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U-43 based at Wilhemshaven.

Ordered to patrol BE83
October 9th 1939. Left port at 13:00 and set course for AN14.
Arrived at AN14 at 23:07. 23:09 watch officer spotted a slow moving merchant, it was a Granville type freighter moving away from us at north east. In light of our poor position to the enemy ship, I decided to steer north at ahead flank to get ahead of them, and once ahead I called to steer west and then called for periscope depth and ahead slow. Once in postion I stopped all engines and waited for the ship to come into perfect firing range but as we were waiting at 23:55 the sonar operator heard another merchant not too far away moving directly towards our position, it was headed east. Once the Granville was in a good position I fired 3 torpedos in a spread, scored 2 hits but she never sank so I called to surface the boat and finished her off with the deck gun and she sunk at 01:12. I called for the watch crew and set a westerly course at ahead standard. The second ship came into view at 01:35 and it was a large freighter heading east. I instantly asked to change direction to south and at 01:45 I called for periscope depth and again, we waited for her to come to us. She was moving very slowly and took a while to move into position, but at 02:30 I fired 3 torpedos at her and this time all 3 hit. She stayed afloat for another 10 or 15 minutes before she sunk. We surfaced at 03:00 and returned to our original course on ahead flank. We saw no more ships for the rest of our journey towards BE83 and it was looking like we might not get anymore sightings until we were around half way through our patrol. At 08:40 on the 13th October the watch officer called ship spotted, I looked Through the UZO and saw not 1, but 2 merchants headed towards us, another Granville type and a small tanker. We carried on our course while I decided what to do, and which to attack 1st,but while I was sat thinking, the decision was made for me, they spotted us so I had only 2 options left, the deck gun, or get as close to the Granville as humanly possible and blow her out of the water, then deck gun the small tanker, so I set to periscope depth and ahead flank, and set course to get close to the Granville which was now doing a dance all over the place to get away, but I had other plans. I got to within around 800 metres and fired 3 torpedos at her, and asked for back emergency. The torpedos hit and she started sinking soon after, a called for ahead slow and turned the boat right and surfaced, the tanker was only some 700 metres away, and I called for the deck gun crew. They engaged the tanker and she sank around 10:15. Satisfied with the tonnage we had acquired I set a course back to base and on the 16th October we returned home to Wilhelmshaven. Thanks for reading :salute:

Sepp von Ch.

08-08-13 03:29 PM

I my current campaign? Ehm... All hands dead near Normandy beach in June 1944...GWX is realistic hard.

Warren Peace

08-09-13 10:41 PM

U-13, IIA out of Kiel. 8 Oct. 1945.

Just returned from third patrol of the English coast in the North Sea (One more and I beat my survival record!). Have discovered that sector AN14, north-east of Scapa Flow, offers numerous contacts passing around the north of the British Isles. Have sunk 2 merchants in the area, a coastal freighter and a Granville for just under 3,000 tons total. Not impressive, but I'll take what I can get. (Note: the Granville was carrying wine and spirits. Sending English wine to the depths, a great victory). Will continue to patrol the area in future outings as long as possible, suspect British Naval forces are beginning to move through the area with greater regularity.

U-13 Out.

sublynx

08-10-13 06:19 AM

U 70 lost

From BdU's war diary on the 19th of December, 1940:

The BBC reports that they've sunk and captured some of the crewmen of U-70. The boat was on it's maiden voyage and was last heard of while reporting starting an attack run against a convoy at BF15.

(Running NYGM now and it seems my careers will be very short from now on)

ntz	08-11-13 10:19 PM

hah, i just had my most fortunate hit ever ..

i was returning from patrol with fuel reserved to very last liter .. rough sea, strong wind however good visibility .. my WO suddenly spotted merchant .. he was in great possition and course to me .. i decided last furious attack with only last 2x T1 and 2x T2 in tubes ..

i didn't recognize the target ship because of bad weather and his aharp AOB to my position .. i fastly calculated approach triangle and gone underwater with ear stuck in hydraphone and correcting my course by his climbing from ~ 320 -> 0

well, my initial conclusion was wrong and when i come to periscope depth ready for attack i've found, that my fast moving enemy is at desired 90AOB, but probably 1200-1400m ahead .. anyway, i put pieces of my target solution (all get by an eye :)) together and launched both T1s and wait for the result .. well, i even didn't change my course so in the time of supposed hit was the ship ~20 to right from me ..

both torpedos either missed or gone below (100% realism, no way to check) .. my only chance to score was wasted .. dunno why i just put my course slightly before him, full ahead and set both T2s for shot .. i never use T2s on rough sea for this purpose ..

when I was at 1000m from him with AOB something like 115 i just for fun fired at fixed point first T2 and after while even second with fixing delay only by inreasing target speed beyond the real .. i really did not expect anything, but both T2s magically hit the target and sunk it instantly ..

i never before scored just a lucky shot nor even tried to use T2s on rough sea and at 1000m at realatively small ship .. i forgot, target was grenville frighter (4kT, 78m long - smaller ship)

at rough sea i do all measurents by an eye and try to approach close (ideally with 80-100 AOB at 300-500m) .. big advantage is to target ship you know good in the meaning of dimensions and distance by an eye .. i sunk prior to this on this patrol (with 8x T1 and 2x T2) 3x minor 2kT frighter and one same 4kT grenville frighter .. all of them accessed at very very close and the most of TDC datas get by an eye .. it took 10 torpedos (at full realism and with NO childish reloading) ..

regards, ntz

desertstriker

08-11-13 11:09 PM

seting my course out of port through the keil canal so i can sleep while going through and pick it up after work as well since it is approx a 20 hour journey at 4knts i have plenty of time if i set it at no time compression :P
its early war and resently hit a convoy getting some good tonnage previous patrol.

sublynx

08-22-13 02:18 PM

U 71 patrol 1

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...7oCJU03VbA/pub

Leandros

08-24-13 09:30 AM

Obleu z.S. Hansen - 8th patrol U-65 (Type IX) May 7th 1941 - Lorient.

2 Attachment(s)

After a long period of 1940 working at the TVA (TorpedoVersuchsAnstalt) in the Baltic I could finally leave Lorient on Oct. 1st, 1940 in my new Type IX boat, the U-65. The main purpose for me going back on active duty is to work up a boat for in-the-field testing of the new homing (self-seeking) torpedoes, which is what I worked with.

In the meantime the development work has progressed to an even better model than the Falke, mu subject. Unfortunately, there are great concerns in the KM leadership as to the feasibility of this torpedo concept as the U-boat war is going quite well as it is. They are very expensive to make and there doesn't seem to be an immediate need for them. However, a testing program with one boat has been approved.

The work-up of the boat and crew has gone well, in the 4 active patrols we have sunk in total 148752 tons of shipping, among them quite a few naval vessels, mainly escorts. This we have achieved without the new homing torpedo. The first and sixth patrols had to be aborted due to technical problems with the diesel engines. On the second patrol there was an unusually high number of torpedo duds and misses. This seems to have been remedied.

On this, the seventh patrol, we finally got the first two TXI torpedoes, an improved version of the Falke. My instructions are to use these on enemy escorts if possible. If they prove successful we shall receive a larger complement on the next patrol. So far, we have sunk 2 merchants west of Gibraltar and an A&B destroyer and two small merchants outside West-Africa. The destroyer came upon us in the dark when on the surface, we first detected it when it opened fire - distance approx. 1.000 meters. We crash-dived and I had prepared a TI on magnetic, depth 5 m. I turned towards him so to have him approx. 30 degrees on our port beam as he was approaching 400 meters. The wide curve of the torpedo made it go right under him, coming in on his port side. That was it. I never had a chance to use the TXI as he was too close. However, it turned out that it was escorting two small freighters which we proceeded to torpedo. While one lay dead in the water the other continued straight ahead, doing about 8 knots. On a distance of about 1.000 meters I fired the TXI on magnetic, depth setting 7,5 meters, in his general direction. It did the trick. After having confirmed both sinkings we proceeded to our patrol area EJ84. I hope to find an enemy warship for the second TXI.
....Oooops.....CTD.......when restarting. What was that for...? Enemy ship in the vicinity..?...leaving the game submerged....? having opened the captain's file duirng a mission...?

Anyway, Patrol 7 aborted.

Obleu z.S. Hansen - 8th patrol U-65 (Type IX) June 1st 1941 - Lorient.

Left the outer Lorient defenses 0315. Mission; Same as on Patrol 7 - test the prototype homing torpedoes against enemy escorts. Patrol area: AM15. This time we have uploaded 8 TXI's. Good hunting to us!

June 3rd 1345: Mystery U-boat - just one man in the tower.

June 12th 0253: Back in Lorient

The ZK II's behaved quite well. One went under two Ore Carriers without exploding, one did not register its target and disappeared. One Flower class corvette was downed by a TI tail-shot.

It is important that the TXI's are launched at the appropriate time, not too early, not too late. Best technique is to launch it manually centered on the enemy's expected advance line as he would usually zig-zag. Magnetic fuze should be used.

My crew showed a somewhat jumpy attitude which is not strange considering the extra strain in constantly and deliberately attacking the ememy's naval vessels.

Efficient tactics would be that each pack has one or two escort hunters, providing time and space for the others to attack the merchants. Proper distribution of loaded torps is important. At this mission, with 6 enemy escorts sunk, it was necessary only once to dive to any depth to avoid an attack. 8 ZK's in one boat is probably unnecessary as TI's or TII's can also be effective against escorts. Particularly if these are targeted first.

This result was achieved against one large convoy in two consecutive days.

Leandros

08-25-13 04:11 PM

Obleu z.S. Hansen - 9th patrol U-65 (Type IX) June 23rd 1941 - Lorient

Ready for the 9th patrol - second one testing the Zaunkønig II torpedoes. We still have 8 ZK's but I have changed the load-up a little. Rear tube and stores have only TI's and TXI's - 3 x XI's and 4 x I's - one of each ready. Up front: 5 x TI's, 4 x TII's and 5 x TXI's - with 1 x TI, 1 x TII and 2 x TXI's in the tubes.

The TII's are mainly kept to get in first, un-detected shots.

Leaving Lorient for AM53

Leandros

08-26-13 10:53 AM

1 Attachment(s)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leandros (Post 2105714)

Obleu z.S. Hansen - 9th patrol U-65 (Type IXB) July 20th 1941 - Lorient

Ready for the 9th patrol - second one testing the Zaunkønig II torpedoes. We still have 8 ZK's but I have changed the load-up a little. Rear tube and stores have only TI's and TXI's - 3 x XI's and 4 x I's - one of each ready. Up front: 5 x TI's, 4 x TII's and 5 x TXI's - with 1 x TI, 1 x TII and 2 x TXI's in the tubes.

The TII's are mainly kept to get in first, un-detected shots.

Leaving Lorient for AM53

Obleu z.S. Hansen - 9th patrol U-65 (Type IXB) July 28th 1941 - Lorient

A quick trip. Back in Lorient July 281930.

On our way to AM53 hit upon two merchants in BF43. Sunk by torpedo and deck gun on the night 21/22nd July.

Arrived in AM53 an Ore Carrier was sunk by torpedo 242040.

25/26th a large convoy was attacked several times. Multiple escorts. See patrol report.

TXI's worked well apart from one not igniting when passing under target. Another missed due to bad aiming. One came back to haunt us and exploded aft of the boat - came in at an angle after being led on to us by a pursuing Flower corvette. Damaged a rear tube. Sunk the corvette with a forward TI deflection shot.

TI's and TII's worked very well.

The two last Large Cargos were sunk by deck gun on the way back (out of torpedoes).

Leandros

08-27-13 05:07 PM

Obleu z.S. Hansen - 10th patrol U-65 (Type IXB) Sep 9th 1941 - Lorient

1 Attachment(s)

Departed Lorient 090715.

See captain's log. Proceeded to patrol area with a swing towards Gibraltar. Continued southwards. Very little traffic. None in the designated patrol area. Return voyage with another swing towards Gibraltar. Bad weather with strong winds, heavy rain and visibility 350-450 meters. Detected a large convoy on an easterly course, destination Gibraltar. Weather still bad, low visibility. Was jumped twice by escorts in the bad weather. Obviously radar-equipped. Crash-dived but had both guns destroyed. Never able to make the convoy due to the heavy escort. After a slugging match withdrew with 21% HI. Returned Lorient. Arrived 262055.

Zaunkønig tests quite satisfactory. When used properly approx. 75% success rate. However, they seem to develop an attitude problem in the Commander in that it is too "easy" to accept a duel with the escorts, at the same time taking up space for anti-merchant torps. It is a principal question that has to be decided upon whether one boat in a pack should primarily be assigned to anti-escort duty or if the same number of torps should be distributed among all the boats, giving all the chance of better self-defense.

Anyway, if several boats are operating in the vicinity of each other with the ZK's they can create the danger of "friendly fire". Before introduced into general use there is a need for proper regulations and procedures.

Leandros

08-29-13 01:28 PM

2 Attachment(s)

Obleu z.S. Hansen - 12th patrol U-65 (Type IXB) Feb. 8th 1942 - Lorient.

Left Lorient 080442, assigned patrol area CA76.

Patrol 11 was quite successful, the last test of the Torpedo Type XI. Main results were achieved in the NE corner of AM64, the narrowest part of the Northern Channel. Improved tactics and better loading of the torps gave results. FLAK guns had obviously been sabotaged as reloading of both took more than a minute. See status report.

Present position: Western part of CA91. Daylight is coming, we are submerging now to cover the last stretch to our assigned patrol area tomorrow night. Fuel remaining - approx. 60%. Everybody is excited.

The crossing was not without incidents. Hit on a small convoy just after entering the Atlantic, 3 merchants escorted by a "4-stacker". Lured him on and sunk him with a forward 400-meters TI deflection shot . The 3 merchants sunk by torpedo and deck gun after some fancy side-stepping.

Halfway we dumped into a merchant in bad visiblity, he damaged both our FLAK guns before we were able to dive. Lost him in the bad visibility. All damage repaired by our excellent repair crew.

Hals und Beinbruch!

sublynx

08-30-13 02:20 PM

U 71 patrol 2

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...XLorBxp9yM/pub

Leandros

08-31-13 05:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leandros (Post 2107349)

Obleu z.S. Hansen - 12th patrol U-65 (Type IXB) Feb. 8th 1942 - Lorient.

Left Lorient 080442, assigned patrol area CA76.

Patrol 11 was quite successful, the last test of the Torpedo Type XI. Main results were achieved in the NE corner of AM64, the narrowest part of the Northern Channel. Improved tactics and better loading of the torps gave results. FLAK guns had obviously been sabotaged as reloading of both took more than a minute. See status report.

Present position: Western part of CA91. Daylight is coming, we are submerging now to cover the last stretch to our assigned patrol area tomorrow night. Fuel remaining - approx. 60%. Everybody is excited.

The crossing was not without incidents. Hit on a small convoy just after entering the Atlantic, 3 merchants escorted by a "4-stacker". Lured him on and sunk him with a forward 400-meters TI deflection shot . The 3 merchants sunk by torpedo and deck gun after some fancy side-stepping.

Halfway we dumped into a merchant in bad visiblity, he damaged both our FLAK guns before we were able to dive. Lost him in the bad visibility. All damage repaired by our excellent repair crew.

Hals und Beinbruch!

Position: South of Halifax. Damaged by CTD aircraft (...:wah:....) Unrepairable damage. Mission aborted. Returning to Lorient surfaced.

Dronston

09-02-13 05:46 AM

In patrol 8 I encountered 3 unescorted small merchants and did not want to waste torpedoes on them. The one at the back was a neutral, first 2 British. So I sneaked up behind them with the neutral providing cover from their cannons. The neutral got hit by its "friends" several times. I could now and then swerve to take shots with the deck gun, eventually sinking the 2nd ship. Now I left the cover of the neutral and pursuit the first merchant but with the neutral behind me. I took some damage but nothing too serious. The neutral was sunk by the British merchant, hey not my fault :haha: Obviously I also sunk the British merchant.

Leandros

09-03-13 09:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dronston (Post 2108946)

Good show!

Fred

flag4

09-03-13 11:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leandros (Post 2107349)

Obleu z.S. Hansen - 12th patrol U-65 (Type IXB) Feb. 8th 1942 - Lorient.

Left Lorient 080442, assigned patrol area CA76.

Patrol 11 was quite successful, the last test of the Torpedo Type XI. Main results were achieved in the NE corner of AM64, the narrowest part of the Northern Channel. Improved tactics and better loading of the torps gave results. FLAK guns had obviously been sabotaged as reloading of both took more than a minute. See status report.

Present position: Western part of CA91. Daylight is coming, we are submerging now to cover the last stretch to our assigned patrol area tomorrow night. Fuel remaining - approx. 60%. Everybody is excited.

The crossing was not without incidents. Hit on a small convoy just after entering the Atlantic, 3 merchants escorted by a "4-stacker". Lured him on and sunk him with a forward 400-meters TI deflection shot . The 3 merchants sunk by torpedo and deck gun after some fancy side-stepping.

Halfway we dumped into a merchant in bad visiblity, he damaged both our FLAK guns before we were able to dive. Lost him in the bad visibility. All damage repaired by our excellent repair crew.

Hals und Beinbruch!

like the 'bad weather crossing' photo.:up:

sublynx

09-08-13 02:19 PM

U 71 patrol 3

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...CyhFHYjJoQ/pub

Laufen zum Ziel

09-08-13 05:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sublynx (Post 2111790)

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...CyhFHYjJoQ/pub

Very nice KTB.

sublynx

09-09-13 12:46 AM

Thanks Laufen zum Ziel :salute:

This was an especially interesting patrol for me as this was the first time that I got the order to keep reporting on the convoy in hope of a wolfpack attack.

Now I just need to fix my weather so that it actually changes during the patrol :oops:

All times are GMT -5. The time now is 09:55 AM.

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