Tell us what you are upto in your current campaign

[Jaman]

U-5 (Type IID) back in port (Kiel) at 29 December, 1939. We sailed at 24 (damn the BdU!) and the crew were in bad mood because of it, but i promised we would be back in time to celebrate the new year, and we did after taking care of a French medium cargo (3 torpedos for 5000t) and a British large merchant (2 torpedoes for 10000t).

For this action i was awarded with an Iron Cross, Second Class.

Now lets celebrate by getting rotten drunk!!

[Leandros]

U-99 - starting a new career Sep. 1st 1939 - leaving Wilhelmshafen 1000 heading for AM19 - Rockalls Bank. The plan is to proceed between Scotland and Scapa before hostilities break out. Maybe slow down a little when passing South of Scapa.....

Leaving Wilhelmshafen.....

[Paul Riley]

I should'nt imagine a raid being too difficult,Vikings were particularly good at that (Norway)

Good luck with that then

[Leandros]

Originally Posted by Paul Riley

I should'nt imagine a raid being too difficult,Vikings were particularly good at that (Norway)

Good luck with that then

Thank you! We shall see how it works out. Met the first victim early morning Sep 3rd. Large Merchant. He wouldn't stop.



To be on the safe side I filed the order received earlier in the morning:



Continuing towards Scapa - just observed an A&B on the horizon. Diving to let it pass. Time is 2001 Sep 3rd.

[Paul Riley]

Continued from my last report (last 4hrs real time).Just one thing,hope none of you mind these little (seemingly insignificant) reports,just gives me something to do before I go for a tea break

13:10
Surfaced from last emergency dive (+1hr submerged) Decided to recharge batteries at night,allowing us to run at a higher speed during the day,also enemy planes have rarely been seen at night,bringing us to the conclusion that enemy radar is not yet powerful enough to be a major problem.
17:00
Sundown,sun just dipping on the horizon,putting us in a cautious state,due to aircraft sometimes appearing a lot nearer in these light conditions,as has happened once or twice before.
17:09
Aircraft spotted on our 190 (+5hrs since last aircraft attack,strange).Immediately crash dived to 50m.Absence of any follow up attack means he either failed to spot us or it must have been a Luftwaffe reconnaissance plane?.
Distance travelled surfaced - 71km
Will try our chances on the surface tonight.
18:13
Surfaced,recharging.
18:30
Dark now,very clear night,wind 5.
Lets hope we make it tonight,hope to make as much ground as possible on the surface.
End of report.
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Regarding these last events,the aircraft spotted earlier failed to attack us,and as we are heading bang west about 250km from France it was spotted on my 190,meaning it had to be over the French mainland somewhere.Am I right in suspecting this was a Luftwaffe plane?,as it would be my first close encounter with the LW,having never seen them before.

[Redbear]

Hey Jaman, glad to see U-5 is back. Since we're both at Kiel for a while, let's go to the Flotilla's local watering hole, have a few drinks, and tell some lies!

Redbear
U-52

[Paul Riley]

Well Mr.RoaldLarsen,
Its almost 2nd Nov 1942,and I have'nt been sunk yet,in fact I have'nt seen a plane for almost 2 days now

[Murr44]

U 74 - VIIb, Hubert Gromer Oblt z S.

October 1941: Mittelmeer. 1st patrol was a bust. Sank a medium cargo & a Granville for just under 9000 tons. The rest of the time it p*ssed rain. Tried to intercept a coastal freighter near Malta & nearly got rammed by a Hunt Class I. I think that Keppler (my IWO) soiled himself then. Luckily it was so terrible out that she lost us after 1 & 1/2 hours and poor Keppler could finally change his "unmentionables". It wouldn't stop raining so we packed it in & went home.

November '41: 2nd patrol. "Disassembled" (with the deck gun) a Greek small merchant about 4 hours out of Salamis. Sank another Greek vessel; this time an armed small freighter, with 1 torpedo the next day. Said "Hi how's it going" to a Hudson patrolling just south of Crete. Got depth charged & lost 8% hull integrity with minor damage to flak gun & deck plating. Finally something good: intercepted a large merchant (8900 tons) escorted by 2 C&D class destroyers. Sank the large merchant with one eel. The second fish missed but at least we left the destroyer captains having to tell their superiors that they were really sorry but they lost the large merchant that they were supposed to be protecting.

At present we're still on our way to our assigned grid of CN61.

Gromer out...

[Paul Riley]

New career
4th U-Boat
Captain Helmut Bredekamp
7th Flotilla
U-405 , VIIC
...................................

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

[Leg]

On my way to DT26 found a convoy and attacked it 3 times, I sunk 3 large merchants, 2 small merchants and a Black Swan class a little too close to me.

Three torpedos left, continuing to my patrol area.

[Jaman]

Just back from my 7th patrol in a brand new Type VIIB and i was lucky enough to run into a convoy, at night, in rough seas with no destroyers and a Revenge Class battleship in the middle of it.

Those were some nasty fireworks!.

[Leandros]

U-99 - Lt Schulz - Sep13th '39 15:49 - 1st mission.

Position: NW Hebrides - returning to base North of the Shetlands after having patrolled AM19. Mostly small fry encountered except for the early LM. Total 27.000 tons - 7 merchants, one V&W. Shall be good to get back to Wilhelmshafen and run the crew through some specialist training.

[Paul Riley]

Originally Posted by Paul Riley

New career
4th U-Boat
Captain Helmut Bredekamp
7th Flotilla
U-405 , VIIC
...................................

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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[Leandros]

Sept. 19th '39 10:20 - back in port......

[Paul Riley]

Good success mate?