TabbyHunter
10-11-12, 12:22 PM
So BdU assigns me a patrol sector right in the middle of Tommie's front yard. Just northwest of Liverpool. Mkay, I toss my papers on my desk and start gearing U-51 for her 18th (or 19th, not sure) patrol. It's June of '41, and surface attacks are sketchy now.
We cast off, head south into the Bay of Biscay, then West to the continental shelf drop for a deep dive test. We dive to 185 meters, and we go back up, satisfied.
Cruising at a standard 7 1/2 knots, and just entering the Irish Sea, my game lags...I mean my life slows down. I dive and find a very large convoy is dead ahead, less than 3 km. How they didn't see me is beyond me.
With a perfect angle of attack almost by chance, I scan, and spot a whale factory ship. Jackpot! I set up a rough shot for it, then consult my weapons officer. We conclude she's about 3500 meters away traveling at 6 knots. "Open tubes one through four. Spread angle of 3 degrees. Impact only. Fire!"
Two fish hit, and this gigantic vessel sinks, my other fish vanishing into the depths. I dive for 80 meters, silent running at 2 knots and a turn east, away from the convoy. Well, as I would later find out, a very angry Tribal class starts searching for me. I soon get heavily depthcharged with flooding in the engine compartment and stern torpedo. A quick patch job fixes that, and I dive to 90 meters, set 20 RPM(ish).
As I come to find out, I have a slight positive boyancy. I'm not used to this, so every time the ashcans fall, I flank back down to 90 and cut back to silent. More pinging. After almost an hour, a Hunt class joins in. Now, at this point, this is the most danger I've been in the entire war. So I'm tearing my hair out while looking calm for the crew. "Contact, warship! Closing fast!" Luftwaffe reports say a Tribal, Hunt and VnW class depth charged me for over 5 hours.
At the 3 hour mark, with the VnW closing in, I do something I've never done. "Flood the ballast tanks. Put her on the bottom. All silent!" We slowly sink down to 97 meters, and we wait. The Brits depth charge me four another hour and they seem to be losing my position, when BAM! One charge lands right next to my conning tower. Amazingly, only the external's are damaged.
With air running out, and batteries damaged from the explosions, I wonder of following my good friend, Oberlutenant zur See Tabby on U-47, burn documents as surface. But, fate would have it that a wolfpack was harassing the convoy, now beyond the horizon, and the destroyers are being urgently called back. On the bottom, with a banged up and almost crippled U-boat, I order us up after another hour.
"Set for St. Nazarie, we're done here." After over 350 ashcans (I counted) and almost 12 hours of being underwater, we surface and head home after only a week at sea. "Live to fight another day, men." I say, pulling out a cigar and going up to the bridge for fresh air.
We cast off, head south into the Bay of Biscay, then West to the continental shelf drop for a deep dive test. We dive to 185 meters, and we go back up, satisfied.
Cruising at a standard 7 1/2 knots, and just entering the Irish Sea, my game lags...I mean my life slows down. I dive and find a very large convoy is dead ahead, less than 3 km. How they didn't see me is beyond me.
With a perfect angle of attack almost by chance, I scan, and spot a whale factory ship. Jackpot! I set up a rough shot for it, then consult my weapons officer. We conclude she's about 3500 meters away traveling at 6 knots. "Open tubes one through four. Spread angle of 3 degrees. Impact only. Fire!"
Two fish hit, and this gigantic vessel sinks, my other fish vanishing into the depths. I dive for 80 meters, silent running at 2 knots and a turn east, away from the convoy. Well, as I would later find out, a very angry Tribal class starts searching for me. I soon get heavily depthcharged with flooding in the engine compartment and stern torpedo. A quick patch job fixes that, and I dive to 90 meters, set 20 RPM(ish).
As I come to find out, I have a slight positive boyancy. I'm not used to this, so every time the ashcans fall, I flank back down to 90 and cut back to silent. More pinging. After almost an hour, a Hunt class joins in. Now, at this point, this is the most danger I've been in the entire war. So I'm tearing my hair out while looking calm for the crew. "Contact, warship! Closing fast!" Luftwaffe reports say a Tribal, Hunt and VnW class depth charged me for over 5 hours.
At the 3 hour mark, with the VnW closing in, I do something I've never done. "Flood the ballast tanks. Put her on the bottom. All silent!" We slowly sink down to 97 meters, and we wait. The Brits depth charge me four another hour and they seem to be losing my position, when BAM! One charge lands right next to my conning tower. Amazingly, only the external's are damaged.
With air running out, and batteries damaged from the explosions, I wonder of following my good friend, Oberlutenant zur See Tabby on U-47, burn documents as surface. But, fate would have it that a wolfpack was harassing the convoy, now beyond the horizon, and the destroyers are being urgently called back. On the bottom, with a banged up and almost crippled U-boat, I order us up after another hour.
"Set for St. Nazarie, we're done here." After over 350 ashcans (I counted) and almost 12 hours of being underwater, we surface and head home after only a week at sea. "Live to fight another day, men." I say, pulling out a cigar and going up to the bridge for fresh air.