Kaptain Hans Wolf
02-09-08, 08:58 AM
hi again fellow kaptains. patrol number 6 started well, we left port and headed for our patrol grid off the coast of norway. we arrived, hung around for a couple of days and never found a single contact.
thriving for action, i decided to pop in on scapa flow. easier said then done, but with the amount of contacts we were getting we needed an adreniline rush.
we entered scapa flow quite easily through the western channel. inside scapa flow, we found our first contact, a moored auxilary cruiser. we sunk her with two torpedo's from the front tube, and 1 from the rear tube. we then got another stationary contact, which turned out to be another auxilary cruiser. she went down with two torpedo's. we re-loaded all of our tubes and set off to the main port area of scapa flow, were we encountered the big one, the fleet carrier ilustrious, stationary, right in front of us. with the destroyers closing in we had to take quick action, and we did by shooting 3 torpedo's at the carrier. after this salvo, the illustrious was still afloat, so we finished her off with a final torpedo.
now the destroyers were really after us. we set to exit scapa flow the same way we came in, but we had multiple destroyer contacts on the hydrophone. we sustained damage from a depth charge run, and then another, and another. the boat was flooding fast. we managed to keep her going, but barely, another depth charge run and we would have been dead.
thankfully it did not come, we slipped away silently as the destroyers depth charged all the wrong places. by the time we escaped scapa flow, our hull was badly damaged, so we decided to head for home port, on the way sinking a small coastel merchant vessel.
a great patrol, the best so far for the U-45, with 53,490 tons of enemy shipping sunk. the crews morale is sky high, and mine is too after recieving the iron cross with oak leaves. it seems the laughing swordfish brought us much needed luck, and we will see how well she does on her next patrol. for now though, its drinks all round. whos buying?
thriving for action, i decided to pop in on scapa flow. easier said then done, but with the amount of contacts we were getting we needed an adreniline rush.
we entered scapa flow quite easily through the western channel. inside scapa flow, we found our first contact, a moored auxilary cruiser. we sunk her with two torpedo's from the front tube, and 1 from the rear tube. we then got another stationary contact, which turned out to be another auxilary cruiser. she went down with two torpedo's. we re-loaded all of our tubes and set off to the main port area of scapa flow, were we encountered the big one, the fleet carrier ilustrious, stationary, right in front of us. with the destroyers closing in we had to take quick action, and we did by shooting 3 torpedo's at the carrier. after this salvo, the illustrious was still afloat, so we finished her off with a final torpedo.
now the destroyers were really after us. we set to exit scapa flow the same way we came in, but we had multiple destroyer contacts on the hydrophone. we sustained damage from a depth charge run, and then another, and another. the boat was flooding fast. we managed to keep her going, but barely, another depth charge run and we would have been dead.
thankfully it did not come, we slipped away silently as the destroyers depth charged all the wrong places. by the time we escaped scapa flow, our hull was badly damaged, so we decided to head for home port, on the way sinking a small coastel merchant vessel.
a great patrol, the best so far for the U-45, with 53,490 tons of enemy shipping sunk. the crews morale is sky high, and mine is too after recieving the iron cross with oak leaves. it seems the laughing swordfish brought us much needed luck, and we will see how well she does on her next patrol. for now though, its drinks all round. whos buying?