U-181; 104 days at sea, and all I got was a lousy sun burn!

[Thomen]

U181 (Type IXD2) out of Lorient:

02.02.1943

We were ordered to patrol PQ GR82, roughly S.W. of Cape Town, South Africa.
After leaving port on February the 2nd at around 8am, I planned the route in such a fashion that I would stay in the "Single Merchant Route".

Still in the Bay of Biscay, we encountered our first enemy plane, a PBY-5a Catalina and promptly shot it down. :up:

The weather got worse afterward and the sea too rough to man the AA guns so we had to dive every time we got an air contact. :stare:

Further 'cruise' through DT, EH, ES, ET, EU, FF went without a hitch, and without any sightings or radar receiver warning whatsoever. :dead:

In PQ FG 52 I encountered my first surface contact, thanks to the radar receiver warning. A medium freighter with a single DD escort in heavy seas and way off is a total no-no for playing catch-up, so it was deceided to let them pass. Next surface contact was exactly the same: Single freighter with DD escort. :damn:

Finaly, after over two month at sea we encountered our first un-escorted freighter in PQ FW 57. Somehow we where sighted while we tried to over take him and he opened fire with his artillery. Thanks to my gunnery crew the freighter was dispatched rather quickly, but not before he landed a hit on the stern and a second one on the bow.

We continued our leisure cruise towards the designated patrol area and loitered for roughly 5 days in the area; and no surface or air traffic at all!

After so much of totaly nothing, it was decided that we make a detour to the west into GO55 following the 'Single Merchant Route'. We encountered, once again absolutly... nothing.. :stare:

On our homeward journey, we finaly encounted an enemy task force (1 Fiji class and 5DDs) that steamed right towards us with roughly 15kts. :woot:

I shot a solvo of 4 torpedoes from roughly 3800m distance at the Fiji and.... missed.. :timeout:
Three DD split form the Task Force and held us underwater for roughly 2 hours while the Fiji and two DD continued their journey.

The journey back to Lorient was continued, only interupted by the occasional air alarm, which cumulated to roughly once every 3 hours when we sailed through the Biscay.

In the whole time that we spend at sea, we received one (1) convoy report, and that was on our journey home. Distance, sea state and fuel level did not allow for operations against the convoy. :cry:

The whole tally for this patrol:
2396 GRT
and 1 Catalina.

U-181 made port on 16.05.1943 at 8pm.

So, yea.. We went to Cape Town, and all I got was a lousy sun burn! :shifty:

[nikbear]

And the very reason why I never go that far south:nope: Everybody else has loads of luck when they go there,Me,nothing:oops: just like you it seems to be a waste of diesel:doh:

[Jimbuna]

In a more serious context, that could so easily have been an accurate RL report :hmmm:

[Kapt Z]

In a more serious context, that could so easily have been an accurate RL report :hmmm:

Exactly my feeling. Sometimes you just get 'skunked' as my grandpa used to say after a fruitless fishing trip.

I've had my share of long boring patrols with nothing to show for it. They do sucketh much.:damn:

[nikbear]

To true Jim,but sadly my game time is valuable,running round the southern hemisphere looking for things to sink can try the patience of a saint;):rotfl2::up:

[Jimbuna]

To true Jim,but sadly my game time is valuable,running round the southern hemisphere looking for things to sink can try the patience of a saint;):rotfl2::up:

I suspect that is why some of those less 'saintly' use the SpySat mod :03:

[Thomen]

In a more serious context, that could so easily have been an accurate RL report :hmmm:

Oh, I totally agree.. and I am quite happy with it. Main reason being that I made it back to port alive. =)

Never was big tonnage king myself.. :D My personal record is only at around 162k in a career that lasted all but 16 patrols.

It was however somewhat odd, once I got south of Freetown, I ceased to get radio messages from BDU or other u-boats. On my journey home on the other side, it was like someone flipped a switch and all of a sudden I had problems running with TC because of the incoming messages. :hmmm:

[Thomen]

I suspect that is why some of those less 'saintly' use the SpySat mod :03:

Never even heard about it. Until now.. :haha:

[Thomen]

To true Jim,but sadly my game time is valuable,running round the southern hemisphere looking for things to sink can try the patience of a saint;):rotfl2::up:

Indeed, but I am running SH3 in window mode, so it is no problem watching a movie or doing some work while playing. :up:

[Brag]

Some patrols are like that, TWTDD

(The way the dong dangles) :D

[Snestorm]

That's 2396 more GRT than I usualy get going all the way down there.
That's been a carreer ending patrol for more than one of my boats.

To eventualy be sent there in a IXC is pretty much expected.
"Somebody has to do it. This time somebody is me":
But, when it happens in a IXB, I've got to wonder what kind of drugs those guys are taking!

[Danelov]

Ajha, a historic U-Boot the real U-181, that was the last submarine of Wolfgang Luth; his ended his life in the IJN as I-501.