GoldenRivet
02-04-08, 06:44 PM
Part I http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=130308
Part II http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=130330
Part III http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=130343
Petty officer poscher and Ebby were first down the hatch. I leapt down into the conning tower and slammed the hatch cover and began to secure it. Inside the boat was chaos in its most pure form. The Alarm bell did little to alleviate my throbbing headache.
On the other side of the hatch i heard several shells screaming overhead. It was as if the u-boat was trying to dive away from a horde of screaming demon banches trying to gain entrance.
I jumped down into the control room stabilizing myself by grabbing hold of Karl.
"Take us down! 70 meters! quick Johann!" i shouted
I spun to my right and immediately began to raise the observation scope. I could clearly see the destroyer as his spotlights turned toward our boat. Every gun the escort had to bear was trained directly at us. The bow of the destroyer began to build up a frothy wake ahead of it which grew larger and larger by the second like a mad dog foaming at the muzzle.
The cross hairs on the observation scope were pointed directly down his forward turret barrel as the lense slid beneath the surface and went dark. I slammed the handles of the scope shut in anger. How could i have been so stupid?! there were rumors of a new band of radar. Perhaps this phantom was using it? The energy i had directed at my inwardly focused anger had to be channeled into getting us out of this tight situation.
As the scope showed completely lowered the pinging we had grown all to familiar with had once again started. the intervals were short, and the destroyer was closing fast.
as the boat became level at 70 meters Johann looked at me as if I were missing something. His look caught my attention.
"Deeper sir?!" he asked
I couldnt help but think of Captain Ahab and his self destructive persuit of the white whale. Even though i only spent a fraction of a second considering my Ahabesque attitude regarding this phantom destroyer im sure it seemed like an eternity to the crew. I could almost not even hear the Pinging as it pounded our hull with such frequency that the destroyer simply had to be directly over the top of us by now.
"No." i said sternly "Come left to course 250 degrees, maintain your depth, maintain ahead flank."
"sir?" enquired Johann
"Johann!" i shouted
PINGthump PINGthump PINGthump PINGthump
he turned to the planesmen, i could see the death grip he had on their shoulders, shurely they felt the pain and tension in the hold he had on them.
"level the boat at seventy meters" he said as his voice cracked "come left to 250 degrees, maintain ahead flank."
"Splashes sir!" Ernst announced "dozens of splashes!"
the boat fell silent, the only sound was the Humming of the electric motors and the rapidly fading Rumble of the destroyer.
SwishSwishSwishSwishSwish
The pounding in the chest of every man on board sounded off like a clock ticking down to the moment of doom.
Thawoooomp -POW!
one depth charge exploded barely rocking the boat
Thawoooomp -POW! Thawoooomp -POW!
two more... the blast growing slightly stronger.
Thawoooomp -POW!
an additional blast as the boat began to vibrate. Dishes fell and shattered, the lights flickered.
"He set them too shallow!" said Johann
no sooner could the words escape his lips when the boat was surrounded by a sound i have never heard before... and only one time since. A great deep rumbling noise which can only be compared to the devil's war cry, accented by loud and deep percussive pops shook the boat to the last rivet. it was as if a great juggernaut battleship had submerged along side us and fired all of his guns at point blank range onto our hull. This time i was holding onto the pole. The men were screaming in terror as the dive planes jammed to full dive and the boat took on an agressive dive angle. The sounds of the explosions outside still ringing off our hull and echoing in the vast ocean all around us.
"Hard to starboard!" i shouted over the salt spray in my face "get those planes under control johann!"
The planesmen called on all the strength their arms could collect as they heaved the control wheels to counter the dive.
"flooding in the forward quarters" a voice shouted from the bow.
"Periscope depth! Blow some ballast if you have to!" I ordered "Walter... put a damage control team together and see what you can do with the forward quarters, hurry!"
Ernst continously provided me updates on the destroyer. After making his previous depth charge attack he made a wide circle to starboard to come back at us.
I raised the observation scope and pointed it to a 180 bearing which revealed the Phantom destroyer racing directly toward us.
"Karl!" have tube five ready!" i said
The destroyer started to ping us with 2 second intervals.
"Karl..." i said growing impatient
precious seconds ticked by as the destroyer spotlighted the periscope. To my horror our stern was beginning to rise out of the water. We were bow heavy due to the flooding, if the deck angle became too steep we would probably be unable to fire our Falk... the only hope we had of sinking our tormenter. The destroyer began firing overhead no doubt trying to score a hit on our exposed ass end.
"Tube five flooded and ready for firing sir!" Karl exclaimed
"Set bearing to 180 degrees, range 1500 meters, zero Angles and speeds and shoot when able!" i exclaimed
with a hiss, the aft torepedo fired, leaping skyward into the air from the raised torpedo tube. The torpedo arched into the air splashing into the sea behind us like a massive deadly swordfish figthing the hook.
"Take us down!" i exclaimed
Johann responded with cool precision and accounted for the bow heavy, water soaked boat.
The destroyer began to zig zag as he approached us. We continued our starboard turn, gradually gaining depth. I leaned into the hatch and looked at Ernst who was trying his best to listen for the torpedo amidst the clammering of repair work in the next compartment.
"Torpedo running straight and normal sir." Ersnt said over the noise "It appears to be turning away from the destroyer... headed away from him to starboard."
A chill ran down my spine. With a crippled boat, and only one real shot at an attack we were left with two options. Try to evade this destroyer yet again, or scuttle the boat, I didnt care for either choice. we were clearing 70 meters as i began to consider conferring with my officers, the familiar pinging began anew.
PING PING PING
The intensity of the high pitched pings grew louder and louder and more frequent with every passing second. eventually we heard the thumping sound against our hull as the pings echoed agaisnt the skin of the boat. A look of resignation was seen on every face on the boat. and they were all looking at me... their mighty kaleun.
"Kaleun Ahab." i muttered
PINGthump PINGthump PINGthumpPINGthump
as Johann gazed at me as if to forgive me... as if to indicate that i had done my best to lead the boat to safety... we once again heard the deep rumbling sound, the sound that can only be compared to the devil's war cry, the sound i have heard now twice in my life and it was coming from almost directly above us.
The pinging suddenly ended.
"Kaleun Ahab be damed!" Johann shouted at the top of his lungs "You are the great white whale!!!"
The crew erupted into cheers of pure elation. every man aboard, myself included, felt like a prisoner facing the firing squad only to be pardoned at the last second!
Our Falke had found its mark, the Phantom was destroyed.
as we approached periscope depth i could see through the scope a great blazing fire spread out across the surface of the ocean. In the middle of the flames, the bow of the destroyer pointed direclty skyward as the Phantom slowly slipped into the sea and out of view.
our struggle was over, it was time to go home.
We limped into the port of Brest a few days later, beaten and battered and bloodied, but still victorious. The patrol was worth only a thousand tons, and we claimed only one ship.
but as a crew... it was the proudest patrol of our career.
THE END
Part II http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=130330
Part III http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=130343
Petty officer poscher and Ebby were first down the hatch. I leapt down into the conning tower and slammed the hatch cover and began to secure it. Inside the boat was chaos in its most pure form. The Alarm bell did little to alleviate my throbbing headache.
On the other side of the hatch i heard several shells screaming overhead. It was as if the u-boat was trying to dive away from a horde of screaming demon banches trying to gain entrance.
I jumped down into the control room stabilizing myself by grabbing hold of Karl.
"Take us down! 70 meters! quick Johann!" i shouted
I spun to my right and immediately began to raise the observation scope. I could clearly see the destroyer as his spotlights turned toward our boat. Every gun the escort had to bear was trained directly at us. The bow of the destroyer began to build up a frothy wake ahead of it which grew larger and larger by the second like a mad dog foaming at the muzzle.
The cross hairs on the observation scope were pointed directly down his forward turret barrel as the lense slid beneath the surface and went dark. I slammed the handles of the scope shut in anger. How could i have been so stupid?! there were rumors of a new band of radar. Perhaps this phantom was using it? The energy i had directed at my inwardly focused anger had to be channeled into getting us out of this tight situation.
As the scope showed completely lowered the pinging we had grown all to familiar with had once again started. the intervals were short, and the destroyer was closing fast.
as the boat became level at 70 meters Johann looked at me as if I were missing something. His look caught my attention.
"Deeper sir?!" he asked
I couldnt help but think of Captain Ahab and his self destructive persuit of the white whale. Even though i only spent a fraction of a second considering my Ahabesque attitude regarding this phantom destroyer im sure it seemed like an eternity to the crew. I could almost not even hear the Pinging as it pounded our hull with such frequency that the destroyer simply had to be directly over the top of us by now.
"No." i said sternly "Come left to course 250 degrees, maintain your depth, maintain ahead flank."
"sir?" enquired Johann
"Johann!" i shouted
PINGthump PINGthump PINGthump PINGthump
he turned to the planesmen, i could see the death grip he had on their shoulders, shurely they felt the pain and tension in the hold he had on them.
"level the boat at seventy meters" he said as his voice cracked "come left to 250 degrees, maintain ahead flank."
"Splashes sir!" Ernst announced "dozens of splashes!"
the boat fell silent, the only sound was the Humming of the electric motors and the rapidly fading Rumble of the destroyer.
SwishSwishSwishSwishSwish
The pounding in the chest of every man on board sounded off like a clock ticking down to the moment of doom.
Thawoooomp -POW!
one depth charge exploded barely rocking the boat
Thawoooomp -POW! Thawoooomp -POW!
two more... the blast growing slightly stronger.
Thawoooomp -POW!
an additional blast as the boat began to vibrate. Dishes fell and shattered, the lights flickered.
"He set them too shallow!" said Johann
no sooner could the words escape his lips when the boat was surrounded by a sound i have never heard before... and only one time since. A great deep rumbling noise which can only be compared to the devil's war cry, accented by loud and deep percussive pops shook the boat to the last rivet. it was as if a great juggernaut battleship had submerged along side us and fired all of his guns at point blank range onto our hull. This time i was holding onto the pole. The men were screaming in terror as the dive planes jammed to full dive and the boat took on an agressive dive angle. The sounds of the explosions outside still ringing off our hull and echoing in the vast ocean all around us.
"Hard to starboard!" i shouted over the salt spray in my face "get those planes under control johann!"
The planesmen called on all the strength their arms could collect as they heaved the control wheels to counter the dive.
"flooding in the forward quarters" a voice shouted from the bow.
"Periscope depth! Blow some ballast if you have to!" I ordered "Walter... put a damage control team together and see what you can do with the forward quarters, hurry!"
Ernst continously provided me updates on the destroyer. After making his previous depth charge attack he made a wide circle to starboard to come back at us.
I raised the observation scope and pointed it to a 180 bearing which revealed the Phantom destroyer racing directly toward us.
"Karl!" have tube five ready!" i said
The destroyer started to ping us with 2 second intervals.
"Karl..." i said growing impatient
precious seconds ticked by as the destroyer spotlighted the periscope. To my horror our stern was beginning to rise out of the water. We were bow heavy due to the flooding, if the deck angle became too steep we would probably be unable to fire our Falk... the only hope we had of sinking our tormenter. The destroyer began firing overhead no doubt trying to score a hit on our exposed ass end.
"Tube five flooded and ready for firing sir!" Karl exclaimed
"Set bearing to 180 degrees, range 1500 meters, zero Angles and speeds and shoot when able!" i exclaimed
with a hiss, the aft torepedo fired, leaping skyward into the air from the raised torpedo tube. The torpedo arched into the air splashing into the sea behind us like a massive deadly swordfish figthing the hook.
"Take us down!" i exclaimed
Johann responded with cool precision and accounted for the bow heavy, water soaked boat.
The destroyer began to zig zag as he approached us. We continued our starboard turn, gradually gaining depth. I leaned into the hatch and looked at Ernst who was trying his best to listen for the torpedo amidst the clammering of repair work in the next compartment.
"Torpedo running straight and normal sir." Ersnt said over the noise "It appears to be turning away from the destroyer... headed away from him to starboard."
A chill ran down my spine. With a crippled boat, and only one real shot at an attack we were left with two options. Try to evade this destroyer yet again, or scuttle the boat, I didnt care for either choice. we were clearing 70 meters as i began to consider conferring with my officers, the familiar pinging began anew.
PING PING PING
The intensity of the high pitched pings grew louder and louder and more frequent with every passing second. eventually we heard the thumping sound against our hull as the pings echoed agaisnt the skin of the boat. A look of resignation was seen on every face on the boat. and they were all looking at me... their mighty kaleun.
"Kaleun Ahab." i muttered
PINGthump PINGthump PINGthumpPINGthump
as Johann gazed at me as if to forgive me... as if to indicate that i had done my best to lead the boat to safety... we once again heard the deep rumbling sound, the sound that can only be compared to the devil's war cry, the sound i have heard now twice in my life and it was coming from almost directly above us.
The pinging suddenly ended.
"Kaleun Ahab be damed!" Johann shouted at the top of his lungs "You are the great white whale!!!"
The crew erupted into cheers of pure elation. every man aboard, myself included, felt like a prisoner facing the firing squad only to be pardoned at the last second!
Our Falke had found its mark, the Phantom was destroyed.
as we approached periscope depth i could see through the scope a great blazing fire spread out across the surface of the ocean. In the middle of the flames, the bow of the destroyer pointed direclty skyward as the Phantom slowly slipped into the sea and out of view.
our struggle was over, it was time to go home.
We limped into the port of Brest a few days later, beaten and battered and bloodied, but still victorious. The patrol was worth only a thousand tons, and we claimed only one ship.
but as a crew... it was the proudest patrol of our career.
THE END