I havent Jim no.You will have to tell me more about this some time :up:
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Situation Update from the logs of Werner Faust, U-707 13th March 1941 8:31am 13th March 1941 - Contact report received, a large convoy located 70km ESE of our boat, travelling at 7 knots in a Northeast direction. We should be able to intercept ahead of the convoy in 4 hours. 10:30am 13th March 1941 - report update received, convoy is maintaining course and speed and its currently at expected position in grid DH45. We are just under 2 hours away from the planned intercept point. 12:40pm 13th March 1941 - We have arrived at the intercept point and will try to move into the path of the convoy before the lead escorts reach visual distance. The heavy seas and high winds have slowed our progress and several course corrections had to be made. The convoy is closer than I had planned and we only have about 10 to 20 minutes before we are forced to submerge to maintain the element of surprise. In this situation we have a larger advantage being surfaced than submerged, speed an maneuverability are what matters right now. We successfully infiltrated the convoy perimeter and crept at 1 knot into the centre of the convoy. At 1:49pm both our remaining forward torpedo's (1 G7e and 1 G7a) were fired at a Large Tanker, the aft torpedo (a G7a) was fired at a Large Merchant. At this point, my first instinct is usually to head deep at flank speed. Now I know from experience that running the electric motors at full is like waving a "Here I am!" flag at the enemy escorts, so this time I tried a different tactic. This time we simply sunk slowly downward to 100m at 2 knots. The sonar operator reported positions of escorts every minute or so, it seemed that they just couldn't find us and just hung around our firing location trying desperately to listen for any sign of something that might indicate our position. During our slow and somewhat tense descent into the depths, the sound man reported 3 torpedo explosions, shortly followed by the distinctive sounds of a ship sinking in the directions of both targets. I was pleased to hear that all of our three remaining torpedo's had found their mark. For quite some time the escorts scoured the area trying desperately to locate us, and in all that time we heard neither ASDIC nor Depth Charges. We had simply disappeared from existence to them and all they had that betrayed our presence were 2 sinking ships. One of the escorts did come quite close to our position, within 1km but we remained calm and waited, soon the escort moved away to try somewhere else. We finally surfaced at 4:53pm when the convoy had passed well out of hydrophone range. We are now heading toward the Corrientes supply ship stationed at Las Palmas about 900km from our position. We should arrive in a little under 2 days. The morale on the boat is joyous and many of the crew are talking about sitting on the beach and taking a well earned break for a few days, perhaps we may be able to find a crate of rum for our next patrol. 13th March 1941 @ 1:51pm MV Empire Norseman (Large Tanker), 9678 tons. Cargo: Crude Oil. Crew: 73. Crew lost: 24 13th March 1941 @ 1:52pm SS Wisconsin (Large Merchant), 10622 tons. Cargo: Mail/Packages. Crew: 105. Crew lost: 73 15th March 1941 2:19pm 15th march 1941 - We have arrived at the Corrientes supply ship and are preparing for resupply operations. Once U-707 has been resupplied with Torpedo's and Fuel, each crew member has been granted 24 hours shore leave in groups of 10 men. I will take Wolfgang Eisenholtz and Herbert Lindner to Las Palmas in 2 hours to check out the area for potential problems or enemy activity before anyone is permitted to go ashore. Lets hope my crew doesn't destroy too much property, they tend to go a little wild after coming back from patrol. The Crew of the Corrientes prepares for U-707's arrival. Shore leave at Las Palmas once resupply is finished. End of Patrol 3 Patrol Results Days at sea : 26 Crew Losses : 0 Ships Sunk : 9 Merchants Aircraft Destroyed : 0 Tonnage Sunk : 51,595 (Confirmed) |
Oberleutnant Friedrich Mohr
1st Flotilla U-578 (VIIC) left Brest on 24th of September 1942 to assigned grid ET55 (just west of Freetown) when moving south along the Portuguese coast we were radioed about a small convoy heading north just a few hours away. intercept course was navigated quickly and in the evening a Hunt Class destroyer and four merchants could be made out on the horizon. as we still had a long way to go to our grid we decided to sink only the juciest target and leave the rest of the convoy alone. a Liberty-cargo in the end was then attacked submerged from about 1700m with two aale. one bow-shot and one right under the stack. both hit but the vessel was only wounded and didn't explode right now as we hoped. to evade the upcoming angry escort we dove to 160m and ran silent. hydrophone stated the Liberty-cargo was moving slower by the minute and the camera confirmed her heavy listing to port. http://img688.imageshack.us/img688/2223/liblist.jpg after the DD was charging back to safely protect its remaining ships we came up and hunted her up to 1000m distance. we full ahead surfaced and finished her with only three shells of the deck-gun. http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/1394/libsink.jpg the crew was happy about this lucky start of our patrol and we didn't loose time to head south leaving the area before the DD might come back. p.s: patrol-reports will be continued! |
Patrol 8
Departure: Feb 15, 1940 Whilhelmshaven Just departed, enroute to AN11, NW of Scapa Flow, I guess BdU wants to scare the Tommys. I have heard that the western front campaign is going well, we should see a couple of countries to fall at the feet of the Wehrmacht. http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g5..._23229_248.jpg On the way out, we saw the Admiral Hipper coming in to Whilhelmshaven. http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g5..._23365_304.jpg Went it was abeam of my boat. http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g5...233712_226.jpg Currently in the North Sea. close to the mainland, to avoid unnecessary combat with British patrols. http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g5...234243_852.jpg Still haven't come across any British merchants, but I will rather keep my eels for the possible Royal Navy ships that I will encounter later on during our patrol. |
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Beware of mines if entering Scapa through the western entrance. Safest is to go on the surface in the dark. When it narrows down there is coastal artillery. |
My goal is to actually harass the Royal Navy after they get out of Scapa Flow. Entering it would be foolhardy with a crew that has (almost) only sunk merchant ship, with little to no escort. Only once, under the cover of night, did we sank a destroyer and 2 auxiliary cruisers, from about 9km out. Took out the destroyer with one torp, then the first of the auxiliary cruiser with 2 and sent the 4th one to the last one to cripple it, gave me a chance to reload another one to send it to the bottom. Now, if I see a battleship, I may just send all 4 on it and then try to avoid the destroyers escort.
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Battleship = full 4 torpedo salvo,across its entire beam,its the only way to be sure,or you could tighten your spread and concentrate them into a tight area such as under a gun turret :arrgh!:
Remember your main goal though,we are there to sink merchant ships,try to avoid encounters with military ships as much as possible,although a Battleship would be far too 'fat' to simply ignore! |
U-578
Oberleutnant Friedrich Mohr after the first successes running south along the Portuguese coast we had a lot of sightings of lone merchants and/or small convoys (just guarded by one escort) all along the west-coast of Africa. helped to raise our tonnage-record and we easily evaded all attacks. in the background an angry DD can be seen: http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/9586/mediumsink.jpg at night we sank a merchant: http://img695.imageshack.us/img695/3107/nightsink.jpg when we approached our assigned PG (ET53) we more and more got assaulted by enemy aircraft. this area there west of Freetown is really pesky. but our Metox proved to be of great help, we got the warnings some minutes before we were spotted and could dive to safe depth. with our last 6eels we then attacked a convoy heading west out of Freetown and destroyed 3ships from inside. after evasion of the escort's charging and no eels left, Oberleutnant Mohr decided to resupply at U-460 (west of Cape Verde Isles): http://img130.imageshack.us/img130/9181/milkcow.jpg on our way home to Brest we might run into some vessels west of Gibraltar or in the eastern grids of BE. today is 15th of November 1942, hopefully we can return to port before X-mas. |
Dont eat too much Xmas cake!,you will add to your UBoat's weight forcing her to the bottom in no time! :woot::har:
The ballast wont save you then,only your strict dieting regime. |
but what's X-mas good for without cookies? :hmmm::D
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:D this reminds me of what I was missing last year's X-mas eve .... :salute: |
This time luck ran out for me - lost at sea during patrol 17.
The weather was awful when my crew reported a ship at short range. Well it turned out to be a warship and even though I sounded the alarm there wasn't much to do anymore. The boat took several hits and the warship rammed me in the end. Barely enough time to even react. Was the end of a great career to me. Overall 227 160 tons sunk of which 51 023 tons were warships. Overall only 194 days spent at sea. Most sucessful patrol 11 ships sunk at 51 861 tons. Decorated with RK with oak leaves, swords and posthumously diamonds were added to it. |
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U-578 - Oberleutnant Friedrich Mohr
1942-12-07 CG71 - 10:42 local time fully supplied by U-460 fate showed us where to spend all of our 14eels. after having received a contact-report we ran into a smaller convoy (9vessels) of freighters with war-materials (tanks and planes can be seen) and a troup-transport amidst sailing at 4knots escorted by 4DDs. the convoy heads SE so they are either sailing through Gibraltar or will deploy at Casablanca. to help our fellow comrades of the Deutsches Afrika-Korps we intend to attack immediately (though the sea is relatively calm) and continue our attacks after. http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/623/troupconvoy.jpg |
In my new career I again invaded Reykjavik port. It's late 1940. It seems to be a good place to hunt, no sub nets or anything and this time it had many tankers docked, one auxiliary cruiser and Southampton class cruiser. This time I went there with a type IXB submarine which isn't perfect for it. sunk a good 30 000 tons.
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U37 IX(A). 2. Flotilla. Patrol 10.
d. 24.maj.41. BF61.
1440. Underway from Lorient for grid AE73. 1543. Secure from Sea & Anchor. Steady on Course 270. 1700. Periscope Depth. 2150. Surface. Ahead One Third. Sunrise 0440. Sunset 1950. d. 6.jun.41. AL02. 0550. Radio Report. Convoy. AL35. East. 7 Knots. d. 6.jun.41. AL36. 2100. Radio Report. Convoy. AL36. East. 7 Knots. 2306. Convoy Sighted. (We are dead astern.) 2310. Destroyer sighted starboard aft of convoy. 2317. End running port side. Making good 17 Knots at Full Ahead. 2324. Corvette sighted port aft of convoy. 2359. Closing port side of convoy. No ships in sight. d. 7.jun.41. AL36. 0043. Destroyer! Dive to 15 Meters. 0047. P I N G ! He's got us. Full Ahead! New Depth 101 Meters! 0049. Depth Charges! Holding steady on 225T. 0130. He's moving away. We are inside the screen, aft the convoy. 0300. Surface. Full Ahead. Calm & Clear. Full Moon. 0515. Sound Check. Convoy at 090R. 0542. Destroyer! Dive! New Depth 102 Meters. VCS (Variouse Courses & Speeds). 0543. Sound. Warship. 146R. Closing. Moving Fast. (Radar?) 0600. Depth Charges. (Not close). 0606. He's behind us. Starting up. 0607. Depth Charges. (Distant). 0638. Fire 1, 2, 4. (G7E x 3) (T2 Tanker). Fire 3 (G7A x 1) (Coastal Merchant). 0639. New Depth 100 Meters. New Course 225T. 0640. T2 Tanker (10.871 GRT) Sunk. Course 090T. 7 Knots. 0730. "No Sound Contacts." Start torpedo reload. 0846. Surface. Full Ahead. 1037. Sound Check. Convoy 000 - 015R. 1043. Surface. Full Ahead. New Course 080T. 1110. Corvette! 4600 Meters. 025R. New Speed 2 Knots. Keeping bow on. 1116. Visual contact lost. Full Ahead. New Course 060T. 1126. Corvette! 4600 Meters. 066R. New Speed 2 Knots. New Course 121T. 1133. Corvette at 000R. 3900 Meters. Maintaining bow on. 1136. Corvette at 3700 Meters. 1139. Corvette at 3500 Meters. 1144. Corvette at 4900 Meters. 1145. Visual contact lost. (Whew.) VCS. 1316. Destroyer! Coming fast! Dive! New Depth 100 Meters. 1318. Sound. Second warship closing. Silent Speed. 1319. New Course 180T. 1323. P I N G ! (He doesn't have us.) 1324. Depth Charges astern of us. 1325. Sound. Warship lost at 162R. 1326. Sound. Warship. Very Fast. Moving Away. Short Range. 1327. New Depth 20 Meters. (This guy must have Radar.) 1329. Sound. Closest warship at 196. Very fast. Medium range. 1330. P I N G ! (He doesn't have us.) 1331. New depth Periscope Depth. 1347. Fire 3 (G7A). Target = C2 Cargo. New Depth 100 Meters. 1349. New Course 227T. 1352. Torpedo Impact. Full Ahead. Then Silent Speed. 1400. New Course 135T. 1414. New Course 090T. 1605. Surface. 1713. Corvette! 4600 Meters. New Speed 1 Knot. Holding bow on. 1717. Visual contact lost at 5000 Meters. VCS. 1720. Radio Report. Convoy. AM15. East. 7 Knots. 1843. New Course 180T. Periscope Depth. 1849. Sound. Multiple contacts 064 - 074R. 1855. Lead Destroyer is a Clemson Class (4 Stacker). 1924. All bow tubes fired on separate targets. (3 hits. 1 miss.) 1925. Little Merchant (2.343 GRT) Sunk. Course 090T. 7 Knots. 1927. Little Tanker (4.276 GRT) Sunk. Course 090T. 7 Knots. 2040. No sound contacts. Last G7E into tube 2. (Bow 1 G7E. Stern 2 G7A.) 2100. Surface. 2230. Light from burning ship visable. 2234. Corvette sighted at 3500 Meters. 2236. Dive. New Depth 100 Meters. VCS. 2309. Surface. 2346. Corvette! 3300 Meters. (Making 16 Knots at full & outrunning him.) d. 8.jun.41. AM16. 0113. Periscope Depth. (Intend to use stern tubes.) VCS. 0153. 2 burning ships observed. 0208. Fire 5 (G7A). Fire 6 (G7A). New Depth 101 Meters. New Course 313T. 0210. Coastal Merchant (2.044 GRT) Sunk. Course 090T. 7 Knots. 0210. Coastal Merchant (2.042 GRT) Sunk. Course 090T. 7 Knots. 0340. Surface. Heavy Fog. 0357. Status Report: 5 ships sunk for 21.576 GRT d. 11.jun.41. AE73. 1100. On Station. Found and torpedoed a C2 Cargo, with my last torpedo (G7E). Didn't even slow him down. Too rough for deck gun. Finish up the 24 hours, and head for Lorient. d. 17.jun.41. AM48. 0907. "Flak gun damaged, sir". "Watch tower damaged, sir". 0908. Crash Dive! Aircraft? No. Convoy! TC at 128. Heavy Fog without warning. Sound picked up 5 escorts. Luckily we came through it with 95% Hull Integrity. The escort must have been surprised too. Guns instead of ramming. Followed by depth charges, naturaly. d. 21.jun.41. BF43. 1751. A L A R M ! Aircraft. d. 25.jun.41. BF61. 0521. Docked at Lorient. Heavy Fog! Patrol Results: 5 ships sunk for 21.576 GRT. 95% Hull Integrity. Shot up watch tower. U37's History: 10 patrols. 34 ships sunk for 187.723 GRT. |
U-578 reporting:
during our attack-run the convoy changed course from SE to SSE. stayed at PD and went to ahead one third. got AOB90 at range 4.400m. released two G7e (bow and stack). decided to keep the two G7a due to distance. immediately went to silent running and lowered slowly to 160m. both aale hit: http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/9049/trouper1.jpg atm we head east submerged and will come up in an hour to continue the hunt. might comply with two attack-runs when protected by night. one last glimpse of the troop-transport: http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/8629/trouper2.jpg |
We have departed Wilhelmshaven on February 15, 1940.
The crew at least spent St. Valentine's day ashore, those who are married, with their wife, others, I don't want to speculate. But in any case, I hope they cherish theses moments, for the war will surely get harder for us. Feb 24, 1940, 1236. We have just sunk 2 ships, a tanker and a large merchant. We went to periscope depth and fired 2 eels at each, the first 2 for the biggest one, both hit, but those for the tanker missed. Since the large merchant was "almost" out of commission, I ordered to surface and we went hunting the tanker. A few well placed shots at the waterline and a few minutes later, multiple secondary explosions occurred and the boat went down fast, very fast, the only picture that our war correspondent has taken of this one is the lone life boat that made it out. http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g5..._16738_607.jpg Then, we have turned our attention to the large merchant, which was still floating, but barely. I ask the deck gun crew to open fire on it, to finish it off. After 20 shots, it went down. http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g5...0_1688_881.jpg Feb 25, 1940. Today could have been pretty much uneventful if it wasn't for a lone ship. Saw it and since the seas were calm, I've decided to go ahead flank and take it down with the deck gun. Closed in on it, but our prey couldn't escape. Surprisingly, only after approximately 10 shots or so, at the waterline, the ship burst out in flames and multiples secondary explosions happened. maybe they were hauling ammo. http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g5...164453_856.jpg Mar 3, 1940. It has been really quiet in the last few days, still have 8 torpedoes, 5 at the bow and 3 in the stern. Seas were getting a bit rougher, guess a storm may be approaching. Anyway, we are currently heading for Cadiz, refuel and rearm at the Thalia. During the day, we have come across a ore carrier. Went under, calculated his trajectory, speed and I laid down the intercept course. Launch two torps, hit him with impunity. Then I got a bit impatient, since the seas would not allow us to finish of the kill with the DG, sent a third torp its way and quickly it went down. http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g5...172049_146.jpg http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g5...172157_897.jpg http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g5...172234_694.jpg Mar 5, 1940. Yeah, just as I thought, bad weather coming in. Still on our way to Cadiz, still 2 eels in the bow tubes. We came across another ship during the night. It was traveling right into my path, almost perpendicular to our course. Without wasting any time, I've sent the data to the weapons officer, dialed it in and sent the 2 fish left... sadly they went just past its bow and both missed. Now, time to head straight to Cadiz. Mar 8, 1940. We have arrived at Cadiz without much incident, under the cover of night. Here is a picture of our arrival. http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g5...174438_723.jpg Patrol results Crew losses: 0 Ships sunk: 4 Aircraft destroyed: 0 Patrol tonnage: 19665 tons |
Started to run a second career in parallel with Ernst Wagner's U-47.
Again started in Aug 1939, Günter Weitz, in a type IIA boat, U-21, based in Kiel. So far only the pre-war patrol has been done. The war should start during the second patrol. |
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