continues to be wretched: heavy fog, rain, high wind. Dive for sound check. There's a contact on the hydrophones. We surface, watch crew to bridge, and attempt to run it down.
0027 Granville-Type freighter sighted 1500m off our starboard bow. Location: CG 86. Crew takes up stations for night surface attack. I order U-65 in at high speed. The diesels are hammering as waves crash over the bow and conning tower. Tubes II, III ready and open: G7a, AZ pistol, depth 3m. I fire both tubes.
0033 Impact, one torpedo. Freighter continues to make headway. I order boat about for a stern attack.
0035 Stern tube V fires, one G7a, AZ pistol, depth 3m.
0036 Impact! Column of smoke and flame 200m high and is torn to shreds by the howling wind. Massive amounts of smoke and flame; it's as if the sea itself shudders. Estimate 4700 GRT. Multiple secondary explosions as the freighter goes down.
0940 Still too rough to load externals. Radioed BdU in preparation of diving for the day to regulate remaining torpedoes and rest crew.
1915 Surface.
1926 Radio reports enemy convoy grid CG 95, course W, 7 kts. Our position CG 89. Weather not conducive at all to operations, but I am ordering U-65 east nonetheless in an attempt to locate and attack convoy.

Jan 5, 1941
0202 Dive for hydrophone check. Multiple contacts. We surface and attempt to run them down. Weather is truly vile.
0334 Destroyer sighted coming out of a heavy fog bank. How did he see us and we not see him? Crash dive! He thunders over our position and unloads depth charges. We creep away at 120m. All pumps, ventilators, compressors and secondary gyroscopes are turned off. Silent run.
0500 After escaping destroyer we come up for periscope check; horizon clear. Surface and order course in effort to reacquire convoy.
0640 Evade Black Swan on surface. Fog so heavy he did not see us. I turn boat away to present narrow silhouette and ready stern tubes, both G7e, to fire a 2 degree angle with 2m depth. Both torpedoes miss, yet he stays on our course not more than 650m away. We are only outrunning him by about a knot or two. He can't see us very well, or he would definitely fire upon us, but he knows something is up. Perhaps he is following our wake? I cannot dive as he would be upon me within seconds. Will I have enough night left to gain ground and lose him?
0649 Black Swan has acquired us. We are under attack. Boat is damaged in bow compartment and torpedo room. I order crash dive.
0660 Crew works feverishly to stop all leaks. We go deep, silent run.
0750 We have evaded the enemy destroyer. Surface and now I will attempt a huge end run in order to postion myself for an underwater attack. Barring that, I wlll attempt to maintain hydrophone contact with convoy in hopes that the weather will turn for the better. I feel more than anything else the weather is responsible for hindering any success we might otherwise have as regards successful attack.

sublynx

08-04-11 04:30 PM

die Elster (U-46) patrol 4, report 2

Ob.lt.z.s Walter Zantow
U-46, VIIB
7. Flottille, St. Nazaire

24.10.1940
1144 AM36 Clear, good visibility, wind 1m/s. A convoy in sight, 4 destroyers, 7 small merchants, 3 medium merchants, 1 large merchant. Course 208, speed 7 kn. Five torpedoes launched at ranges of 2500 to 4000 meters against five different targets. One hit on a 2000 BRT merchant. The bow of the ship rose by 15 degrees, otherwise no effect noticed. Evaded the escorts at periscope depth. Seven G7e's and two G7a's left. Half of the fuel expended. Reloading and preparing for an end run on the convoy.

Zantow

gazpode_l

08-04-11 07:19 PM

R Hessler U111
Arriving to the dockside on April 28th, Commander hessler was expecting to be given command of a new vessel, namely that of U-107. However, due to a clerical error, it wasn't realised that #107 had already been allocated to somebody else.

U-111 was just commissioned for front line duties, so the base commander elected instead to give U-111 to Hessler and the crew from U-65.

Put to sea on the afternoon of April 28th, the crew are in good spirits and are anxious to see how the new boat will handle, and if she is as well built as u-65 seemed to be.

On april 29/30th, U-111 is hassled by some enemy elco's which begin persuing. A slip-up by the helm control in-advertantly reveal's U-111's position to the elco's after a period of evasion when it was becoming clear that evasion was very likely.

Another period of lying low was enforced. Later on when it had all calmed down, Hessler calls both the crew members concerned, together with thier reporting officer and gives them a grilling, fining them each shore-leave.

On may 1st, in a position some 100km off south ireland, a small convoy is sighted. U-111 closes position, only to establish that these vessels are actually AMERICAN. The US isn't actually involved in the war - yet so Hessler decides to continue his intended course towards the patrol grid and leave's the two merchants to go on thier way.

This descision is later justified when a message comes in from Hitler, via BDu instructing all navy vessels to strictly NOT attack American vessels.

Some two days later, U-111 is in Grid AL34, the allocated patrol grid and has completed the allocated 24hrs on patrol. Commander Hessler is contemplating his next move at the time of writing.

Karl Olsen
Radio-Operator
O.B.O - R Hessler
Commander U-111

Iron Budokan

08-04-11 11:37 PM

Jan 5, 1941 12th patrol cont'd....

0851 Overhauled convoy CG94. Sighted destroyer which has not seen us. Dive to avoid. Silent run, 1 kt.
0906 Periscope depth. U-65 ahead of convoy. Ships slowly appear out of heavy fog. Boat readies for underwater attack.
0914 One torpedo impact large freighter. Sinking. 10620 GRT.
0915 Stern torpedo hits large freighter.
0925 Fire two G7a at Dido Class cruiser. Both miss. One hit and sank small freighter instead, 2230 GRT. His bad day.
0927 Fire another G7e at cruiser. Solid hit on stern. Cruiser slows but continues to make headway.
1142 Surface.

Jan 6
0840 I have lost contact with the convoy.

Jan 8
1409 Glimpse merchant in heavy fog. Will this wretched weather never break? Submerge for hydrophone check. Two contacts nearby. Surface and run down the first contact.
1442 Ship sighted CG94! U-65 comes under fire from merchant. I move in to attack on surface, engines at maximum.
1510 Two torpedoes fired and both send a 2230 GRT merchant down.
1515 Torpedo misses second merchant, bounces off as he takes a sharp turn. I circle, head back in and line up another shot.
1536 Torpedo impact! 2230 GRT but U-65 took some damage. Heavy flooding in aft compartment. Boat soon stabilized. 6 torpedoes left.

Jan 10
0740 Ordered to patrol BE55 by BdU. U-65 sets new course. Extreme weather more than anything else has hampered operations and fighting ability of boat, in my estimation. We have had many more torpedo misses than ever before. However, crew has performed admirably even with these limitations and extreme environment.

Iron Budokan

08-05-11 01:48 PM

Jan 11, 1941 12th patrol cont'd....

1933 Have run down convoy position radioed us by BdU. CG 87. Searching. Convoy sighted! CG 88, course 104.

Jan 12
0614 Tried to maneuver in for an attack but had to break off. Heavy destroyer screen.
1340 Lost contact with convoy.

Jan 13
0346 Came across single steamer. Fired torpedo, missed. We set course for home. Three torpedoes left.
1145 Found another small merchant and attacked it with single torpedo. Merchant continues to sail on.
1343 I attack merchant again. Ship sunk, 2400 GRT CG 94. One torpedo left, G7e. We are headed home.

Jan 14
1204 Merchant spotted and sunk with last torpedo. Failed to recognize it as neutral. That was my last torpedo.
1820 Light ship spotted off Spanish coast. I give it a wide berth.

Jan 19
0715 Dock Lorient. Weather wretched.

Patrol Summary: I feel in this patrol U-65 did not live up to its fighting potential. This was due to two factors: 1.) Weather, and 2.) decisions on my part.

1.) Weather foiled many of our attacks and made it extremely difficult to get true bearings, speed, etc for ships. It may have also affected the high number of torpedo failures we experienced. We also lost attack potentiality because we could not load externals fast enough due to weather, thus cutting into our firepower.

2.) Personal decisions. Too often I made the decision to fire single torpedoes at lone ships rather than give them a double dose. This resulted in lost time and lost kills. Lesson learned. It is better to make sure of your target, I think, than simply wound it.

End Patrol Summary

sublynx

08-05-11 03:08 PM

die Elster (U-46) patrol 4, end report

Ob.lt.z.s Walter Zantow
U-46, VIIB
7. Flottille, St. Nazaire

Statusbericht 29.10.1940

In Kiel. The boat is going to go through a major refitting. We will have a long holiday and after that training courses and expect to go for another patrol in February of next year.

Our last patrol was not much of a success, considering that Bleichrodt, Kretschmer and Prien and the other commanders almost wiped out a whole convoy. We only sunk three small or medium merchants and one armed trawler. Only one contact with a convoy and that very close to the Scottish shores.

Torpedo troubles are not totally gone. We shot two torpedoes with impact setting, 2 meters depth to the armed merchant at an angle of 45 degrees while it was sitting dead in water and only got the sound of a dud in both cases. A shot at an angle of 70 degrees detonated. It looks like 45 degree attacks can't still be made.

Zantow

This patrol was made following the dates and routes of the real U-46 commanded by Engelbert Endrass. Endrass took part on the decimation of SC-7 and sunk 22000 GRT of shipping. U-46 then went to Kiel and didn't sail until February, 1941.

Sailor Steve

08-05-11 04:22 PM

@ Iron Budokan: I like your writing style. I've always been fond of straight-up reports without the padding. :salute:

Iron Budokan

08-05-11 04:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve (Post 1721581)

@ Iron Budokan: I like your writing style. I've always been fond of straight-up reports without the padding. :salute:

Thank you very much, I really appreciate those kind words. :salute:

frau kaleun

08-05-11 06:14 PM

Quote: