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CCIP · 04-03-15, 04:32 PM

Q: What did you do after the attack?

Called “otboi” [stand down from battle stations] and headed out to sea, staying submerged. We surfaced a couple of hours later, and then just after noon saw a waterplane patrolling low over water in the mist and dived down. He didn’t see us. I tried to come up again two hours later, but after 10 minutes of scanning with the periscope, again spotted that same plane flying around. He did eventually get a shot at us later that afternoon, though, when he caught us on the surface and dived out of the cloud, but his bombs missed.

Then I decided to visit another fjord, Lakse-fjord. We learned that another submarine of ours, Sch-402, snuck into Porsanger-fjord by then - it reported a convoy, and a few days later it sank a big German transport at anchor at the anchorage of Honningsvag there. I think I mentioned this, but I was the starpom [first officer] on that boat for a few months before the war, so I was very happy for their success. So more hunting in the fjords was very much my plan. But another storm held us up for most of the next two days.

We finally got into Lakse-fjord by morning on the 11th. Instead of wasting our batteries creeping around the fjord on electric motors, I found a good shallow area inside the fjord some distance from shore, and we put the sub on the bottom. We just sat there and listened for a few hours, which gave us a good chance to relax after the storm.

Q: How well could you hear underwater?

Well, with the hydroacoustic apparatus we had, we could hear any traffic moving in and out of the fjord very well. Unfortunately, I made a bit of a mistake - when we bottomed out the boat, I had its bow pointed at the relatively empty shore and the stern - out towards the open fjord. Now, our hydroacoustic apparatus is at the front of the boat, and it can’t pick up anything about 30 degrees either side of the stern. So when we came up to periscope depth to look around at noon that day, I was startled to see this armed patrol boat 6km off our stern - we thought we knew everything about traffic there!

It looked like just a small patrol craft bobbing in the waves, and we decided not to do anything, so I just repositioned the boat and got back on the bottom of Lakse-fjord. Later in the afternoon, after making sure there were no ships around, I repositioned the boat to the other side of the fjord, and again laid down on the bottom, listening for a few hours. When the sun got low in the sky and some mist appeared on the surface, I took the boat up and we sailed further into the fjord, towards the little town of Lebesby.

Around midnight, we saw a fishing boat near Lebesby, but avoided contact with it. Then that patrol ship showed up again, but it headed off towards the port and we decided not to follow. In the morning, we bumped into what looked like a small minesweeper working in the shallows off Lebesby. That got my attention, because it made me suspect that the Germans could have laid minefields here. Soon, another Vorpostenboot showed up from the north. Seeing how heavy the patrols in the fjord are and estimating the risks from mines, I decided not to chance it and take the boat out of the fjord. But before that, I thought we’d take a shot at that Vorpostenboot…

To be continued...

04-03-15, 04:32 PM	#18
CCIP Navy Seal Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Waterloo, Canada Posts: 8,700 Downloads: 29 Uploads: 2	Q: What did you do after the attack? Called “otboi” [stand down from battle stations] and headed out to sea, staying submerged. We surfaced a couple of hours later, and then just after noon saw a waterplane patrolling low over water in the mist and dived down. He didn’t see us. I tried to come up again two hours later, but after 10 minutes of scanning with the periscope, again spotted that same plane flying around. He did eventually get a shot at us later that afternoon, though, when he caught us on the surface and dived out of the cloud, but his bombs missed. Then I decided to visit another fjord, Lakse-fjord. We learned that another submarine of ours, Sch-402, snuck into Porsanger-fjord by then - it reported a convoy, and a few days later it sank a big German transport at anchor at the anchorage of Honningsvag there. I think I mentioned this, but I was the starpom [first officer] on that boat for a few months before the war, so I was very happy for their success. So more hunting in the fjords was very much my plan. But another storm held us up for most of the next two days. We finally got into Lakse-fjord by morning on the 11th. Instead of wasting our batteries creeping around the fjord on electric motors, I found a good shallow area inside the fjord some distance from shore, and we put the sub on the bottom. We just sat there and listened for a few hours, which gave us a good chance to relax after the storm. Q: How well could you hear underwater? Well, with the hydroacoustic apparatus we had, we could hear any traffic moving in and out of the fjord very well. Unfortunately, I made a bit of a mistake - when we bottomed out the boat, I had its bow pointed at the relatively empty shore and the stern - out towards the open fjord. Now, our hydroacoustic apparatus is at the front of the boat, and it can’t pick up anything about 30 degrees either side of the stern. So when we came up to periscope depth to look around at noon that day, I was startled to see this armed patrol boat 6km off our stern - we thought we knew everything about traffic there! It looked like just a small patrol craft bobbing in the waves, and we decided not to do anything, so I just repositioned the boat and got back on the bottom of Lakse-fjord. Later in the afternoon, after making sure there were no ships around, I repositioned the boat to the other side of the fjord, and again laid down on the bottom, listening for a few hours. When the sun got low in the sky and some mist appeared on the surface, I took the boat up and we sailed further into the fjord, towards the little town of Lebesby. Around midnight, we saw a fishing boat near Lebesby, but avoided contact with it. Then that patrol ship showed up again, but it headed off towards the port and we decided not to follow. In the morning, we bumped into what looked like a small minesweeper working in the shallows off Lebesby. That got my attention, because it made me suspect that the Germans could have laid minefields here. Soon, another Vorpostenboot showed up from the north. Seeing how heavy the patrols in the fjord are and estimating the risks from mines, I decided not to chance it and take the boat out of the fjord. But before that, I thought we’d take a shot at that Vorpostenboot… To be continued... __________________ There are only forty people in the world and five of them are hamburgers. -Don Van Vliet (aka Captain Beefheart) Last edited by CCIP; 04-03-15 at 04:38 PM.