Med or Bust
21 August, 1941
BDU HQ "Sir, I think there may be an error in the orders given to U-103, 2nd flotilla" "What may that be?" "I think there was a typing error in assigning 103 to patrol grid CJ88. The rest of the 2nd flotilla are all operating off the African and Spanish coasts. This cannot be right sir! I think it was supposed to be CG88 instead." Ruffling of Papers..... "Ahhhh yes.... Kapitanleunant Gargamel, one of our better U-boats. Hmmm..... Let's see what he can do with this, let the orders stand as written." "Are... are you sure sir?" "Yes, dismissed." ------------------------------------------------------------- 22 August, 1941 1600 hrs U-boat 103, just having left Lorient. "1WO, I'll be opening the sealed orders now, you have the conn." "Aye sir, 1wo has the conn." Sounds of safe opening, ripping envelope, ruffling papers. "Was zum Teufel?!?" "Sir?" *Mumbles* "Med..... run the straight..... defend friendly convoys... attack warships and convoys.....Perkele!" "Perkele sir?" "Nothing, just something my grandmother used to say." "Kaleun, our orders?" "Navigator, make course around Iberia, and head for gilbraltar, we're running the straight." Groans heard around the ship... "Weps" "Yes Kaleun?" "Unload Tube 1 and service that eel." A frown, "Sir?" "Then have Bernard climb in the tube, and tell him to check for leaks around the door." "Ummmm...." "When he's fully in, close the door and fire the tube. We can't risk having him on our boat when we're in the straights!" "Oh! Right away Kaleun!" ------ (So it pays to spell check your patrol grid in SH3 Commander) Updates to Follow. This is my (Hopefully short lived) homage to brag and Balz, whose exploits I am currently enjoying reading! And apologies to my murdering both the German language and the lexicon/vernacular used on U-boats. Currently reading Deep Sound Channel, set in the future of sub warfare, so I have modern American vernacular on my head. The language is me using Google translator to convert American phrases to German, my apologies if they don't make sense. |
29 August 1941
1500 hrs 175km West of the straights Having sunk a small frieghter on our approach, our gunner appreciative of the practice after 9 months of not firing the gun (His aim showed it too), we continued onto the straights. Running decks awash at 10 knots, hopping to avoid detection, we are waiting for night fall to begin our sprint through the straights. -------------- 1545 Encountered our first air patrol, two fighters. Diving from decks awash has allowed us to quickly evade detection, we hope. ------ 1555 Having reread the orders given to us by BDU, I have noticed there is no mention of transferring to any flotilla operating in the Med. Furthermore, the return port is listed as Lorient still. Surely they cannot mean for us to return through the straights? ------ 1630 Having again surfaced at decks awash to keep our batteries topped off, we spotted another patrol craft, this time a flying boat. We again were able to avoid detection, we hope. ------ 2030 105km West of straights Having run decks awash for the past hour or so, it is now dark enough to fully surface and run at full speed, hopefully we can sneak through in the darkness. ------ 2345 40km SW of Port of Gibraltar Still running full speed. Have not yet encountered any patrol craft. ------ 0030 25km SSW of Gibraltar Made a quick dip to periscope depth to scan for contacts. Only picked up a couple merchants in the port of Ceuta to our ESE. The hills of Morocco to our south are quite magnificent in this light. ------ 0118 22km SSE of Gibraltar Spotted our first patrol craft, light torpedo boat, running right towards us, 7km away. Dove to periscope depth to avoid detection. Sonar soon picked up a destroyer NE of us in the med. ----- 0200 10km NE of Cueta Having lost all warship sonar contacts, we are surfacing to continue our speed run. Plotting location of previous enemies, I am adjusting our course to hug the coast of Morocco for a while. ------ 0545 100km ESE of Cueta Dawn is approaching, and as such, i have ordered our decks awash again, for we are still under the range of air. The transit of the straights appears not as difficult as is fabled by other Kaleuns. |
U-127 IXC
From : U-127
To : BdU Current position Grid ES 23 Patrol orders completed (Grid GR 82) Stb diesel destroyed Both periscopes destroyed Three men wounded. Torps left: 7 Tankers sunk : 1 Cargo ships sunk : 4 Warships sunk : 1 Tonnage : 29317 Requesting orders. Kptlnt Kurt von Richter |
Halifax? Tonnage? You forgot to mention the hidden destroyers that appear out of nowhere with racks and racks of depth charges. At least I have a bold 1 now and could happily sit on the floor flooding quietly.
Lost my 16 patrol radio man, sonarman and my trusty NO :( The crew didnt care about losing the rear torpedomen as they were fresh recruits. It isnt good to see a red exclamation mark appear on my repair officer though, still everyone has their breaking points. 6 dead in one patrol wasnt good and a low point of the war for U506 (crawling back from halifax with, no aft batteries, no radar warning, periscopes, flak, deck gun or bridge isnt good - although you can manually use the UZO you cannot put a watchman up). The medic was a trooper again, patched up the wounded. Deserved the knights cross (still no wounded badges after patrol completed- I add those manually afterwards) still 80k wasnt too bad. And she sat at 30m with 21% H.I. ! 80633 (74983/5650)U-boat damaged (H.I. 21.50%) |
22 September 1941
BDU HQ "Sir, still no update from U-103 after they reported entering the straights on the 17th for their return run." "They should have checked in after 4 days. No report from the supply ships in the area?" "No sir" "Well, give them a couple more days and then list them as lost at sea." "Yes sir" --------- Shoulda fixed that typo. Ach, time to start a new career, again. |
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August 1943.
Things are getting scary. American aircraft north of Scotland almost sink me before I have chance to get under. Chased a convoy and sank 3 big ones and one destroyer. 69,000 tonnes on the last patrol. My favourite hunting ground is the Bristol Channel and Celtic Sea. |
Friedrich Adam, first patrol in august 06, 1942. Boat VIIc.
BDU show's it's incompetence once again. They have sent my boat to gr55, just outside of cape town, even if we manage to get there in any reasonable time any convoy hunt would be impossible due to limited fuel. Orders are orders however and we set sail. Not far from Gibraltar we receive a report about a large convoy moving slowly, probably to the British isles. We cannot resist the temptation and plot an intercept course or in other words shut down our engines and wait till they come to us themselves. Perfectly clear weather and the convoy is just 9 km ahead of us, I order 2 knots since the electrics cant be fired this far and the weather is clear meaning any steam torpedoes will be spotted long before they get close. 2 knots is not enough however and the convoy is slowly getting out of my reach, I cannot stalk it forever since I have orders from BDU, I decide to test my luck and order medium speed. My luck is so bad however that if I would buy a cemetery, people would stop dieing. (Ed Furgol) With the Black swan closing on me fast I decide to dive till 140m. After a few hours I understand that it won't let me go and whats worse it called its friends. I decide to take my chances, again. Back to periscope depth, ahead flank and the cat and mouse game begins. It did make a successful ramming, I'll give it that but my torpedo rams it even better, right under it's main magazine. Black Swan sunk, another Black swan sunk, and somehow I manage to sink another 2 Black swans :arrgh!: After that a Hunt I class comes from behind and catches my aft torpedo. Thinking I'm safe from the escorts I surface to get some air, wrong move, another hunt I notices me and opens fire, periscope depth and 2 forward torpedoes are reloaded, I order the boat to go heads on the destroyer and play chicken with it, or in other words I made the destroyer play chicken with my torpedo. Guess who won? Looking at the convoy I understood that all of it's escorts have been destroyed all 4 Black swans and 2 Hunt I's. No merchant ships were hurt during this operation since I couldn't get close enough and I just decided that it's time to go home! The big convoy without escorts was reported to BDU and hopefully some wolf-pack had fun with it after I did all the dirty work. Take that Royal Navy, next time I see one of you're sub hunters I will transmit a message to Churchill "Oh no you won't". |
5 April, 1944.
Having helped design and build the first of the type XXI, I have been given command of one of the first to set sail. The war is seemingly waning against us, hopefully this new platform can help turn the tide and retake the Atlantic for Germany. This first patrol would normally be a shakedown cruise, but we don't have time to waste not utilizing this weapon. We are to sail to the western approaches and help cut off the never ending convoys. KptLt Kriener, U-95 |
Ack I dont like 1944!
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indeed. Getting to be early 1944. Its getting harder.
Just got a right pasting. But U506 is a keeper, I dont care what they offer me - no aft batteries, no port diesel or electric engine, plenty of leaking fuel, no hydrophones, radar or RWR. Before she started to reverse up (full reverse and emergency blow, about 50% gas left). We lost a good officer from repair though. After limping back to bergan the logs stated 34450 (30430/4020)U-boat damaged (H.I. 39.80%) 198m! http://i1035.photobucket.com/albums/...001/keeper.jpg |
06FEB44
U-151, type IID, 3rd/11th flotilla La Rochelle Kptlt Rudolf Eickmeyer 2 patrols Patrol 1: Shakedown patrol- start 01/01/44 end 03/01/44 Patrol 2: Western approaches grid BF 23/01/44: Left La Rochelle 28/01/44: Sank danish unescorted whale factory ship in BF 14. SS Thorshavet 12.016 tons. Speed 14kn 17:14 1 Gnat fired: failed 17:15 2 TIII fired:1 impact stern 17:38 Ship slowly sank by the stern 02/02/44: Sank english unescorted intermediate tanker in BF 15 MV Aletta 3.490 tons. Speed 12kn 19:02 1 TIII fired: 1 impact amidships. Immediate explosion 19:10 Ship rolled over and sank 03/02/44 15:30 1 Gnat fired at a unknown destroyer, distance +/- 1500m: failed 06/02/44 15:31 Docked at La Rochelle Notes: -Poor efficiency of Gnat torpedoes -Intense air and sea allied ASW activity as expected -Small size and fast diving of the IID are good points -Lack of surface speed (max 12kn...) -Not enough torpedoes on board |
30 March 1940
A successful raid on Lerwick netted U-48 the following: 2 x destroyers 2 x submarines 1 x small depot ship 1 x coastal tanker 1 x asw trawler All for a total tonnage of 12,964. |
My last career ended in limbo, bloody CTD. Remove SH3 then re-installed and all is well again, new career Nov41.
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The loss of U-127
Kurt von Richter and U-127 were lost at 15 May 1944 off the Bermuda island.
U-127 stumbled on a task force of a Bogue escort csrrier and five Clemson DDs. The weather was foggy and windy. U -127 made an approach at 50m listening carefully. The TF was unaware of the U boat presence and it was keeping a steady course which was about to put the Bogue in front of the loaded tubes of U-127. Range was 1000m AOB 90 and fire. 4 TIs at high speed and impact pistols slammed on the hull of the carrier from bow to stern. She went down in flames. The escorts were not happy at all. They quickly got a fix on U-127 and launched their attack. Despite the epic battle and the furious tries of U-127 to escape , she didn't make it. U-127 was blown to surface. The Americans respected the brave fighter and let the crew come out. Kurt von Richter made sure that the Enigma machine was destroyed as all code books and set the charges to scuttle the boat. The Americans did not interfere. When the U-boat dived beneath the waves for the last time , they picked up the survivors along with the ones from the carrier. The German crew was put in a POW camp until the end of the war. New career now. Heinz von Harris and his U-37 VIIB is out at sea for his 3rd patrol. It is December 1939 and he is now attacking early convoys at Rockall Bank. |
Grats on making it all the way to '44 VH.
Finished my first patrol in the XXI, 46 days, 35k tons. Not a great showing, but I was using it a test patrol to figure this boat out. Love it! Encountered a Convoy off the coast of Ireland, horrible visibility prevented me from making an attack although I was perfectly positioned, just couldn't see them! The trailing destroyer must have gotten a sniff of me, and hang back far enough to prevent me from getting into position to reacquire. :nope: Started my second patrol, I couldn't even get out of the harbor proper before my radio man started screaming about multiple inbound contacts over the hills. Almost immediately after, air raid sirens started going off. Lookouts called out a flight of B17's on a bombing run. I immediately went to flank, manned the guns, and prayed. We managed (with the help of all the other ships and shore guns) to survive, and badly damage 3 of the bombers. Regretfully, a type II also leaving on patrol got blown to bits, along with another ship at port. Then radio reports came in, showing a taskforce moving in from the south and a Convoy coming in from the north, both moving along the coast. Moving to intercept both as we speak. This may be a short patrol. |
Gibraltor
Having a death wish decided to sneak into Gibraltar in Sept 1941. Much easier than I thought. Surprised to see a London class, two SouthHamptons behind the mined barrier. Easy to shoot above the barrier if you lay back from it and set torpedo depth a 5 meters or so. Sails right over the barrier. NW of the docks on the opposite shore you can find the Nelson, a coat tender and depot ship. Happy hunting.
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Maximus Volker had a very successful conclusion to his campaign with 11 patrols and over 197,000 tons to his credit. The last patrol was one of the more eventful ones.
So, U-81 set off from St. Nazaire to patrol sector CA27. Yes, New York! It was November of '41, so I thought that we would set off for the U.S. East coast to give them a nice "Welcome to the War" present from the Kriegsmarine. We snuck into New York on the 10 of December, the day Germany declared war on the U.S. A ways up the harbor I found a Ceramic (?) type ocean liner from Britain stuck against the shore. I put three eels into her for 11,000 tons. Next we went south to the main harbor and nabbed two large tankers for over 11,000 tons each. Next, we sunk a destroyer that was pinging us from the dock. We left New York in flames, which would have looked fantastic except for the fact that the weather was absolutely terrible. We returned to port after New Years and missed all the celebrations, but we made up for it in more than 36,000 tons of British and American ships sent to the bottom. I also got my Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves!!!!!! A fantastic way to end a wonderful career if I don't say so myself. I am now starting a career with a VIIC out of Salamis in the Med. I also plan to start another career to stay in the Atlantic in the 7th Flotilla. |
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Refueled at the nearby supply ship. Went back, did the same and more. :D |
I had the intension to play this career using the VIIB/C types.
No luck. As soon as the IXB was available something guided my mouse poiter over it and ...... YES I am again in command of an IXB , U-106 this time. I can't help it! Heinz von Harris is heading for grid BE 31 , it is now July 1940 and the patrol has not started well. A fishing boat was spotted. At first von Harris decided to leave her in peace , though she had a British flag. As U -106 was passing next to the fishing boat a member of the her crew fired his Lee Enfield against von Harris. The shot missed and von Harris immediatelly grabbed the 20mm flak and sent her to the bottom. It was then that he found out he could not reload the gun. It was the same with the heavy flak. Three days later a convoy was encountered at perfect weather conditions , all six tubes fired but only an Empire type was lost. An ammunition ship was hit but she did not explode ....as she should..... , a large cargo was hit twice but she stayed afloat. U-106 continues hopping in better luck! |
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