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[Gargamel]

Tragedy at Sea!! 14,316 Lost!
Nefarious U-boat attack on Troop Transports!

15 June, 1940.


Sailors and crew cling to life boats after yesterdays tragedy.

Yesterday a convoy of unarmed transport ships were relentlessly attacked by a ferocious pack of German U-boats. 3 ships were initially sunk, before HMS Hood and her escorts were able to fight off the hidden menace, but not before being grievously wounded herself. The ships sunk were the ocean liners RMS Alexandra, RMS Dempo, both of the Cunard Line, and the transport ship HMS Antonia. 11,500 troops were lost at sea, with another 2816 of the ships' crew. Cont on Page 4...

[Gargamel]

I based those numbers off the fact that the HMS Aquitania had been refitted as a troop transport to carry 7,000 troops in Nov 1939. (Source). I used SHC's crew lost figures to figure out the crew numbers. Those may be off as they included the actual passengers.

What really happened:

U-102 (VIIb) had been assigned to patrol AN29, after Norway fell, so all I was encountering was German coastal traffic. Really quite boring. So i headed around the British isles and was operating off the Keltische See, and down around Biscay. Only encountered a couple small French merchants. Stopped in at Vigo, Spain to resupply at the Bessel. After heading north again, back into Biscay, again only a few small French ships, I started back up around the isles. I was very disappointed I missed out on all the fun at Dunkirk.

While I was just south of Ireland, BDU started calling for a wolfpack to be formed off the Iberian Peninsula, in hopes to intercept some transport ships. I turned south at a decent speed. Just as I was clearing the continental shelf, sonar (due to the bad weather, we kept submerging) picked up a warship closing fast on me from the north. I dropped to scope depth and found the Hood and some escorts bearing down on me. I ended up getting off 2, 2 eel salvos, but only managed to hit the bow and stern, and she kept steaming on.

Still sailing south, I finally encountered the convoy. 8-10 LARGE transport ships, heavy tonnage all of them. I assumed the Hood was around here somewhere as an escort, too coincidental not to be, but I couldn't find anything more than 2 flower class escorts. It was a massacre. Only 1 of the first salvo hit the first ship (which sunk from the one hit), but apparently the second eel hit a ship in the second line. The second salvo obliterated the third ship. We had to use one of our 2 remaining eels to finish off the lucky hit, and the flowers were bearing down on us, so we slipped away to the South.

Then we picked up another warship closing from the south. Surprisingly, it was the Hood, barely able to keep up with the convoy from our previous damage. We fired our final torp into her, hitting her square midships, but she kept plowing on. Warrant officer Bernard suggested opening up on her with the deck gun. The final report states he "Erstickte an einer gabel".

It was great to go from a very disappointing double patrol to my best ever. 125k+ tons.

[VONHARRIS]

Gargamel , you have created hell on sea. I think the Brits will remeber your name for a long time!

A Knights cross and a promotion await you. Maybe by Grossadmiral Karl Donitz himself.

Sehr gut Herr Kaleun.

[krashkart]

Good job, Gargamel.

[VONHARRIS]

Originally Posted by Tessa

I envy you. I haven't been able to sink not three but not even two capital ships in one patrol.
I have sunk many of these but only one per patrol!
On the other hand I don't dare to go near Liverpool with my IX type.

A job very well done.

[frau kaleun]

Originally Posted by krashkart

They're not related to Monty Python spinsters, are they?

No, but their granddaughters will someday be stars on the Soviet Women's Olympic team.

[Herr-Berbunch]

Originally Posted by krashkart

They're not related to Monty Python spinsters, are they?

Ooh, aah! Well I never! Tut, tut, tut!

[KptLtHansDampf]

U-46, this old (th)rusty tin drum, made it to 1944 - Six skippers earned their merits on this lucky VIIC. The latest, Oberleutnant Willy Bukowski, finally added a "capital" to the long long list of prey wich was sunk by U-46 and her crew.

In May 1944 I was cruising around the azores and stumbled across a unescorted three ship-convoy under brazilian flags, very calm sea, easy prey, 17893 tons within half an hour, almost business as usual.
I kept alerted because this was too easy, and my intuition was right once again - only a couple of hours later the hydroguy picked up the sounds of a warship.

... no, two warships, oh wait, three, ah, four ... I pushed Alois away from the equipment and listened for myself - seven warships, heading sloooow and straight into our direction, and one of this ships sounded very different from the other ones. I ordered silent running, moved the Uboat into a 90°-angle of the anticipated course of this taskforce and aprox. 3km away from the outer contact.

I kept listening, no signs of zigzagging, they were still running straight and slow. As the first ships passed the bow of my boat I peeked out with the periscope and discovered the silhuette of a bogue 3,5km ahead, the escorts still wasn't aware of my presence, so I got all the time to calculate a proper firing solution. Shortly after 4 eels were on their way, and I decided to dive away from the scene and gain distance & depth before the first impact. While creeping away I sat on the hydros and listened to - three hits! I cheered, almost forgot about the six escorts.

And guess what ? I heard some of the escorts accelerate and - steaming into the complete opposite direction! The bogue was hit on the stern, but three escorts hurried to the port while the others still heading straight! Because of that I ordered a paralell course, and about thirty or fourty minutes later the escorts broke up the desperate "hunt" for me and steamed away,leaving a heavily crippled and burning Bogue behind. I waited another hour, ordered to go for periscope depth, reloaded the tubes, but that wasn't necessary. The bogue sank just before I managed to take another look at it.

Two days later at that patrol I got a close hit by an aircraft bomb, so I headed home earlier than usual because of the damage.

Compared to other encounters with carrier task forces where the escorts usually were much smarter and always managed to chase me away before I got into the position to engage this was nearly unbelievable.

[Arael]

December 5, 1940
18:05 local time
AM-52

U-111 is heading back South after striking a convoy in AM-53. On December 1st, we received a message from U-101 detailing a convoy in AL-57. Being in BF-17 at the time, I proceeded at flank speed, hoping to get there in time to participate in the Wolf Pack. Alas, we were too far away. Not wanting the trip North to be a waste, I headed towards the coast of Ireland to wait for the convoy. The convoy was spotted at 10:54 on December 5. We weren't able to get into position a good position due to a flower class between us and the convoy, but I still tried a long distance shot on a medium tanker and a whaling factory ship. The tanker shot missed, but the Factory ship took a hit under the fore cargo crane, piercing the fuel tanks. Leaking fire, the ship went down by the bow and sunk after about 20 minutes. Taking note of the convoy's route, I raced ahead and took up position. At around 15:00, the convoy hove into site, heading right for U-111. we submerged and waited for the convoy to pass overhead. I shot a stern G7e at the medium tanker, but the torpedo turned out to be a dud. I followed it up with the G7a in the aft tube, and was rewarded with a strike right under the smokestack. We evidently hit something vital, because the ship began to explode. The convoy now alerted to our presence, I put two G7a into another Whaling Factory ship. One struck the forward fuel tanks, while the other struck between the bridge and aft funnel structure. All steam-powered torpedoes expended, I headed as deep as I could, traveling opposite the direction of the convoy. Two flower-class corvettes started trying to hunt me, but their depth charge pattern was way off target. U-111 did take damage though, as the seafloor began a gentle rise. The result being U-111's bow getting a few new scrapes.

This convoy represents the first real decent tonnage of this patrol. Before this, the patrol had yielded the S-class submarine mentioned earlier, a tugboat that took 2 105mm shells, a ramming, and one more shell to sink, and a small merchant.

[Arael]

December 20, 1940
7:30 Local Time
BF-17

U-111 is heading back to Lorient after a disastrous attack on a convoy in Quadrant BE-39. We had tracked the convoy and set up for a nighttime surface attack. During the attack, a large merchant on the outskirts of the convoy spotted us, and the convoy began firing at us with anti-submarine guns. I decided to take my chances and remain on the surface, using U-111's high surface speed to outrun any pursuit. Unfortunately, during the chase a shell from a Flower class hit the rear deck, instantly killing the three men manning the 37mm gun in a valiant attempt to deter the corvette from following. With no other option, I ordered a crash dive to 120 meters. The escort's depth charge patterns were accurate, but short lived. Our attack on the convoy claimed a single auxiliary cruiser. The dead are:

Gunter Zscherpe, a Matrosengerfreiter with 5 patrols
Georg Eckermann, a Bootsman with 5 patrols
Kurt Witt, a Stabsoberbootsmen with 15 patrols, recipient of the Iron Cross, First Class

The loss of Kurt has come as a great shock to the crew. He had been with the crew since the beginning of the war, when our boat was U-11. He distinguished himself repeatedly in action, with his greatest feat being his shooting down of an entire swordfish squadron from the deck of U-11 during the Norwegian campaign. His achievement earned him the iron cross, the first of the crew to be awarded one. It is a sad day aboard U-111, and we can only imagine what Christmas will be like for his family. The crew has unanimously decided to pool funds and buy the families of these three brave men a gift to show our sorrow at their loss.

[Paulie76]

September 2, 1939 - Third day out on first patrol. Met up with a British Cargo hauler...10 hours before they are declared valid prey. Itchy trigger finger tells me to hold off and let him pass. Stalk him until war is declared and then claim the first kill of the war. Weather comes up suddenly and with an inexperienced sonar man he manages to lose me in the night. I curse my luck and return onto a course for my patrol zone.

September 3, 2009 - War is officially declared. My Chief looks at me with scorn for losing the ship yesterday. Weather is horrible. Make up for it with a faint contact miles away...apparently unmoving. Make a bead to investigate it, get laid up by another contact closing on us at a snails pace in the storm. Closer and easier to intercept I decide to change course, figuring the initial contact will stick around since it hasn't moved in four hours now according to my (now far less trustworthy) Sonar man.

Second contact proves fruitless again. A Norweigan cargo ship. By the time I'm close enough to ID the flag I've got him dead to rights in a fast 90 targeting solution. I still suck at the manual targeting, but I'm getting better, and at 800 meters, 0 AOB even I can't miss! Itchy trigger finger indeed...neutral or no. After missing out on the Brit...damn this is the worst first patrol. I hesitate. I order the tubes open. I do another ranging just to be sure...and then drop the scope and let him go. It's not worth the drop in rep back home (sigh).

Order my navigator to make flank speed for the faint contact. It's still on my map, but getting fainter. Starting to think it sank in the storm. By the time I'm halfway there, she's disappeared.

3 Opportunities...zero torps fired. Zero kills. Not an auspicious start.

[IVO]

I have MEPv3 as well and love the ocean , but it took me several days to sort out the small white sparkels on the horizon waterline that I had. And somtimes the sun halo. I downloaded nHancer and after having some issues with that program and my driver I was able to fix all my problems with lots of help from Fubar but other than that MEPv3 looks really nice plus I have some other mods that really improved the game a bit more like my uniforms I download 4 or 5 different uniform mods and mixed them so they would have different cloths so some have camo sweaters and some other different ones. Aslo my engine sound with smoke ect ect.

** Cannot Get Imageshack to Work so check my album that has my MEPv3 images
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/member.php?u=247859
My JSGME

MEPv3
MEPv3 P
FSF for MEPv3 Patch
MEPv3 visualSensors GWX3
TOrpedoSolutionbutton for MaGui3.4
TMTv2
MaGui 3.4
optional Alternative Scopes w/speedline stopwatch
optional No stealthmeter
Salvo Selector Lables
Fubars med camo ( have all of them but only activate one at time)
SeaFloor
Elite U boat Binoculars
Elite Flecktarn Camouflagu U-Boat Uniform I mix others mod cloths as well)
Your U boat Commander Uniform
Racerboy engine ex smoke for different uboats use one at time though
Thomsens Sound Pack V3
PT sound Pack V3.1
PT sound Pack V3.2
German Uboat Flags 2 different mods not using JSGME For them one has two flags red cross with swastica and white with cross with eagle swastica only works with VIIB so for the other types I have one redcross swastica witch this one will go up and down on keyboard

[OSU]

I'm on my 7th patrol and the Brits are not giving me a break. Neither is SH3 Gen. I keep getting orders to "force entrance into Loch Ewe" or "Sink such-and-such in Portsmouth." I don't feel like throwing my crew away, so I got some new orders, which also sucked, but are a lot better than a suicide mission. The weather was really crappy up north, so I decided to take a chance in a harbor that I knew. So I set a course for Scapa Flow. The weather was perfect on the way, a nice thunderstorm, rain, and big waves. Which meant that the enemy couldn't see me and I couldn't see them. So a destroyer jumps me from behind coming out of the rain, I crash dive and make safely under the surface and sneak away. By to time I got to within 200 km of Scapa the storm had passed and the skies cleared, although the waves were still foaming. Then two Hurricanes jumped me, and again I avoided disaster. I dodged several more destroyers before the weather took a turn for the worse. No wind, no rain, no clouds and no waves. #*&$! So I turned around and FINALLY ran into a contact that I could actually intercept and sink, bringing my grand total for this patrol to 14,000 tons for 19 days at sea.

[VONHARRIS]

During his 9th patrol Erhard von Loser received a suicide mission order. Raid the port of Giblartar on 15 January 1941.

He didn't manage to penetrate the port defences and was cought in a subnet. After desperate tries to unstuck the boat he surfaced and became the target of many guns. He told his crew to jump over and save themselves. He destroyed the Enigma machine all codes and set the charges to scuttle the boat. He was never seen again.

[KptLtHansDampf]

Graaaaaaaa [ten hours later] aaaaaaah!

Never ever steer an Uboat while you're drunk!

At December 31th 1944 (!!!) U-46 and her crew under KaLeu Willy Bukowski (nicknamed "raging Willy" by the Allied) was lost with all hands somewhere south of Ireland at the western approaches. The last radio message by U-46 was received at around 2200, saying "...firing up our new year's eve-party, some (hic) subchasers came by to celebrate with us (hic), nice fireworks, PROST!".

Bukowski and his crew managed to sink about 212.000 BRT in 9 patrols, including the HMS Battler (Bogue-Class) with 15.930 tons, and shot down one Sunderland-Aircraft.
Overall the crew and the skippers of U-46 was responsible for the loss of 860.000 tons of cargos and warships within 5 years.


What happend? Came back from a party sunday morning with a heavy list the port, deceided to "do just one patrol before I go to bed" ... and stumbled over a subchaser group, unable to react properly with about 1,5 ‰ ... very stupid, yes - but dead is dead