Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul Riley
New career
4th U-Boat
Captain Helmut Bredekamp
7th Flotilla
U-405 , VIIC
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5th Nov 1942 (Guy Fawkes day)
Assigned to patrol AE87,putting us up near Iceland.Clear to us that Icelandic and Russian shipping our top priority,with a focus on the latter if possible.Following our latest disaster with U-94 I and my 'fresh' crew swear an oath to avenge our comrades,and will sail out with nothing short of bitterness in our hearts.Having learned as much as possible from all the current logs and diaries so far,we wont make the same mistake.
Air cover is expected to be high,and as the allies now have access to carriers this will be a dangerous mission,but with the promise of high tonnage.
We set sail at 09:38
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Latest entries
left S.Naz at 09:38 as planned.Proceeding at high speed until we are over at least 50m of water.
ETA at patrol grid - 10th-11th Nov
11:57
First air attack,2 Hurricanes,manned guns,guns having little if no effect on planes.Dived,no damage.
surface time (ST) - 13:00
planes becoming ever more persistent now.
13:32
2nd AA,single Hurricane,got well under in time,no damage.
14:30
surfaced to recharge (STR)
estimated time of next incoming AA - 15:30+
15:01
batteries fully charged
15:07
3rd AA,2 bombers,performed dangerously slow dive compared to previous,bomb caught us slightly into our dive,minor flak damage.If we can keep damage to a bare minimum we will cope.
92km from port
AAs increasing significantly,I suspect their radar has improved recently.
16:05
4th AA,multiple bombers,good dive,no damage.
ST - 17:00
will risk a surface run at night,recharging also to be carried out at night.We have evaded aircraft recently at night,and will still use its apparent protection...for now.
18:15
surfaced,RCing
19:51
recharged (RCd)
almost 2 hrs to recharge from minimal use,we only have early model batteries due to lack of renown (limited renown was spent on biscay cross and bold launcher).
Nov 6th
Day 1
uneventful night,no contacts,AAs whatsoever.While on the surface at night we will man the guns,as we will have no time to crash dive if caught at close range in the darkness,then make our dive.
emergency dives to be carried out at all times in daylight.
06:00
performed mandatory dawn dive,diving just as it is coming light,have been caught in such light conditions before,and will only surface when the sun is high in the sky.
distance travelled surfaced - 242km
08:30
sunrise,sun high in the sky,weather clear,wind 2
distance submerged - 20.2km
repeat previous drills
09:00
entering deep water,800m+
11:16
5th AA,excellent dive,no damage
distance surfaced - 59.5km
ST - 13:00
13:00
surfaced
distance smd - 13.1km
13:17
6th AA,Hurricane almost on us astern screaming out of the sun,no time to man the guns,bomb landed close to foredeck during dive,minor damage only
distance sfd - 6.6km
ST - 15:00
performing deep dive test,set for 200m
end of report
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