E.Hartmann
03-15-07, 10:42 AM
Background:
U-93 Commanded by OBERLEUTNANT Z. S., Eric Hartmann
U-93 is a VIIC boat with upgrades in hydrophones, engines, and guns
Port: St. Nazaire
Assignment is 7th Flotilla
Mission:
BdU Has assigned U-93 to patrol grid BE67. Several warship sitting in the transit to patrol area forced a indirect route with dives during the day and surface runs at night to conserve fuel as well as avoid any intercepts.
Mission Outcome:
Four crewman dead
Three promotions
Four medals
Ships Sunk:
one warship
two merchants
19000 tons
Mission Narrative:
In route to patrol area, U-93 came across several unescorted large merchants moving at fast speed. Made choice to use new deck guns to see if the extra time in port to upgrade was worth it. At visual sighting, position was plotted to intercept at about 300m submerged and ordered boat to dive. As sonar plotted it course on the hydrophones, crew prepared for emergency surface. At the designated point, a quick peak of the scope showed merchant was unaware and the alarm was sounded. On surface deck crew immediately went to work on the command bridge and with the smooth seas and point blank range, the command bridge exploded into flames and no flares were seen to have been launched. Watch Commander ordered fire to shift to below water line and after 10 rounds, the ship split in the middle and went below the waves. Due to smoke and the chance an escort may be close by, Navigation plotted course at full speed away and engineering recharged batteries and flushed the bad air out.
Once clear of the area, speed was reduced to standard and course resumed. Towards dusk, another visual sitting indicated another lone merchant taking her chances. U-93 dove to periscope level and began a plot for a torpedo spread.
After several tracking exercises, the plot indicated a 90deg shot at 1500m would be achieved so tdu was set with one electric fish and one steam. had not had much luck with the electric as they either dive to deep or surfaced giving away position (twice near Scapa with 1st Flotilla that cost me 5 crew members and grey hairs). At 1600, doors 1 and 3 were flooded and at 1500 (perfect intercept), torpedo 3 was on its way. After 15 seconds, steamer in 1 was fired. Both were set to 4.5m depth.
A practice crash dive was set and the boat responded perfectly and was at 90m when the first torpedo hit and 5 seconds later the second hit. Sounds of her breaking up had the crew jumping around as we had just scored our second victory in the same day and only 3 days out of port. Morale was high and after dark, U-93 surfaced and exchanged air and moved some torpedoes from reserve to internal loading and the rest of the transit was uneventful.
Several large convoy sightings were radioed in but to far out of U-93 lane, so boat continued to target grid area. Arriving on post, resulted in lots of whale sightings but not much else to be seen. Radio traffic indicated the wolf pack was giving a convoy hell on earth and we wished we were there.
After two days of crash dives and surfacing drills we turned to hunt the sea lane from England to the coast of Spain. This is when our luck ran out.
Twelve days out of port and heading back to air cover of France, received radio report of large enemy convoy moving slow and SSW. Intercept course was plotted as radio reports kept coming in . They convoy appeared to be in no hurry and was sticking in a straight line. Navigation plotted a course to put U-93 about 3500m off the port side of the convoy and the attack would be at dusk. Hoping to use the setting sun as cover on our scope. Navigators plot was severally off and suddenly, U-93 was right in the middle of a 20 ship convoy. The convoy was a mix of passenger and large cargo with even a whaling ship in the mix. I was not happy with this position as I was now surrounded by potential enemy guns and search lights.
Making the most of it, general quarters was sounded and plots were made for the largest ships. The plan was to hit each one once, under her keel and slow them or even stop a few to be picked off later.
All ships were at less than 600m when a spread was fired at four ships to the front and one to the rear. We dove hard and fast to cut directly across the direction of the large whaling ship hoping to avoid detection. After minutes of waiting, a sudden explosion sounded a successful hit but that was it. Nothing else was sounding except for pings of enemy destroyers now running full speed to my location.
U-93 dove to 145m and went silent, but it served no use. No matter the direction, speed, or depth pings still bounced off the hull and depth charges exploded all around us. I ordered helm to flank speed and we went to 50m and stayed under the hull of a large cargo ship and this frustrated the destroys to no end. We suddenly heard explosions and the sounds of ships breaking apart and guessed that a collision had occurred. We dove deep again and turned 180 to stay clear of any debris coming our way. I thought we were safe when suddenly depth charges exploded right on top of us! The rear torpedo room took a direct hit and killed all four crew members. Our repair crew was fast and were able to stop the flooding and secured the area. However, the damage was done. Battery engine room reported port propeller shaft destroyed and prop was probably missing and starboard was not responding either. Our depth was now 155m and holding but we were dead in the water.
Sonar reported more depth charges in the water but the sounds of the attacker were moving off. Can it be he thought he killed us? After almost 45 minutes, there was no sound and we began the long slow rise to the surface. A quick sweep showed nothing was moving so we went full up. The watch took their post and repair went to work on our last prop. Suddenly Alarm, ALARM! a Swan class destroyer was spotted at 2500m. He was smoking badly and to our amazement not moving. He must have been involved in the collision. Being unable to do much, a quick snap shot down 000 resulted in him turning over and sinking out of site. Now we had to get out of here. Damage Control reported one prop operational and we moved off.
After one week of transit, we made it to port and to safety.
U-93 Commanded by OBERLEUTNANT Z. S., Eric Hartmann
U-93 is a VIIC boat with upgrades in hydrophones, engines, and guns
Port: St. Nazaire
Assignment is 7th Flotilla
Mission:
BdU Has assigned U-93 to patrol grid BE67. Several warship sitting in the transit to patrol area forced a indirect route with dives during the day and surface runs at night to conserve fuel as well as avoid any intercepts.
Mission Outcome:
Four crewman dead
Three promotions
Four medals
Ships Sunk:
one warship
two merchants
19000 tons
Mission Narrative:
In route to patrol area, U-93 came across several unescorted large merchants moving at fast speed. Made choice to use new deck guns to see if the extra time in port to upgrade was worth it. At visual sighting, position was plotted to intercept at about 300m submerged and ordered boat to dive. As sonar plotted it course on the hydrophones, crew prepared for emergency surface. At the designated point, a quick peak of the scope showed merchant was unaware and the alarm was sounded. On surface deck crew immediately went to work on the command bridge and with the smooth seas and point blank range, the command bridge exploded into flames and no flares were seen to have been launched. Watch Commander ordered fire to shift to below water line and after 10 rounds, the ship split in the middle and went below the waves. Due to smoke and the chance an escort may be close by, Navigation plotted course at full speed away and engineering recharged batteries and flushed the bad air out.
Once clear of the area, speed was reduced to standard and course resumed. Towards dusk, another visual sitting indicated another lone merchant taking her chances. U-93 dove to periscope level and began a plot for a torpedo spread.
After several tracking exercises, the plot indicated a 90deg shot at 1500m would be achieved so tdu was set with one electric fish and one steam. had not had much luck with the electric as they either dive to deep or surfaced giving away position (twice near Scapa with 1st Flotilla that cost me 5 crew members and grey hairs). At 1600, doors 1 and 3 were flooded and at 1500 (perfect intercept), torpedo 3 was on its way. After 15 seconds, steamer in 1 was fired. Both were set to 4.5m depth.
A practice crash dive was set and the boat responded perfectly and was at 90m when the first torpedo hit and 5 seconds later the second hit. Sounds of her breaking up had the crew jumping around as we had just scored our second victory in the same day and only 3 days out of port. Morale was high and after dark, U-93 surfaced and exchanged air and moved some torpedoes from reserve to internal loading and the rest of the transit was uneventful.
Several large convoy sightings were radioed in but to far out of U-93 lane, so boat continued to target grid area. Arriving on post, resulted in lots of whale sightings but not much else to be seen. Radio traffic indicated the wolf pack was giving a convoy hell on earth and we wished we were there.
After two days of crash dives and surfacing drills we turned to hunt the sea lane from England to the coast of Spain. This is when our luck ran out.
Twelve days out of port and heading back to air cover of France, received radio report of large enemy convoy moving slow and SSW. Intercept course was plotted as radio reports kept coming in . They convoy appeared to be in no hurry and was sticking in a straight line. Navigation plotted a course to put U-93 about 3500m off the port side of the convoy and the attack would be at dusk. Hoping to use the setting sun as cover on our scope. Navigators plot was severally off and suddenly, U-93 was right in the middle of a 20 ship convoy. The convoy was a mix of passenger and large cargo with even a whaling ship in the mix. I was not happy with this position as I was now surrounded by potential enemy guns and search lights.
Making the most of it, general quarters was sounded and plots were made for the largest ships. The plan was to hit each one once, under her keel and slow them or even stop a few to be picked off later.
All ships were at less than 600m when a spread was fired at four ships to the front and one to the rear. We dove hard and fast to cut directly across the direction of the large whaling ship hoping to avoid detection. After minutes of waiting, a sudden explosion sounded a successful hit but that was it. Nothing else was sounding except for pings of enemy destroyers now running full speed to my location.
U-93 dove to 145m and went silent, but it served no use. No matter the direction, speed, or depth pings still bounced off the hull and depth charges exploded all around us. I ordered helm to flank speed and we went to 50m and stayed under the hull of a large cargo ship and this frustrated the destroys to no end. We suddenly heard explosions and the sounds of ships breaking apart and guessed that a collision had occurred. We dove deep again and turned 180 to stay clear of any debris coming our way. I thought we were safe when suddenly depth charges exploded right on top of us! The rear torpedo room took a direct hit and killed all four crew members. Our repair crew was fast and were able to stop the flooding and secured the area. However, the damage was done. Battery engine room reported port propeller shaft destroyed and prop was probably missing and starboard was not responding either. Our depth was now 155m and holding but we were dead in the water.
Sonar reported more depth charges in the water but the sounds of the attacker were moving off. Can it be he thought he killed us? After almost 45 minutes, there was no sound and we began the long slow rise to the surface. A quick sweep showed nothing was moving so we went full up. The watch took their post and repair went to work on our last prop. Suddenly Alarm, ALARM! a Swan class destroyer was spotted at 2500m. He was smoking badly and to our amazement not moving. He must have been involved in the collision. Being unable to do much, a quick snap shot down 000 resulted in him turning over and sinking out of site. Now we had to get out of here. Damage Control reported one prop operational and we moved off.
After one week of transit, we made it to port and to safety.