[Leandros]

U-65 - IXB - Kaleu Hansen - Aug 25th 1944 - Trondheim - after Patrol 28

We arrived in Trondheim yesterday afternoon. Another patrol in which we had our heads banged by the numerous and aggressive escorts. We ended up with scopes, sonars, radar and batteries destroyed or damaged, but got away with it.

While our mission was to concentrate on the escorts we lost focus when we discovered that there was a large passenger liner in the center of the convoy. We had to get that one! With that we lost much of the advantage on the escorts as we had to proceed with some speed inside the convoy to reach the liner. This attracted a number of escorts from all directions. In the following melee' I made a couple of mistakes. A TI was fired instead of a Falke IV as intended. A TI aft shot was misjudged, and missed, so we lost some of our headstart. Anyway, after having secured 3 hits on the liner with conventional torps we went down for reloading. At that time we had at least sunk one and paralyzed two other escorts.

We proceeded slowly on opposite course of the convoy. However, when it had passed us over we were discovered again. We went to periscope depth and were able to hit a couple of more before we had to go down again. They were too many. Anyway, we ended up with scopes, batteries, radar and sonar destroyed or damaged and went deep. With a combination of speed, course and depth changes we were off the hook after a couple of hours. The Bolds worked beautifully! At one stage we had considerable leaks but our excellent repair crew saved us for another day.

On the surface again I set course north-west at maximum speed. We had earlier received a message that all French bases were being abandoned so it was back to Trondheim.

Alas, we had surfaced too soon! Suddenly there was artillery fire coming from aft, a destroyer! Now comes the beauty of the homing torpedo: We had one left in a forward tube and without any optics to assist in a firing solution I set up a manual aim for it to cross our wake a few hundred meters aft of us. There it ought to catch on to the destroyer that was fast overhauling us. It did!

After that we made a wide detour North of the Shetlands for Trondheim. Fortunately, nothing was encountered on this route but, we came back with almost half our conventional torp load.

Even if we were badly battered on this patrol I believe the concept is valid. If there had been more U-boats we would have let the others concentrate on the big fish in the convoy. As I see it, the ideal number of escort hunters for each convoy would be 3. One up front to draw off and destroy the forward screen and one on each side to pick off the other escorts as they are speeding forward to join the action.

Further down the convoy track could be placed any number of conventionally-armed boats to take care of the now more or less escort-less merchants.

The new torpedoes are working quite well, even if some items need to be considered. The target speed need to be within 12-20 knots. First, it needs a signal (noise) to hook on to the target, a certain speed, that is. Secondly, the target cannot move too fast as the torpdo shall not be able to catch up with it. This speed range is actually quite feasible. An escort shall usually move faster than 12 knots as it zig-zags around the convoy. It also needs to consider the threat from conventional torpedoes. When hunting it cannot move as fast as 20 knots as its passive sonar shall be screened by engine and outside noise and its maneuverability decreases.

The enemy is said to have developed a counter-measure against homing torpedoes - The Foxer. This in itself is an advantage for us as it gives off noise which screens ours and puts a limit on the escort's speed. It is also quite cumbersome to handle as it is towed behind the vessel like a mine-clearing device. A factor to be considered is the possibility of "friendly fire", that the torp can home back on the U-boat. This is possible but can be minimized by correct tactics. First of all, my experience is that the torp should be fired as early as possible, mainly to have it done so that the attention can be switched to eventual other targets. It is less effective within a convoy as it can hook up to a merchant instead of an escort.

Finally, it is not a sure killer and shall normally not sink a merchant. But it shall almost always paralyze an escort and therefore hinder it in its mission - to protect the convoy. On this latest patrol there were 3-5 escorts which were seemingly not sunk, but left still in the water. The homers often damage their propulsion and steering systems.

Fred

Below:

Captain's report.