GoldenRivet
04-09-13, 11:38 AM
the ongoing saga of U-93 continues as control of the boat is relinquished to a new commander on his first war patrol.
It seems there are few things out in the Atlantic except erratic radar signals and thousands of allied patrol planes.
During the Biscay crossing we must have submerged a dozen times to evade incoming aircraft.
On the 17th radar signals forced us to dive approximately 150 nautical miles west of Casablanca, upon reaching 40 meters depth numerous sound contacts were tracked for about an hour and a rough Easterly direction of travel was determined. We surfaced and moved to intercept what was believed to be a task force but was later observed to be a convoy of merchants - mostly large tankers and troop ships under heavy escort of at least 5 destroyers of varying types under American banners.
The intercept which took place just before sunrise did not place me in the best position, but with allied radar being a consideration, the longer range shot was probably a more tactically sound decision anyway.
3 observations were made for speed calculation, and finally a spread of 2 torpedoes was sent toward the large tanker steaming in the center column, immediately astern of him was another large tanker which also received a spread of 2.
The periscope was immediately lowered, a heading of 270 and a depth of 140 meters was ordered.
All four torpedoes were heard to impact and explode, within minutes these sounds were followed by numerous secondary explosions and sinking sounds. The escorts promptly responded.
The sea state was moderate and this may have contributed to poor listening conditions for their ASDIC gear because several pings were heard, but the escorts focused on an area of sea well astern of our position.
The westerly course was continued toward the Canary Islands and i chose not to continue harassment of the convoy as the next point of intercept would have been dangerously close to the Straight of Gibraltar. Allied air cover, and surface patrol craft would have easily persecuted the u-boat in this area if the attack was poorly executed or the boat discovered by radar or aircraft etc.
On March 21st just north of the Canary islands radar signals again forced us to dive as a precautionary measure, the weather which had been very poor for the past several days had started to improve and the sea state was now calm. Sound contact as made with 1 warship and 3 merchant vessels.
Again an approximate course was determined and an intercept made.
We attacked around 0300 from point blank range sinking a small merchant and a liberty ship.
Over the next 4 hours, the lone escort depth charged U-93 with a high degree of accuracy. Our initial depth of 140 meters had to be pushed to 160, then 180, then 220 and finally 230 meters. I dared not dive deeper.
The boat was obviously under heavy strain, several bold decoys were used at each depth however the escort never seemed to respond to these. accurate persecution of ASW attacks against U-93 continued until (it is assumed) that the escort exhausted its supply of depth charges and made a rush back toward the last remaining merchant of the small convoy.
The overwhelming sense was that if this particular destroyer had any help, it would have been over for U-93. The destroyer pressing the attack seemed to be clearly aware of the approximate position and depth of the boat almost constantly with a very small margin of error.
U93 employed the tactic of course changes of approximately 40 degrees during the depth charge run at flank speed. Once the escort was acquired from our baffles we would turn the boat so as to present the smallest profile possible and quickly drop to 50 rpm, generally pointing our stern directly at the attacker. Usually there was anywhere of up to a minute of silence following a depth charge barrage. The silence in any case was always broken by ASDIC pings and the tracking of the destroyer closing on our position at high speed.
Eventually however as is stated above, the escort broke off her attack and headed north at high speed.
be careful out there folks :03:
By March - May of 1943, the allies have made a science of killing u-boats. make sure and strike from long range whenever possible, i have found that it is best to disable your target ships near the maximum range of your torpedoes, then dive deep and away. later you can then pick off the wounded stragglers as the convoy (and obviously the escorts) sail on without them.
I am bound and determined to see that U-93 survives this mess!
It seems there are few things out in the Atlantic except erratic radar signals and thousands of allied patrol planes.
During the Biscay crossing we must have submerged a dozen times to evade incoming aircraft.
On the 17th radar signals forced us to dive approximately 150 nautical miles west of Casablanca, upon reaching 40 meters depth numerous sound contacts were tracked for about an hour and a rough Easterly direction of travel was determined. We surfaced and moved to intercept what was believed to be a task force but was later observed to be a convoy of merchants - mostly large tankers and troop ships under heavy escort of at least 5 destroyers of varying types under American banners.
The intercept which took place just before sunrise did not place me in the best position, but with allied radar being a consideration, the longer range shot was probably a more tactically sound decision anyway.
3 observations were made for speed calculation, and finally a spread of 2 torpedoes was sent toward the large tanker steaming in the center column, immediately astern of him was another large tanker which also received a spread of 2.
The periscope was immediately lowered, a heading of 270 and a depth of 140 meters was ordered.
All four torpedoes were heard to impact and explode, within minutes these sounds were followed by numerous secondary explosions and sinking sounds. The escorts promptly responded.
The sea state was moderate and this may have contributed to poor listening conditions for their ASDIC gear because several pings were heard, but the escorts focused on an area of sea well astern of our position.
The westerly course was continued toward the Canary Islands and i chose not to continue harassment of the convoy as the next point of intercept would have been dangerously close to the Straight of Gibraltar. Allied air cover, and surface patrol craft would have easily persecuted the u-boat in this area if the attack was poorly executed or the boat discovered by radar or aircraft etc.
On March 21st just north of the Canary islands radar signals again forced us to dive as a precautionary measure, the weather which had been very poor for the past several days had started to improve and the sea state was now calm. Sound contact as made with 1 warship and 3 merchant vessels.
Again an approximate course was determined and an intercept made.
We attacked around 0300 from point blank range sinking a small merchant and a liberty ship.
Over the next 4 hours, the lone escort depth charged U-93 with a high degree of accuracy. Our initial depth of 140 meters had to be pushed to 160, then 180, then 220 and finally 230 meters. I dared not dive deeper.
The boat was obviously under heavy strain, several bold decoys were used at each depth however the escort never seemed to respond to these. accurate persecution of ASW attacks against U-93 continued until (it is assumed) that the escort exhausted its supply of depth charges and made a rush back toward the last remaining merchant of the small convoy.
The overwhelming sense was that if this particular destroyer had any help, it would have been over for U-93. The destroyer pressing the attack seemed to be clearly aware of the approximate position and depth of the boat almost constantly with a very small margin of error.
U93 employed the tactic of course changes of approximately 40 degrees during the depth charge run at flank speed. Once the escort was acquired from our baffles we would turn the boat so as to present the smallest profile possible and quickly drop to 50 rpm, generally pointing our stern directly at the attacker. Usually there was anywhere of up to a minute of silence following a depth charge barrage. The silence in any case was always broken by ASDIC pings and the tracking of the destroyer closing on our position at high speed.
Eventually however as is stated above, the escort broke off her attack and headed north at high speed.
be careful out there folks :03:
By March - May of 1943, the allies have made a science of killing u-boats. make sure and strike from long range whenever possible, i have found that it is best to disable your target ships near the maximum range of your torpedoes, then dive deep and away. later you can then pick off the wounded stragglers as the convoy (and obviously the escorts) sail on without them.
I am bound and determined to see that U-93 survives this mess!