[Gustav Schiebert]

I stalked a convoy recently, and while getting data on the tankers in front of me I was keeping an eye on a destoyer circling behind me, about 3000 meters away. I planned to send two eels at two tankers, then before crash diving sending one from the stern tube at the destroyer. Part one went well, but no sooner had I turned the perisope round the destroyer had somehow closed the distance and smashed my conning tower to bits before I could dive.

The depth charges sent the boat into an uncontrolable dive, and despite desperately blowing almost every cubic centimeter of ballast I couldn't stop the dive. I eventually managed to stop it at 200m - but then the boat got into an uncontrollable rise. Using the hydroplanes and 'dynamic descent' I managed to just avoid breaking the surface about 500m from a destroyer, stopping the rise at about 10m.

Then, in what was starting to get a bit tiresome, the dive began again. With barely any compressed air left I struggled to slow the desent - eventually coming to a rest at 309m. I have the hull integrity thing switched off, but I managed to get the boat up to 200m and came to a stop. I spent 4 hours floating there, repairing, before finally managing to surface against all the odds.

(But then, on my way back I was spotted by a Catalina and dived to periscope depth - only to be told my boat was destroyed by pressure! A can of coke would have survived that depth).