View Full Version : U-27 struggle
Patrol 1
Two Spitfires came out of nowhere!
Alarm!!!
Crash dive and we can only hear bullets rumbling the deck underwater... Ha! Can't hurt us now bastards!
Our first patrol, cruel but valuable lesson not to stick out to much.
East of British coast, Aberdeen
September 1939
http://mrhadrys.com/silenthunter/patrol01.jpg
Patrol 2
After so many hours underwater we all begged for a wisp of fresh air. I climbed slowly to the bridge.
"What a lovely day, Sir" Karl made a cheerful smile like a true Brit. We all laughed except Walter who seemed to be miles away. Probably he was still thinking about Scapa Flow...
"Walter go get some sleep, we don't want to be pulling you out of that cold water soon"
Karl as our watchman and ... photographer took a picture of him. Maybe that wasn't 100% according to the regulations but what the hell. He made us a lot of nice memories and after all, that kid had a great eye!
...... but I knew Walter want be able to sleep now, maybe I shouldn't even mention that crazy idea!?
BE61,
October 1939
http://mrhadrys.com/silenthunter/patrol02.jpg
Patrol 3
"What is wrong with those torpedoes? Another dud?" I was furious now...
"Fire tube two!!!"
20 seconds and a loud explosion followed by even louder cheers of our crew. It's no time to celebrate yet. The explosion must have flooded the engine room, she stopped and leaned a bit to the portside but nothing else happened. We stood there on periscope depth 500m away. As only 2000 tons she was, not worth third torpedo but we've had some time before the sunrise...
Heinz reported "No contacts, Her Kaleun."
"Surface, man the 88!"
The merchant promptly lowered its life rafts so we gave them few minutes and opened fire. Soon she was going down pretty fast. The rescue team is probably on their way, it's not that far from Hartlepool after all...
"Henry, better get us out of here, 25 meters ahead slow. Head north".
"Good that no one has seen our 88 fireworks..." I murmured.
The sun was just about to set...
East of British coast,
December 1939
http://mrhadrys.com/silenthunter/patrol03.jpg
I've just installed GWX 1.03 and still wondering what the hell was I doing with RuB for nearly a year? This photo story will be updated hopefully, if you only find it interesting somehow, with my progress as I've started a new campaign with GWX. Special thx to Laughing Swordfish for his U-46 stories which inspired me to "get more involved" into my career. Of course my writing is far behind his but with GWX and a little bit of imagination it really is quite an experience. Also big thx to GWX guys, this is awesome piece of work!!!
Best regards!
Nice pics and quite an introduction youve given your self, :D
Possibly one of the best first posts ever :up:
Welcome to sub sim mate.
Foghladh_mhara
06-10-07, 07:03 PM
Welcome indeed :D
P.S. I'd also give your bridge crew a smack on the ear cos that Spitfire is a Hurricane. Next thing you know they'll be waving at Wellingtons thinking they're Condors :D
Webchessie
06-10-07, 07:20 PM
Welcome! Great post and pics!
Patrol 3
We're stuck at 70 meters with only 10 below keel... this is how it ends if you want that 5000 tons cargo too much in the damned British rain with fog, dud torpedoes and stay too long on the surface. Corvette (?) jumped on our back just 300 meters behind with full fire... electrical engines and rudders damaged hard, going down with flooded tanks and engine rooms... hopefully Chief can perform another miracle!?
"Henry? Will the Atlantic Wolf make it home?"
Wow, thx for the warm welcome. As to that "Spirfire" - I was standing next to a real one and even had an opportunity to sit in it but I was more interested in German WWII airplane turbocharged engines... beauty! :D
Hadrys, welcome aboard this nest of ruffians! Your writing is good, stay out of shallow water and keep writing.:up:
Indiana_Jones
06-10-07, 08:02 PM
Good God man! how does patrol 3 end!....the suspense is too much!
Well kinda, I'm just in the office being bored lol.
Welcome btw :up: I'm new myself to subsim and SH3
-Indy
Finally Henry came back from his kingdom, although he looked very tired he grinned:
"All flooding stopped, electrical engines functional, aft batteries require some wiring but we have 60% of power Herr Kaleun!"
"Ahead slow, let's try to get closer to that merchant..."
The merchant was struck by their own destroyer when the first salvo went above us. It took some time before we figured out what was happening but the direct hit on U-27 was enough proof to crash dive!
We managed to get closer to her. She was doing barely 2 knots but that was enough noise for a perfect hideout.
Heinz reported: "Destroyer heading north at high speed!!"
Probably it wasn't a proper ASW because they dropped only 8 bombs even not near us. Now it was payback time! We maneuvered for a clean shot...
Somehow Henry turned out to be a real wizard! He fixed both diesels and we even managed to sink another medium cargo! The hull vibration caused by the damaged screw, tired crew with not the best morale and Decembers stormy weather made my mind.
"Walter, take us home for X-mass."
"Ja wohl Herr Kaleun!" he grinned.
bigboywooly
06-10-07, 11:28 PM
Welcome aboard Hadrys
Nice screenshots and story
Enjoy your stay here :up:
Canovaro
06-11-07, 03:36 AM
Welcome!
Nice screens!
:arrgh!:
Jimbuna
06-11-07, 04:55 AM
Welcome aboard kaleun Hadrys :arrgh!:
One helluva introduction :rock: :up:
SmokinTep
06-11-07, 06:52 AM
Nice post and pics.....:up:
Patrol 4
4 February 1940
It took nearly over month to get our boat fixed. When we got back to the shipyard guys just couldn't believe it! The hull was a complete mess! I wonder how we made it in one piece!? Henry was a genius and that DD kicked our ass hard.
We were heading to the full ocean, around the islands. With full load of TII torpedoes on board (which we hoped to be more reliable) and loads of strong will to sink some bastards! We were invincible! Even the see was flat with a light, cold breeze from the north. What could possibly go wrong??
Hainz was holding his earphones with one hand while quickly taking notes with we other one.
"Large convoy reported Her Kaleun! Heading NNW, 7 knots!"
Walter took some calculation, we turned 250 km south to the British coast making 13 knots on the interception course. After 12 hours we've had it! 16 small merchants in 2 columns with just 2 DDs only! The luck is on our side once again. The adrenaline was pumping.
Perfect! The sun was just to get off the horizon, we leaped ahead of the convoy at full flank and peacefully took our position. Let the blood bath begin! All tubes flooded, depth 15 meters, all stop, silence! This was too easy, convoy was just 500m in front of us! One torpedo missed, 3 merchants went down. The escorts didn't take much effort in finding us sitting still in place and shooting to sitting ducks... not for long. Finally the lights went up, flares turned night into day. We ducked under the convoy and got ourselves on the other side. Quick shot from the aft tube but it didn't do much to that C2 which we've just spotted.
Dive to 50m, all stop. They couldn't find us dropping bombs not even close to us! Than it happened. Hainz shouted from his cabin "Wasserbomben!!!".
"Full ahead flank, left full rudder"
We've heard a bomb bouncing off our deck! Long seconds passed and a loud explosion pushed us few meters up but now damage reported! Close one, too close...
It didn't take long. The enemy was furious, dropping bombs everywhere. First explosion kicked us like a soccer ball, engines and aft batteries flooding, lights went off, people where shouting but Henry was already in place with his entrusted damage handling team. Only when normal power was restored and most flooding stopped another explosion ripped a hole in the torpedo room. Heavy flooding, we were def, blind and going down fast. We hit the bottom at 80 meters and stayed there for 4 long hours in complete silence. Finally the last DD was gone, probably proud of their success, we started to pump out the water and slowly begun to rise.
We were home just 10 days after we left. With only 4 merchants sunk for 8000BRT but we made it in one piece once again... with our wolfs nose nearly below the water level.
http://mrhadrys.com/silenthunter/patrol04.jpg
Finally I've turned off the Gods eye mode, no contacts on the map, the GWX realism is killing me... literally.
PS These were supposed to be short stories with just most interesting parts of my patrols but there is so much happening!!
CapZap1970
06-11-07, 09:51 AM
Very nice stories!!!!! :up:
I like very much the B/W pictures touch.
Congrats.
CapZap
Growler
06-11-07, 11:02 AM
It seems we are graced with the presence of both storyteller and artist!
Very cleverly done, and well assembled, Hadrys!
Excellent job!
It seems we are graced with the presence of both storyteller and artist!
Very cleverly done, and well assembled, Hadrys!
Excellent job!
I'm very pleased with your warm welcome guys, couldn't expect anything better! You're far too kind! I must admit that this is either a good fun (thx to you willing to read all this) and hard learning cause I try to make my English more fluent and expressive as it's far from my native language and I'm mostly into narrow technical/economical stuff.
Welcome to Subsim! Really nice screenies, mate!!:up::up::rock:
Patrol 5
U-27 was carelessly cutting cold waves of North Sea. We were going around the Shetland Islands, hoping for some action. Morale was dropping fast after wasting few days monitoring Norwegian coastal shipping - to be exact Norwegian Floating Theme Parks as we were calling those big merchants with just every possible light turned on...
"Insane..." whenever I recall that view.
The weather was not that bad, 15 m/s wind but the ocean was not trying its best to wipe us off the tower and God thank you, it wasn't raining again!!
"Chief, take us to 25 meters, make turns for 1 knot and see what our cook can prepare for us today..."
Hainz gave a signal with his hand to hold on. "Her Kaleun! Convoy report!"
The same grid as our last encounter, we glanced at each others faces.
"Not the best sector to be remembered Her Kaleun" noded Herman. His usual grin was already coming back "but now we can show them whose the real wolf!!".
"Plot new course Walter, we're gonna bite those little sheeps hard... Full ahead flank!"
Heavy overcast and heavy see state, perfect conditions for hiding U-27 but not that good for our torps. Walter placed us exactly in front of convoy. Actually he made it too good because we found ourselves between two columns but it was too late.
We fired all 5 eels, 2 merchants were sinking, about 2500BRT each. 2 DDs were coming closer so we put her on the bottom behind the convoy and reloaded. We found out that there were 3 DDs not 2 and on the surface there was a true hell. Ships scattered all over the place in panic.
Surface, full ahead flank, no need to charge the batteries. 16 knots and preparing for a second approach. Now we can hunt down that 5000BRT. She goes down with a spectacular 'bang' after 2 torp impacts. Another 2 small ships go down also. Again 3 DDs try their best but we're far away from the convoy now. They say you never enter the same river twice...
We're back with our wolf intact, not a scratch! A miracle or maybe this is called experience?
On the next day Donitz after congratulations, my full report and a glass of Scotch (!) introduced me the score board. I didn't know what to say, I was breathless...
"Listen up men, I've got some important news from the admiral. We are ordered to celebrate today till down!" My crew looked at me like I was a ghost or something.
"But Her Kaleun, can you be more specific about those orders?" Finally chif put together few words.
"Yes, I can. We are behind Herbert Schultze with 110 000BRT on his account. We are SECOND with 80 000BRT!"
http://mrhadrys.com/silenthunter/patrol05.jpg
Great stuff and Wilkommen Herr Kaleun!
Gute Jagd!
Kpt. Lehmann
06-11-07, 10:11 PM
Very cool screenies mate!
Glad you are enjoying yourself.:arrgh!:
Jimbuna
06-12-07, 03:54 AM
A really cool read and even cooler screenies :rock: :up:
A really cool read and even cooler screenies :rock: :up:
Just thinking about going deeper into my crew not just bare patrols but we'll see.
BTW aren't those screens too dark (like they're supposed to be dark)? They look damn cute on my widescreen but not that good on my portable thought...
This is the best gamming community ever. Thanks for the post! and story.
Jimbuna
06-12-07, 04:40 AM
A really cool read and even cooler screenies :rock: :up:
Just thinking about going deeper into my crew not just bare patrols but we'll see.
BTW aren't those screens too dark (like they're supposed to be dark)? They look damn cute on my widescreen but not that good on my portable thought...
They look fine on my work monitor (17" flatscreen) :yep:
At home (22" widescreen) they're really cool :rock:
Kpt. Lehmann
06-12-07, 04:56 AM
...At home (22" widescreen) they're really cool :rock:
:p :p :p
Ya lucky git! :stare: ;)
Who was it that was running GWX on a DLP projector not too long ago?
*Nevermind... didn't mean to hijack.
Jimbuna
06-12-07, 06:24 AM
...At home (22" widescreen) they're really cool :rock:
:p :p :p
Ya lucky git! :stare: ;)
Who was it that was running GWX on a DLP projector not too long ago?
*Nevermind... didn't mean to hijack.
Well it certainly wasn't me :nope: COB doesn't pay that good a wage :lol:
Our Atlantic Wolf was peacefully resting in the docs, preparing for its next assignment.
Karl (our watchman/photographer) produced me his recent piece of work. I don't know how that kid does that, the tension in control room was so huge that I even didn't noticed him taking that photo...
http://mrhadrys.com/silenthunter/patrol06.jpg
Patrol 7
Magnetic torpedo exploded under the keel. DD jumped of the water just before fireworks begun. Countless exploding rounds in ammunition bunker completely annihilated rear gun turret and bow. Three unnaturally peaceful seconds, another explosion and I could see the stern falling into the boiling sea at 45° angle. Those sailors didn't suffer, they even weren't conscious what happened.
http://mrhadrys.com/silenthunter/patrol07.jpg
Patrol 8
We took additional load of blankets and warm clothes. This was our first arctic patrol.
Luftwaffe reported a convoy just west of Reykjavik, Walter with his unbelievable sixth sense managed to put us right in front of the convoy! There it was, big fat ships, 4 long columns on ever sunny arctic horizon.
One after another eels hit their targets precisely and deadly like bullets. Every torpedo loaded just few seconds before, was already in the water to meet its destiny. Crazy ride, in the middle of the convoy they just couldn't find us!
When the massacre was over, we slipped south silently without a single depth charge...
Two 10000 passenger ships full of troops and two heavy 15000 tankers went down. In Lorient, our new base, was waiting the Ritterkreuz and promotion for Kapitanleutnant.
http://mrhadrys.com/silenthunter/patrol08.jpg
PS port raids are just so stupid, in patrol 7 i was traveling through Pentland Firth and decided to visit Scapa. DDs with active sonar were going down one after another, finally I left them behind and peacefully sunk Fiji cruiser, troop transporter and medium tanker. Run away east of Scapa through this small passage.
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