Philipp_Thomsen
10-16-09, 03:10 PM
May 16th, 1941.
U-123 left Wilhelmshaven up north, to Bergen, intending to patrol nearby waters for the arrival of Bismark. At day 17, was attacked by a Hudson MK3 bomber, but instead of diving away (normal procedure), I wanted to try out my new AA guns I just had installed. The bomber was alone, so I thought it would be safe. Got those 3 AA guns manned and before the bomber got a change of getting close, he was downed. At day 19, left for the Denmark strait, passing over scotland. It was a long trip without anything being spotted. The weather started getting very heavy, so I was basically submerged all the time, 25m, and had my ears on the hydrophone. Winds were at 15m/s and the fog so heavy I couldn't see 300m in any direction, so eventual surfacings for air, and back to 25m.
May 24th, 1941.
At quadrant AD52, my sonarman reported a warship propeller sound, travelling alone, at 25km distance. It was at a very fast speed and coming from my left, was going to pass 3km away from me, so I set an intercepting course and went to the surface, and ordered ahead flank, so I wouldn't miss it. When I felt I was almost in the right place, I went back to periscope depth, and asked sonarman for details. The warship was 1.8km from me, and was going to pass right in front of me in a couple of minutes. I took a look at the periscope, but that damn fog wouldn't allow me to see anything. I tried to plot it's path on the map using the hydro, and I got myself as close as I could. I had 3 torpedoes set for 3 meters, high speed, impact pistol. When it was around 450m from me, I could see the shadow in the horizon, beheath the fog. It was a big warship, so I fired 3 fishes, middle, middle-bow, bow. Waited... Managed to get 2 hits, the third was either a dud or missed. The ship cought on fire, was sinking by the bow and losing speed fast. I could only see the flames thru the fog and I got closer to take a peek. It was Norfolk, sitting dead on the water, sinking slowly. I waited for 5 minutes, and when I saw it was really going down (water was over the bow) I got back to my waypoints. I wanted to get in a better position for further attacks. Went for the surface for 3 hours to get 3 new fishes inside, and then went back at 25m. Decided to get away from the strait, into quadrant AK, getting a direct shortcut for supporting the fight in that region, as ordered thru a message from BdU.
May 26th, 1941.
Quadrant AK99, my watch officer reported a shadow in the horizon, coming fast in my direction, head on. I went under, and my sonarman reported 7 warships coming straight to me. Some minutes later I could see Rodney Battleship and Heavy Cruiser Dorsetshire right behind it. The other 5 were destroyers, all around them. I turned left 90º and waited. Rodney and Dorsetshire would pass right in my nose, right a destroyer passing in my stern. They were hot fast, 30kts. At 800m distance, I fired 3 fishes at Rodney, saving 1 for Dorsetshire, that was 500m behind Rodney, and I had my 2 stern fishes set for fast, shalow, impact. The destroyer passed in my stern seconds later, and I fired a fish, it was at 380m, not a chance to miss it. I was dead stop on the water, silently, and before the torpedos got Rodney, I fired my last one at Dorsetshire. Still 7 minutes to a new torpedo reloaded, and I knew I would need it. Rodney got all 3 hits, very near eachother. Two below the turrets and one in the middle. It had severe fire, but no explosions. The smoke went miles high. Dorsetshire was hit in the bow, and got severe flooding. Both Rodney and Dorsetshire reduced their speeds to around 3 kts, while the other destroyers were going crazy after me. Except they're looking in the wrong spot. They were on the other side. After some minutes I got a fish loaded and ready, so I fired at Dorsetshire and went under, since I saw that Rodney was going to sink for sure. As I passed 35m, I heard the explosion, followed by several other explosions. Soon I could hear the "Song of the Sinking Ship." Plotted a course in the opposite direction the destroyers were searching, and went away.
May 27th, 1941.
Quadrant BE16, my watch officer reported a shadow in the horizon, coming fast in my direction, 5 O'Clock. Went to periscope depth and set an interception course. Again, my sonarman reported a heavy warship, alone, around 20kts. The weather was clear, and soon I managed to see thru the periscope. I was in a perfect position for a lateral hit, it was going to pass right in my nose. At 2km, I could see it perfectly. Heavy Cruiser Suffolk. Two fishes on the water, first hit right under the stern turrets and the second hit the stern. After 12 minutes, it was heavly flooded on the left side, and some minutes later the mast touched the water, fell to the left. But it wouldn't sink. After 2 hours, nothing. It was completly on it's side, but still afloat. I went around it and fired a third torpedo from my stern into the middle of its hull. No explosions, but it started to sink more, slowly. I could see two of the three propellers out of water. I followed my way surfaced, and when I was around 6km away I could see it disappearing below the waves.
May 29th, 1941.
Saw a lonely merchant, 7k tons, british flag. I was pissed about Bismark and fired 3 fishes at it, just to cool off (lol). I was almost without fuel, and so I plotted a course back home.
May 30th, 1941.
7pm, low light. Quadrant BF33, dangerous waters. Was reading a message when I heard someone yelling at the bridge, and followed my a sound of a shell hitting the water nearby the sub. "Are my watch crew playing cards up there?"... Quickly to periscope depth to avoyd the gunfire, and a peek to see whatta hell was it. A destroyer, coming fast right at me. It was around 6km away, so I changed my course at 90º from him and went ahead flank. He wouldn't listen to me coming over 30kts, and I could open a very good distance from the spot where he lost me, till he got his engine slower to commence hydro search. When I noticed it was slowing down thru my periscope, I ordered silent running. Managed to get myself around 1.5km away from the original spot, where it was searching now. I was pretty close to the shore, shallow waters, couldn't do something stupid. It was running in circles and when I thought I had got away with it, an explosion! People screaming everywhere, while the boat shaked. Flood everywhere, both my sonarman and radarman dead. I got everybody to stop the flooding while I was thinking to myself... "Mines...?... Bloody mines..."
I got away from the destroyer, but things weren't looking very good. The only 2 places I didn't had flood was in both torpedo rooms. Most of my equipment was either destroyed or not working. (which is great when you're using LRT mod.:shifty:). I putted every single guy I had to stop the flooding, including an officer with repair skills in charge. Surfaced, and went ahead flank to get home as soon as possible. Only to discover some minutes later, 3 destroyers coming hot at me, one from the left, one from behind, and one from 10 O'clock. I thought "Im screwed..."... I thought about diving, but then I saw a large amount of water filling all compartments, and I checked the battery level, around 10%. If I dived, I couldn't get back to the surface. Depth under keel was 32 meters. It was dusk, and the destroyers hadn't spotted me yet, so I tried to plot a course that would get me away from them. Didnt work... some minutes later, one of them spotted me and started firing. I was done for... I was sure that was the end of my carrer...
But then a miracle happened! (using WAC 4.1 by the way), SEVEN german bombers appeared out of nowhere, and started bombing the destroyers! Starting with the one that was closest to me. The destroyers stopped firing at me, and started worrying about the aircrafts. I was getting away from that mess, slowly, and my smile was getting bigger. :D
The last thing I saw was the planes bombing those destroyers. One had gone down already, the second was in flames and slow, and the third was zig-zagging and firing desperatedly. THANK YOU, AIR SUPPORT! First time that a message to BdU reporting damage actually works. Either that or the planes happened to be nearby and spotted those destroyers. Truth be told, I never saw the amount of aircrafts during a patrol, it was around 50. (good work, Hans).
I was around 220 miles from home, but the flooding was really unstoppable. Specially in the radioroom. I had a big fight going there, the water against the repair group. I had around 6 hours to get to the base, or I would be flooded. I had my engines ahead flank for hours already, but then something cought my attention... I wouldn't have enough fuel to get there going ahead flank, and I couldn't reduce my speed much cos otherwise I wouldn't get there in time before the compartment flooded.
When I thought things couldn't be worst, I went to the bridge only to discover that I was sinking by the bow, due to overweight. My deckgun was already underwater. That made me start sinking even faster. I tried blowing ballast 3 times, but it wouldn't help for more then 2 minutes. ok... turn 180 degrees, and back emergency! Lets go home going backwards. It worked! The bow was still pretty much underwater, but the uboat was floating better, and the speed was better too.
I managed to get back home with my bow already scratching the floor, and the fuel was totally out. I got as close as I could, and beached the uboat. Me and my guys walked the last miles back to base... on foot!
Three compartments fully flooded
No fuel
No torpedos
90% equipment not working
2 bodies to bury.
sucess?
U-123 left Wilhelmshaven up north, to Bergen, intending to patrol nearby waters for the arrival of Bismark. At day 17, was attacked by a Hudson MK3 bomber, but instead of diving away (normal procedure), I wanted to try out my new AA guns I just had installed. The bomber was alone, so I thought it would be safe. Got those 3 AA guns manned and before the bomber got a change of getting close, he was downed. At day 19, left for the Denmark strait, passing over scotland. It was a long trip without anything being spotted. The weather started getting very heavy, so I was basically submerged all the time, 25m, and had my ears on the hydrophone. Winds were at 15m/s and the fog so heavy I couldn't see 300m in any direction, so eventual surfacings for air, and back to 25m.
May 24th, 1941.
At quadrant AD52, my sonarman reported a warship propeller sound, travelling alone, at 25km distance. It was at a very fast speed and coming from my left, was going to pass 3km away from me, so I set an intercepting course and went to the surface, and ordered ahead flank, so I wouldn't miss it. When I felt I was almost in the right place, I went back to periscope depth, and asked sonarman for details. The warship was 1.8km from me, and was going to pass right in front of me in a couple of minutes. I took a look at the periscope, but that damn fog wouldn't allow me to see anything. I tried to plot it's path on the map using the hydro, and I got myself as close as I could. I had 3 torpedoes set for 3 meters, high speed, impact pistol. When it was around 450m from me, I could see the shadow in the horizon, beheath the fog. It was a big warship, so I fired 3 fishes, middle, middle-bow, bow. Waited... Managed to get 2 hits, the third was either a dud or missed. The ship cought on fire, was sinking by the bow and losing speed fast. I could only see the flames thru the fog and I got closer to take a peek. It was Norfolk, sitting dead on the water, sinking slowly. I waited for 5 minutes, and when I saw it was really going down (water was over the bow) I got back to my waypoints. I wanted to get in a better position for further attacks. Went for the surface for 3 hours to get 3 new fishes inside, and then went back at 25m. Decided to get away from the strait, into quadrant AK, getting a direct shortcut for supporting the fight in that region, as ordered thru a message from BdU.
May 26th, 1941.
Quadrant AK99, my watch officer reported a shadow in the horizon, coming fast in my direction, head on. I went under, and my sonarman reported 7 warships coming straight to me. Some minutes later I could see Rodney Battleship and Heavy Cruiser Dorsetshire right behind it. The other 5 were destroyers, all around them. I turned left 90º and waited. Rodney and Dorsetshire would pass right in my nose, right a destroyer passing in my stern. They were hot fast, 30kts. At 800m distance, I fired 3 fishes at Rodney, saving 1 for Dorsetshire, that was 500m behind Rodney, and I had my 2 stern fishes set for fast, shalow, impact. The destroyer passed in my stern seconds later, and I fired a fish, it was at 380m, not a chance to miss it. I was dead stop on the water, silently, and before the torpedos got Rodney, I fired my last one at Dorsetshire. Still 7 minutes to a new torpedo reloaded, and I knew I would need it. Rodney got all 3 hits, very near eachother. Two below the turrets and one in the middle. It had severe fire, but no explosions. The smoke went miles high. Dorsetshire was hit in the bow, and got severe flooding. Both Rodney and Dorsetshire reduced their speeds to around 3 kts, while the other destroyers were going crazy after me. Except they're looking in the wrong spot. They were on the other side. After some minutes I got a fish loaded and ready, so I fired at Dorsetshire and went under, since I saw that Rodney was going to sink for sure. As I passed 35m, I heard the explosion, followed by several other explosions. Soon I could hear the "Song of the Sinking Ship." Plotted a course in the opposite direction the destroyers were searching, and went away.
May 27th, 1941.
Quadrant BE16, my watch officer reported a shadow in the horizon, coming fast in my direction, 5 O'Clock. Went to periscope depth and set an interception course. Again, my sonarman reported a heavy warship, alone, around 20kts. The weather was clear, and soon I managed to see thru the periscope. I was in a perfect position for a lateral hit, it was going to pass right in my nose. At 2km, I could see it perfectly. Heavy Cruiser Suffolk. Two fishes on the water, first hit right under the stern turrets and the second hit the stern. After 12 minutes, it was heavly flooded on the left side, and some minutes later the mast touched the water, fell to the left. But it wouldn't sink. After 2 hours, nothing. It was completly on it's side, but still afloat. I went around it and fired a third torpedo from my stern into the middle of its hull. No explosions, but it started to sink more, slowly. I could see two of the three propellers out of water. I followed my way surfaced, and when I was around 6km away I could see it disappearing below the waves.
May 29th, 1941.
Saw a lonely merchant, 7k tons, british flag. I was pissed about Bismark and fired 3 fishes at it, just to cool off (lol). I was almost without fuel, and so I plotted a course back home.
May 30th, 1941.
7pm, low light. Quadrant BF33, dangerous waters. Was reading a message when I heard someone yelling at the bridge, and followed my a sound of a shell hitting the water nearby the sub. "Are my watch crew playing cards up there?"... Quickly to periscope depth to avoyd the gunfire, and a peek to see whatta hell was it. A destroyer, coming fast right at me. It was around 6km away, so I changed my course at 90º from him and went ahead flank. He wouldn't listen to me coming over 30kts, and I could open a very good distance from the spot where he lost me, till he got his engine slower to commence hydro search. When I noticed it was slowing down thru my periscope, I ordered silent running. Managed to get myself around 1.5km away from the original spot, where it was searching now. I was pretty close to the shore, shallow waters, couldn't do something stupid. It was running in circles and when I thought I had got away with it, an explosion! People screaming everywhere, while the boat shaked. Flood everywhere, both my sonarman and radarman dead. I got everybody to stop the flooding while I was thinking to myself... "Mines...?... Bloody mines..."
I got away from the destroyer, but things weren't looking very good. The only 2 places I didn't had flood was in both torpedo rooms. Most of my equipment was either destroyed or not working. (which is great when you're using LRT mod.:shifty:). I putted every single guy I had to stop the flooding, including an officer with repair skills in charge. Surfaced, and went ahead flank to get home as soon as possible. Only to discover some minutes later, 3 destroyers coming hot at me, one from the left, one from behind, and one from 10 O'clock. I thought "Im screwed..."... I thought about diving, but then I saw a large amount of water filling all compartments, and I checked the battery level, around 10%. If I dived, I couldn't get back to the surface. Depth under keel was 32 meters. It was dusk, and the destroyers hadn't spotted me yet, so I tried to plot a course that would get me away from them. Didnt work... some minutes later, one of them spotted me and started firing. I was done for... I was sure that was the end of my carrer...
But then a miracle happened! (using WAC 4.1 by the way), SEVEN german bombers appeared out of nowhere, and started bombing the destroyers! Starting with the one that was closest to me. The destroyers stopped firing at me, and started worrying about the aircrafts. I was getting away from that mess, slowly, and my smile was getting bigger. :D
The last thing I saw was the planes bombing those destroyers. One had gone down already, the second was in flames and slow, and the third was zig-zagging and firing desperatedly. THANK YOU, AIR SUPPORT! First time that a message to BdU reporting damage actually works. Either that or the planes happened to be nearby and spotted those destroyers. Truth be told, I never saw the amount of aircrafts during a patrol, it was around 50. (good work, Hans).
I was around 220 miles from home, but the flooding was really unstoppable. Specially in the radioroom. I had a big fight going there, the water against the repair group. I had around 6 hours to get to the base, or I would be flooded. I had my engines ahead flank for hours already, but then something cought my attention... I wouldn't have enough fuel to get there going ahead flank, and I couldn't reduce my speed much cos otherwise I wouldn't get there in time before the compartment flooded.
When I thought things couldn't be worst, I went to the bridge only to discover that I was sinking by the bow, due to overweight. My deckgun was already underwater. That made me start sinking even faster. I tried blowing ballast 3 times, but it wouldn't help for more then 2 minutes. ok... turn 180 degrees, and back emergency! Lets go home going backwards. It worked! The bow was still pretty much underwater, but the uboat was floating better, and the speed was better too.
I managed to get back home with my bow already scratching the floor, and the fuel was totally out. I got as close as I could, and beached the uboat. Me and my guys walked the last miles back to base... on foot!
Three compartments fully flooded
No fuel
No torpedos
90% equipment not working
2 bodies to bury.
sucess?