Reverie
04-04-07, 03:01 AM
Hello ! I have fallen in love with external view under the GWX Mod. I hope you don't mind my sharing this little reverie...
She is U-27. I know because we sailed within shouting distance, each waving "Good morning" and wishing the other fair seas. Although I look and see our old UBIII, she is one of the new Type VIIs leaving for patrol. Still, the image is the same from before; the Old Man, Mother Boat, and all the Kinder. I can almost see myself as one of those youths on the bridge. The first new thing I notice is no smoke. During my stint in the navy and submersibles, our u-boat was state-of-the-art. She was the hottest thing going and had the smoke to prove it. The dock hands couldn’t wait for us to leave harbor. The audacity we must have had going into battle with a chimney on our heads. I suppose we believed we’ld pass ourselves off as a whales spout from a distance.
Obermaschinist Vorsicht said he could stop the smoke with some adjustments, but he was always overruled. Krupps lot said it would go away with running in, which it got in plenty with all the shadows we used to chase.
The maschinisten all laughed and called it our bug killer. Vorsicht didn’t laugh and called it our u-boat killer.
The smoke did stop eventually. I only hope that it started again when the boat changed hands. Let the Tommies deal with it while it stank up Harwich.
Though we are both headed east, the u-boat has left me far behind.
Sea state one. Scattered clouds. A very light wind just fills the sails of my sloop, but all the world but me seems still. The clouds stay fixed as I can scarcely see them, yet the u-boat stands out too clear to me. I would think that it would be indiscernible, probing its way from Wilhelmshaven in the pre-dawn; a late August morning with the sun still below the horizon, and a waxing half-moon and twinkling stars all vying to light their way. I tell myself: if I were younger I would be going with them.
What a thrill it would be now to serve the country, righting all the wrongs that have been done to Him.
Sea state two. No. I’ve let myself wander into the shipping lanes, and caught the low wake of a Niederlande freighter making her slow way towards port, as I should be doing while the dawn behaves slower than usual.
Yet, I see the clouds are moving, caught up in what could be a wind of change. Perhaps it will rain after all.
I have been taking these morning outings alone for some time now, the wife caught up in activities that have brightened her face once more. She remembers the hard times. We always had my pension, but it’s good to have relatives and friends off the dole. Everyone is working again. And my loves feeling of worth and acceptance when she shows her party badge makes her shine like the stars. I would have given anything to see her this way again.
The sloop still pitches as the morning darkens with the gathering clouds. I am out of the lane by the look of the lighthouses, but still riding the lumbering freighters wake. But a Master, and an able seaman are all that this boat needs. Somewhat like a boat, the Fatherland has God and a leader to bring us out of the rough seas and through the storm.
The u-boat is long gone, and I marvel at the changes that she and her crew will make in the months ahead. The boat will become a bit weathered, but perform like a precision instrument. The crew will gain that worldliness that only a life at sea can produce. The world will become calmer and wiser when it’s taught the error of its ways.
No sign of morning as I pass the freighter that augmented my diversions. She awaits her tugs, and I am at last out of her influence. Others like her will have to contend with their own diversions.
The clouds really are moving.
I will spend the day calling up old mates, and maybe gather some at the bierhaus. We’ll tell old stories, and hear of new ones. All to share the new, wise world, and a nostalgic pride and fervor for our Ubootwaffe.
Reverie
Thank you, GWX. :)
She is U-27. I know because we sailed within shouting distance, each waving "Good morning" and wishing the other fair seas. Although I look and see our old UBIII, she is one of the new Type VIIs leaving for patrol. Still, the image is the same from before; the Old Man, Mother Boat, and all the Kinder. I can almost see myself as one of those youths on the bridge. The first new thing I notice is no smoke. During my stint in the navy and submersibles, our u-boat was state-of-the-art. She was the hottest thing going and had the smoke to prove it. The dock hands couldn’t wait for us to leave harbor. The audacity we must have had going into battle with a chimney on our heads. I suppose we believed we’ld pass ourselves off as a whales spout from a distance.
Obermaschinist Vorsicht said he could stop the smoke with some adjustments, but he was always overruled. Krupps lot said it would go away with running in, which it got in plenty with all the shadows we used to chase.
The maschinisten all laughed and called it our bug killer. Vorsicht didn’t laugh and called it our u-boat killer.
The smoke did stop eventually. I only hope that it started again when the boat changed hands. Let the Tommies deal with it while it stank up Harwich.
Though we are both headed east, the u-boat has left me far behind.
Sea state one. Scattered clouds. A very light wind just fills the sails of my sloop, but all the world but me seems still. The clouds stay fixed as I can scarcely see them, yet the u-boat stands out too clear to me. I would think that it would be indiscernible, probing its way from Wilhelmshaven in the pre-dawn; a late August morning with the sun still below the horizon, and a waxing half-moon and twinkling stars all vying to light their way. I tell myself: if I were younger I would be going with them.
What a thrill it would be now to serve the country, righting all the wrongs that have been done to Him.
Sea state two. No. I’ve let myself wander into the shipping lanes, and caught the low wake of a Niederlande freighter making her slow way towards port, as I should be doing while the dawn behaves slower than usual.
Yet, I see the clouds are moving, caught up in what could be a wind of change. Perhaps it will rain after all.
I have been taking these morning outings alone for some time now, the wife caught up in activities that have brightened her face once more. She remembers the hard times. We always had my pension, but it’s good to have relatives and friends off the dole. Everyone is working again. And my loves feeling of worth and acceptance when she shows her party badge makes her shine like the stars. I would have given anything to see her this way again.
The sloop still pitches as the morning darkens with the gathering clouds. I am out of the lane by the look of the lighthouses, but still riding the lumbering freighters wake. But a Master, and an able seaman are all that this boat needs. Somewhat like a boat, the Fatherland has God and a leader to bring us out of the rough seas and through the storm.
The u-boat is long gone, and I marvel at the changes that she and her crew will make in the months ahead. The boat will become a bit weathered, but perform like a precision instrument. The crew will gain that worldliness that only a life at sea can produce. The world will become calmer and wiser when it’s taught the error of its ways.
No sign of morning as I pass the freighter that augmented my diversions. She awaits her tugs, and I am at last out of her influence. Others like her will have to contend with their own diversions.
The clouds really are moving.
I will spend the day calling up old mates, and maybe gather some at the bierhaus. We’ll tell old stories, and hear of new ones. All to share the new, wise world, and a nostalgic pride and fervor for our Ubootwaffe.
Reverie
Thank you, GWX. :)