Springtime - part 1
March 21, 1940
0722 It's springtime and weather is now really nice: almost no wind, light fog and smooth sea. In the last few hours crew has managed to move the external reserves and load our tubes. They are pretty tired so I think for today we will laze around here and spend most of our time submerged. U48 is now slowly cruising eastward and will soon reach grid AN47.
1055 We have been following a very faint sound contact north of us for the last 10 minutes or so. Seems like we have a merchant going toward the coast at medium speed. Let's surface and go get a closer look. So much for letting the crew rest...
1145 Ship spotted! Far on the northern horizon, she is sailing WSW. We will break visual contact and try to get ahead of her.
1215 Warship spotted straight ahead! Dive!
1217 U48 managed to dive before being spotted. There is an ASW Trawler in front of us and two other sound contacts. I cannot spot them so I guess they may be Torpedo boats. We are trying to intercept that cargo while submerged, it won't be easy.
1231 Ok, I think we may get into a good firing position. Target is closing but so is that Trawler, I'll take a risk and stay on this course. We are draining our batteries quite fast. Target is nothing big. We made it back to grid AN1.
1239 Our target is a Coal Freighter moving at 8 knots. We are now on silent running and slowly turning around. We will shot from tube 5. Torpedo is ready: high speed, impact pistol, depth 2,5 meters. ASW Trawler is now at about 3000m. As I suspected there are two Torpedo boats with her.
1243 It's about time...Raise periscope!...Where is the Trawler? There...good, she is moving away now. Back to our Coal freighter...here she is...British flag, no visible weapons...pity we cannot use our deck gun...range 800m...AoB 75° port side...open tube 5...fire! Lower periscope! Set speed 4 knots! Dive to 25m!
1244 ...it's about time...raise periscope!...Impact!...got her right in the middle, small fire burning...lower periscope. Let's do a 90° change of course. Hard to port!
1248 Warships coming this way. The first to arrive will be the torpedo boats since they are faster. We will slow down only when the ASW Trawler gets closer. Target is slowing down.
1254 ASW Trawler in now in the area but not close to us. U48 is crawling away at 2 knots. Torpedo boats are all over the place but they are not that big of a threat....She is going down! That Coal freighter was dead on the water and she could not hold on any longer. We will slowly slip away.
Ship sunk! SS Star of Cairo (Coal Freighter), 2506 tons. Cargo: Coal. Crew: 33. Crew lost: 29
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