U 74 - VIIb, Hubert Gromer Oblt z S.
October 1941: Mittelmeer. 1st patrol was a bust. Sank a medium cargo & a Granville for just under 9000 tons. The rest of the time it p*ssed rain.
Tried to intercept a coastal freighter near Malta & nearly got rammed by a Hunt Class I. I think that Keppler (my IWO) soiled himself then. Luckily it was so terrible out that she lost us after 1 & 1/2 hours and poor Keppler could finally change his "unmentionables". It wouldn't stop raining so we packed it in & went home.
November '41: 2nd patrol. "Disassembled" (with the deck gun) a Greek small merchant about 4 hours out of Salamis. Sank another Greek vessel; this time an armed small freighter, with 1 torpedo the next day. Said "Hi how's it going" to a Hudson patrolling just south of Crete.
Got depth charged & lost 8% hull integrity with minor damage to flak gun & deck plating. Finally something good: intercepted a large merchant (8900 tons) escorted by 2 C&D class destroyers. Sank the large merchant with one eel. The second fish missed but at least we left the destroyer captains having to tell their superiors that they were really sorry but they lost
the large merchant that they were supposed to be protecting.
At present we're still on our way to our assigned grid of CN61.
Gromer out...