BACK TO ARKHANGELSK
*This part of the log is a semi-historical diversion after the patrol, which I took to make repairs on the White Sea industrial port of Arkhangelsk to penalize myself for the damage I took, which I think the game let me off too lightly on. Northern Fleet submarines did not typically go to Arkhangelsk for repairs, as the facilities in the main base at Kola bay were more than enough for that work. Still, this was a good excuse to do a bit of sightseeing and storytelling!
Q: What was the mood back at base like?
Much the same as when we’d left. The situation in the war was still very dire, but we were holding up well and so far the Germans were not able to make much progress towards Kola bay. The fighting at the front was very heavy, and many sailors and dock workers from the Northern Fleet had volunteered to fight at the front. The exploits of the heroic seamen of the Northern Fleet fighting on land were all the talk then, along with the Germans’ rapid invasion in the south. As for us, we had lots to do when we returned, and little time to rest.
Division commander Gadzhiev was away again, on patrol with Senior Lieutenant Utkin’s K-2, where they soon became the first submarine to lay mines in the Arctic theater, and then sank a German transport with artillery fire. Just days earlier, the British brought their first convoy to Arkhangelsk safely under escort, and a few of their escorts anchored here in Kola bay - where they were promptly attacked by the Luftwaffe, though not successfully. With the convoy came a squadron of British fighter pilots, and a number of Hurricane fighters for us to assemble at Arkhangelsk - a very timely relief. Northern Fleet headquarters were busy arranging a regular convoy schedule then, which was about to start.
(K-2 attacking a merchant off Norway)
Inspection of our boat showed that we certainly didn’t get away unscathed - and that we were lucky that we never needed to dive to more than 40 meters, as we sustained a fair bit of damage to the hull. Two things quickly became obvious: first, that we needed some significant structural maintenance; and second, that we wouldn’t be able to get it in Polyarnyi. We were truthfully a bit of a nuisance at our base the edge of a combat zone, threatened by airstrikes and short of manpower. When they realized that it would be quite some time until we were ready for patrol again, several of the D-2’s crew promptly volunteered into combat brigades to fight on land.
So, on the morning of September 13th, with our torpedo tubes empty and slightly short of our compliment, we set off to sea once again, but after exiting Kola bay this time we turned east instead of west, heading to my hometown of Arkhangelsk for repairs. The weather was quite good through our trip, and by noon on the 17th of September, 1941, we were in sight of the Mudyugskiy lighthouse at the mouth of the Northern Dvina river, docking at Arkhangelsk that evening. We had no contacts with any enemy, although reportedly a German long-range reconnaissance plane overflew Arkhangelsk the day we arrived.
To be continued...