January 12, 1941 Grid AN43
0333 Very faint sound contact SE of us...rising to the surface and closing the gap.
0422 Small merchant vessel spotted straight ahead...seems like she is moving away from us...it will take a while to get into good firing position.
0617 Target is a coastal freighter moving 11 knots...that's why it took so long to get ahead of her...the good new is that weather improved and we can use our deck gun....we are changing course to cut in front of enemy ship...man the guns!
0624 they spotted us but we are close enough...open fire!
0631 Coastal freighter is a burning wreck...she is going down slowly now...let's move toward the Norwegian coast...we just have two torpedoes left, but if the weather holds we could make good use of our deck gun.
SS Adherity (Coastal Freighter), 1870 tons. Cargo: Military Vehicles. Crew: 22. Crew lost: 19
1212 Sound contact south of us...merchant closing at medium speed...let's change course to intercept...
1253 Grid AN34 Ship spotted! She is still far away and it's difficult to identify her properly. Still, it does not seem to be a big prey...guess our deck gun will be called in action once again
1338 Target is a British small merchant with no visible weapons. We made an underwater approach and now U48 is ready to attack. Surface the boat! Man the guns!
1347 Small merchant is exploding! She was engulfed in flames for the last couple of minutes and now she is going down quickly...clearing the area and moving back north.
SS Ciltvaira (Small Merchant), 2375 tons. Cargo: Iron Ore. Crew: 58. Crew lost: 40
1712 Sound contact...east of us...very faint...looks like it's moving southward...let's investigate
1757 Ship spotted! This one looks bigger and seems to be moving slow on a SSW course. Let's adjust our course to cut in front of her.
1823 U48 is diving now. Target is a Large merchant going 6 knots. Guess we will shot both our remaining eels. It's a worthy prey.
1841 We are in position now...opening tubes 1 & 4...fire!...both eels running...let's cross our fingers...Impact!...aaaaand...nothing else. A dud! Ahead full and hard to starboard to go on parallel course...there is a small fire on her forward deck...hopefully it's enough.
1927 She is not burning anymore and did not even slow down...we will use our remaining shells...surface the boat! Man the guns!
1933 We have no more deck gun shells and used some of our flak ammo too but this last merchant is sinking! U48 is now running full toward our base.
SS Memnon (Large Merchant), 10928 tons. Cargo: Military Stores. Crew: 110. Crew lost: 47
January 14, 1940 Kiel
0854 Weather has been horrible on our way back, cold and rainy almost all the way here but now the sky is clear and there is a gentle breeze welcoming us back.
U48 and its crew are ready to some well deserved relax and fun.
Patrol results
Crew losses: 0
Ships sunk: 14
Aircraft destroyed: 0
Patrol tonnage: 75188 tons
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