StarTrekMike
11-01-07, 02:51 PM
This is the second patrol for my crew, though we did not sink much tonnage last time we are regarded as equals in all the pubs and have a few stories to entertain the women and haggared old U-boat crews.
U-1701 was out to see again and it felt good, the crew was in high spirits with news on the radio about the "scourge of the U-boats"...the merchants were still trying to find out a way to deal with us and I loved it, the crew loved it even more.
We were to patrol AM23 and were familier with the route, we were sure to bag a few thousand tons on the way but I wanted to conserve my eels for the trip back, I planned on a few detours and would hunt for as long as fuel would allow.
Most of the crew kept busy with books and cards while others made all kinds of racket with song and "dance". Of coarse my officers and I try to take part in the fun as often as we can, though we have limits that we must follow...they are our crew and need to understand that we are in charge...I do enjoy a good game of cards though, and many of my books are going around the boat.
One week later...
Fresh food is running very low, most of the bread has mold on it and the remaining meat had to be tossed overboard to preserve the health of the crew...and the crew is getting very tired of the boredom, they are quiet now and many of my men have expressed anger over the lack of merchants...some of the bold ones even want to see a destroyer.
We are almost to our destination and not a single merchant has been seen or heard, we took it very slow to get here and dived to use the hydrophone as much as we could...but to no avail.
Five Days later...
Contact, merchant.
I have waited for these words for a long time and quickly came to the bridge and the calm sea. The merchant was a medium sized one, moving slow and has not spotted us yet.
I order my helm officer to dive after we get into position abeam of him but not close enough to be noticed, it was daytime and alarming Tommy to early would have him weaving about like a scared animal...this has to go right for the crews sake.
"ready tubes one and two." I order and feel the boat move slightly with the added weight in the front,
I take a breath and check my binoculars again. "dive to periscope depth and rig silent!"
The crew responds with a mix of joy and worry...we are after all, attacking a single ship in broad daylight and a destroyer is sure to be on the way...they will be to slow to save this one.
The merchant inches slowly to the correct bearing as I call out it's changes to the weapons officer. "set the eels to run fast...this one can't get away!"
"fire!"
I pull out my stopwatch and wait for a agonizing thirty seconds, the crew is sweating and breathless...waiting for the big payoff.
"Torpedo impacts!" my officer yells from the hydrophone. "she is going down!"
A hail of cheers ring out around the boat as we surface and continue with our grand hunt.
Two Weeks later...
We have hunted and sank several tramp steamers and a armed trawler, we have a only the eels in our tubes left and more than a hundred deck gun shells. I order the men to head back home in a lazy way in hopes of finding another big one to finish the patrol with.
It takes awhile to get back out of english waters but the crew and I know that english merchants are still possible and we keep our watch on guard with a keen eye.
"Large Merchant!...Large one!"
I run up the ladder and look at the boat off in the distance...it was indeed a big one, I check the UZO and make out a red flag...same as english merchants!.
"Ready tubes two and four...set to maximum distance!"
I don't want this boat to see me and I am to excited to close the distance.
"Fire!"
The pair of torpedoes head away for the enemy and make contact...we head full speed to inspect the ship and revel in our last kill.
Then I see the flag from a closer view, the bright red with a swastika in the middle.
"what have we done!...what the hell have we done!"
The rest of the trip was sorrowfull...we saved who we could and dispatched a message to BDU about the tragic mistake...they tell us to return to base.
We will see if I keep my command after this incident.
Micheal Holmes
(U-1701)
U-1701 was out to see again and it felt good, the crew was in high spirits with news on the radio about the "scourge of the U-boats"...the merchants were still trying to find out a way to deal with us and I loved it, the crew loved it even more.
We were to patrol AM23 and were familier with the route, we were sure to bag a few thousand tons on the way but I wanted to conserve my eels for the trip back, I planned on a few detours and would hunt for as long as fuel would allow.
Most of the crew kept busy with books and cards while others made all kinds of racket with song and "dance". Of coarse my officers and I try to take part in the fun as often as we can, though we have limits that we must follow...they are our crew and need to understand that we are in charge...I do enjoy a good game of cards though, and many of my books are going around the boat.
One week later...
Fresh food is running very low, most of the bread has mold on it and the remaining meat had to be tossed overboard to preserve the health of the crew...and the crew is getting very tired of the boredom, they are quiet now and many of my men have expressed anger over the lack of merchants...some of the bold ones even want to see a destroyer.
We are almost to our destination and not a single merchant has been seen or heard, we took it very slow to get here and dived to use the hydrophone as much as we could...but to no avail.
Five Days later...
Contact, merchant.
I have waited for these words for a long time and quickly came to the bridge and the calm sea. The merchant was a medium sized one, moving slow and has not spotted us yet.
I order my helm officer to dive after we get into position abeam of him but not close enough to be noticed, it was daytime and alarming Tommy to early would have him weaving about like a scared animal...this has to go right for the crews sake.
"ready tubes one and two." I order and feel the boat move slightly with the added weight in the front,
I take a breath and check my binoculars again. "dive to periscope depth and rig silent!"
The crew responds with a mix of joy and worry...we are after all, attacking a single ship in broad daylight and a destroyer is sure to be on the way...they will be to slow to save this one.
The merchant inches slowly to the correct bearing as I call out it's changes to the weapons officer. "set the eels to run fast...this one can't get away!"
"fire!"
I pull out my stopwatch and wait for a agonizing thirty seconds, the crew is sweating and breathless...waiting for the big payoff.
"Torpedo impacts!" my officer yells from the hydrophone. "she is going down!"
A hail of cheers ring out around the boat as we surface and continue with our grand hunt.
Two Weeks later...
We have hunted and sank several tramp steamers and a armed trawler, we have a only the eels in our tubes left and more than a hundred deck gun shells. I order the men to head back home in a lazy way in hopes of finding another big one to finish the patrol with.
It takes awhile to get back out of english waters but the crew and I know that english merchants are still possible and we keep our watch on guard with a keen eye.
"Large Merchant!...Large one!"
I run up the ladder and look at the boat off in the distance...it was indeed a big one, I check the UZO and make out a red flag...same as english merchants!.
"Ready tubes two and four...set to maximum distance!"
I don't want this boat to see me and I am to excited to close the distance.
"Fire!"
The pair of torpedoes head away for the enemy and make contact...we head full speed to inspect the ship and revel in our last kill.
Then I see the flag from a closer view, the bright red with a swastika in the middle.
"what have we done!...what the hell have we done!"
The rest of the trip was sorrowfull...we saved who we could and dispatched a message to BDU about the tragic mistake...they tell us to return to base.
We will see if I keep my command after this incident.
Micheal Holmes
(U-1701)