Herr Russ
04-06-07, 01:27 PM
Playing patched vanilla @ about 60% realism
April 1st. 1945, sailing my improved and repaired IXC NW of Scapa Flow towards a spot off the coast of Africa. I chuckled to myself that the shipyard workers keep missing the same patches of rust every time we go in for repairs. Luckily the sea had removed the blood stains from the last patrol. Just thinking of that encounter makes me shudder. I hope the lookouts think it's just the chill making me tremble.
I decided to plot a course just off the shelf so I'll have blue water under the keel. I thought about a run down the channel, but didn't want to scratch the anti sonar coating off the hull when I scraped by Dover. That chokepoint would be crawling with patrols anyway and my eels were destined for merchants.. This will surely be my last patrol as we're losing this war by the day. I wonder if Bergen will still be in our control by the time my tubes are empty. The last 21 patrols were progressively getting harder and we barely made it back from the last one.
The transit from Bergen seemed to take forever as we didn't exceed standard to conserve diesel. I kept one eye on the clock and the other on the Eastern horizon. We had to clear the channel before sunrise. Hans, my trusted watch officer stayed on the bridge as did the senior lookouts. With only 12 meters under the keel, we didn't have anywhere to hide. The wind was picking up and the sea state was growing, so before long, we wouldn't have the option of shooting it out. The quad flak and the two double flaks have sent a fair amount of the allied air cover into the sea, but I have lost a few brave crewmen to shrapnel and strafing wounds. They gave bravely of themselves and bought our torpedomen some needed time to reload their internal stores. Long gone are the days of being escorted out of the channel or having the Luftwaffe fly overhead. How I miss seeing the young sailors waving to the pilots and receiving a 'wing wag' in reply. This will be my 22nd. patrol. How the lads have grown old. Most have been with me since '39 when I was just a new Kaleun, fresh out of the Academy...
Almost an uneventful week had passed (a few search planes had suprised us and were shot down), when I heard 'Smoke on the horizon!!! ALARM!!' Come to periscope depth. Sonar, what do you have? Faint contact 010, long distance. I took the phones myself and also heard a faint contact. Since it was surely a merchant, I raised the snorkle and closed the distance. Stand down, stand down.. It's just a fishing boat, but they surely have diesel and maybe some fresh fish on board.. After conferring with my Chief Engineer and my number 1, we decided not to risk a prolonged surfacing for a few litres of diesel and some herring. 1500 meters out, we surfaced and charged the flak guns. I stepped into the quad flak on the deck and 120 rounds later, we had claimed our first kill of the patrol. Only an oil slick remained of the 92 ton vessel. Carefully avoiding the slick, so as not to leave a trail showing our direction, I had the radioman notify BdU of our position and status. One more breath of fresh air and I cleared the deck and pulled the hatch down behind me. 10 hours of breathing diesel, sweat and rotting bread ahead of us.. Navigator, resume course, ahead 1/3. 25 meters.. I sat down to a cup of coffee and my deck log.
Three days passed by slowly, each one just like the one before. Surfacing at 2200, charging the batteries and watching Scapa Flow go by, one degree at at time. Batteries would be charged and we would slide under the sea at first light... I wonder if the entire patrol will be like this?? A few air patrols flew towards us, but we remained undetected on the surface. Flak gunners standing by and a few more planes taken out at long range..
On the evening of 14 April, the Chief Engineer reported Diesel was at 80 percent and the batteries were charged.. We still had several hours of twilight left, so I decided to remain on the surface. It had been days since we had seen as much as a distant air patrol, so let the crew enjoy the night air for a little longer.. The radioman tuned into a distant music broadcast and I closed my eyes..
ALARM!!!! I jumped from behind the wardroom table. How long had I been sleeping?? The men sliding down the ladder from the conning tower were not the ones I saw go up, so it must have been at least four hours.. My coffee had gone cold and I made my way against the crewmen that were rushing towards the bow.. The Watch officer breathlessly reported a warship closing at long range. We leveled out of our dive, slowed to 1/3 and came back up to periscope depth.. So far we were undetected.. A quick scan with the attack scope confirmed my worse fears. Unless the River Escort changes course or we make a run for it, we will pass within sevel hundred meters of eatch other. What is a small ship like that doing out here in the middle of nowhere?? In my past patrols, we encountered that class mainly when they were screening convoys..
Set silent running.. General Quarters - Submerged attack!! As the men scrambled to their battle stations, I hunched over the chart.. I wanted to come to a firing position abeam of the escort and around 400 meters away. Less time for their Soundmen to pick up our torpedo screws.. I marked the chart so we could follow his course back where he came from. The escort was running at 12 kts and except for the occasional zig, remained true to course.
Open Tube 1, set depth for 4 meters, magnetic pistol.. Just in case, I armed the acoustic in tube 5.. We silently closed the gap and when sonar reported that she was at 355 degrees, I took one more mark with the scope. We were almost pefectly abeam, but 500 meters away.. Fire tube 1!! As the scope slid down into the well, I watched the stopwatch. 30 second run time and it didn't appear that the warship had heard it yet..
Torpedo Impact!! Enemy Destroyed!! The lads must have forgotten all about silent running as they banged wrenches and shouted.. I will deal with that lapse in discipline later since they earned this brief respite.. We secured from Silent running, surfaced and proceded to reload our internal store. If we don't complete it soon, we will have to resume it tonight when we re-surface.. As the engineers topped off the batteries, I returned to my deck log & still wondered what
that escort was doing out here... Navigator, change course to the reciprocal of the escort.. Ahead 1/3.. Submerge to 25 meters at daybreak..
Hours later, my sonarman began acting strangly.. If I didn't know him better, I'd swear that he was getting into the torpedo fuel. Mueller is my most decorated warrant officer and has been with me since my days in the IID. However, this morning he couldn't keep his bearings straight as he reported a contact. The contact kept closing, but one second it was at 010 and the next was at 350. How could that be?? I took the phones myself, ordered all motors stopped and heard numerous contacts.. Between 010 and 345, the ocean was churning with deep thumps of merchant screws and the high whines of the escorts.. They were still hours away so I rested as much of the crew as possible.. Once we worked up an approximate heading, we started to move into position.. If all went well, it would be dark when we attacked!! I quickly surfaced, sent off a status report and tried to send a contact report, but it would not transmit.
15 April, approx. 2000 and 4KM in front of the convoy. Zoomed in on the attack chart, I count 18 merchants and 7 escorts. Depth under the keel is almost 300 meters, so I have plenty of room to manuever. Drifting south over the past several hours at 14 meters and raising the snorkle on occassion to replenish the air and top off the batteries, has put us between the approaching columns. The ships have already established their zig zig pattern but now have air cover as well.. I wonder if any of our other boats are near as I hear an occasional depth charge exploding.. A quick scan with the scope and I pick out 2 troop ships, 2 T3, 2 T2, 1 small tanker, 4 liberty cargos, 3 C3's, 3 C2's, and 2 small merchants. The escorts are 4 JC Buckley's, 2 flowers and another River Escort. The forward screen is missing and probably the escort we had sun earlier.. I jot these contacts as well as their drafts and torpedo tube assignments in my contact log. It helps me keep my tube assignments in order and I can add how many eels I've fired at each contact. A neat trick I started at the Academy!! I carefully weigh my options..
1. Sneak in, fire all tubes and sneak out to reload..
2. Pick off the escorts and have my pick of the litter.
3. Fire at........ KALEUN... We have been detected!!!!!!!!!!!
Jumped to the attack chart one more time to open all tubes (better to have them jammed open than shut, in a fight) and noticed there were now over 20 merchant sound contacts..
Sure enough, an escort picked us up and was coming in for the kill.. All ahead flank, full port rudder as I turned away from him.. A quick look with the scope showed the escort about 800 meters away and closing fast. Luckily, he was at 190 from me and I already had the TDC dialed in for the draft.. At 500 meters... WE'RE TAKING DAMAGE..... I fired a stern tube, dropped the scope, launched a decoy and ordered full starboard rudder, ahead 1/3.. The escort closed in on my last position until the eel lifted him out of the water.. 1 down, 6 to go..
By now, it was utter chaos on the surface and as bright as noon. Spotlights, starshells and the phosphorescence of the wakes streaked about. Between the sonar reports and quick glimpses through the scope, I lined up two more targets. A troop transport and a T3. A few more degrees and I'd get a clear shot.. Tubes 1, 2 and 3 were fired at the targets. I decided to keep a tube loaded in case I was picked up again by an escort.. That turned out to be a wise decision as my scope had been seen by several vessels. As we wheeled around to the steady pinging of sonar, we heard two torpedoes hit their marks, the third had missed. The troop transport was destroyed.. The T3 was listing badly and on fire.. My immediate concern was the escort beginning it's run on me. It was still 45 degrees off my stern and there was no way to fire off an eel in time. It just wouldn't have the room to arm.. All ahead flank, a double knuckle to port and decoys kept me from getting battered too much.. I was down to 78% hull and most of my superstructure and guns were yellow. At least I still had my scope & hydrophones.. Slowing to 1/3, I started to slip away. Stern tubes were both loaded and I still had my bow tube ready.. The escort that had just completed it's run was busy pinging behind me.. Just as well, since it couldn't hear my torpedo coming at it.. TORPED IMPACT!!! ENEMY DESTROYED!! There wasn't much cheering this time as that escort had drawn blood. Another one down..
The other escorts were busy firing starshells and adding to the confusion, so I had time to lock in on the other troop transport and a T2. One torpedo at each and the T2 went up in a ball of flames while the Troop ship started listing heavily and came to a stop.. As I was turning around to bring a stern tube to bear on the transport, a Victory Cargo decided to ram me. Major damage to the watch tower, forward gun and flak 3 was destroyed.. After recovering from the shock and getting back up to periscope depth, I sent a stern eel at the offending liberty (Now 300 meters away) and the other stern at the Troop Transport.. Both were hits, but the Liberty was only crippled and not sunk.. The transport quickly slid under.. I decided to try and slip out of the convoy, surface at distance, repair damage and reload my eels, but two escorts had other plans for me. Since my stern tubes were empty, I had to take them head on.. With my scope up and taking damage, I fired at the closest escort and dove.. I thought the torp would miss him, but it passed under the stern and lit off the racks of depthcharges. Secondary explosions sealed that fate.. I corrected my course to avoid the sinking hulk and still exploding depth charges.. I met the other closing escort the same way, but just as I got the eel off, a ring of depth charges was tossed around me.. MEN DOWN ON DECK!!!!!
My world was exploding around me, damage reports were coming in as my ears still rang.. I had wounded and dead men in various compartments. The dead were stacked in the diesel room and the wounded were with the medic in aft berthing. I hated to take the medic off the damage control team, but I needed healthy sailors more.. Another explosion shook the boat, but it was from the torpedo impact on the escort. By now my torpedomen were exhausted as the damage control team, but I had to keep them all on station since there were no reliefs. My weapons officer had to supervise the bow reloading as the compartment efficiency had dropped dangerously low... Since the stern internal stores were depleted, I had that crew join the damage control team and control the flooding.. How they kept us from sinking past 100 meters, I don't know.. But between the loading, repairs and pumps, we were heard for kilometers. I had to get back to periscope depth!!!
The hull was down to 40% integrity; all flak guns were destroyed and the forward gun and watch tower were in serious trouble.. Luckily we still had our scopes and the batteries were intact.. That was the end of the good news as the other escorts had our trail..
One tactic that had worked for us before was to surface at an incoming destroyer and get a few rounds off the deck gun before we had to either dive or change course.. As we were coming about and approaching periscope depth, I considered trying this again... A shout of "TORPEDO TUBE 2 READY" broke my concentration and we lined up for another 'down the throat shot'. As the escort closed in on us and was only 300 meters out, the scope broke the surface and I was able to get a brief lock on before firing the eel.. Dropped the scope, ordered a starboard knuckle and hoped for the best.. This escort skipper never saw the electric eel coming and it took the entire bow out. I had to order full starboard rudder, back emergency full so that our bow would swing away from the closing wreck.. We still collided, but the damage was negligible at this point.. I needed more torpedoes loaded!!!
A quick scan of the attack chart showed a clear lane to the back of the convoy. I ordered silent running and forced the crew into their racks. Better to catch some rest instead of hanging around the torpedo room. Flooding had been stopped and all internal repairs had been completed.. Within 2 hours, we were well astern of the convoy and two remaining escorts.. We surfaced in the night air, changed course to shadow the convoy and began uncovering out external torpedo stores.. Hopefully the air patrols won't pick us up as our flaks had been destroyed . Hull integritry was down to 20% and I had 4 dead crewmen. As the batteries charged and remaining torpedoes were sent below, we were finally able to send a contact report.. The convoy was only going 5 kts, so it was not a problem keeping up with them. Several hours later, all the eels were below deck, repairs completed on what was still salvageable and we turned our attention on the convoy..
The plan was to approach from the rear, pass them on a flank and get in a position ahead of them to fire the tubes. The Navigator had just finished plotting our course, when we were detected by the two remaining escorts.. This time we let them close on our position and sent 2 fish to greet them. One hit with secondary explosions and one clean miss.. Afraid of going too deep, I ordered ahead flank, raised the snorkle (aka target) and turned away from it.. For some reason, the corvette did not pursue me, but began dropping depthcharges behind me. I still took some damage and thankfully didn't notice that I was down to 10% hull integrity. I took him out with the last shot from my stern.. Resting my stern tube crew, I surfaced & began closing on the now vunerable convoy.. At 3 KM, I began shelling the wounded cargos. They returned sporatic fire and I took 1 round to my bow. HI now at 4%. Between my AP and HE, I sank 2 crippled cargos and a T2. I had 3 bow fish remaining and rushed around the decimated convoy in broad daylight at flank speed.. I kept a 5KM distance from them and secured from charging my batteries to get every ounce of speed.. I had to get in front of them before reinforcements arrived.. Sent off another status report and was surprised to see that I was credited with over 80K tons.. I soon left the convoy behind me, turned South & slipped under the waves.. Worried about the low hull integrity, I winced at the hull noises as we approached periscope depth. Before long, the convoy was approaching and I picked out the best targets.. I decided on a T3, T2 and a C3.. The T2 was destroyed with one eel, but I had to spend my remaining fish on the T3.. It was anti-climatic after the running battle I had with the escorts.. Out of fish & down to 8 star shells, I headed back to Bergen. Diesel was below 50% and the sight of the dead bodies in the stern torpedo room haunted me.. I still had letters to write to their Mothers. Tell them they died bravely and for the Fatherland. With no chance of reaching my patrol grid and probably not reaching Bergen before the end of the war, I exited and returned to Port (Warped)..
10 Aircraft..
18 Ships
101,000 tons
Lost 4 crewmen and had medals to hand out.. Nothing for me probably because of the loss of life & damage to the boat. Renown for the patrol was only 2300 but we lived to sail again..
Thanks for reading..
Herr Russ
Edited to correct spelling & speed
April 1st. 1945, sailing my improved and repaired IXC NW of Scapa Flow towards a spot off the coast of Africa. I chuckled to myself that the shipyard workers keep missing the same patches of rust every time we go in for repairs. Luckily the sea had removed the blood stains from the last patrol. Just thinking of that encounter makes me shudder. I hope the lookouts think it's just the chill making me tremble.
I decided to plot a course just off the shelf so I'll have blue water under the keel. I thought about a run down the channel, but didn't want to scratch the anti sonar coating off the hull when I scraped by Dover. That chokepoint would be crawling with patrols anyway and my eels were destined for merchants.. This will surely be my last patrol as we're losing this war by the day. I wonder if Bergen will still be in our control by the time my tubes are empty. The last 21 patrols were progressively getting harder and we barely made it back from the last one.
The transit from Bergen seemed to take forever as we didn't exceed standard to conserve diesel. I kept one eye on the clock and the other on the Eastern horizon. We had to clear the channel before sunrise. Hans, my trusted watch officer stayed on the bridge as did the senior lookouts. With only 12 meters under the keel, we didn't have anywhere to hide. The wind was picking up and the sea state was growing, so before long, we wouldn't have the option of shooting it out. The quad flak and the two double flaks have sent a fair amount of the allied air cover into the sea, but I have lost a few brave crewmen to shrapnel and strafing wounds. They gave bravely of themselves and bought our torpedomen some needed time to reload their internal stores. Long gone are the days of being escorted out of the channel or having the Luftwaffe fly overhead. How I miss seeing the young sailors waving to the pilots and receiving a 'wing wag' in reply. This will be my 22nd. patrol. How the lads have grown old. Most have been with me since '39 when I was just a new Kaleun, fresh out of the Academy...
Almost an uneventful week had passed (a few search planes had suprised us and were shot down), when I heard 'Smoke on the horizon!!! ALARM!!' Come to periscope depth. Sonar, what do you have? Faint contact 010, long distance. I took the phones myself and also heard a faint contact. Since it was surely a merchant, I raised the snorkle and closed the distance. Stand down, stand down.. It's just a fishing boat, but they surely have diesel and maybe some fresh fish on board.. After conferring with my Chief Engineer and my number 1, we decided not to risk a prolonged surfacing for a few litres of diesel and some herring. 1500 meters out, we surfaced and charged the flak guns. I stepped into the quad flak on the deck and 120 rounds later, we had claimed our first kill of the patrol. Only an oil slick remained of the 92 ton vessel. Carefully avoiding the slick, so as not to leave a trail showing our direction, I had the radioman notify BdU of our position and status. One more breath of fresh air and I cleared the deck and pulled the hatch down behind me. 10 hours of breathing diesel, sweat and rotting bread ahead of us.. Navigator, resume course, ahead 1/3. 25 meters.. I sat down to a cup of coffee and my deck log.
Three days passed by slowly, each one just like the one before. Surfacing at 2200, charging the batteries and watching Scapa Flow go by, one degree at at time. Batteries would be charged and we would slide under the sea at first light... I wonder if the entire patrol will be like this?? A few air patrols flew towards us, but we remained undetected on the surface. Flak gunners standing by and a few more planes taken out at long range..
On the evening of 14 April, the Chief Engineer reported Diesel was at 80 percent and the batteries were charged.. We still had several hours of twilight left, so I decided to remain on the surface. It had been days since we had seen as much as a distant air patrol, so let the crew enjoy the night air for a little longer.. The radioman tuned into a distant music broadcast and I closed my eyes..
ALARM!!!! I jumped from behind the wardroom table. How long had I been sleeping?? The men sliding down the ladder from the conning tower were not the ones I saw go up, so it must have been at least four hours.. My coffee had gone cold and I made my way against the crewmen that were rushing towards the bow.. The Watch officer breathlessly reported a warship closing at long range. We leveled out of our dive, slowed to 1/3 and came back up to periscope depth.. So far we were undetected.. A quick scan with the attack scope confirmed my worse fears. Unless the River Escort changes course or we make a run for it, we will pass within sevel hundred meters of eatch other. What is a small ship like that doing out here in the middle of nowhere?? In my past patrols, we encountered that class mainly when they were screening convoys..
Set silent running.. General Quarters - Submerged attack!! As the men scrambled to their battle stations, I hunched over the chart.. I wanted to come to a firing position abeam of the escort and around 400 meters away. Less time for their Soundmen to pick up our torpedo screws.. I marked the chart so we could follow his course back where he came from. The escort was running at 12 kts and except for the occasional zig, remained true to course.
Open Tube 1, set depth for 4 meters, magnetic pistol.. Just in case, I armed the acoustic in tube 5.. We silently closed the gap and when sonar reported that she was at 355 degrees, I took one more mark with the scope. We were almost pefectly abeam, but 500 meters away.. Fire tube 1!! As the scope slid down into the well, I watched the stopwatch. 30 second run time and it didn't appear that the warship had heard it yet..
Torpedo Impact!! Enemy Destroyed!! The lads must have forgotten all about silent running as they banged wrenches and shouted.. I will deal with that lapse in discipline later since they earned this brief respite.. We secured from Silent running, surfaced and proceded to reload our internal store. If we don't complete it soon, we will have to resume it tonight when we re-surface.. As the engineers topped off the batteries, I returned to my deck log & still wondered what
that escort was doing out here... Navigator, change course to the reciprocal of the escort.. Ahead 1/3.. Submerge to 25 meters at daybreak..
Hours later, my sonarman began acting strangly.. If I didn't know him better, I'd swear that he was getting into the torpedo fuel. Mueller is my most decorated warrant officer and has been with me since my days in the IID. However, this morning he couldn't keep his bearings straight as he reported a contact. The contact kept closing, but one second it was at 010 and the next was at 350. How could that be?? I took the phones myself, ordered all motors stopped and heard numerous contacts.. Between 010 and 345, the ocean was churning with deep thumps of merchant screws and the high whines of the escorts.. They were still hours away so I rested as much of the crew as possible.. Once we worked up an approximate heading, we started to move into position.. If all went well, it would be dark when we attacked!! I quickly surfaced, sent off a status report and tried to send a contact report, but it would not transmit.
15 April, approx. 2000 and 4KM in front of the convoy. Zoomed in on the attack chart, I count 18 merchants and 7 escorts. Depth under the keel is almost 300 meters, so I have plenty of room to manuever. Drifting south over the past several hours at 14 meters and raising the snorkle on occassion to replenish the air and top off the batteries, has put us between the approaching columns. The ships have already established their zig zig pattern but now have air cover as well.. I wonder if any of our other boats are near as I hear an occasional depth charge exploding.. A quick scan with the scope and I pick out 2 troop ships, 2 T3, 2 T2, 1 small tanker, 4 liberty cargos, 3 C3's, 3 C2's, and 2 small merchants. The escorts are 4 JC Buckley's, 2 flowers and another River Escort. The forward screen is missing and probably the escort we had sun earlier.. I jot these contacts as well as their drafts and torpedo tube assignments in my contact log. It helps me keep my tube assignments in order and I can add how many eels I've fired at each contact. A neat trick I started at the Academy!! I carefully weigh my options..
1. Sneak in, fire all tubes and sneak out to reload..
2. Pick off the escorts and have my pick of the litter.
3. Fire at........ KALEUN... We have been detected!!!!!!!!!!!
Jumped to the attack chart one more time to open all tubes (better to have them jammed open than shut, in a fight) and noticed there were now over 20 merchant sound contacts..
Sure enough, an escort picked us up and was coming in for the kill.. All ahead flank, full port rudder as I turned away from him.. A quick look with the scope showed the escort about 800 meters away and closing fast. Luckily, he was at 190 from me and I already had the TDC dialed in for the draft.. At 500 meters... WE'RE TAKING DAMAGE..... I fired a stern tube, dropped the scope, launched a decoy and ordered full starboard rudder, ahead 1/3.. The escort closed in on my last position until the eel lifted him out of the water.. 1 down, 6 to go..
By now, it was utter chaos on the surface and as bright as noon. Spotlights, starshells and the phosphorescence of the wakes streaked about. Between the sonar reports and quick glimpses through the scope, I lined up two more targets. A troop transport and a T3. A few more degrees and I'd get a clear shot.. Tubes 1, 2 and 3 were fired at the targets. I decided to keep a tube loaded in case I was picked up again by an escort.. That turned out to be a wise decision as my scope had been seen by several vessels. As we wheeled around to the steady pinging of sonar, we heard two torpedoes hit their marks, the third had missed. The troop transport was destroyed.. The T3 was listing badly and on fire.. My immediate concern was the escort beginning it's run on me. It was still 45 degrees off my stern and there was no way to fire off an eel in time. It just wouldn't have the room to arm.. All ahead flank, a double knuckle to port and decoys kept me from getting battered too much.. I was down to 78% hull and most of my superstructure and guns were yellow. At least I still had my scope & hydrophones.. Slowing to 1/3, I started to slip away. Stern tubes were both loaded and I still had my bow tube ready.. The escort that had just completed it's run was busy pinging behind me.. Just as well, since it couldn't hear my torpedo coming at it.. TORPED IMPACT!!! ENEMY DESTROYED!! There wasn't much cheering this time as that escort had drawn blood. Another one down..
The other escorts were busy firing starshells and adding to the confusion, so I had time to lock in on the other troop transport and a T2. One torpedo at each and the T2 went up in a ball of flames while the Troop ship started listing heavily and came to a stop.. As I was turning around to bring a stern tube to bear on the transport, a Victory Cargo decided to ram me. Major damage to the watch tower, forward gun and flak 3 was destroyed.. After recovering from the shock and getting back up to periscope depth, I sent a stern eel at the offending liberty (Now 300 meters away) and the other stern at the Troop Transport.. Both were hits, but the Liberty was only crippled and not sunk.. The transport quickly slid under.. I decided to try and slip out of the convoy, surface at distance, repair damage and reload my eels, but two escorts had other plans for me. Since my stern tubes were empty, I had to take them head on.. With my scope up and taking damage, I fired at the closest escort and dove.. I thought the torp would miss him, but it passed under the stern and lit off the racks of depthcharges. Secondary explosions sealed that fate.. I corrected my course to avoid the sinking hulk and still exploding depth charges.. I met the other closing escort the same way, but just as I got the eel off, a ring of depth charges was tossed around me.. MEN DOWN ON DECK!!!!!
My world was exploding around me, damage reports were coming in as my ears still rang.. I had wounded and dead men in various compartments. The dead were stacked in the diesel room and the wounded were with the medic in aft berthing. I hated to take the medic off the damage control team, but I needed healthy sailors more.. Another explosion shook the boat, but it was from the torpedo impact on the escort. By now my torpedomen were exhausted as the damage control team, but I had to keep them all on station since there were no reliefs. My weapons officer had to supervise the bow reloading as the compartment efficiency had dropped dangerously low... Since the stern internal stores were depleted, I had that crew join the damage control team and control the flooding.. How they kept us from sinking past 100 meters, I don't know.. But between the loading, repairs and pumps, we were heard for kilometers. I had to get back to periscope depth!!!
The hull was down to 40% integrity; all flak guns were destroyed and the forward gun and watch tower were in serious trouble.. Luckily we still had our scopes and the batteries were intact.. That was the end of the good news as the other escorts had our trail..
One tactic that had worked for us before was to surface at an incoming destroyer and get a few rounds off the deck gun before we had to either dive or change course.. As we were coming about and approaching periscope depth, I considered trying this again... A shout of "TORPEDO TUBE 2 READY" broke my concentration and we lined up for another 'down the throat shot'. As the escort closed in on us and was only 300 meters out, the scope broke the surface and I was able to get a brief lock on before firing the eel.. Dropped the scope, ordered a starboard knuckle and hoped for the best.. This escort skipper never saw the electric eel coming and it took the entire bow out. I had to order full starboard rudder, back emergency full so that our bow would swing away from the closing wreck.. We still collided, but the damage was negligible at this point.. I needed more torpedoes loaded!!!
A quick scan of the attack chart showed a clear lane to the back of the convoy. I ordered silent running and forced the crew into their racks. Better to catch some rest instead of hanging around the torpedo room. Flooding had been stopped and all internal repairs had been completed.. Within 2 hours, we were well astern of the convoy and two remaining escorts.. We surfaced in the night air, changed course to shadow the convoy and began uncovering out external torpedo stores.. Hopefully the air patrols won't pick us up as our flaks had been destroyed . Hull integritry was down to 20% and I had 4 dead crewmen. As the batteries charged and remaining torpedoes were sent below, we were finally able to send a contact report.. The convoy was only going 5 kts, so it was not a problem keeping up with them. Several hours later, all the eels were below deck, repairs completed on what was still salvageable and we turned our attention on the convoy..
The plan was to approach from the rear, pass them on a flank and get in a position ahead of them to fire the tubes. The Navigator had just finished plotting our course, when we were detected by the two remaining escorts.. This time we let them close on our position and sent 2 fish to greet them. One hit with secondary explosions and one clean miss.. Afraid of going too deep, I ordered ahead flank, raised the snorkle (aka target) and turned away from it.. For some reason, the corvette did not pursue me, but began dropping depthcharges behind me. I still took some damage and thankfully didn't notice that I was down to 10% hull integrity. I took him out with the last shot from my stern.. Resting my stern tube crew, I surfaced & began closing on the now vunerable convoy.. At 3 KM, I began shelling the wounded cargos. They returned sporatic fire and I took 1 round to my bow. HI now at 4%. Between my AP and HE, I sank 2 crippled cargos and a T2. I had 3 bow fish remaining and rushed around the decimated convoy in broad daylight at flank speed.. I kept a 5KM distance from them and secured from charging my batteries to get every ounce of speed.. I had to get in front of them before reinforcements arrived.. Sent off another status report and was surprised to see that I was credited with over 80K tons.. I soon left the convoy behind me, turned South & slipped under the waves.. Worried about the low hull integrity, I winced at the hull noises as we approached periscope depth. Before long, the convoy was approaching and I picked out the best targets.. I decided on a T3, T2 and a C3.. The T2 was destroyed with one eel, but I had to spend my remaining fish on the T3.. It was anti-climatic after the running battle I had with the escorts.. Out of fish & down to 8 star shells, I headed back to Bergen. Diesel was below 50% and the sight of the dead bodies in the stern torpedo room haunted me.. I still had letters to write to their Mothers. Tell them they died bravely and for the Fatherland. With no chance of reaching my patrol grid and probably not reaching Bergen before the end of the war, I exited and returned to Port (Warped)..
10 Aircraft..
18 Ships
101,000 tons
Lost 4 crewmen and had medals to hand out.. Nothing for me probably because of the loss of life & damage to the boat. Renown for the patrol was only 2300 but we lived to sail again..
Thanks for reading..
Herr Russ
Edited to correct spelling & speed