U-46 Patrol 11
Depart: Corrientes Supply ship for CG 94.
October 6, 1940 06:33. I think we will see some action. BdU wants me to be aggressive if they are sending me to this dangerous choke point west of Gibralter.
Oct 9 22:30 Small freighter, CG 94, 2230 GRT. I ordered surface attack with deck gun. Freighter was armed; this is something new! I press the attack on surface. Freighter fires back and a lucky round removes the head of my flak gunner, Fritz Wagner. What a mess to clean up so I order mops and buckets to be broken out, not to mention the paper work I've got to deal with. Boys on boat are solemn after we commit poor Fritz to the deep, mainly because there were shark fins waiting for their dinner circling about the boat, but what else can you do...?
Oct 10 09:58. Large cargo sank with deck gun, 8600 GRT. CG 94. Pay back is rough, ain't it, Britishers? Boat still sad about Fritz, but we feel we've broken a "curse" and paid them back in spades.
Oct 13 00:13 CG 94 Neutral convoy sighted, escorted by patrol craft running without lights. We can see the lights from the ships winking on the horizon. Course: West. Weather: overcast, medium fog, wind 13 m/s.
01:59 Reacquired same convoy now on a NW course.
02:09 Convoy supported by one armed trawler. Moving in to attack same on surface with single G7a, AZ pistol. As we draw near I order periscope depth.
02:18 Torpedo los!
02:20 Impact! We come up for a look. Uh oh, armed trawler was a neutral with lights blacked out. BdU ain't gonna like this....
Oct 16 02:09 Set course to patrol CG 95. Weather has turned for the worse.
Oct 17 17:29 Ship sighted! Coastal freighter CG 98.
17:59 Submerge for attack with one G7a, AZ pistol.
18:01 Los! Impact! 45 sec run time.
18:12 Ship sinks 1870 GRT. No survivors.
Oct 18 02:30 Another coastal freighter sunk. 1870 GRT CG 95. Where are the big ships? These are minnows...and it was
another blacked out neutral. That's two I've sank accidentally.
14:03 Neutral convoy passing SW our position: CG 94. A neutral passenger liner passes to the NE. This area is literally crawling with ships...and they're mostly neutral.
Oct 19 16:51 Sighted yet another small neutral convoy. Radioed contact and gave it a wide berth.
Oct 20 05:02 CG 94. Passenger/cargo attacked with two G7a, AZ pistols. Both hit, but ship won't sink. This may have been the ship transporting balsa BdU warned us about. Set up a stern shot, impact at 06:28 and he finally goes down. Three torpedoes for 2200 GRT. Not good.
Oct 22 Missed a large enemy convoy in the raging storm. Disgusted with our performance so far, we set course for BF 17 hoping our luck will change farther north....
