The heroes from U-1211

Lible · 09-06-07, 01:08 PM

U-2511, the first XXI to be combat-ready left Bergen on fifth september. The crew was very happy with the new boat. And the old man Kurt Ehlert was proud to be the first to be assigned a XXI. The destination of the patrol was North-Atlantic. The trip there went quietly, except for a few crash dives and a small merchant sunk (that was easy). Somewhere in the grid AL (Can't tell you exactly because of manual navigation). We encountered a biig convoy. We got the radio report, but as we weren't sure of our location, it wasn't very good. But suddenly, on the morning of 14th September our radar found 'em. We dived immeadiletly and sneaked about 10 kilometres from them underwater, waiting for the darkness to arrive. It took long, because September is still so bright.. at 11:30, having planned the entrance to the convoy, we started approaching them, quietly. The sea was perfectly calm for our plan. 3 KMs from the convoy we made it to periscope depth. And observed the ships. Well.. that convoy was one nice view, more than 40 ships. I carefully chose the targets, a medium tanker, some big merchants and some big tankers. I told the torpedo crew to put in the good old' steam torpedoes and set them all to the slowest speed, calculating everything necessary during the process. Then as quickly as possible I shot every torpedo and told the crew to put new torpedoes in as quickly as possible. They did that well, all the six torpedoes were reloaded in something like 12 minutes. During the time, some very nice explosions happened and everyone started to get nervous. Very thankfully, the destroyers (there was many of them) didn't get bearing to me. I launched the next six torpedoes, and thought that was enough for that time, we turned around and immeaditly descended into the darkness, to 210 meters. Crawling away slowly. Now looking into that log we hit 10 ships! of 63,000 tons! And that on the year 1944! We patroled more in the Atlantic, but didn't find anything more to blow, except for another lone small merchant, which went down easily. On the 10th of October we decided to return to Bergen. We kept ourself as far as possible from the English coast travelling submerged and snorkeling every two days (at night). But suddenly, on the 16th of October. Kabooom... the watchman at the observing pericope must've been sleeping. We quickly started to sink. Torpedoroom was quickly full of water, and the engines were all out of order. I but the best men avaiable in the repair department and ordered everyone to the back of the boat. But nothing helped.. we sank.. We quickly passed 250 meters, when the hull started making terrible noises.. 300 (blowing off ballast..) meters.. 325, finally got the torpedo room clean of water.. 350.. The engines are soon repaired 375.. the crew was crying.. 380 - The engines are repaired, I ordered full speed forward and blow all the compressed air we have.. and guess what, from 389 meters we started to rise! We made it up to the surface and made it to Bergen.

This has been my absolute best patrol so far. 68000 tons sank.. ahh.

dmlavan · 09-06-07, 03:33 PM

Great patrol. The crew of my Type VIIC is too scared to go out in 1944!

danurve · 09-06-07, 04:31 PM

Good mini-story.,maybe it was a sea-mine.

`44 .. man, I would tell my crew not to plan on celerbating a birthday past `42.

sunvalleyslim · 09-06-07, 05:41 PM

Great patrol Lible, I never made it to 1944 yet. You must have been pretty anxious when the boat was sinking. Best thing was you made it back to the surface. I bet you were even gulping for air when the hatch was opened.
Can't wit to hear about the next patrol........Good Luck Kaleun....

Gezoes · 09-06-07, 08:04 PM

I will still suggest some paragraphes, but damn

Makes one wonder... what if all the VII's were XXI's... :hmm:

No wonder the cold war took advantage of the XXI

380 meters, I bet your crew wasn't the only one sweating!

filefool · 09-07-07, 03:18 AM

I took my XXI into the lane of the D-Day forces in June 1944 on my first patrol.

Managed to sink 72000 tons before i had to escape. 7 DD's and several aircrafts upon you really makes you bite your nails. After gettin deeper water under my keel only one tube was working my conning tower was nothing more than scrap metal and my engines coughed like an old horse.

09-06-07, 01:08 PM	#1
Lible Mate Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 58 Downloads: 3 Uploads: 0	The heroes from U-1211 U-2511, the first XXI to be combat-ready left Bergen on fifth september. The crew was very happy with the new boat. And the old man Kurt Ehlert was proud to be the first to be assigned a XXI. The destination of the patrol was North-Atlantic. The trip there went quietly, except for a few crash dives and a small merchant sunk (that was easy). Somewhere in the grid AL (Can't tell you exactly because of manual navigation). We encountered a biig convoy. We got the radio report, but as we weren't sure of our location, it wasn't very good. But suddenly, on the morning of 14th September our radar found 'em. We dived immeadiletly and sneaked about 10 kilometres from them underwater, waiting for the darkness to arrive. It took long, because September is still so bright.. at 11:30, having planned the entrance to the convoy, we started approaching them, quietly. The sea was perfectly calm for our plan. 3 KMs from the convoy we made it to periscope depth. And observed the ships. Well.. that convoy was one nice view, more than 40 ships. I carefully chose the targets, a medium tanker, some big merchants and some big tankers. I told the torpedo crew to put in the good old' steam torpedoes and set them all to the slowest speed, calculating everything necessary during the process. Then as quickly as possible I shot every torpedo and told the crew to put new torpedoes in as quickly as possible. They did that well, all the six torpedoes were reloaded in something like 12 minutes. During the time, some very nice explosions happened and everyone started to get nervous. Very thankfully, the destroyers (there was many of them) didn't get bearing to me. I launched the next six torpedoes, and thought that was enough for that time, we turned around and immeaditly descended into the darkness, to 210 meters. Crawling away slowly. Now looking into that log we hit 10 ships! of 63,000 tons! And that on the year 1944! We patroled more in the Atlantic, but didn't find anything more to blow, except for another lone small merchant, which went down easily. On the 10th of October we decided to return to Bergen. We kept ourself as far as possible from the English coast travelling submerged and snorkeling every two days (at night). But suddenly, on the 16th of October. Kabooom... the watchman at the observing pericope must've been sleeping. We quickly started to sink. Torpedoroom was quickly full of water, and the engines were all out of order. I but the best men avaiable in the repair department and ordered everyone to the back of the boat. But nothing helped.. we sank.. We quickly passed 250 meters, when the hull started making terrible noises.. 300 (blowing off ballast..) meters.. 325, finally got the torpedo room clean of water.. 350.. The engines are soon repaired 375.. the crew was crying.. 380 - The engines are repaired, I ordered full speed forward and blow all the compressed air we have.. and guess what, from 389 meters we started to rise! We made it up to the surface and made it to Bergen. This has been my absolute best patrol so far. 68000 tons sank.. ahh.

09-06-07, 04:31 PM	#3
danurve The Old Man Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Syracuse, NY Posts: 1,481 Downloads: 22 Uploads: 3	Good mini-story.,maybe it was a sea-mine. `44 .. man, I would tell my crew not to plan on celerbating a birthday past `42. __________________

09-06-07, 05:41 PM	#4
sunvalleyslim Ace of the Deep Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Los Angeles, Ca Posts: 1,142 Downloads: 267 Uploads: 0	Great patrol Lible, I never made it to 1944 yet. You must have been pretty anxious when the boat was sinking. Best thing was you made it back to the surface. I bet you were even gulping for air when the hatch was opened. Can't wit to hear about the next patrol........Good Luck Kaleun.... __________________ Crew member/ decommission member TM2(SS)(SD) 3/68-7/70 DIESEL BOATS FOREVER USS SEGUNDO (SS398)

09-06-07, 08:04 PM	#5
Gezoes XO Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: The Netherlands Posts: 435 Downloads: 22 Uploads: 0	I will still suggest some paragraphes, but damn Makes one wonder... what if all the VII's were XXI's... :hmm: No wonder the cold war took advantage of the XXI 380 meters, I bet your crew wasn't the only one sweating! __________________ If I wasn't a little mad, I'd go mad.

09-07-07, 03:18 AM	#6
filefool Loader Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Austria. Far away from any port or shore. Posts: 87 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	I took my XXI into the lane of the D-Day forces in June 1944 on my first patrol. Managed to sink 72000 tons before i had to escape. 7 DD's and several aircrafts upon you really makes you bite your nails. After gettin deeper water under my keel only one tube was working my conning tower was nothing more than scrap metal and my engines coughed like an old horse. __________________

09-06-07, 03:33 PM	#2
dmlavan Weps Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Jacksonville, FL Posts: 351 Downloads: 69 Uploads: 0	Great patrol. The crew of my Type VIIC is too scared to go out in 1944!