August 1941
Type VIIB
So I was patrolling outside one of my favorite spots, what I call 'The Funnel' or just west of Gibraltar, in the deep waters, when I was doing a hydrophone check and heard what sounded like an inbound task force.
"Great!" I thought, maybe my second encounter with one since the war started, but the first with actual dreadnoughts and not simply destroyers which I found hanging off the eastern shores of the UK in 1939. I had set out from Thalia, a small freighter based in Cadiz that I was using as a gas station while doing short, week-long patrols in The Funnel. I hadn't been at sea for more than three days and I was finally getting a big payoff...
The only problem was the weather...horrible...thick clouds, choppy seas, wind speed 9/10 knots, heavy fog...just awful for a fast moving patrol like this. I haven't played Silent Hunter for years so I was cheating a bit by keeping map contacts on and playing with the external camera enabled, this allowed me to track and get a rough idea of the task force's speed and heading which I figured was about 20kts and 80*. Luckily I was not more than 15km from their path and I surfaced made a course setting for 170* and flank speed.
I estimated my arrival would happen roughly 20 minutes before the first ship past my bow and I was counting on the heavy seas and thick fog to cover my approach. In clear weather I usually hit these task forces 6 sometimes 8km from their path with steamers, but this was going to be fast, close and dirty, I knew I would be evading angry ASW destroyers after sinking tens of thousands of tons and killing hundreds if not thousands of young sailors, but the rewards would be worth it. I burned as much diesel as I could while working out the approach and plotting my escape, I made a quick dive once every 20 minutes to check on my target's location and then surfaced and hit flank speed, rushing to the sweet spot, which given this weather, I assumed was going to be within 1500m of the battleship/cruiser/fleet carrier's path.
I set my settings into the TDC: 20kts, AoB 90 degrees port, 1000m
assigned crews to the forward/aft torpedo bays, set auto loading to off
set all TI torpedos to impact, fast running, 3/4m running depth including my aft torpedo should I need it in an emergency
At 2000m I submerged to periscope depth and set speed to ahead one third, maintaining my course at 170* so close now...
*ping* *piiing* *PING*
I wasn't surprised to hear it, I must have crossed right in front of the forward screening destroyer on a ASW run. The first thing I did was lower the speed on my TDC to 17kts and raised my attack periscope...juuust breaking through the fog was a frigate on a zigzag course toward my boat bearing 80* to starboard. Unfortunately my pictures in this post will be few because after first contact the next 15 minutes felt like 15 seconds of course changes, speed and depth changes and adjustments to my TDC
I quickly lowered my scope and dived, flank speed and set my course to 15* to port, switching to my hydrophone to get a bearing on the big ships I had been tracking, 90* and 70*...I must have passed directly in front of the task force! Depth charges...explosions...reset course back to 170*, periscope depth...speed ahead slow...peering through my scope I could see the frigate had just started to circle behind me, I looked forward for the approaching target...there she was! Battleship, looked like a Nelson and she was steaming slower than 20kts, bearing 40*...my first salvo of two eels was a mix: one TII and one TI torpedo, the gyro setting read 355* so ideal...Los! Cheating again, I looked at my TDC attack map and witnessed them pass in front of the Battleship...quickly estimated a speed correction of 12kts into the dials and switched back to my attack periscope...Los! I aimed at the superstructure in the middle of the boat to give myself the maximum chance of a strike
*torpedo impact!* *torpedo impact!*
Both hit true, just in front of the bridge, spread apart by a few degrees
My attention immediately went to the big ship passing behind me: some type of Battleship I couldn't identify in the heat of the battle. I set up my aft torpedo the same as the others: fast, 4m depth and impact setting
Aimed for the superstructure again and fired...*thud* I heard the eel ding against the armored belt of the massive ship through my hydrophone and swearing, gave the command to dive and ahead full.
I set my escape plan in motion, I dove to 125m and speed to ahead slow once I crossed the 100m mark on my depth meter, course 150*.
I never once got pinged and heard depth charges well behind me which I was amazed by. I must have crossed some thermal layer because back in 1940 I had been chased for 2 hours in the shallows west of Ireland in awful weather.
Going through my head now was a thought that I could possibly reload and then surface at flank speed to catch up with the other battleship, come within 1500m through the fog and launch a 3 eel salvo set to magnetically detonate below her belly.
I started reloading and followed along their path setting my course at 80*
Unfortunately I never heard my initial victim go down through the hydrophone, watching her list and seeing that one of her screws was stopped gave me hope, but she didn't even slow down. Well behind the task force and approaching close to Gibraltar, I was forced to give up chase and retreat back to deeper waters.
I had sunk a 10,000 tonner before this engagement and I did sink two ships: a light cruiser for 5600 tons and an 8700 ton large merchant some days after despite heavy rain and fog using only my hydrophone so I wasn't totally bummed, but I did regret not using my magnetic detonators instead of impact on that battleship...
My doctrine states that I never use more than two fish per ship, my reasons for that are two will slow if not kill outright anything floating. Not true in this case; maybe if I had used magnetic shots or aimed for the bow and not the midsection, I would have been successful...it is only 1941 though and the war isn't finished yet....