[AAR] So Far, So Good - A Soviet Sub in the Arctic

[CCIP]

Q: Did the Norwegians surrender?

That’s the thing, no they didn’t! Instead, their response was to open up on us with machineguns that were apparently hidden on deck. That completely threw me off. I cursed, ordered full speed on the diesels, and maneuvered to avoid the fire, as our deck gun crew dodged behind the rubka [conning tower] to avoid the bullets.





Seaman Tikhonov, on the 45mm gun, opened fire, but was wounded in the arm by a ricochet. We had to drag him off the deck into the hatch.





Luckily, it didn’t continue for long. We soon recovered our composure, while their fire had trouble finding us. After two hits from the “sotka” [100mm] and at least one from the “sorokopyatka” [45mm], the enemy ship was on fire and we knocked out their searchlight.





We kept firing for the next five minutes, and after eight hits from the “sotka”, there was a dull explosion on board the Norwegian merchant, which then started going down. Besides the lightly-wounded Tikhonov, we had no other casualties or damage, save for a few nicks left by the enemy bullets.







Q: You didn’t stop to check the lifeboats?

No, we did not - we did not stay around and I’m not even sure there were lifeboats out there. It was a freezing cold night. Regardless, that whole situation made us quite angry at Norwegian-flagged ships - they were not supposed to be firing at us, we thought, and I think that left a bad taste for us. The confusion and hostility created by this encounter resulted in a bad situation later on during the same patrol, which ultimately drove a wedge between me and our politruk [political commissar] Khokhryakov...







To be continued...