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Old 04-18-15, 06:19 PM   #46
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Q: Were you able to sail on your next mission then?

Not yet, unfortunately. By the time we got back, the German advance had been more or less stemmed, but there was still immense pressure on our resources - and the D-2 still needed repairs and maintenance, and short a few crew members. Some of those that volunteered to fight on land did not return, including seamen Smolevich and Boskov, both very reliable guys who stood on deck watch with Kislayev, our chief lookout; as well as our chief torpedo mechainic Pastukhov. I also conceded to the politruk’s repeated suggestions to remove the senior machinist Maidanov, who’d shown cowardice and panic when we were bombed on our two previous patrols. But qualified replacements took a bit to find.



The necessary maintenance also dragged out - both the K-1 and K-2 cruiser subs returned from their first patrol, and division commander Gadzhiev prioritized getting these big boats ready for their next patrol, along with their just-arrived sisters K-3, K-21, K-22, and K-23. We weren’t the only ones having trouble of course - the Northern Fleet’s resources were stretched, and I’d reckon that half of our boats were at base and in need of maintenance.



So, we just had to be patient and make do. Soon our ticket came up.

Q: What were your orders?

Nothing out of the ordinary. By this point the Norwegian coast was divided up into fairly standard patrol sectors, some of which have been redrawn since our last sailing. Position No.2, the large section of coastal waters which we patrolled last time, had by now been split up into equally-sized 2 and 2A, 2A being the northeastern half, from the mid-point of the island of Soroya that we circled last time, up to Nordkapp. The advantage now would be that with polar winter coming, the light conditions would favour us and prevent enemy air patrols from attacking, meaning we could fight close inshore - provided we didn’t run into any mines.



Part of the reason for the breaking up of the sectors was that our submarine “family” had got bigger with the new cruiser subs. Their entry into service wasn’t completely smooth - for instance the K-22 went on patrol in October, but had nearly sunk because of mechanical problems. So, division commander Gadzhiev was busy working on operating procedures for these boats. He emphasized their minelaying and artillery capabilities, and so far as our intelligence could tell, the minefields were proving very effective, claiming several German ships already.



It was these mining operations that were also stressed in our briefing - our boat was not outfitted for carrying mines, but since we often hunted close inshore, we had to know the positions of all these newly-laid minefields and avoid them on our hunts. While this put certain areas off-limits for us, it was no big loss to us as the Norwegian fjords are quite vast. And we’d have good conditions for hunting in the dark near the coast.



Our politruk also got some orders and instructions of his own, among them - a propaganda manual detailing the successes of the various commissars in the fleet, and a summary of the fleet’s achievements. He’d proudly emphasized how we added to the tally - the Northern Fleet’s tonnage total was some 170,000 tons, of which we’d contributed some 25,000. Some 50 ships and 2 submarines were reported sunk by all of our fleet’s vessels, and 192 airplanes were reportedly downed, mostly by naval aircraft. At that point, we had not yet lost any submarines of our own. So far, so good, as they say.

To be continued...
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Old 04-18-15, 06:36 PM   #47
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crew on the Sch-403 clearing ice off their boat at Polyarnyi

Q: When did you sail?

We set off on November 27th, a few hours behind the Sch-403 which was heading to Patrol Area No.5 with captain Smirnov, a fleet staff officer who was on board to coordinate operations at sea. On our way out, we passed the British cruiser HMS Kenya, who arrived with a destroyer a couple of days earlier, to refuel after successfully escorting the convoy PQ-3. It was cold, dark, and icy, but we had no trouble getting out of port.



Q: Was it really always dark and cold during winters?

Well, it was certainly not pitch black, but even at the end of November we no longer saw the sun. There were a few hours of relatively bright twilight each day, and whether from the horizon, moon, stars or aurora, there was almost always some ambient light. The visibility varied though, and the drifting mist was always a problem.



But as I said, it was a bigger problem for the enemy, who was robbed of effective air reconnaissance - so despite the bitter cold of that winter of ‘41-42, it was the time of highest activity for us. So much so that the British had planned to send all of the promised lend-lease supplies to us by spring, so that their convoys wouldn’t have to contend with German air power. They had the ships to protect against any surface attack.



Q: But wasn’t it difficult for you to find contacts as well?

To a point - but as we saw right away, with a bit of work and cooperation, we’d always have something to sink!



The very next evening, we were a bit northwest of Varde, and we got a contact report of a convoy not far from Petsamo, which we’d already passed. Kovalenko’s Sch-403, with staff officer Smirnov on board, had sighted them but then lost them in the mist.



We promptly turned around and went south to check. On the way over, we passed Varde and saw one of the patrol ships there that attacked us at the end of our last patrol. In the morning of the 29th of November we got into Varanger-fjord, and when it got brighter we submerged.







To be continued...
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Old 04-19-15, 09:22 AM   #48
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Q: Did you find that convoy?

I’m not sure if that was it, but we did find something. At around noon - which meant in cold, misty twilight - we picked up a hydroacoustic contact somewhere to the southwest of Kiberg. They were moving into the fjord, and I quickly realized that we wouldn’t be able to catch them before they sailed off to Kirekenes nearby - so I thought we could at least report them.





We surfaced very carefully and observed a small patrol ship - likely the trailing escort, sailing away from us. We sent a radio signal, and soon after, the ship suddenly turned in our direction. Careful not to get caught, we immediately turned away and opened distance on the surface. Soon, he disappeared from view and we headed back out of the fjord.



Less than 3 hours later, however, we ran into a transport moving into Varanger-fjord in the vicinity of Kiberg. We also spotted what looked like a small guard cutter sailing as escort ahead of him.



It was already very dark by then, and we began our approach on the surface. However, with drifting mists, after we got to about 3.5km of him in favourable position, I decided to not take the risk of being detected, and submerged the D-2. 15 minutes later, the ships were approaching and we were busy setting up our standard 17-13-9 comb shot. At last, I raised the scope for our final observation, preparing to call out “pli!” [“fire!”] to the torpedo room.



...when suddenly, I heard strange noises all around the conning tower. I turned the scope to the left, and saw the little escort cutter firing a machinegun right at my periscope!





Well, that was certainly irritating. However, we were so close to firing that, after momentarily lowering the scope, I raised it back up and, through a hail of machinegun bullets, fired our salvo of three torpedoes. We were so close to the transport that, although he did seem to maneuver, he had no chance.



Just over half a minute later, all three torpedoes hit the ship and it exploded in a series of loud explosions, again suggesting that it was likely carrying ammunition for German troops on the shore. His escort dropped two depth charges off our stern, but to no effect.







The escort then went silent, and 10 minutes later we went up to periscope depth to check, and observed him still in water among the wreckage left by the exploded transport, shining two spotlights all over the water near him. It’s likely that at that point, he simply gave up on attacking us and was trying to find survivors of the wreck in the icy waters of Varanger-fjord.



To be continued...
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Old 04-19-15, 09:41 AM   #49
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To be continued...
I hope so. This is great CCIP. First thing I look for when logging in.
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Old 04-20-15, 07:34 PM   #50
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I hope so. This is great CCIP. First thing I look for when logging in.
Thank you very much, I'm happy you're enjoying it!

It certainly is continuing - the log is consistently about a patrol behind my actual career, so I still have lots of good material to work with
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Old 04-20-15, 07:54 PM   #51
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Q: So you never caught up with that convoy?

No, they’d gone into Kirkenes by then and there was no point chasing them into a well-protected port. But we did find another convoy later.



Before that, we ran into a fishing boat out in the open water, in vicinity of cape Omgang, in the early morning hours of the 30th of November. It was a dark, misty, icy night; I ordered slow speed and followed it stealthily until we were able to sight its flag and identify it as a Norwegian trawler.



We fired a shot across their bow from reasonable distance and they seemed to understand their situation right away. They signaled us with their light, lowered their lifeboat and, soon after, I ordered fire to be opened on the trawler from our “sotka” [100mm cannon].





With 4 shots, we cut down the trawler’s mast and set it on fire. It sank shortly thereafter and we did not approach the lifeboat. They were close enough to shore to take care of themselves.







We continued west along the shore; on Fleet frequency, we were advised of convoy activity. PQ-6 had just left Iceland, and a westbound convoy in the opposite direction was passing to our north. We scanned for hostile warships that could threaten it, but all we’d bumped into was a Vorpostenboot on the evening of the 30th. We watched him leave towards the coast, and then resumed our course to the west. And that’s when we found them…



To be continued...
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Old 04-20-15, 08:00 PM   #52
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These continue to be a great read CCIP
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Old 04-20-15, 09:51 PM   #53
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These continue to be a great read CCIP
My pleasure as always
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Old 04-20-15, 09:52 PM   #54
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Q: Your biggest battle yet?

I would say so.

As midnight struck on the 1st of December, 1941, we were racing to the front of an eastbound convoy that we'd just found, who seemed to be drawing closer to the Norwegian coast for the night. We were about 25km northwest of cape Omgang. The weather was much the same - icy mist, temperatures down in to -20s. All crew were standing by at battle stations.



From the deck, I was observing 3 transports and at least two small escort ships. The leading merchant was not a large ship, but the two convoyed ships behind it seemed a bit bigger, so I decided to focus on them and set aside 3 torpedoes for each. With the moon in the sky and visibility relatively unobstructed, I decided that a submerged attack would be wisest, especially since the convoy’s escorts were small and kept disappearing from view.



Half an hour after midnight, we were in position. I raised the scope and observed the first of the transports in the convoy passing by. I then looked carefully at the 2nd transport, and after consulting the recognition manual determined her to be a European transport with a relatively shallow draft of 4.7m. I adjusted torpedo depth to about 3m and, at 00:40, fired two torpedoes at it from somewhere about 700-800 meters range...





To be continued...
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Old 04-21-15, 10:24 AM   #55
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Top notch! This mod looks amazing as well. Hope it gets translated to English eventually!
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Old 04-21-15, 12:17 PM   #56
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Top notch! This mod looks amazing as well. Hope it gets translated to English eventually!
Cheers!

I will see if, after I'm done with the AAR, I can find some time to at least translate the menus and text in the mod.
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Old 04-21-15, 12:23 PM   #57
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Q: You were confident that just two torpedoes was enough for a hit?

Yes, although my expectations did not pay off! Despite the depth adjustment, both torpedoes somehow ran underneath the merchant without exploding. I cursed, and waited patiently for the next ship behind him to get into position.



At 00:44, I commanded “pli!” [“fire!”] - and this time things went better. The first torpedo explosion wrecked the ship’s forward section entirely, and it quickly buried its bow in the water, going down in minutes with its screws sticking up.







Two small torpedo boats, which I had not seen before, immediately lit up searchlights behind the convoy. I was not yet done, however. As the convoy raised alarm and the surviving two transports maneuvered frantically, I saw an opportunity. Quickly commanding high speed on the motors, I ordered a hard turn to starboard, both to turn away from the wreckage of the sinking ship in front of us, and to bring our stern tubes to bear on the ship our torpedoes previously missed.



My stern torpedoes were set to run at fast speed - and I mostly reserved them just for the purpose of hitting targets of opportunity or ships chasing us. I found it generally more difficult to aim planned shots with the stern and, regardless, the tubes could not be reloaded at sea. I figured the odds of this one were low, but, relying on the Russian “avos’” [stereotypical Russian attitude of “ah heck, I have no idea what I’m doing, but maybe I’ll get lucky and this will work!”], I ordered tube 7 launched at 00:46.



Naturally, it worked; the panicking ship turned straight into our torpedo, exploding in a powerful series of secondaries. It must have also been carrying ammunition. Now our job was done and I ordered a depth of 60m and course away from the convoy. Above us, as many as 5 escorts continued making noise - far more than we first detected, so it was probably for the best that I attacked submerged!







When we came up to periscope depth to check at about 2:00, they were still circling somewhere astern. I figured we were far enough, and ordered reloading of torpedoes. By the time we were done reloading at 3:20, there was still some sort of small vessel nearby - either the lurking escorts, or just a fishing boat. I decided that it was enough for us, though, surfaced, and high-tailed it out of the area. At 5:00 in the morning, I finally called “otboi” [“secure from battle stations”].







To be continued...
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Old 04-21-15, 12:26 PM   #58
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Cheers!

I will see if, after I'm done with the AAR, I can find some time to at least translate the menus and text in the mod.
If this could be done that would be great. Would love to try a mod on the Soviet side
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Old 04-22-15, 12:04 AM   #59
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If this could be done that would be great. Would love to try a mod on the Soviet side
Here's to hoping

I'm pretty sure there's even a "cheap" way of doing it by running the various menu files through google translate, but that's probably not the best idea
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Old 04-22-15, 12:06 AM   #60
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Q: This was a very successful start to your patrol, then! Did the success continue?

Well, luck doesn’t hold up that long - and it would not be a short patrol, that’s for sure. After this, contacts proved harder to find, but I would say the patrol was still a very interesting one. The bulk of it was spent in our fairly confined patrol sector, area No.2A just on the west side of Nordkapp.



Q: What was your next interesting encounter?

The next one was with a Norwegian merchant, on the evening of December 2nd off the island of Rolvsoy in our patrol sector. This one was going east, and seemed to be completely alone and unarmed. Great, I thought, we can have this worked out the “nice way”. I got the crew up on deck and ready to fire with guns. We approached slowly, and got to within about half a kilometer of the ship. With nowhere for him to run, I ordered a warning shot to reveal our position, and prepared for him to surrender...







To be continued...
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