[pikke]

Originally Posted by pikke

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

March 21, 1940 Grid AN51


1342 No warship around, time to surface again. U48 will now leave this area and move south. I think we may go patrol the area off Hartlepool for a while. We have five torpedo left, all bow tubes ready and one reserve.


1421 Warship spotted! Long range! Let's take a look...she is very far away and sailing north...I think we need no dive. Seems alone...


1426 She is most likely the ASW Trawler that came to investigate earlier. Most likely this is her patrol area.


1529 Warship spotted, closing fast! Let's dive!


1533 A torpedo boat...two of them...Perhaps we are a bit too close to the coast. U48 will move east for a while.


1604 On the surface again. I think we may move away from the coast for the day and close in at night.


2021 We are diving. U48 was getting closer to the coast when our lookouts spotted a warship NW of us. We will use our sonar to check if she is alone or escorting something.


2024 By the sound of it seems we may have an ASW Trawler and perhaps something else. We will close the gap and see what's out there.


2027 There is a bigger shadow behind the leading escort. I believe we have an escort-cargo duo sailing SE at medium speed. We will intercept them.


2154 ASW Trawler in the lead keeps breaking off and doing patterns ahead of the cargo. We will get tube 1 ready for the Trawler and tubes 2 and 3 ready for the big cargo, which may be an Empire-Type freighter. We are in a good position and crawling at two knots.


2201 ASW Trawler is doing patterns again so I will not fire on her. Cargo is indeed an Empire-type freighter, she is going 8 knots. We will attack from port side. Tube 2 and 3 are set for high speed, impact pistol, depth 3 meters.


2203 Trawler is about 1000 ahead of target...time to fire...open tubes 2 and 3...range 800m...AoB 80° port side...spread 2,5°...fire!...torpedoes away and running...change course to 000! set speed 4 knots! Lower periscope!...I'll try to place the cargo between us and the Trawler...Impact!..Two impacts! Let's raise the periscope and a take a peek...there is a small fire on her forward deck...too dark to spot marks on the hull...Lower periscope.


2209 ASW Trawler is coming back but we are now north of the cargo and crawling at two knots. Empire-type freighter slowed down and started to zigzag, or at least is trying to.


2214 Our target is almost stationary, U48 is now west of her while that ASW Trawler is on the other side. I'm increasing the gap so that there are less chances our periscope would be spotted when we raise it.
2239 Stubborn ship is still afloat. ASW Trawler still sniffing around in the wrong place. We are now about 1000m away from her. She is still burning and seems a bit lower than before.


2301 ASW Trawler is slowly leaving the area...weird! Empire-type freighter much lower on the water now. Once this warship is truly gone we may raise and use our deck gun to finish her off.


2331 We where getting ready to surface when she began to slip under the sea. Very slowly, but she is going down at last!. The only sonar contact we have right now is from that ASW Trawler, and it's quite faint. We will surface in a while and resume our plotted course.
Ship sunk! SS Corinaldo (Empire-type Freighter), 7235 tons. Cargo: Paper Products. Crew: 58. Crew lost: 26



note: been away for a while. Seems like I've a lot of catching up to do but that will be fun