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U39 IX(A). Patrol 3.
Departed Willy on 21.feb.40, bound for BE29.
2.mar.40 AM43 1324: "Ship spotted! Long range!" New depth 15 meters, followed by periscope depth. (Otherwise, my conning tower is exposed for too long). Target: C2 Cargo. Course: 180. Speed: 6 knots. New depth 20 meters. Ahead flank. (High speed at periscope depth leaves a visible wake). Periscope depth. Silent speed. 1340: Fire 1, 2, 4 (G7E x 3). One premature. 1342: One hit aft the bridge. One miss. 1343: Surface! (Deck gun decision over-ruled by weather.) 1345: Fire 3 (G7A). Range 700 meters. 1346: Impact at his bow. Submerge and match course. Target DIW. 1357: Fire 5. 1358: Impact! Target broke in two. C2 Cargo sunk for 6.447 GRT, and it "only" took 5 toepedoes. For this target G7A functionality was 100%, while G7E was 50%. (Kaleun's functionality seems to have been 80%.) 6.mar.40 BE29 0850: On station. 20.31: Radio. Outbound convoy. BE53. W. 6 knots. (One grid south). Heavy Rain & Fog. Wind 14 m/s. 7.mar.40 BE53. 0124. Hydrophone contact on convoy. Remaining submerged in spite of darkness. This time we can see no further surfaced, than we can submerged. 0222: Fire 6 (G7A) on hydrophone bearing. Explosion heard after 55 seconds. No stragglers, or sinking sounds were heard. A premature is assumed. Convoy lost due to fog. Returning to BE29. BE29 1644: Sound reports medium speed warship closing. Bingo! A second outbound convoy. Heavy Rain & Fog. Wind 14 m/s. 1815: Snap shot at a suddenly visible Little Merchant. Fire 1, 2, 4 (G7E x 3). No detonation. Too close. Convoy course determined to be 264, and making 6 knots. 8.mar.40 (Have been trailing via hydrophone, and sporadic surfacing). 0010: Surface. Light Fog. Wind 2 m/s. Ja!!! 0141: Corvette sighted at 4.900 meters, and lost at 5.000 meters. BE28 0238: Submerge 30 degrees off lead escort's track, undetected. 0350: Fire 1, 2, 4 (G7E x 3). Little Merchant sunk for 2.338 GRT. A merchant vibrated the boat, as we passed just under her! (Scary while watching the stop watch in the conning tower!) All torpedoes expended. 23.mar.40 AN98 0200: Docked at Willy, and mourning the loss of U65. Patrol results: 2 ships sunk for 8.785 GRT. 12 of 12 torpedoes expended. Crew & Hull Integrity 100%. U39's history to date: 3 war patrols completed. 4 ships sunk for 17.568 GRT. |
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Did my first attempt at intercepting a convoy.
Because I have no map contacts, I'm plotting on a piece of paper, which seems to go pretty OK, just need to remember to convert all the bearings to true bearings. The seas are heavy, making it difficult to keep up with the convoy that's steaming ahead at 12 knots, it makes distance calculation really hard. I don't trust my AOB wheel. It keeps giving me an AOB that always seems to be off by big numbers. The AOB manual has another disc that I don't seem to have... While messing around with the AOB wheel I didn't pay attention and strayed too close, the Flower escorting the flank saw me. I'm going to cheat and try again tommorow, I want to get the AOB thing down. The manual must be faulty, I'll eyeball the AOB vs what the wheel says. |
U-552, Patrol 2, outbound convoy
Leutnant z.s. Alfons Dietzmann
U-552, VIIC 11. Flotille, Bergen Orders: Patrol AM21 6.1.1943 1417 AM23 clear, 8-9 km, 0 m/s. To BdU: Boat status. Six internally stored torpedoes left. Two in external storage of which one is damaged and useless. I am now shadowing an outbound convoy for a second attack, about 20 freighters with 6 escorts close and a small task force guarding it from a distance. Course 297, speed 9 knots. Contact with the convoy lost, but I am trying to locate it again. Patrol results. 2.1.1943 at 1900 hours a 500 BRT boat sunk by 88 mm and FlaK fire. 6.1.1943 at 0919 hours a 7000 BRT Liberty freighter sunk by two torpedoes. 6.1.1943 at 0932 hours an unknown freighter possibly sunk. Enemy sightings. 2.1.1943 2128 AM21 airplane 71 degrees relative. Dived. 3.1.1943 1408 AM21 airplane. Dived. 6.1.1943 0741 AM23 a large outbound convoy. 1122 AM23 small taskforce. 1131 AM23 Metox warning. Erroneously thought as coming from the task force. 1132 AM23 airplane. Crash dived. Two explosions shook the boat and knocked shook stuff off shelves, but no damage the boat. 1301 AM23 Metox warning. Dived. No contacts. 1335 AM23 airplane. Crash dived. Three depth charge explosions shook the boat, the 3rd one violently, but no damage caused. Situation assessment. Intercepting the convoy was done at night, speed AK to utilize airplane-free night time to the fullest. The enemy seems to be covering the convoy with airplanes and a small task force of probably one destroyer and a capital ship. Moving on the surface at daytime is becoming very difficult because of the air patrols. Torpedo loading from external storage might be possible during night time, but not at daytime because of the constant risk of getting attacked from air. Dietzmann |
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This was the last patrol for U-65 She was lost with all hands in the next one. |
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Just about to start a fresh campaign after nearly 2 years without playing this marvellous sub sim
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U-103 IXB
01 December 1939
11:53 hours U-103 under Kaleun vonHarris set off Wilhelmshaven to join the Fatherland's war efford. Orders were to patrol grid BE94 06 December 1939 Grid AN13 00:25 hours Coastal freighter sunk by 9 105mm rounds 09 December 1939 GridAM57 09:47 hours Passenger cargo sunk by 8 108mm rounds 11 December 1939 Grid BE62 08:10 hours Tanker 07 sunk by 35 105mm rounds. The tanker was empty as no explosions were seen 25 December 1939 Christmas day Convoy attack Grid AM51 The weather was nice , no winds and calm seas 4 bow + 2 stern torpedoes fired from within the convoy columns 22:58 hours Southampton class CL sunk by 2 bow torpedoes 22:59 hours Granville type freighter sunk by 1 bow torpedo 23:02 hours Q-ship sunk by 1 stern torpedo U-103 came under DC attack while diving to 160m. The charges fell and exploded at 30m while U-103 was at 35m. The boat was hit at the conning tower and flooding took place in the Zentrale and the aft compartments. Fortunately , the flooding was stopped and U-103 silently dived to 160m. DCs continued to fell but they were set to explode shallower so no more damage was done. After 6 hours (game time) U-103 started rising as no contacts were heard anymore. It was discovered that both scopes were destroyed. When the boat surfaced more damages appeared : radio antenna out , 2cm flak gun destroyed. vonHarris decided to finish this patrol and head for home. U-103 was blind when submerged. 29 December 1939 Grid AN45 03:43 hours On the way home we stumbled across a large merchant flying Polish colors. 3 bow torpedoes and 16 105mm rounds were enough to sink her. 30 December 1939 13:25 hours U-103 docked at home port 8 ships sunk 42208 tons 98% hull integrity We have learned that Kaleun Snestorm in U-39 is not having so much trouble with his torpedoes anymore U-552 is still fighting it out in the frozen waters of the North Atlantic. Gute Jagd Herr Kaluens |
Excerpts from the War Diary of Wilhelm Oster - U126, 2nd Flotilla
20.1.42 My pride in these men cannot be overstated. Their esprit lifts my soul every day. All the hard work and training has finally paid off. Assigned to patrol the waters off New York, by the time we left the Halifax area, we had amassed 56,000 tons of shipping, including three tankers, and two troop ships, one a converted Ceramic ocean liner. With only two T1s forward and two aft, we could have returned to Lorient to a heroes welcome. No one could have blamed us. The men made their wishes clear. Onward! Beat the Drum! We sank our first US flagged ship in CB17, a great lakes freighter. Halifax radio stations mentioned a few hours later the SS Norfolk had not checked in... This morning, at 0326, we reached our patrol grid CA55. A bit later sonar reports a warship contact, then a merchant, and another, and another... We have three torpedoes, two fore and one aft, and 78 rounds for the deck gun. The convoy consists of a tramp steamer, ore carrier, and SIX tankers!!! Escorted by a lone Somers class DD!! The first fish took out the escort, the second a front line tanker. We surfaced and, much to our surprise started taking fire!! As we moved away to minimize aspect and open range, we fired the aft fish and hit the ore carrier.. Circling the convoy, we continued to pepper the enemy until we ran out of ammunition for the deck gun. Only the steamer, a Nipiwan tanker and medium tanker, the SS Svenor, remained. We opened fire on the medium tanker, the SS Svenor, with the twin barrelled 20cm flak cannons, and much to our collective surprise, we damaged her. We witnessed multiple fires, so we poured it on, though finding the range was tricky. She exploded at 0727. Not a single torpedo had been fired at this ship! Five tankers and one ore carrier later, we turned for home. Totals 16 ships - 102,294 tons 1 warship 2 troop ships 8 tankers 5 cargo ships I should probably note, that we cannot submerge below periscope depth without taking on water beyond the capacity of our pumps. Our hull looks like swiss cheese. Getting home should be... ... interesting. BdU has agreed to buy the first round! <9.45% H.I. as it later turns out :arrgh!:> |
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Here's a tip.
If it is raining heavily and visibility is below 700m, check your ever-lovin' baffles regularly or you might miss that 12000 ton Ceramic liner approaching from dead astern at 18 knots! It passed close enough, 1500 meters, that my sonarman heard it while we were on the surface! I didn't even think that was possible! I just had time to ID it as it sped away. Oh I wish someone would invent an acoustic homing torpedo... Sometimes I think those of you who run around at TC1 all the time have the right idea. |
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After a pretty lousy first campaign, I've started again. This time I'll write reports :yeah:
Now I'm playing as Lt.Jr. Roland Thorstein. My boat is U-13, a type II A of U-flotilla Weddigen at Wilhelmshaven. Sept 3, 1939 Wilhelmshaven 17:53 - In port and ready to set sail. The weather is good and the friends and family of the crew are cheering us on. The war just began and anticipation is high, but spirits are good. Sept 5 AN-38 3:37 - The watch has spotted a coastal merchant. After approaching closer, we conclude that the vessel is German, heading to Wilhelmshaven, and we continue on our way. 5:00 - The weather turns dismal. Skies are overcast and winds are high, whipping up the sea. The rain is pouring and the fog is so thick it's hard to see the bow. AN-37 16:15 - We received a contact report of a Norwegian vessel close by. After plotting and following the intercept course, we dove to 20 meters to listen in (the fog was still very dense). To our surprise, the SO heard a second contact very close by. I gave the order to give chase to the yet unidentified contact. The odds were that it would be another Norwegian ship, but the British do use these lanes. We surfaced to intercept. At the rendezvous point we saw nothing, owing in part to the fog. We dove again to listen. This procedure had to be repeated a few times, but we knew we were close. 21:00 - We got so close that we could hear the ship pass overhead. I ordered the ship to periscope depth and took a look. There it was, a merchant, dead ahead, maybe a kilometer... I decided to check the range, and was shocked to see 200 meters :o As it turns out, I forgot to zoom in - now the stern took up the whole field of view! At this point, we could easily make out the Norwegian flag, and let the merchant go. It quickly disappeared into the fog, becoming invisible by 500 meters. I began to realize that spotting targets in this weather would be impossible. Somewhat dejected, we press on. Sept 6 22:00 - The fog has cleared and the waves have subsided. Thank heavens! Sept 7 AN47 13:15 - We have reached the assigned patrol grid. The water is as smooth as glass. Sept 8 13:00 - The watch spotted two Hurricanes which passed overhead. I ordered a quick dive, and asked the NO to check the depth under keel. Thankfully, we had a fair amount of space. When the hatch closed I could see them coming around to make another pass. We heard two rounds of depth charges, none close enough to do damage. This is a wake-up call. Time to be more vigilant now that we're just off the English coast. 18:20 - Surfaced from the last attack. We were moving underwater closer to the coast in hopes of snagging a merchant in/out bound to Firth of Forth. Now that it's dark, we continue on our way on the surface. Sept 9 AN-01 8:58 - Another Hurricane. We were much faster to react this time, and we were out of sight before it dropped its DCs. We were not hit. 10:00 - The SO reported a warship. The airplane must have relayed our last position to it. I decided to investigate 10:40 - I spotted the warship by periscope. It was a 2D-River Escort, chugging along at a relatively slow speed. It seemed like an easy target and would alleviate some headache if I could get rid of it now. I fired off one eel, and immediately dove. Taking a listen through the headphones, I could hear the engines suddenly rev up. Darn! I had forgotten about the visible wake. Now it was on to us, followed the wake to our position, and started pinging. I ordered a dive to 60 meters and when the pinging stopped, ordered flank speed. We narrowly escaped the DCs which badly rocked the sub. Thankfully only minor damage was sustained in the aft quarters. We made a hard 90 degree turn and then ran silent. The DD continued to drop charges, which was nerve wracking for the crew, but we received no hits. Then the SO reported another warship, fast approaching. Were they going to send the whole navy?! Both ships began to circle and drop DCs all over the place. I did not hear any more pinging however. Suddenly, though, the boat lurched, and damage was reported in several compartments. Despite maintaining depth at 60 meters we hit something on the seabed. I should have pinged for the bottom - the damage was repaired in minutes, but could have been much worse. When I was satisfied that the DDs were far enough away and were no longer circling to find us, I ordered periscope depth to observe. We found one off our bow, 5km away, moving away. 14:45 - by now no more sounds were heard, and I ordered the boat surfaced. My crew, and myself, were shaken by the experience, and became fairly fatigued. Several stubbornly wanted to stay at their posts, but I ordered them to get rest. We would need everyone on their toes. Note to self - before attacking a warship, be sure to fire electric torpedoes only. Despite having 4 torpedoes, we had close to 50% fuel remaining, and made the decision to return to port. :salute: |
U-552, patrol 2, second convoy attack
Leutnant. z.s. Alfons Dietzmann
U-552, VIIC 11. Flotille, Bergen Orders: Patrol AM21 To BdU: 7.1.1943 0415 AM14 clear, 8-9 km, 0 m/s Shadowing convoy, reloading after our second attack. Four torpedoes left. Course estimated as 230 - 250 degrees, 9 knots. An escort carrier or a carrier is very probably at a distance of 100 – 150 kilometers from the convoy. 5 columns of 3-4 merchants line astern. Six escorts around the convoy, Black Swans and Flowers identified. A 5000 BRT freighter very probably sunk. Metox warnings all the time during 6.1.1943. 1602 one engined airplane seen on observation periscope 1630 two one-engined airplanes seen on observation periscope 1701 one one-engined airplane seen on observation periscope 2003 three one-engined airplanes. Crash dived. An explosion heard after crash diving. After our attack a convoy escort was able to sound locate us in spite of us being at a depth of A+70 and the escort being at a relative bearing of 180 degrees. It seemed that changing course helps in losing Asdic contact but a change in depth seemed to be even more helpful. At A+60 while turning away from the pinging, the enemy lost contact. Speed mostly 2 knots, 100 RPM, only occasionally slowed down to 1 knot, 70 RPM. Depth charges dropped in sets of six DC’s at a time, launched in pairs. Explosions at an approximate depth of 120 - 150 meters. The four Bold's we launched seemed to be helpful, but not as helpful as in our previous battles. |
11th patrol with my U-252 (VIIC/42)
3 jan. 1943 Patrolgrid: BE82 Score: 2x Coastel Merchant 1x Bogue Escort Carrier (escorted by 4 destroyers, note: never ever do that again....) 1x C Class Destroyer 1x Liberty Cargo 1x T3 Tanker 1x C2 Cargo 1x Evarts Destroyer Escort |
U39 IX(A). Patrols 4.
Well, the first Patrol 4 was moving along well.
3 ships sunk for 15.236 GRT. 4 of 12 torpedoes remaining. Had to get some sleep between convoy attacks. Paused the game, and layed down. Evidently, there was a brief power outage. So much for that Patrol 4. No saves. Back to Willy for another go. "Oh well." Current Patrol 4: 18.maj.40 AN98 2047: Underway from Willy, for CF98. 2256: "Ship spotted." Destroyer! Man the rails! Attention to starboard! 23.maj.40 0900: Radio message: All torpedoes to have magnetic pistols removed, and fired at a depth setting of 3 meters. As happy as this makes me, the leading Torpedoman reports that he can not remove the magnetic pistols of the 2 external stern tubes. Life goes on. 3.jun.40 BE59 0039: Radio dispatch. "Convoy. BE83. NNE. 6 knots." BE67 0341: Radio dispatch. "Convoy. BE91. NNE. 6 knots." BE91 0417: In contact with convoy (Escort sighted). Weather: Clear sky. Dead calm sea. Submarge for appraisal and/or attack. Conditions are ripe for the 2 stern torpedoes. 0458: Convoys course reckoned at 022. Speed remains 6 knots. Fire 5 & 6 at C2 Cargo. New depth 99 meters. Fan shot. 2 degree spread. Depth 3 meters. Magnetic pistols remain. 0500: Passing 20 meters. Impact! Impact! Escort nearby. VCS. 0509: Ping. 0514: DC! Damage & Flooding. 0519: DC! U39 has dropped, involuntarily, to 132 meters. 0522: Aft Berthing, and Aft Torpedo Station (No Aft Torpedo Compartment on IX(A)s) repaired & dewatered. 0525: New depth 151 meters. 0526 & 0532: DC! 0539: New Course 157. 0625: Sunrise (per Quartermaster). BE67 0635: Surface and commence external repairs. 0730: Sound check on paralell course to convoy's. Convoy sound located at 310 R. Surface. 0745: U39 making good 18 knots! 0818: New course 352. 0838: Submerge for attack. (Out a bit far, but too late now.) 0946: Fire 1, 2, 4. at the same C2 Cargo as in attack 1. 0952: Miss. (Target was too far for the G7Es). (Firing my only bow G7A would have been much wiser!!!) Un-noticed, and undetected. 1109: Surface. 1159: "We've been detected, sir." B A N G ! Dive! "We have hull damage, sir!" (New depth 150 meters, changed to 100 meters.) The upper bridge took a hit, causing cracks at the base of the conning tower. Escort did drop DCs, but did not gain ASDIC cotact with us. BE91 2000: CE says the boat is unsafe beyond 100 meters. Attack abandoned. Patrol continues. 7 of 12 torpedoes remaining. |
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