Vikinger
03-23-10, 02:16 PM
Found this little story on a site. Its quite funny reading how unlucky the Uboat was in this attack.
First a dud torpedo. Then they missed whit 2 others and got pissed so they fired up the gun but forgot to remove the cover so the gun blew up and wounded 3 crews.
But they didnt give up and fired at the ship whit thier AA guns only to find out that the submarine was about to dive. LoL Il guess they had a Bernard aboard.
At 04.27 hours on 23 Mar, 1941, the unescorted Siremalm (Master Haakon Svendsen) was hit on the port side amidships by a dud torpedo from U-110 (Lemp) en route from Reykjavik (left on 21 March) to Halifax with general cargo and mail in 60°35N/28°25W. The torpedo left a big indent in the vicinity of the boiler room. The ship had been spotted at 12.00 hours the day before and the U-boat had lost contact temporarily due to aircraft that forced her to submerge. After spotting the ship again, a stern torpedo missed at 03.14 hours and three minutes later a bow torpedo. 15 minutes after hitting the ship with the dud torpedo, Lemp attacked with all guns, but the barrel of the deck gun exploded on the first shot because the gun crew forgot to remove the water plug. The U-boat opened fire only with the 37mm and 20mm AA guns, scoring two hits in the hull on the port side of the ship, which was armed with one 4in gun and three machine guns. The Siremalm escaped zigzagging at full speed while the radio operator sent distress signals that were not answered and the crew manned the gun, but did not fire because they feared that this would give away their position and making the ship a target. No casualties among the crew of 25 Norwegians.
When U-110 tried to chase the ship, they suddenly begun to dive and had to stop. An examination of the deck showed that splinters of the exploded barrel had damaged some pipelines, which led to the unintentional diving and the damage forced the U-boat to abort the patrol.
First a dud torpedo. Then they missed whit 2 others and got pissed so they fired up the gun but forgot to remove the cover so the gun blew up and wounded 3 crews.
But they didnt give up and fired at the ship whit thier AA guns only to find out that the submarine was about to dive. LoL Il guess they had a Bernard aboard.
At 04.27 hours on 23 Mar, 1941, the unescorted Siremalm (Master Haakon Svendsen) was hit on the port side amidships by a dud torpedo from U-110 (Lemp) en route from Reykjavik (left on 21 March) to Halifax with general cargo and mail in 60°35N/28°25W. The torpedo left a big indent in the vicinity of the boiler room. The ship had been spotted at 12.00 hours the day before and the U-boat had lost contact temporarily due to aircraft that forced her to submerge. After spotting the ship again, a stern torpedo missed at 03.14 hours and three minutes later a bow torpedo. 15 minutes after hitting the ship with the dud torpedo, Lemp attacked with all guns, but the barrel of the deck gun exploded on the first shot because the gun crew forgot to remove the water plug. The U-boat opened fire only with the 37mm and 20mm AA guns, scoring two hits in the hull on the port side of the ship, which was armed with one 4in gun and three machine guns. The Siremalm escaped zigzagging at full speed while the radio operator sent distress signals that were not answered and the crew manned the gun, but did not fire because they feared that this would give away their position and making the ship a target. No casualties among the crew of 25 Norwegians.
When U-110 tried to chase the ship, they suddenly begun to dive and had to stop. An examination of the deck showed that splinters of the exploded barrel had damaged some pipelines, which led to the unintentional diving and the damage forced the U-boat to abort the patrol.