Brag
06-12-08, 05:28 PM
Lt. Kalb writes:
04 January 1940
Still 500 kilometres short of our patrol area west of the Rockal Bank we sat in the mess. Balz was showing us the tea cozy his mother gave him for Christmas.
"First you brew the tea, then you put the tea cozy over the teapot and that will keep the tea hot. Got it everyone?"
"You put the tea in the cozy and pour it on the pot," Bernard said.
"No, you idiot." Balz removed the tea cozy and began flogging Bernard with it.
I left the mess and went on the bridge a few minutes early for my watch.
A moderate sea was running under a diamond studded sky and U-45 moved easily at a comfortable 8 knots. It is a pleasure to sail under such conditions. I made myself comfortable leaning on the periscope housing.
Something caught my attention. I scanned with my glasses. The faint outline of a bow wave shimmered under the stars.
"Destroyer," I said, "Clear the deck. Periscope depth."
Below, in the galley, Bernard had Balz's white cap and was dipping it in a bowl of coffee.
Balz asked me, "What's going on?"
"Destroyer, maybe two, fifteen degrees off the starboard bow. Three thousand meters max."
"Silent running, up periscope. Bernard, where is my cap?"
Bernard brought Balz's cap half full of coffee.
"You nitwit. I asked for my cap not for coffee." Balz peered into the periscope eye piece. Water dripped on his head. "Verdamnt, this drip will drive me crazy."
Bernard said, "Wear the tea cozy."
"New heading three six zero, speed two knots. Prepare solution, we're attacking. Ready tubes one through four."
Bernard placed the tea cozy on Balz's head.
"Bring the choir in so they can hum while I sink British cruisers. That will be very hoochie woochie."
It took Moenster five minutes to work out the solutions.
"Einz, zwei, hoochie woochie. Feur einz."
Balz flipped the periscope. "Feur, Zwei."
He repeated the operation with tubes 3 and 4.
One torpedo exploded prematurely.
"That's a failed boom-boom," Balz growled.
A minute later we heard a good, healty detonation.
"Good hit on the first cruiser," Balz said.
The second cruiser got hit on the bow. One of the torpedoes missed completely.
"Both will sink shortly," Balz announced. "This is very hoochie-woochie boom-boom. Suitable for a teutonic hero like myself." He twirled away from the periscope, how do you like the Mickey Mouse on my tea cozy?"
The choir hummed Meet me in Balzimore You Hoochie-Woochie.
04 January 1940
Still 500 kilometres short of our patrol area west of the Rockal Bank we sat in the mess. Balz was showing us the tea cozy his mother gave him for Christmas.
"First you brew the tea, then you put the tea cozy over the teapot and that will keep the tea hot. Got it everyone?"
"You put the tea in the cozy and pour it on the pot," Bernard said.
"No, you idiot." Balz removed the tea cozy and began flogging Bernard with it.
I left the mess and went on the bridge a few minutes early for my watch.
A moderate sea was running under a diamond studded sky and U-45 moved easily at a comfortable 8 knots. It is a pleasure to sail under such conditions. I made myself comfortable leaning on the periscope housing.
Something caught my attention. I scanned with my glasses. The faint outline of a bow wave shimmered under the stars.
"Destroyer," I said, "Clear the deck. Periscope depth."
Below, in the galley, Bernard had Balz's white cap and was dipping it in a bowl of coffee.
Balz asked me, "What's going on?"
"Destroyer, maybe two, fifteen degrees off the starboard bow. Three thousand meters max."
"Silent running, up periscope. Bernard, where is my cap?"
Bernard brought Balz's cap half full of coffee.
"You nitwit. I asked for my cap not for coffee." Balz peered into the periscope eye piece. Water dripped on his head. "Verdamnt, this drip will drive me crazy."
Bernard said, "Wear the tea cozy."
"New heading three six zero, speed two knots. Prepare solution, we're attacking. Ready tubes one through four."
Bernard placed the tea cozy on Balz's head.
"Bring the choir in so they can hum while I sink British cruisers. That will be very hoochie woochie."
It took Moenster five minutes to work out the solutions.
"Einz, zwei, hoochie woochie. Feur einz."
Balz flipped the periscope. "Feur, Zwei."
He repeated the operation with tubes 3 and 4.
One torpedo exploded prematurely.
"That's a failed boom-boom," Balz growled.
A minute later we heard a good, healty detonation.
"Good hit on the first cruiser," Balz said.
The second cruiser got hit on the bow. One of the torpedoes missed completely.
"Both will sink shortly," Balz announced. "This is very hoochie-woochie boom-boom. Suitable for a teutonic hero like myself." He twirled away from the periscope, how do you like the Mickey Mouse on my tea cozy?"
The choir hummed Meet me in Balzimore You Hoochie-Woochie.