U-122 Patrol Report #2

[LeafsFan]

War Patrol #2 U-122 type IXB
U-122 left Wilhemshaven on patrol in AL33 on September 14th . She was scheduled to return to the 2nd Flotilla’s new base at Lorient after the patrol. The outward voyage was very uneventful, with the exception of the spotting of a German cargo ship off the coast of Norway. In the area of the patrol zone bad weather was encountered. At dawn on October 3rd while underwater, the sounds of a merchant were heard. The position of the ship relative to the boat made a surface approach necessary. After three torpedoes a large merchant the M/V Theseus was sank. The next week was spend riding out very bad weather as the boat proceeded southward. In a four day period four tramp steamers; S.S. Breton, S.S. Fort Richepanse, S.S. Pawnee Rock, and S.S. Predsednik Kopajtic were spotted and sank. Not long after a convoy was reported in the area. Very calm sea conditions made a submerged attack the logical approach. A weak escort in the front of the convoy allowed Oblt. Franke to get into firing position. All tubes were expended in an attack on four large vessels. All six torpedoes were heard to explode but as the boat quietly went deep only two ships M/V Dunluce and M/V Frederick Lykes were heard to sink. After an ineffective counterattack, Franke surfaced the boat, and the crew quickly reloaded all the tubes except tube #1 which mysteriously would not function. After several hours and dusk, another submerged attack was launched. This time five torpedoes were fired at three ships. Only two hits were heard on one ship M/V Suvla quickly sank. This time the counterattack was more determined. When U-122 came to periscope depth a cargo vessel was spotted trailing the convoy. Oblt. Franke patiently allowed the convoy and two of its escorts to leave visual range before finishing off S.S Shasta with a torpedo. It was later determined that the ship had been hit in the initial afternoon attack, and initially had managed to maintain speed but had straggled after dusk. Franke took U122 back around the front of the convoy for a third attack, even though only two torpedoes remained. Franke decided on a surface attack from long range as the escort was badly out of position. Two shots resulted in a hit which eventually sank the M/V Cape Verde. With no torpedoes but lots of fuel, U-122 quickly transited to Lorient.

M/V Theseus 03/10/40 11037 tons AM19
S.S. Breton 11/10/40 1998 tons BE39
S.S. Fort Richepanse 13/10/40 1626 tons BE69
S.S. Pawnee Rock 14/10/40 1671 tons BE39
S.S. Predsednik Kopajtic 15/10/40 1942 tons BE39
M/V Dunluce 16/10/40 10580 tons BE69
M/V Frederick Lykes 16/10/40 11890 tons BE69
M/V Suvla 16/10/40 10251 tons BE68
S.S Shasta 17/10/40 6995 tons BE92
M/V Cape Verde 17/10/40 9846 tons BE92

10 ships for 67836 tons

Cumulative total

25 ships for 165313 tons

[bookworm_020]

Well done! Nice to see you being so sucessful!

May your good luck hold!!:up:

[Zero Niner]

What's this about one of the forward tubes not being able to be reloaded?
Sabotage/malfunction, or a bug with the Type IXB?

[LeafsFan]

There is a thread about it. It was a bug that no one else has seen.

HB

[Mooncatt]

nice succesfull patrol good shotting :up:

[Jimbuna]

Franke surfaced the boat, and the crew quickly reloaded all the tubes except tube #1 which mysteriously would not function.

Hmm :hmm: ...if your using SH3Cmdr then it's probably the sabotage/malfunction at work.
Nice report :up:

[LeafsFan]

I don't use sabotage and malfunctions. What happenned was that I emptied all my tubes in a submerged attack on a convoy, after I evaded the escorts I surfaced, and relaoded all six tubes. All the other five tubes worked as usual, but in tube one you could drag the torpedo over the slot, but it would not "stick". IN patrol #3 I have been using Tube 1 as if it was a external tube. When I am down to five forward torpedoes, I will use #1 and see if I can reload it.

HB

[LeafsFan]

War Patrol #3 U-122 type IXB
For the third patrol, Oblt Franke was assigned a patrol zone off the west coast of Africa, and was ordered to reconnoiter the South Atlantic too ascertain the levels of shipping in the area. The first week was uneventful, as the boat travelled towards its patrol zone. One week into the patrol a British merchant M/V. Wrangell was sunk to the north east of Madiera. The next month saw little British shipping, just many neutrals. East of Ascension Island, two merchant ships, M/V Custer and S.S. Rich Mountain were spotted traveling together and sunk with a combination of torpedoes and Gunfire. Franke decided to check the approaches to St Helena, and its port Jamestown. A submerged approach was made at dawn of December 30th, and much to his surprise several ships were at anchor. The first attack resulted in the sinking of the destroyer HMS Daring. Three hits were recorded on what was thought to be a Dido class cruiser, but it was not evident that the ship had sunk. After evading the rather ineffective ASW patrol of an armed trawler, and reloading the torpedo tubes, another approach was made. The cruiser which was the Fiji class HMS Nigeria, had indeed sunk. Torpedoes were fired at three small merchants and an armed trawler, HMT Margate. Hits were recorded on all. Once again Franke made his escape. By now night had fallen, and U-122 was running on the surface. After reloading again, Franke decided to make sure of the targets of the second attack with a surface night attack. As it turned out only the trawler had sunk. In the attack, the three small merchants; S.S. Mount Pindus, the S.S. Ophelia Hera, and the neutral Greek ship S.S. Harmonic were sunk. Upon clearing the area U-122 was down to one stern loaded torpedo. Oblt Franke decided it was time to return to port. The return voyage was entirely uneventful other than the spotting of several Vichy French Ships close to port.


M/V Wrangell 25/11/40 6049 tons CF96
M/V Custer 26/12/40 9850 tons FM39
S.S. Rich Mountain 26/12/40 2388 tons FM39
HMS Daring 30/12/40 1375 tons FU28
HMS Nigeria 30/12/40 10725 tons FU28
HMT Margate 30/12/40 540 tons FU28
S.S. Mount Pindus 30/12/40 2625 tons FU28
S.S. Ophelia Hera 30/12/40 2098 tons FU28
S.S. Harmonic 30/12/40 1898 tons FU28

9 ships for 37639 tons

Cumulative Total

34 ships for 202,952 tons

[LeafsFan]

War Patrol #4 U-122 type IXB
U-122 left Lorient on March 1st 1941. North East of Madiera a pair of merchants were spotted on the surface at night. A close approach revealed that they were British and both were hit with one torpedo each. Unknown to KL Franke M/V Robin Locksley was armed with a 3 inch gun and her crew opened up at once. As Franke order the dive a shell hit the water very near the hull forward. The new few minutes were a cacophony of noise as the crew fixed a minor leak, and in the control room Franke sank the Locksley and M/V Empire Lightning after expending several torpedoes. Upon surfacing it was noted that the pressure hull had buckled. East of the Cape Verde Islands a inbound convoy was spotted just at dusk. Conditions were not favorable for a night surface attack as visibility was good, and seas were dead calm. There were three escorts present and with the buckling of the pressure hull in the forward torpedo room KL Franke did not want to chance a depth charging which could be expected in a submerged attack. He decided to try a surface attack from long range. The first approach was off the port beam, two torpedoes were fired at three largest merchants. Six hits were heard, and U-122 was able to escape easily to reload for another try. This time two hits were heard on a tanker, and due to very erratic maneuvering by ships in the convoy a small merchant was hit by a torpedo intended for a larger ship. It seemed like that some ships had sunk, but due to the great distance it was B-Dienst that confirmed the following. The initial pass had sunk S.S. Suamico, M/V Dalhousie, and M/V Kilauea and the second pass had sunk S.S Cometa and M/V Elk Hills. With a functioning torpedo forward, and a broken torpedo aft, course was set for Lorient at a higher speed than was usual due to the high levels of fuel remaining. The voyage to base was uneventful, and U-122 was returned to base on March 29th . After this patrol 2WO Johannes Rahn was reassigned duty onshore.

M/V Robin Locksley 08/03/41 5752 tons CG77
M/V Empire Lightning 08/01/41 12074 tons CG77
S.S. Suamico 18/03/41 11855 tons EJ39
M/V Dalhousie 18/03/41 12216 tons EJ39
M/V Kilauea 18/03/41 5944 tons EJ39
S.S Cometa 19/03/41 2337 tons EJ39
M/V Elk Hills 19/03/41 9655 tons EJ39

7 ships for 59833 tons

Cumulative total

41 ships for 262,425 tons

[Jimbuna]

Very enjoyable kaleun :up: