InvisibleDeath
10-10-13, 10:28 AM
The east coast of England was making my crew unhappy. It had been a week and all we've seen were warships in the distance. And we were too smart to risk a warship in broad daylight with calm seas. We had completed an entire cycle of the saw-tooth pattern for both the northern and southern sections of our AOO and keeping morale up was difficult. Not to mention that the Admiral was wanting to know why our reports are so sparse.
We began our second cycle when the sonar reported a large hit bearing 321 and heading east. I ran to the maps and worked with the navigator to happily report to the crew that we were heading full speed for an intercept. It took us nearly one and a half hours to get there, but we were in perfect position to slip beneath the surface and wait for the convoy to come to us. I got my log book and took up position in the attack chamber. My attack scope was raised so that it just barely broke the surface of the water. As the ships came into view I had to make some quick decisions: this convoy was headed up by a destroyer.
I slid down the steps and moved quickly to the sonar room and watched his plotting. We had a stream of 7 large ships, most likely merchants, with that destroyer in front but at the far side away from us. I patted his back, gave his a smile and a good job congratulations, then headed up to my periscope room once again. I knew what I was going to do and it was less risky than it could have been.
For the next two hours you could feel the tension throughout the Unterboot. Sonar positions were quietly relayed from man to man until number two relayed them to me as he perched halfway up the ladder to the attack room. The destroyer passed us then the merchants moved into position in front of us. The timing and planning had to be very carefully done to pull this off. When I had my ships in location with 4 to my right and 4 to my left I began my TDC work. We had a combination of tankers and a few possible troop ships as well as supply ships.
I targeted the 4 ships that were farthest from me, set the speeds to high and let the eels fly. I was running fast and shallow in the hopes they would cause more internal damage at a 1 meter depth. When we had 4 eel in the water, I called for a drop to 30 feet depth and waited with my stop watch and the sonar reports. One by one I got the report, four reports of explosions at a distance. I passed orders back to sonar to mark several positions of the destroyer and report his behaviour. As the torpedo reload report came in for tube 1 I was glad to hear he was just circling the area searching for us. I smiled as he did not know where we were and scouts on the merchants did not see the direction of the eels. I called to come back up to periscope depth and I could hear the excitement in everyones' voice as the order was passed to the balast control team.
I saw four columns of smoke in the distance and the merchants began a movement that brought them even closer to me than before. This was going to be a good day. I set for medium speed and stayed with 1 meter depth and sent the eels on their way. I sent two fish at the largest boat which appeared to be a possible tanker or troop ship. I lowered the periscope and then ordered to dive to 50 feet. As we began our descent it did not take a sonar man to hear the explosions in the near distance: we hit our merchant ships and sonar reported one ship going down.
We had six damaged ships and one sunk ship with a pissed off destroyer moving back into the column of the convoy. Time to make a move. We went minimum speed and headed for the rear of the column. I wanted to have a lot of prop wash from the merchants helping to hide our presence and get into a position to start taking on wounded ducks on the surface. Half an hour later we were a kilometer towards the rear and the surface ships were estimated to double their speed to get away from us. I called for the ship to rise to periscope depth since the destroyer focus was on the front of the column and pulled up the observation periscope to see the results of the field.
I was surprised to see one ship not throwing smoke, but all of the other ships either had raging fires, smouldering internal fires, or some other form of damage apparent. Either this last merchant ship was a tough cookie and took our eel without much damage or we hit one ship with two eels and they escaped any damage. We were out of position to do anything about this ship right now and my concern was any ships lagging behind. And we had two. We moved the sub up between the two slower merchants, matched their speed, and traveled with them as the convoy continued to move farther and farther away. When the convoy was just a few columns of black smoke on the horizon, we surfaced and used our shells to finish off the two. One shot was so lucky, my crew struck just beneath the bridge causing a massive explosion that sent her straight down. The other took several rounds but was soon joining Davy Jones.
With that done, we headed on to close distance on the remaining ships. We could still see them burning in the distance and by now darkness would be upon us as we took chase on a wider but parallel course to take up a nice firing position. As we moved into a closer position and the sun set we began to have an added advantage on these ships; fog was moving into the surface and we just became very invisible to the convoy. We were able to pursue and found three more ships that took on damage and were now lagging behind the rest of the ships. We made short order of them in the darkness and then fell back to keep a sharp eye out for the destroyer.
We now faced a situation where we had a huge unknown in front of us. One ship burning (we could see the flames in the distance), one ship unknown, and the blasted destroyer doing who-knows-what. I was surprised that the one ship could maintain such speed considering I could see flames but we pressed on regardless. We cautiously moved up towards the ships and as we did so we kept all eyes pealed for that destroyer. A hard task to do in this fog and darkness. I decided we should try a risky move and at least add one more ship to our log.
I pulled the gun crew into the command center and told them what I wanted them to do. They ran up onto deck and carefully placed shots at the rear end of the damaged ship. The goal to damage or destroy the engines or props and make this last lame duck a straggler. They made a few shots at the other ship but the shots kept falling short or long. They were having difficulty with this ship at the farthest end of their range of accuracy. Sonar reported he was also making a screaming run as it sped up even more.
We focused on the final ship and soon it fell behind and soon sat dead in the water. I went down to the gun deck and asked the men if they minded if I took command of the gun. The gunner had a big smile, bowed, and offered the gunner position to me. I ordered an explosive round be loaded and we positioned ourselves alongside the dead ship. My first shot hit below water level and caused a small explosion but nothing significant. My second shot set off ammo they had on board. A massive explosion and streaking elements flaring out from the ship was a sight of beauty. I could hear whoops of joy from the bridge as well as the gun deck and the wintergarten.
I looked to my gun crew and ordered one more HEP be loaded. I picked a spot just behind the bridge this time, hoping I could hit more explosives or their fuel. The shell hit and some flashes could be seen beneath the water. It was dead quiet and there was almost an instantaneous 'ooohhh' from the crew. Just as I was turning to my gunner to tell them to load up one more round, a massive explosion ripped through the ship. The center of the ship bowed up like a massive, metal beast trying to give birth. As it slapped down into the water everyone could hear the wrenching sound of twisting and tearing metal. It was only a matter of moments and the centre of the ship sagged. The cries of joy filled the air from my crew. I shook hands with everyone on a job well done then ordered a search for survivors. "After all, we are warriors not barbarians."
We began our second cycle when the sonar reported a large hit bearing 321 and heading east. I ran to the maps and worked with the navigator to happily report to the crew that we were heading full speed for an intercept. It took us nearly one and a half hours to get there, but we were in perfect position to slip beneath the surface and wait for the convoy to come to us. I got my log book and took up position in the attack chamber. My attack scope was raised so that it just barely broke the surface of the water. As the ships came into view I had to make some quick decisions: this convoy was headed up by a destroyer.
I slid down the steps and moved quickly to the sonar room and watched his plotting. We had a stream of 7 large ships, most likely merchants, with that destroyer in front but at the far side away from us. I patted his back, gave his a smile and a good job congratulations, then headed up to my periscope room once again. I knew what I was going to do and it was less risky than it could have been.
For the next two hours you could feel the tension throughout the Unterboot. Sonar positions were quietly relayed from man to man until number two relayed them to me as he perched halfway up the ladder to the attack room. The destroyer passed us then the merchants moved into position in front of us. The timing and planning had to be very carefully done to pull this off. When I had my ships in location with 4 to my right and 4 to my left I began my TDC work. We had a combination of tankers and a few possible troop ships as well as supply ships.
I targeted the 4 ships that were farthest from me, set the speeds to high and let the eels fly. I was running fast and shallow in the hopes they would cause more internal damage at a 1 meter depth. When we had 4 eel in the water, I called for a drop to 30 feet depth and waited with my stop watch and the sonar reports. One by one I got the report, four reports of explosions at a distance. I passed orders back to sonar to mark several positions of the destroyer and report his behaviour. As the torpedo reload report came in for tube 1 I was glad to hear he was just circling the area searching for us. I smiled as he did not know where we were and scouts on the merchants did not see the direction of the eels. I called to come back up to periscope depth and I could hear the excitement in everyones' voice as the order was passed to the balast control team.
I saw four columns of smoke in the distance and the merchants began a movement that brought them even closer to me than before. This was going to be a good day. I set for medium speed and stayed with 1 meter depth and sent the eels on their way. I sent two fish at the largest boat which appeared to be a possible tanker or troop ship. I lowered the periscope and then ordered to dive to 50 feet. As we began our descent it did not take a sonar man to hear the explosions in the near distance: we hit our merchant ships and sonar reported one ship going down.
We had six damaged ships and one sunk ship with a pissed off destroyer moving back into the column of the convoy. Time to make a move. We went minimum speed and headed for the rear of the column. I wanted to have a lot of prop wash from the merchants helping to hide our presence and get into a position to start taking on wounded ducks on the surface. Half an hour later we were a kilometer towards the rear and the surface ships were estimated to double their speed to get away from us. I called for the ship to rise to periscope depth since the destroyer focus was on the front of the column and pulled up the observation periscope to see the results of the field.
I was surprised to see one ship not throwing smoke, but all of the other ships either had raging fires, smouldering internal fires, or some other form of damage apparent. Either this last merchant ship was a tough cookie and took our eel without much damage or we hit one ship with two eels and they escaped any damage. We were out of position to do anything about this ship right now and my concern was any ships lagging behind. And we had two. We moved the sub up between the two slower merchants, matched their speed, and traveled with them as the convoy continued to move farther and farther away. When the convoy was just a few columns of black smoke on the horizon, we surfaced and used our shells to finish off the two. One shot was so lucky, my crew struck just beneath the bridge causing a massive explosion that sent her straight down. The other took several rounds but was soon joining Davy Jones.
With that done, we headed on to close distance on the remaining ships. We could still see them burning in the distance and by now darkness would be upon us as we took chase on a wider but parallel course to take up a nice firing position. As we moved into a closer position and the sun set we began to have an added advantage on these ships; fog was moving into the surface and we just became very invisible to the convoy. We were able to pursue and found three more ships that took on damage and were now lagging behind the rest of the ships. We made short order of them in the darkness and then fell back to keep a sharp eye out for the destroyer.
We now faced a situation where we had a huge unknown in front of us. One ship burning (we could see the flames in the distance), one ship unknown, and the blasted destroyer doing who-knows-what. I was surprised that the one ship could maintain such speed considering I could see flames but we pressed on regardless. We cautiously moved up towards the ships and as we did so we kept all eyes pealed for that destroyer. A hard task to do in this fog and darkness. I decided we should try a risky move and at least add one more ship to our log.
I pulled the gun crew into the command center and told them what I wanted them to do. They ran up onto deck and carefully placed shots at the rear end of the damaged ship. The goal to damage or destroy the engines or props and make this last lame duck a straggler. They made a few shots at the other ship but the shots kept falling short or long. They were having difficulty with this ship at the farthest end of their range of accuracy. Sonar reported he was also making a screaming run as it sped up even more.
We focused on the final ship and soon it fell behind and soon sat dead in the water. I went down to the gun deck and asked the men if they minded if I took command of the gun. The gunner had a big smile, bowed, and offered the gunner position to me. I ordered an explosive round be loaded and we positioned ourselves alongside the dead ship. My first shot hit below water level and caused a small explosion but nothing significant. My second shot set off ammo they had on board. A massive explosion and streaking elements flaring out from the ship was a sight of beauty. I could hear whoops of joy from the bridge as well as the gun deck and the wintergarten.
I looked to my gun crew and ordered one more HEP be loaded. I picked a spot just behind the bridge this time, hoping I could hit more explosives or their fuel. The shell hit and some flashes could be seen beneath the water. It was dead quiet and there was almost an instantaneous 'ooohhh' from the crew. Just as I was turning to my gunner to tell them to load up one more round, a massive explosion ripped through the ship. The center of the ship bowed up like a massive, metal beast trying to give birth. As it slapped down into the water everyone could hear the wrenching sound of twisting and tearing metal. It was only a matter of moments and the centre of the ship sagged. The cries of joy filled the air from my crew. I shook hands with everyone on a job well done then ordered a search for survivors. "After all, we are warriors not barbarians."