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Old 10-22-21, 03:16 AM   #5988
pikke
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Originally Posted by pikke View Post
November 9, 1939 0600 AM01
U53 keeps sailing toward assigned patrol area.
We have almost no wind and calm sea, visibility moderate.
Will continue doing brief sonar checks for possible targets.


0712 AM01 Ship spotted! Seems a small cargo cruising our way. Down to periscope depth and closing.


0719 A small freighter. Think we'll use the deck gun.


0736 Some deck gun shell and some flack ammo were enough to sink our target. Leaving the area and back on previous course.


1702 Reached assigned patrol grid AM41. Sky is partly cloudy and the wind picked up to 9 knots.


November 10, 1939 AM41 0303 Surfaced to ventilate boat and reload batteries. Storm is raging, wind blow so hard U53 has to tack and jibe like a sailboat. We'll go down as soon as batteries are good.


1704 Patrol complete. Storm still raging. No contacts...but I doubt we would have been able to spot them anyway. U53 will now sail toward AM53. Let's hope the storm relents a little.

November 11, 1940 1645 grid: AM43
Weather conditions have improved and U53 is now running on the surface.
As soon as our batteries are reloaded we'll go down and use our sonar to check the area.


1658 Sonar reports a merchant, long range, moving slow and closing. Another prey coming our way.


1711 Ship spotted through the periscope. Coming almost straight toward us. Course slightly adjusted to get into a better firing position. Trying to establish target speed


1716 It's a medium cargo moving 7 knots. Sonar report warship, medium speed closing, long range. That changes plans somewhat. Will fire two torpedoes to be sure.


1721 One hit and one missed! Just brushed past her back...damn! I'll take a risk and pop up briefly to finish her via deck gun.


1723 She's going down but we are being engaged by a destroyer! Shells are falling awfully close and she is closing fast. Time to run and hide!


1726 Managed to dive unscathed. We are now moving at 2knots, running as silently as we can and going as down as possible.



1730 Deep charges are going off somewhere north of us, seems like they don't have a good fix of us. We'll try to crawl away. My heart is hammering so wildly I fear they can pick it up on their damn sonar.


1745 Destroyer is sniffing north of us. Came closer at one point but we got pinged very shortly and she didn't pick us up. Still crawling away at 2 knots.


1802 Destroyer still searching for us but nowhere close to our position. Perhaps U53 will manage to slip away.


1834 Back to periscope depth. Destroyer left the area a few minutes ago. We'll put some more distance between us and then surface again. I didn't realize how quickly a destroyer can run to our position. Had one of those shell hit us...better not think about it. Crew is shaken too, they now realize how risky our task is. Shall find a good target to raise morale again.


November 12, 1940 0600
Uneventful night...and perhaps it's for the better. Weather got gloomy and windy but no rain yet. Let's keep our course.


2200 Wind picked up even more and sailing is now very difficult. U53 will cruise underwater and come up briefly to catch a breather every three hours.


November 13, 1940 0048 grid AM52
Sonar woke me up with news of sound contact west of us, closing. Surfacing and making a quick dash toward our target.


0101 Ship spotted! She is cruising on an east-west course and will pass a bit north of us.


0107 U53 dived and is now heading north on full speed to get into firing position. No other sound contact reported. Target identified as a coastal tanker. Sea condition won't let us use the deck gun so I plan to shot one torpedo from our aft tube.


0104 waves are so high it's very difficult to mantain periscope depth...I do hope the darkness will keep us hidden from the enemy.


0105 Torpedo impact! The tanker is burning from bow to stern. Don't think she will survive this.


0106 A big explosion split her in two! I think I saw a sailor blown away by the explosion. I do hope that was a quick death. Lets' leave the area and resume our patrol.


1200 U53 is keeping on the the same pattern of 3 hours down and half an hour on the surface. Sea conditions di not improve so right now we cannot use deck gun for our attacks. We will keep cruising eastward.


1322 Sound contact! Merchant closing, moving slow. U53 will surface and make a quick dash toward it.


1331 Ship spotted! Down to periscope depth and then we will identify her and determine her speed.



1336 A coastal freighter moving 9 knots heading roughly west. U53 is already in quite a good attack position. Will use one eel, a pity we cannot use deck gun on this small vessels.


1341 Torped impact! I aimed for the bow but hit her in the back. Perhaps I underestimated her speed somewhat. Small fire on the target. Running parallel and shadowing it, I do hope this will be enough.


1402 She is low on her back and has slowed to 3 knots. Fire keeps going on and off as their damage control team tries to manage thinks.


1447 We have been hearing explosions for the last few minutes and now she is slowly sinking. It's a small one but it's still one. U53 will now go back to previous course.
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