Stories and Patrol Logs + Screenshots and Videos (merged) - Page 300

c13Garrison · 08-13-13, 01:28 PM

Thanks for the appreciation. Glenn doesn't seem as entertaining as Garrison was, but he'll round into form.

I just read one of Armistead's reports from quite awhile ago and I think his tales make mine look like liner notes. My fav tho is still vino's with that one masterfully placed photo.

Bubblehead1980 · 08-13-13, 02:17 PM

TMO RSRD USS Gudgeon-Gar Class-3rd Patrol

Departed Pearl Harbor on April 9, 1942 and headed to patrol Solomon Sea/Coral Sea area to scout for possible Japanese Fleet movements towards Australia.Refueled at Noumea on April 28, 1942 then proceeded to patrol South of Rabaul.

Around 0400 on May 2, 1942, in the south channel off Rabaul, between New Britain and New Ireland, lookouts spotted a submarine.Immediately went to battlestations, turned stern towards target and moved ahead.After going to GQ, ordered a dive.Using sound, set boat up to be 800 yards off projected track.Soon had a Japanese submarine's silhouette in my scope, apparently heading in for a dawn arrival after returning from patrol.Track was too close for a bow shot so turned hard and brought stern tubes around.At just 700 yards, fired 4 torpedoes.Speed error seemed to have occurred in our solution as the first two, aimed amidships seemed to be track too far astern, one soon prematurely exploded, another missed astern.However, the other two, aimed forward, hit just seconds apart, causing a large secondary explosions, the sub went down by the bow within 45 seconds.

Surfaced then dived at dawn, dodging large flying boats while patroling off Rabaul.A high speed merchant was coming from the north, attempted to close before it made it into port but was too far out of position.Around 1400, a Destroyer of Kamikaze class began patroling the area, while attempting to set up a shot, he detected us, and closed, fired two torpedoes but both failed to hit, went deep and endured about an hour of inaccurate depth charging .

One May 4, departed area for Coral Sea to scout for TF 17 as Japanese fleet was expected in the area.On the morning of May 8, made contact with TF 17, scouted few miles ahead when a large war of Japanese planes attacked the TF.The Lexington was hit by two torpedoes, multiple bombs and left listing, Yorktown had a deck fire, our AA gun downed one "Val" but then we were forced to dive.Spent rest of day dodging other planes.(Screenshots failed to capture for some reason, it was an impressive display)

That night we made contact on a large warship that at dawn was revealed to be The "Wounded Bear" aka Shokaku, damaged by our planes, heading NW at high speed.The big carrier managed to evade us despite making contact briefly, mainly due to her picking up speed to an estimated 24.5 knots.Released from patrol, headed to patrol west of Truk, to pick up any damaged ships perhaps leaving.While on submerged patrol west of Truk on May 16, 1942, sound picked up fast, heavy screws closing.Noting would not be able to close submerged, surfaced and closed at flank speed, soon a carrier and two destroyers were in sight, making 18 knots, we closed fast and before could dive, the DD's spotted us, shell splashes hitting around us as we headed for the deep.After going to 250, silent running, then speeding up, managed to evading the DD's who ran above us making 30+knots, could not hear us making flank speed for the now constant helming carrier.We came to scope depth and the carriers fast zig put her 800 yards off our bow.Guessing her speed to be 16 knots, fired 6 torpedoes and went to hard port rudder, to bring stern tubes around.Four hit, one prematurely exploded, another missed. The carrier was smoking and slowed for a moment, then speed up, stern tubes around and fired, they prematurely exploded.Fortunately, a large explosion rocked the carrier, she slowed then after about an hour, she capsized, leaving a slew of lifeboats on the surface.The DD's closed in and dropping many charges, all set too shallow.

I then headed for home, but was sent to Midway Island for a refit, then assigned to patrol NW of the island as Japanese operations were expected(ordered there after sending a status report) . Failed to make contact with enemy fleet, but did rescue 3 downed aviators.Returned to Pearl Harbor on June 15, 1942.

Images below are:

The scope view are of US planes heading to attack the Japanese Fleet on morning of May 8, 1942 in The Battle of The Coral Sea.

The dark long scope view is that of the IJN submarine sunk off Rabaul on May 2, 1942.

The other shots are various snapshots of the Zuikakau(obviously)

pstein · 08-14-13, 02:30 AM

USS Tambor Patrol Report, patrol start 7 June 1942. Lt. Cmdr. P. Stein commanding.

Orders to deploy to East China Sea. En route, met up with large European Composite. Commenced attack at unknown time (wasn't paying it much attention). Fired tubes 1, 3, 5 at it. All missed, at least one premature. Fired tubes 2, 4, 6. One hit, rest missed. This theme continued throughout the engagement. Most of my torpedoes were premature or duds. Some missed outright. I shelled the freighter with approx. 10 rounds from my 4 in. deck gun. Made final attack with all 10 tubes. All missed, and I didn't bother to stay around any longer.

Returned to Pearl with heavy disappointment. The Mk. 14 is simply not a good torpedo. The Mk. 6 magnetic exploder is terrible. I will disable it from hereon out.

in_vino_vomitus · 08-14-13, 02:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by c13Garrison

Thanks for the appreciation. Glenn doesn't seem as entertaining as Garrison was, but he'll round into form.

I just read one of Armistead's reports from quite awhile ago and I think his tales make mine look like liner notes. My fav tho is still vino's with that one masterfully placed photo.

Thanks for making my day m8 - the cheque is in the post

I'd say similarly appreciative things about your tales, but then it would start to sound like the BAFTAs - suffice to say they don't look like liner notes, no matter whose work they're compared to.

Since I'm unable to buy you a beer, I'll raise a glass to captains Garrison and Glenn, on your behalf.........

Prost!!

Clean Sweep · 08-14-13, 10:20 AM

10 OCTOBER 1944
TO: SUBCOMPAC
FROM: TASK FORCE MIDWAY
RE: USS TANG REPORTED OVERDUE

Upon completion of patrolling "Convoy College." USS TANG reported on 3 October to be en route to Midway for refueling and rearmament. As of this day 10 October, TANG has not arrived and no radio message has been recieves either from the TANG or sent to her.

If not contact by 13 October, TANG will be declared lost.

END

Clean Sweep · 08-14-13, 09:19 PM

New career, allow me to introduce you to Lieutenant Commander J.D. Sullivan, we join him upon his appointment to command of his own fleet boat and his first mission... I hope you all enjoy this series I plan to begin writing.

Quote:

LCDR J.D. Sullivan
USS Bowfin (SS-287)
June 6, 1943

Finally earned my own boat last week, a beautiful new Balao class named the Bowfin. After earning my keep the past year aboard the Wahoo as XO, top brass felt it was finally my turn to take the helm of one of their fleet boats. I was to be sent immediately to Midway, where the Bowfin and her crew were waiting.

Arriving at Midway I briefly met with my crew. Most of whom were young and never been on a submarine before, or a boat for that matter. My NCOs are reasonably experienced. Chief of the Boat is old era Navy, right out of the Great White Fleet. Will definitely put his wise mind to great use. Anything Mr. COB says is good enough for me.

My XO, on the other hand, well let's just say his intentions are good, but I'll never figure out how he made it through the Academy. Even the 90-day reserve officers have a little more moxie. None the less, the Navy could do a lot worse.

I'm proud to have my own command finally, the promotion was well received as my wife was proud to pin my silver oak leafs upon my lapels. I just hope that I live up to this opportunity and don't let her down, myself down, but most importantly, my crew down. These kids, some just out of high school, or not even finishing it, their whole lives ahead of them still. And it's my job to make sure each and everyone of them get back to fulfill theirs. Weird being the captain of the boat, and second youngest. With Mr. COB at 52, my 36 year old baby face makes me look like one of the boys... But that's not really important.

Fast forward to today, orders came through for our first mission, I was itching to get out to sea again, but wasn't too thrilled on our task. We're taking an agent of the Office of Strategic Services to the Japanese mainland, right into Akkeshi. Moral is high and most of the crew is excited to get under way. Though I'm not all too enthusiastic having to baby sit a VIP for several days and provide anything he asks for as if he's Babe Ruth! Heh, I give it three days before the boys decide to toss him over, not that they would but you get the point.

Well, we're about to push out, lots of work to do. We'll see how this goes. Hopefully this milk run into Japan will give the men a good deal of experience and knowledge... Until the next time...

c13Garrison · 08-14-13, 10:40 PM

Looking forward to hearing about Commander Sullivan! But the Tang, bad luck, or too chancy driving?

Clean Sweep · 08-14-13, 11:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by c13Garrison

Looking forward to hearing about Commander Sullivan! But the Tang, bad luck, or too chancy driving?

See for yourself...

in_vino_vomitus · 08-15-13, 02:43 AM

All I can say, is that if you forgot to pack the duct tape it's your own damn fault........

Looking forward to hearing more from Cdr Sullivan.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Clean Sweep

See for yourself...

HertogJan · 08-15-13, 06:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Clean Sweep

See for yourself...

Hope you brought sunscreen for the crew

in_vino_vomitus · 08-15-13, 08:41 AM

Dear aunt Grethe.

A little more excitement was had on our fifth outing. This time we sailed for the waters off the Irish coast. It was a fruitful patrol. We claimed 35000 tonnes. If I'd had my way we'd have claimed more, and I received a stern rebuke from Grandfather on that account - We'd tracked a lone vessel, submerged and done all the things needed to send her to the bottom. We had her course and speed and we were perfectly positioned, about 400 meters off her track. All that was missing was the command to fire. Instead, came the command to close the tubes and stand down. I queried this, since we were no longer constrained by those ludicrous Prize Rules and we were in a Zone of Conflict. Neutral flag or no we were entitled to sink her.

"Leutnant Beck" Replied Grandfather, "Unrestricted warfare is not the same as indiscriminate warfare. I'd sooner eat an Albatross strudel than sink a neutral ship. I prefer to leave declarations of war to people higher in the chain of command. Even if it had tanks parked on the foredeck and a banner on the masthead saying Love from Liverpool, if we sink her, the world will discover that she was sailing out of Dublin, carrying holy water and crewed by nuns. Easy for you to say sink her and be damned, when it's traditionally not the first officers role to serve as scapegoat. You'll have your own U-Boat soon enough. If I ever hear of a rowboat being torpedoed in a boating lake, I'll know who did it at least....."

Of course I apologised. One does not query such an order in public, and in truth I think Grandfather is correct. There is a bigger picture to think of and submarines, in the last war, made powerful enemies for Germany, who might otherwise have never joined the fight against us. Still, if it was me, I'd have sunk her.

We fired our first, and last eels in the 'Kanal. The first target was perfect for Die Pistole, but we torpedoed her, the second was in heavy seas - too heavy to use the deck gun safely, but that's what we did. Here's why:

The first ship, we encountered as we were leaving the Strasse, just past Calais. Nobody wants to wait around there. Go through on the surface, in daylight - which we have done - and the children throw stones at you from the clifftops. So - we were through the narrowest part when Horst, who has eyes like Freya - I swear he'd still be our best lookout if we put him in the engine room - Horst reported a lone merchantman off the starboard beam. The sea was calm, the moon was rising, Grandfather decided to give her to the gun crew and save torpedoes. We'd closed to probably about 700 meters and the gunners were taking aim when Stroesser and Dietrich, our two comedians, both reported patrol craft at long range. Suddenly the plan changed. Grandfather ordered tubes one and two opened, shouted down the bearing and Bow angle, turned to Horst and said "What do you think? five knots?" "Nearer seven sir." replied Horst, so we set six and fired - it took about as much time to do as to say - then we turned tail and ran. The explosions drew the patrol, but they never saw our wake, or us, so we watched them slip over the horizon, circling and shining their searchlights, looking for our periscope. We didn't need to submerge. One thing I can guarantee you. Horst is never leaving U-43. On the plus side, he gets more fresh air than most of us.

The last eels of the patrol, and also the last shells, were fired in the 'Kanal on our way home. We had two eels left in the stern tubes. We fired at a French merchantman making about 13 knots. The first was a dud, the second detonated forward of the superstructure. It slowed her down, but Grandfather wanted to be sure so we surfaced, in heavy seas and put the Musketeers, as they have taken to calling themselves, to work.

They scored many hits, but in the end we simply ran out of ammunition. I have no idea if she made it to port or not, but my guess would be that she did. As long as she stayed afloat and moving, she was no more than three hours from Portsmouth. The Musketeers suffered though. A couple of times they had to hang on as waves swept the deck. Ordinarily we'd never have used the gun, but it was all we had and she was getting away. Grandfather suggested to the chief that Schnapps was in order. It's an open secret that he keeps a bottle for "medicinal purposes". Regulations or no, one thing I've found is that morale is water soluble, but Schnapps and hot coffee go a long way to bringing it back.

We sank a tanker from about 3 kilometers after we were spotted by an escort. He turned towards us, so we showed him our stern and increased speed, but he saw us anyway. He probably saw our wake, but if we hadn't been making it, then he'd have seen us nonetheless. He fired. We dived, and then turned through 180 degrees and headed for the convoy at flank speed. "Is this wise?" I asked - very quietly. "No, not at all." admitted Grandfather. We should break contact and reacquire them, but by then they'll be in shallow water, infested by patrol boats and the RAF swarming round us like bluebottles. I prefer to engage them here if I can. He thinks we're heading Northwest and he's making upwards of twenty knots to get to where he thinks we'll be, and all his friends are coming to help him. If past performance is anything to go by, he'll be moving too fast, and we'll be too deep, to be detected. Are you a gambling man Leutnant?"

The gamble paid off. We made a long run at flank speed, a hundred meters deep, came to periscope depth and saw a tanker crossing our bow at about three thousand meters. It was the last ship in the convoy and the escorts were once again, killing fish behind us. We set the eels to run deep and fired all four bow tubes. Wasteful I know, but I have noticed that Grandfather is not quite so thoughtful about belligerents as neutrals. Once he decides we attack then we attack, even from three kilometers. I feel he has something of the berserker about him.

In fairness, we had many eels and little fuel at that point, so it made as much sense to shoot as not, but my feeling is, that thought never entered the head of our Captain.

Out of the four eels we fired, three did nothing. Perhaps they ran too deep, perhaps they missed. Some of them were always going to miss, given the spread of the salvo - but one of them detonated, and one was all it took. We were trailing the convoy, submerged and reloading tubes, hoping it would fall far enough behind to finish with Die Pistole, when Dieter heard it heading for the bottom.

After that we chased a couple of contacts reported to be in our area, but we didn't find them. We'd burned through about two-thirds of our fuel and it looked like we'd be bringing eels back with us, when we dived for our evening hydrophone check and Dieter reported multiple contacts dead ahead. We surfaced and made for them at full speed. As we were about to submerge to check their bearing, Horst [who else] caught sight of an escort. Soon even I could see the smoke. It looked like the horizon was on fire. At first it looked like we were approaching them from the side, so Grandfather ordered a turn to port to bring us on a parallel course. It soon became obvious that the convoy was heading directly towards us. It had many, many columns. Twelve, possibly more. We submerged and turned to close with them, slipped past the escorts as easily as ever, selected our targets..... Then Grandfather uttered an oath I feel no need to repeat, and announced we'd been spotted. "Are you sure sir?" I asked. I couldn't think how they'd managed it. "Well they're sending up flares, and it's not Guy Fawkes Nacht, so I'd say that either that Destroyer captain has had some very good news, or he thinks there's a U-boat somewhere near. Still, he can't hear us or he'd be coming over to contribute to our retirement fund. Flood all tubes. prepare for firing...."

We fired all six eels. The first pair at a tanker about 40 degrees off the starboard bow, range about two thousand meters. As we were about to fire at a freighter dead ahead we were pinged. We fired and Grandfather shouted to Dieter for a bearing on the escort pinging us. We went to flank speed and fired the last two eels at a target ten degrees off the stern. Then we dived and went hard to port. It was a very busy half minute. In all the excitement nobody thought to reset the depth of the eels - because of the angle, we wanted them to pass under the tanker. Anyway. Six fired, four detonated. One target sank within minutes, another took much longer. From the bearings it would seem the tanker we coveted wasn't among them. We reloaded, came back up, and found the convoy some way behind us moving very erratically. We ought to have closed the range before firing again, but Grandfather didn't. He fired at the tanker - or a tanker at least - from extreme range. All of our eels missed. I'm not completely sure he didn't just want to finish them and go home. If he did, he wasn't the only one.

Anyway. A productive patrol, but a long one. We got back with about five percent of our fuel left. There's no doubt the British are getting better at this, but we still have the upper hand I think. If only our eels would explode more often....

Your Obedient Nephew

Phillipp

c13Garrison · 08-15-13, 09:58 AM

Willkommen! Grandfather seems to be as mercurial as some captains I know in the Pacific, and just as sardonic.

A fun tale.

in_vino_vomitus · 08-15-13, 10:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by c13Garrison

Willkommen! Grandfather seems to be as mercurial as some captains I know in the Pacific, and just as sardonic.

A fun tale.

Danke....

CalolinaCoyote · 08-16-13, 07:08 AM

OOC: I decided to do one.

Quote:

TO: LCDR TAFFY OWAIN
FROM: COMSUBPAC

YOU HAVE BEEN GIVEN COMMAND OF YOUR OWN BOAT. REPORT TO CAVITE NAVAL BASE, PHILIPPINES TO TAKE COMMAND OF USS SAILFISH (SS-192), A SARGO BOAT. REPORT TO TF6, US ASIATIC FLEET NO LATER THEN DEC. 7, 1941.

Lieutenant Commander Taffy Owain
USS Sailfish (SS-192)
December 7, 1941

The Japanese have bombed Pearl Harbor, us and other bases in the Pacific. We have been ordered to sea, under the orders of Admiral Hart, to begin unrestricted warfare against the Japanese. The bastards strike us on a Sunday, and now its time to do the Lord's work on set them straight, and deliver revenge on the enemy. We have ordered to recon the Lingayen Gulf and then Vigan for enemy ships.

Clean Sweep · 08-16-13, 07:30 AM

16 OCTOBER 1944
TO: SUBCOMPAC
FROM: TASK FORCE MIDWAY
RE: USS TANG REPORTED OVERDUE

The TANG is now six days over due. No radio contact has been recieved either to or from the vessel. Aerial recon has turned up no visual contact of any ship, wreck, or crew. The TANG is hereby declared lost, with all hands on board. and is stricken from the Naval Registrar.

08-13-13, 02:17 PM	#4487
Bubblehead1980 Navy Seal Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Florida USA Posts: 6,922 Downloads: 550 Uploads: 42	Goodnight...Zuikaku TMO RSRD USS Gudgeon-Gar Class-3rd Patrol Departed Pearl Harbor on April 9, 1942 and headed to patrol Solomon Sea/Coral Sea area to scout for possible Japanese Fleet movements towards Australia.Refueled at Noumea on April 28, 1942 then proceeded to patrol South of Rabaul. Around 0400 on May 2, 1942, in the south channel off Rabaul, between New Britain and New Ireland, lookouts spotted a submarine.Immediately went to battlestations, turned stern towards target and moved ahead.After going to GQ, ordered a dive.Using sound, set boat up to be 800 yards off projected track.Soon had a Japanese submarine's silhouette in my scope, apparently heading in for a dawn arrival after returning from patrol.Track was too close for a bow shot so turned hard and brought stern tubes around.At just 700 yards, fired 4 torpedoes.Speed error seemed to have occurred in our solution as the first two, aimed amidships seemed to be track too far astern, one soon prematurely exploded, another missed astern.However, the other two, aimed forward, hit just seconds apart, causing a large secondary explosions, the sub went down by the bow within 45 seconds. Surfaced then dived at dawn, dodging large flying boats while patroling off Rabaul.A high speed merchant was coming from the north, attempted to close before it made it into port but was too far out of position.Around 1400, a Destroyer of Kamikaze class began patroling the area, while attempting to set up a shot, he detected us, and closed, fired two torpedoes but both failed to hit, went deep and endured about an hour of inaccurate depth charging . One May 4, departed area for Coral Sea to scout for TF 17 as Japanese fleet was expected in the area.On the morning of May 8, made contact with TF 17, scouted few miles ahead when a large war of Japanese planes attacked the TF.The Lexington was hit by two torpedoes, multiple bombs and left listing, Yorktown had a deck fire, our AA gun downed one "Val" but then we were forced to dive.Spent rest of day dodging other planes.(Screenshots failed to capture for some reason, it was an impressive display) That night we made contact on a large warship that at dawn was revealed to be The "Wounded Bear" aka Shokaku, damaged by our planes, heading NW at high speed.The big carrier managed to evade us despite making contact briefly, mainly due to her picking up speed to an estimated 24.5 knots.Released from patrol, headed to patrol west of Truk, to pick up any damaged ships perhaps leaving.While on submerged patrol west of Truk on May 16, 1942, sound picked up fast, heavy screws closing.Noting would not be able to close submerged, surfaced and closed at flank speed, soon a carrier and two destroyers were in sight, making 18 knots, we closed fast and before could dive, the DD's spotted us, shell splashes hitting around us as we headed for the deep.After going to 250, silent running, then speeding up, managed to evading the DD's who ran above us making 30+knots, could not hear us making flank speed for the now constant helming carrier.We came to scope depth and the carriers fast zig put her 800 yards off our bow.Guessing her speed to be 16 knots, fired 6 torpedoes and went to hard port rudder, to bring stern tubes around.Four hit, one prematurely exploded, another missed. The carrier was smoking and slowed for a moment, then speed up, stern tubes around and fired, they prematurely exploded.Fortunately, a large explosion rocked the carrier, she slowed then after about an hour, she capsized, leaving a slew of lifeboats on the surface.The DD's closed in and dropping many charges, all set too shallow. I then headed for home, but was sent to Midway Island for a refit, then assigned to patrol NW of the island as Japanese operations were expected(ordered there after sending a status report) . Failed to make contact with enemy fleet, but did rescue 3 downed aviators.Returned to Pearl Harbor on June 15, 1942. Images below are: The scope view are of US planes heading to attack the Japanese Fleet on morning of May 8, 1942 in The Battle of The Coral Sea. The dark long scope view is that of the IJN submarine sunk off Rabaul on May 2, 1942. The other shots are various snapshots of the Zuikakau(obviously)

08-15-13, 08:41 AM	#4496
in_vino_vomitus XO Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Preston, Lancs, UK Posts: 418 Downloads: 137 Uploads: 0	Dear aunt Grethe. A little more excitement was had on our fifth outing. This time we sailed for the waters off the Irish coast. It was a fruitful patrol. We claimed 35000 tonnes. If I'd had my way we'd have claimed more, and I received a stern rebuke from Grandfather on that account - We'd tracked a lone vessel, submerged and done all the things needed to send her to the bottom. We had her course and speed and we were perfectly positioned, about 400 meters off her track. All that was missing was the command to fire. Instead, came the command to close the tubes and stand down. I queried this, since we were no longer constrained by those ludicrous Prize Rules and we were in a Zone of Conflict. Neutral flag or no we were entitled to sink her. "Leutnant Beck" Replied Grandfather, "Unrestricted warfare is not the same as indiscriminate warfare. I'd sooner eat an Albatross strudel than sink a neutral ship. I prefer to leave declarations of war to people higher in the chain of command. Even if it had tanks parked on the foredeck and a banner on the masthead saying Love from Liverpool, if we sink her, the world will discover that she was sailing out of Dublin, carrying holy water and crewed by nuns. Easy for you to say sink her and be damned, when it's traditionally not the first officers role to serve as scapegoat. You'll have your own U-Boat soon enough. If I ever hear of a rowboat being torpedoed in a boating lake, I'll know who did it at least....." Of course I apologised. One does not query such an order in public, and in truth I think Grandfather is correct. There is a bigger picture to think of and submarines, in the last war, made powerful enemies for Germany, who might otherwise have never joined the fight against us. Still, if it was me, I'd have sunk her. We fired our first, and last eels in the 'Kanal. The first target was perfect for Die Pistole, but we torpedoed her, the second was in heavy seas - too heavy to use the deck gun safely, but that's what we did. Here's why: The first ship, we encountered as we were leaving the Strasse, just past Calais. Nobody wants to wait around there. Go through on the surface, in daylight - which we have done - and the children throw stones at you from the clifftops. So - we were through the narrowest part when Horst, who has eyes like Freya - I swear he'd still be our best lookout if we put him in the engine room - Horst reported a lone merchantman off the starboard beam. The sea was calm, the moon was rising, Grandfather decided to give her to the gun crew and save torpedoes. We'd closed to probably about 700 meters and the gunners were taking aim when Stroesser and Dietrich, our two comedians, both reported patrol craft at long range. Suddenly the plan changed. Grandfather ordered tubes one and two opened, shouted down the bearing and Bow angle, turned to Horst and said "What do you think? five knots?" "Nearer seven sir." replied Horst, so we set six and fired - it took about as much time to do as to say - then we turned tail and ran. The explosions drew the patrol, but they never saw our wake, or us, so we watched them slip over the horizon, circling and shining their searchlights, looking for our periscope. We didn't need to submerge. One thing I can guarantee you. Horst is never leaving U-43. On the plus side, he gets more fresh air than most of us. The last eels of the patrol, and also the last shells, were fired in the 'Kanal on our way home. We had two eels left in the stern tubes. We fired at a French merchantman making about 13 knots. The first was a dud, the second detonated forward of the superstructure. It slowed her down, but Grandfather wanted to be sure so we surfaced, in heavy seas and put the Musketeers, as they have taken to calling themselves, to work. They scored many hits, but in the end we simply ran out of ammunition. I have no idea if she made it to port or not, but my guess would be that she did. As long as she stayed afloat and moving, she was no more than three hours from Portsmouth. The Musketeers suffered though. A couple of times they had to hang on as waves swept the deck. Ordinarily we'd never have used the gun, but it was all we had and she was getting away. Grandfather suggested to the chief that Schnapps was in order. It's an open secret that he keeps a bottle for "medicinal purposes". Regulations or no, one thing I've found is that morale is water soluble, but Schnapps and hot coffee go a long way to bringing it back. We sank a tanker from about 3 kilometers after we were spotted by an escort. He turned towards us, so we showed him our stern and increased speed, but he saw us anyway. He probably saw our wake, but if we hadn't been making it, then he'd have seen us nonetheless. He fired. We dived, and then turned through 180 degrees and headed for the convoy at flank speed. "Is this wise?" I asked - very quietly. "No, not at all." admitted Grandfather. We should break contact and reacquire them, but by then they'll be in shallow water, infested by patrol boats and the RAF swarming round us like bluebottles. I prefer to engage them here if I can. He thinks we're heading Northwest and he's making upwards of twenty knots to get to where he thinks we'll be, and all his friends are coming to help him. If past performance is anything to go by, he'll be moving too fast, and we'll be too deep, to be detected. Are you a gambling man Leutnant?" The gamble paid off. We made a long run at flank speed, a hundred meters deep, came to periscope depth and saw a tanker crossing our bow at about three thousand meters. It was the last ship in the convoy and the escorts were once again, killing fish behind us. We set the eels to run deep and fired all four bow tubes. Wasteful I know, but I have noticed that Grandfather is not quite so thoughtful about belligerents as neutrals. Once he decides we attack then we attack, even from three kilometers. I feel he has something of the berserker about him. In fairness, we had many eels and little fuel at that point, so it made as much sense to shoot as not, but my feeling is, that thought never entered the head of our Captain. Out of the four eels we fired, three did nothing. Perhaps they ran too deep, perhaps they missed. Some of them were always going to miss, given the spread of the salvo - but one of them detonated, and one was all it took. We were trailing the convoy, submerged and reloading tubes, hoping it would fall far enough behind to finish with Die Pistole, when Dieter heard it heading for the bottom. After that we chased a couple of contacts reported to be in our area, but we didn't find them. We'd burned through about two-thirds of our fuel and it looked like we'd be bringing eels back with us, when we dived for our evening hydrophone check and Dieter reported multiple contacts dead ahead. We surfaced and made for them at full speed. As we were about to submerge to check their bearing, Horst [who else] caught sight of an escort. Soon even I could see the smoke. It looked like the horizon was on fire. At first it looked like we were approaching them from the side, so Grandfather ordered a turn to port to bring us on a parallel course. It soon became obvious that the convoy was heading directly towards us. It had many, many columns. Twelve, possibly more. We submerged and turned to close with them, slipped past the escorts as easily as ever, selected our targets..... Then Grandfather uttered an oath I feel no need to repeat, and announced we'd been spotted. "Are you sure sir?" I asked. I couldn't think how they'd managed it. "Well they're sending up flares, and it's not Guy Fawkes Nacht, so I'd say that either that Destroyer captain has had some very good news, or he thinks there's a U-boat somewhere near. Still, he can't hear us or he'd be coming over to contribute to our retirement fund. Flood all tubes. prepare for firing...." We fired all six eels. The first pair at a tanker about 40 degrees off the starboard bow, range about two thousand meters. As we were about to fire at a freighter dead ahead we were pinged. We fired and Grandfather shouted to Dieter for a bearing on the escort pinging us. We went to flank speed and fired the last two eels at a target ten degrees off the stern. Then we dived and went hard to port. It was a very busy half minute. In all the excitement nobody thought to reset the depth of the eels - because of the angle, we wanted them to pass under the tanker. Anyway. Six fired, four detonated. One target sank within minutes, another took much longer. From the bearings it would seem the tanker we coveted wasn't among them. We reloaded, came back up, and found the convoy some way behind us moving very erratically. We ought to have closed the range before firing again, but Grandfather didn't. He fired at the tanker - or a tanker at least - from extreme range. All of our eels missed. I'm not completely sure he didn't just want to finish them and go home. If he did, he wasn't the only one. Anyway. A productive patrol, but a long one. We got back with about five percent of our fuel left. There's no doubt the British are getting better at this, but we still have the upper hand I think. If only our eels would explode more often.... Your Obedient Nephew Phillipp __________________ Forget death - I'll take dishonour! [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC] TMO 2.5 1.5 Optical Targeting Correction 031312 for TMO 2.5 1.5 OTC Realistic Scopes for TMO TheDarkWraith_DC_Water_Disturbance_v2_0_SH4 Improved Stock environment v3_TMO&RFB TMO_Alt_engine-sounds TMO_Alternate_JS_Radar_performance TMO17_19_different_smoke Last edited by in_vino_vomitus; 08-15-13 at 03:43 PM.

08-13-13, 01:28 PM	#4486
c13Garrison Ensign Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: Chicago-ish, USA Posts: 223 Downloads: 14 Uploads: 0	Thanks for the appreciation. Glenn doesn't seem as entertaining as Garrison was, but he'll round into form. I just read one of Armistead's reports from quite awhile ago and I think his tales make mine look like liner notes. My fav tho is still vino's with that one masterfully placed photo.

08-14-13, 02:30 AM	#4488
pstein Swabbie Join Date: Aug 2013 Posts: 14 Downloads: 7 Uploads: 0	USS Tambor Patrol Report, patrol start 7 June 1942. Lt. Cmdr. P. Stein commanding. Orders to deploy to East China Sea. En route, met up with large European Composite. Commenced attack at unknown time (wasn't paying it much attention). Fired tubes 1, 3, 5 at it. All missed, at least one premature. Fired tubes 2, 4, 6. One hit, rest missed. This theme continued throughout the engagement. Most of my torpedoes were premature or duds. Some missed outright. I shelled the freighter with approx. 10 rounds from my 4 in. deck gun. Made final attack with all 10 tubes. All missed, and I didn't bother to stay around any longer. Returned to Pearl with heavy disappointment. The Mk. 14 is simply not a good torpedo. The Mk. 6 magnetic exploder is terrible. I will disable it from hereon out.

08-14-13, 10:20 AM	#4490
Clean Sweep Seaman Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: Louisiana Posts: 35 Downloads: 51 Uploads: 0	10 OCTOBER 1944 TO: SUBCOMPAC FROM: TASK FORCE MIDWAY RE: USS TANG REPORTED OVERDUE Upon completion of patrolling "Convoy College." USS TANG reported on 3 October to be en route to Midway for refueling and rearmament. As of this day 10 October, TANG has not arrived and no radio message has been recieves either from the TANG or sent to her. If not contact by 13 October, TANG will be declared lost. END

08-14-13, 10:40 PM	#4492
c13Garrison Ensign Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: Chicago-ish, USA Posts: 223 Downloads: 14 Uploads: 0	Looking forward to hearing about Commander Sullivan! But the Tang, bad luck, or too chancy driving?

08-15-13, 09:58 AM	#4497
c13Garrison Ensign Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: Chicago-ish, USA Posts: 223 Downloads: 14 Uploads: 0	Willkommen! Grandfather seems to be as mercurial as some captains I know in the Pacific, and just as sardonic. A fun tale.

08-16-13, 07:30 AM	#4500
Clean Sweep Seaman Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: Louisiana Posts: 35 Downloads: 51 Uploads: 0	16 OCTOBER 1944 TO: SUBCOMPAC FROM: TASK FORCE MIDWAY RE: USS TANG REPORTED OVERDUE The TANG is now six days over due. No radio contact has been recieved either to or from the vessel. Aerial recon has turned up no visual contact of any ship, wreck, or crew. The TANG is hereby declared lost, with all hands on board. and is stricken from the Naval Registrar.