verticalization
04-29-09, 12:00 PM
Well.. i'm sad to report, that after 17 successful patrols, my type VIIC and her crew, was finally sent to the bottom.
(this might be a long read, but stories of patrols are always a good read)
My patrol # 18 started out like any other, sailing out of Brest.. it was late september 1940. I was excited and hoping for a bit more action. I decided to head out around the north central area of grid BE, hoping for some convoy action. On the way i encountered a couple C3, and C2 cargos, and a few coastal merchants. By the time i reached my own set patrol area, i had already sunk 6 vessels. I used the deck gun on the smaller coastal vessels, and 1 torpedo for the big ones (wow, a magnetic under the keel of those big boys sure does work well). I was quite excited to get into water deeper than 200m, this was the first time in my career that i passed the line that dropped into 1000+m. I pushed my luck, and did a test crash dive, all the way down to 230m.. the boat held up fine, but i didnt think i'd be going down that far again.
After patrol the high convoy traffic area for 2 days, i gave up search.. and decided to head back to BF15, in hopes of using my last 10 torpedos on single ships. So i plotted a course, jumped the TC up to 128.
Well, about halfway to my destination, the TC bit me in the ass.. suddenly i'm taking damage, i jump the TC down to 1 as quick as i can.. Convoy spotted!!.. thats the last time i use anything higher than 64 to travel in high traffic areas.. its 0900, Its obvious they know where i'm at in this broad daylight. But they only damaged me slightly, nothing a while underwater cant fix. I start getting contact reports from my hydrophone operator, I asked for a challenge, i sure got it. 10 merchants, escorted by a mix of SIX destroyers, trawlers, and corvettes. this could get interesting.
Minutes later, 2 of the escorts were depth charging and pinging my last position, little did they know i was down at 180m, creeping away in their wake. After an hour, they gave up.. and i surfaced the boat and made my way to the west, to shadow the convoy at 20km, and get far ahead.
I set myself up directly in front of the first line of merchants and as soon as the destroyer in front passed, i made my turn to 90 off their bow. This is gonna be good. The front line of the convoy consisted of a C2, C3, T2 tanker, and a trooper carrier (My first!). I setup my 2 steams, and 2 electrics to hit all under keel, magnetic.. and let'em go. I couldnt have timed them more perfect, they all hit within 5 seconds of eachother.
The C2 and C3 went down in under a minute, the T2 went on unphased, and the troop carrier slowed to 0 knots, the carrier behind him went to the rescue of the survivors. Good for them, because he was sinking slowely.
In the meanwhile, a destroyer came fromt he front, and a trawler started in from behind.. I tested my luck, and made a turn to fire off my stern tube at the C3 that just passed in front of me. The magnetics sure do make it easy to hit things at rediculous angles.. i love it. I hit the C3 but wasnt about to stick around for its demise, i crash dived.. which totally gave away my position. No biggie, i'm safe until 230 meters... so i thought.
I went down to 160, the destroyer was getting close, his depth charges exploded around me, but not near enough for damage, only one damaged my bridge slightly. I pushed it down to 190 and set for 2knts. They must have lost me. A mix of 3 escorts proceeded to depth charge, ping, and tag team the area where they last had me.. its too bad i was 200yds away.. little did i know i was creeping down, 192... 194.. 196.. i set a depth of 160.. 198.. 200.. 202.. 206.. 215... 2 knts wasnt cutting it.. i didnt care about giving my position away, i was sinking too fast for comfort.. i set ahead full....
But it was too late. My first death, my boat was crushed at 220m. The end of what was going to be, the total annihlation of the convoy above.
I learned from my mistake tho, i'm turning hull integrity% back on, i realize in real life.. the captain would have gotten some sort of damage report gauging the integrity of the hull, i'm sure had i known, i wouldnt have made that mistake.
Well, i hope ya'll enjoyed my short story of my death. I'm started a new career now, 1940 out of Lorient. Heading back to the same area.. Good hunting all.
(this might be a long read, but stories of patrols are always a good read)
My patrol # 18 started out like any other, sailing out of Brest.. it was late september 1940. I was excited and hoping for a bit more action. I decided to head out around the north central area of grid BE, hoping for some convoy action. On the way i encountered a couple C3, and C2 cargos, and a few coastal merchants. By the time i reached my own set patrol area, i had already sunk 6 vessels. I used the deck gun on the smaller coastal vessels, and 1 torpedo for the big ones (wow, a magnetic under the keel of those big boys sure does work well). I was quite excited to get into water deeper than 200m, this was the first time in my career that i passed the line that dropped into 1000+m. I pushed my luck, and did a test crash dive, all the way down to 230m.. the boat held up fine, but i didnt think i'd be going down that far again.
After patrol the high convoy traffic area for 2 days, i gave up search.. and decided to head back to BF15, in hopes of using my last 10 torpedos on single ships. So i plotted a course, jumped the TC up to 128.
Well, about halfway to my destination, the TC bit me in the ass.. suddenly i'm taking damage, i jump the TC down to 1 as quick as i can.. Convoy spotted!!.. thats the last time i use anything higher than 64 to travel in high traffic areas.. its 0900, Its obvious they know where i'm at in this broad daylight. But they only damaged me slightly, nothing a while underwater cant fix. I start getting contact reports from my hydrophone operator, I asked for a challenge, i sure got it. 10 merchants, escorted by a mix of SIX destroyers, trawlers, and corvettes. this could get interesting.
Minutes later, 2 of the escorts were depth charging and pinging my last position, little did they know i was down at 180m, creeping away in their wake. After an hour, they gave up.. and i surfaced the boat and made my way to the west, to shadow the convoy at 20km, and get far ahead.
I set myself up directly in front of the first line of merchants and as soon as the destroyer in front passed, i made my turn to 90 off their bow. This is gonna be good. The front line of the convoy consisted of a C2, C3, T2 tanker, and a trooper carrier (My first!). I setup my 2 steams, and 2 electrics to hit all under keel, magnetic.. and let'em go. I couldnt have timed them more perfect, they all hit within 5 seconds of eachother.
The C2 and C3 went down in under a minute, the T2 went on unphased, and the troop carrier slowed to 0 knots, the carrier behind him went to the rescue of the survivors. Good for them, because he was sinking slowely.
In the meanwhile, a destroyer came fromt he front, and a trawler started in from behind.. I tested my luck, and made a turn to fire off my stern tube at the C3 that just passed in front of me. The magnetics sure do make it easy to hit things at rediculous angles.. i love it. I hit the C3 but wasnt about to stick around for its demise, i crash dived.. which totally gave away my position. No biggie, i'm safe until 230 meters... so i thought.
I went down to 160, the destroyer was getting close, his depth charges exploded around me, but not near enough for damage, only one damaged my bridge slightly. I pushed it down to 190 and set for 2knts. They must have lost me. A mix of 3 escorts proceeded to depth charge, ping, and tag team the area where they last had me.. its too bad i was 200yds away.. little did i know i was creeping down, 192... 194.. 196.. i set a depth of 160.. 198.. 200.. 202.. 206.. 215... 2 knts wasnt cutting it.. i didnt care about giving my position away, i was sinking too fast for comfort.. i set ahead full....
But it was too late. My first death, my boat was crushed at 220m. The end of what was going to be, the total annihlation of the convoy above.
I learned from my mistake tho, i'm turning hull integrity% back on, i realize in real life.. the captain would have gotten some sort of damage report gauging the integrity of the hull, i'm sure had i known, i wouldnt have made that mistake.
Well, i hope ya'll enjoyed my short story of my death. I'm started a new career now, 1940 out of Lorient. Heading back to the same area.. Good hunting all.