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Ifernat · 05-17-14, 01:36 AM

Patrol 4 (10/29 - 11/10) Orders to BE69.

The standard route north to Shetland was taken. A few unlucky ships were found as U-27 turned the corner. Transiting west north of Scapa Flow the sub left a string of ships sunk by gunfire. With a brief wait for night U-27 began an aggressive transit down The Minch.

The crew was starting to feel rather like pirates of old as much use as the deck gun was getting. The weather held though until well after U-27 rounded south of the Hebrides. Turning west U-27 sailed out into the North Atlantic but contacts grew few and far between. After two days and little action we moved back into the waters off Northern Ireland.

After some more deck action in a second period of calm weather the U-27 had finally expended all of its 88 mm ammunition. A contact moving north in The Minch pulled U-27 back north towards Loch Ewe. For a moment the refrain 'Be More Aggressive' tempted the Captain but a task force moving at 14 knots 100 km North of the Hebrides offered a potentially juicier target.

U-27 raced north, but ran into a patrolling J&K destroyer running a search grid off the NE corner of the Hebrides. Thanks to the morning mist U-27 saw the destroyer and was able to go to periscope depth without being detected. Given its location however, the only way U-27 was going to make it to the intercept on the task force was going to be to remove the destroyer. The only G7e currently loaded though was in the stern. The destroyer would pass approximately 5km away. The range on a G7e is 5km. This was going to be interesting.

In what would prove to be one of the tightest intercepts pulled off U-27 crept into position at 4.5 knots or as fast as the Captain dared go. Swung the boat around and threw the engines into a slow reverse to check the forward momentum. Between the destroyers heading and the AOB the angle was over 30 degrees off center so it would have to be a magnetic hit. Luck however was with the crew as the torpedo detonated directly under the destroyer's engines...after traveling just over 4.9km.

With the destroyer removed U-27 raced north to the intercept...down to periscope depth and got the bad news... 2 warships, long range, moving away at 14 knots... Disappointed the U-27 turned back south slowly under battery power. Later that afternoon after tracking down a 300 ton coal tender that wasn't worth expending a torpedo (with all gun ammo expended). An interesting thing occurred. A task force contact, 14 knots...this time moving east. This time U-27 would have a much easier time of making the intercept...and so back at almost the same spot the crew spotted two warships emerging from the afternoon haze.

"What do we got WO? Cruisers? They're definitely bigger than destroyers."

The Captain looked through the UZO scope.

"Not cruisers...a battleship and a battle cruiser...The Hood in front, the Nelson behind...unescorted....

It was in that moment that the Captain stepped away from the UZO...blinked...and slapped himself.

"Not dreaming...," he mumbled. "Two unescorted capital ships...are you sure?"

"yes.."

The watch officer would record in his log that the Captain nearly suffered a seizure induced by dangerously high levels of joy at that moment.

But getting down to business...how to proceed...it was 2 pm on a sunny day with light chop...and all four forward tubes were loaded with G7a torpedoes....

After much deliberation it was decided that it would be better to guarantee at least one kill than to get greedy. The Hood would be the target. Magnetic impact for maximum damage and against the possibility of the Hood maneuvering. U-27 was able to close the range to 2 km at a speed considered safe against the periscope kicking up a wake. At the moment of decision 4 G7a's went out on a spread as wide as the Captain dared. To the U-27's surprise the 2nd torpedo in the spread prematured 750 m out. The Hood's lookouts saw the torpedoes at 500m and the ship began to turn away and accelerate. The first torpedo detonated cleanly under the forward part of Hood's fist engine room, the third torpedo at the far aft of the 2nd engine room. The 4th caught Hood directly on the propellers and was knocked away without detonating.

The crew was not feeling good having only scored two hits...but as they say in the restaurant business location, location, location.... it only took a minute to see that while only two hits had been scored those hits had completely knocked out power to the Hood's engines...she was dead in the water.

U-27 was already turning...trying to bring the stern tube to bear...it was not expected to be a clean shot...A secondary intercept was expected to be necessary on the Nelson... The Captain however had not considered just how much effort and speed the Nelson would lose to avoid crashing into the back of the crippled Hood. As it turned out U-27 was able to line up the stern tube...but what would one torpedo do...against a Nelson class battleship...this shot would be a down payment...a start on slowing the battleship down to the point where an additional intercept could be made...

Tube 5 fired...90 seconds later...the entirety of U-27 shook as the Nelson exploded like a Roman Candle... 15 seconds after torpedo impact the Nelson was sinking.

The Watch officer would record in his log that at this point the Captain, on having realized he had just sunk the HMS Nelson with a single torpedo and still had the HMS Hood at his mercy began twitching and laughing maniacally.

It would take another 3 torpedoes, each an hour apart, to finish the Hood. The Captain considered waiting longer...but expected at any moment for the rest of the Royal Navy to show up to aid the beleaguered battlecruiser.

With four torpedoes remaining the Captain decided to do something quite fool hardy. Something...'more aggressive'. 3 ships in Loch Ewe would be the result. A modern a tanker, a V&W...and the only sour note being that the floating dock refused to sink.

With all torpedoes and all gun ammunition expended the U-27 headed home. The only damage suffered was minimal as a result of bumping into an anti-submarine net in Loch Ewe. We qualified a Petty Officer in the use of the Deck Gun and handed out a rather substantial number of medals.

Total tonnage 150,330 tons. 20 ships, 4 warships, 16 merchants. HMS Nelson, HMS Hood, 2 destroyers.

05-17-14, 01:36 AM	#4603
Ifernat Watch Join Date: May 2014 Posts: 20 Downloads: 11 Uploads: 0	Patrol 4 (10/29 - 11/10) Orders to BE69. The standard route north to Shetland was taken. A few unlucky ships were found as U-27 turned the corner. Transiting west north of Scapa Flow the sub left a string of ships sunk by gunfire. With a brief wait for night U-27 began an aggressive transit down The Minch. The crew was starting to feel rather like pirates of old as much use as the deck gun was getting. The weather held though until well after U-27 rounded south of the Hebrides. Turning west U-27 sailed out into the North Atlantic but contacts grew few and far between. After two days and little action we moved back into the waters off Northern Ireland. After some more deck action in a second period of calm weather the U-27 had finally expended all of its 88 mm ammunition. A contact moving north in The Minch pulled U-27 back north towards Loch Ewe. For a moment the refrain 'Be More Aggressive' tempted the Captain but a task force moving at 14 knots 100 km North of the Hebrides offered a potentially juicier target. U-27 raced north, but ran into a patrolling J&K destroyer running a search grid off the NE corner of the Hebrides. Thanks to the morning mist U-27 saw the destroyer and was able to go to periscope depth without being detected. Given its location however, the only way U-27 was going to make it to the intercept on the task force was going to be to remove the destroyer. The only G7e currently loaded though was in the stern. The destroyer would pass approximately 5km away. The range on a G7e is 5km. This was going to be interesting. In what would prove to be one of the tightest intercepts pulled off U-27 crept into position at 4.5 knots or as fast as the Captain dared go. Swung the boat around and threw the engines into a slow reverse to check the forward momentum. Between the destroyers heading and the AOB the angle was over 30 degrees off center so it would have to be a magnetic hit. Luck however was with the crew as the torpedo detonated directly under the destroyer's engines...after traveling just over 4.9km. With the destroyer removed U-27 raced north to the intercept...down to periscope depth and got the bad news... 2 warships, long range, moving away at 14 knots... Disappointed the U-27 turned back south slowly under battery power. Later that afternoon after tracking down a 300 ton coal tender that wasn't worth expending a torpedo (with all gun ammo expended). An interesting thing occurred. A task force contact, 14 knots...this time moving east. This time U-27 would have a much easier time of making the intercept...and so back at almost the same spot the crew spotted two warships emerging from the afternoon haze. "What do we got WO? Cruisers? They're definitely bigger than destroyers." The Captain looked through the UZO scope. "Not cruisers...a battleship and a battle cruiser...The Hood in front, the Nelson behind...unescorted.... It was in that moment that the Captain stepped away from the UZO...blinked...and slapped himself. "Not dreaming...," he mumbled. "Two unescorted capital ships...are you sure?" "yes.." The watch officer would record in his log that the Captain nearly suffered a seizure induced by dangerously high levels of joy at that moment. But getting down to business...how to proceed...it was 2 pm on a sunny day with light chop...and all four forward tubes were loaded with G7a torpedoes.... After much deliberation it was decided that it would be better to guarantee at least one kill than to get greedy. The Hood would be the target. Magnetic impact for maximum damage and against the possibility of the Hood maneuvering. U-27 was able to close the range to 2 km at a speed considered safe against the periscope kicking up a wake. At the moment of decision 4 G7a's went out on a spread as wide as the Captain dared. To the U-27's surprise the 2nd torpedo in the spread prematured 750 m out. The Hood's lookouts saw the torpedoes at 500m and the ship began to turn away and accelerate. The first torpedo detonated cleanly under the forward part of Hood's fist engine room, the third torpedo at the far aft of the 2nd engine room. The 4th caught Hood directly on the propellers and was knocked away without detonating. The crew was not feeling good having only scored two hits...but as they say in the restaurant business location, location, location.... it only took a minute to see that while only two hits had been scored those hits had completely knocked out power to the Hood's engines...she was dead in the water. U-27 was already turning...trying to bring the stern tube to bear...it was not expected to be a clean shot...A secondary intercept was expected to be necessary on the Nelson... The Captain however had not considered just how much effort and speed the Nelson would lose to avoid crashing into the back of the crippled Hood. As it turned out U-27 was able to line up the stern tube...but what would one torpedo do...against a Nelson class battleship...this shot would be a down payment...a start on slowing the battleship down to the point where an additional intercept could be made... Tube 5 fired...90 seconds later...the entirety of U-27 shook as the Nelson exploded like a Roman Candle... 15 seconds after torpedo impact the Nelson was sinking. The Watch officer would record in his log that at this point the Captain, on having realized he had just sunk the HMS Nelson with a single torpedo and still had the HMS Hood at his mercy began twitching and laughing maniacally. It would take another 3 torpedoes, each an hour apart, to finish the Hood. The Captain considered waiting longer...but expected at any moment for the rest of the Royal Navy to show up to aid the beleaguered battlecruiser. With four torpedoes remaining the Captain decided to do something quite fool hardy. Something...'more aggressive'. 3 ships in Loch Ewe would be the result. A modern a tanker, a V&W...and the only sour note being that the floating dock refused to sink. With all torpedoes and all gun ammunition expended the U-27 headed home. The only damage suffered was minimal as a result of bumping into an anti-submarine net in Loch Ewe. We qualified a Petty Officer in the use of the Deck Gun and handed out a rather substantial number of medals. Total tonnage 150,330 tons. 20 ships, 4 warships, 16 merchants. HMS Nelson, HMS Hood, 2 destroyers. Last edited by Ifernat; 05-17-14 at 06:18 AM.