(Story) U-46 puts to sea again

[Laughing Swordfish]

The thrashing of her engines is becoming louder this time.

I ease us a little more to starboard. I don't think she knows exactly where we are. It's a delicate situation. Their skipper up there would dearly like to slow down, and take a clearer sounding, but we all know what happens to ships that hang about when there's a U-boat in the vicinity.

For us, we are stubbornly pushing generally westwards, not neccesarily what an escort might expect us to do in the hunt for an eastward-bound convoy.

"Standby menschen. He's just rolling the dice up there!"

"Depth charges in the water!" Hans calls from the sonar cabin.

"More wasted, lads!" I smile around the Control Room and tilt my cap back on my head. "These will hardly spill our coffee!"

Then we wait.

LS

[Laughing Swordfish]

The crashes and detonations sound impressive when they come, but we can tell they are off the mark, we've had them a lot, lot closer than that.

The relaxed grins of the older hares, even a young veteran like Bruno, rubs off on the greener lads and there are more smiles all round the Control Room, although we're far from out of it yet.

Thorough training is well and good, but no substitute for 'battle innoculation', and the only way to do that is to get in Tommy's face.

The question again is which way will he turn. He's already easily bypassed our little dawdle. But will he go starboard back into the convoy screen, or push his search out further south.

We've already used the last attack to rev up the electric motors, and now it's time to use the little extra speed that affords. We don't want to get left behind, and Enzel and his boys are in the other direction.

"270 Chief!"

Otto nods and the Swordfish is soon pulling around to port.

We're hooking around again.

LS

[Laughing Swordfish]

Time to come round again to port, back on an easterly course.

Otto swings us round to 278, and the Swordfish responds as gracefully as a good friend would, or even a girl on your arm.

The men often confide that they think of their girls or family at critical moments, but you wouldn't think it as they whisper and quietly go about their business.

I wonder what Heidi is doing now. And Josie? Girly stuff I suppose, and certainly standing on dry land.

That thought gives me a moment of comfort and longing, before Willi needs me again at the chart table.

The booms and crashes are a way behind us this time, but they may well be back, still not time for us to reload just yet, so silent routine until we shake him off. There'll be time enough if we're going to cut away from any more unwanted attention, and still keep up with the convoy.

Just enough time to nonchalently duck behind my green curtain, take off my leather coat, and put on a slightly less damp, but favourite shirt. Heidi's photo is still there on the bulkhead. A little curled now, but I can't replace it. It's of her laughing gaily on a shopping trip in Paris, as if the War didn't exist at all.

When we are together, I want nothing more than to look after her and be by her side.

Out here at sea, it seems like the other way round; she is looking down, and taking care of me.

LS

[Jimbuna]

More fuel http://www.psionguild.org/forums/images/smilies/wolfsmilies/headbanger.gif

[Laughing Swordfish]

"So where are we Willi?"

He licks his pencil out of habit, everything is more or less damp anyway. Here Kap, by dead reckoning at their speed, and with some zig zagging they will be here... and we.... he uses his pencil to make a point at the map.. are somewhere in the water here.

"Our friend is behind us to the East, but not closing yet. Hans tells me he is more distant than before. Perhaps he's lost the scent for the time being.

Willi looks at me earnestly. "Enzel's last reported position was here". The spot on the map is already circled.

We can be there in a few hours, Rollie, if we blow to the surface and go for it."

"Thanks Willi, but one thing at a time. We need to shake this one off first. Adi Enzel and his boys aren't going to thank us for bringing another destroyer to the party. Plot us a path a lttle more south and east; as soon as I'm sure we've got our own privacy, I promise we'll pop up and run for him. Besides I need a bit of open sea to surface and make radio contact, without being rammed or shot at".

"Aye aye, Kap!"

And soon we are pushing slightly away from the convoy and it's screen, but still on a tracking course.

The relentless churn of fast propellors to our stern, is coming back again.

LS

[Laughing Swordfish]

The sound of the propellors grows louder, like a child's dream of a monster's footsteps pounding towards you, and you can't seem to get your legs to move, to run away.

This is when we all need to keep our nerve.

Their captain is coming up right behind us. Surely he can't know where we are. Those last two drops were way off.

"Deeper Chief. Another 30 metres, stay on course".

Hopeful faces are looking at me as we dip again.

By now the thudding has become a roar. The destroyer must be almost running right over us.

LS

[donw]

Incredible! The ole girl still lives! Good to see ya my friend :up:

[Laughing Swordfish]

Hi Don, my old shipmate!
Still alive and kicking (or slinking about in the depths, in this case!).
Do you still have the whole story compiled in Word format, that you once so kindly and labouriously did?
To make a start on getting it published, I'm thinking of producing it as an e-book first with smashwords.com.
It'll be a massive job, to fill in the gaps, correct my appalling spelling, grammar and historical inaccuracies, but I also want to write the back story, and add other new bits, so hopefully it will be a more polished and complete story, with extra material and story lines. So hopefully everyone who has so faithfully followed this thread, will find something new to put on their Kindle or whatever.

All the best, Raoul (LS)

[donw]

Well.. the link below your posts.. (and below mine)..that says "U-46 puts to sea again".. has everything that I had put together..
Give me a cpl days.. and I'll do what I can to add everything you have added since then..

Great to hear you're still thinking about putting it all together.. Everyone here sure has enjoyed every word.. but then again.. we're all a bit daft :-)

[Laughing Swordfish]

They say that if you can hear the depth charges as they hit the water, then you're in real trouble. At this depth, we would rely on Hans in the sonar cabin to warn us, but with the destroyer pretty much roaring overhead, it's hard to pick out any other particular sounds.

"Keep going menschen.."

And it doesn't need Hans to tell us that the escort has passed us by, we can all hear the receding noise of their propellors; ahead of us to be sure, but no longer right on top of us, and nothing dropped. He will never know how close he came to a perfect shot.

Doc pokes his head into the Control Room, where he has been bandaging a young engineer who banged his head on a bulkhead during the last attack.

"And so we screw our courage to the sticking place, eh, Rollie?", he smiled.

This brought wide grins all round, although I'd wager a month's Captain's pay that not one of my lads has ever read a word of Shakespeare.

Willi pays his customary lucky tribute to our painted Swordfish emblem by the ladder, to a ripple of happy applause. To those of the youngsters in their first real action, everything doesn't seem quite so bad for now.

"Ok lads, keep it down." Otto growls. He's right. that destroyer is still up there, between us and where we want to be. We still need to give him the slip, so that we can get clear and to the surface. He may be circling now, or rejoining the escort screen; too early yet to come up and take a peek, let's see what he does.

LS

[Jimbuna]

More fuel http://www.psionguild.org/forums/images/smilies/wolfsmilies/headbanger.gif

[Kpt. Lehmann]

More fuel

Yes YES! Definitely, more lovely fuel!!! :up::up::up:

Thank you RDB!

[DareDevil]

Wondering when LS will return with next chapter...

[donw]

as has hundreds of the rest of us! :)

[Jimbuna]

as has hundreds of the rest of us! :)

Rgr that.

[DareDevil]

Quiet but typical submariners ending... unfortunately

[Laughing Swordfish]

Still alive, Daredevil, just been
in limbo!
Wow, I can't believe I've left it so long.
Still stalking the convoy....and being stalked....
More soon.
LS

[Sailor Steve]

Too late! I held my breath so long I turned blue and then popped. :dead:


:O:

Waiting patiently for the next installment. :sunny:

[Jimbuna]

Welcome return matey :sunny:

[Laughing Swordfish]

"30 Port".

Otto repeats the order to his helmsmen, and I'm pleased to see young Lenz, much calmer now, attentive to his wheel.

An instinctive guess, really. I'm thinking that our destroyer cetainly won't give up just yet, but having probably forced us down out of torpedo range, and my opposite number up there must realise we are well beyond periscope depth anyway, his own instinct will be to double back and pick up contact again, but turn to port himself, to keep him closer to the escort screen.

If I'm right, that would put him on some sort of north-westerly course, while we peel off to the south west. Little by little, so that either way, we'll be showing as little profile to his ASDIC as possible. Thirty degrees at a time, until we're heading south. Buy ourselves some breathing space (literally), before shaking free, and hooking East again, hammering the diesels and re-joining the chase.

"Up 30 meters". Talking of space, I'd like to put some more safe water under us to drop into and duck under the depth charge settings if things do get sticky later. Also it's good for the old girl's valves and rivets to let her loosen her corset a little, when we can.

Some of the younger ones look at me as the boat rises, as if I'm some mystic all-knowing guru who will save them. I suppose it's good for them to believe that. So much of it is one big guessing game, of course; friend and foe alike.

Now, what is our friend going to do up there?

LS

[Aktungbby]

:Kaleun_Salute:

[Laughing Swordfish]

Christian ducks out of the sonar cabin.

"Destroyer still on course, Kaleun".

"Thanks Number One. That's good. It means we're putting more sea between us and the Tommies every moment that passes".

That last bit spoken with emphasis for the benefit of the younger crew in the Control Room.

"Now leave Hans to listen out for us. I need you and Willi at the chart table".

That destroyer will turn soon, I know it; probably worried about closing the gap at the back of his flock from us wolves. Not counting Enzel in U-287, there should be another four boats somewhere in the vicinity also. But more importantly he'll want to settle his account with us, so nearly in his grasp before.

"Come on, Captain Jones", I muttered.

"We'll see".

LS

[Laughing Swordfish]

Now Hans' head pops out from the sonar cabin.

"She's coming back, Kaleun!"

I'm soon crouched over his shoulder with the second earphones clamped to one ear.

Hard to say which way he turned, but no doubt his engines are sounding louder. He can make as much as thirty knots, while we crawl along down here, at two.

"Port 30, maintain depth!"

We're continuing our bend to the south, before breaking east.

If I'm right, we should be able to show him our arse and a good chance of slipping away.

Otherwise, we will soon see.

LS

[Kpt. Lehmann]

LS! Good to see you about and back at it, old friend! :salute:

[Laughing Swordfish]

Good to be back, Boss. I've missed it!

LS

[Laughing Swordfish]

The throb of the destroyer's engines are more distant this time. That's a good thing; maybe I guessed right.

The next thing to listen for (and everyone on the boat can hear it - unnerving even to us in the Control Room, but much worse for the boys in other compartments, who can only guess or fear the worst), is that horrible ping of the ASDIC.

We can hear it faintly, forever searching for us, trying to find and kill us. But no resounding ping bouncing back from our hull.

"So far, so good, menschen! Ease us another thirty to port, Chief".

The Laughing Swordfish does as she's told. Sliding gracefully away onto a southerly bearing. Discretion being the better part of valour, as I'm sure Doc would say.

A little more distance, and with any luck we can come up for air, recharge, reload, pump out, and do some minor repairs, around dusk.

Otto is already back checking and tweaking the diesels.

Once we're back on the surface, we have some sea to catch up, but the chase will be on again.

LS

[Laughing Swordfish]

"Hans?"

The fluttering gesture of his right hand, says 'just so-so' in a universal sign, while his left hand still rotates, in longer sweeps, then minute gradations, the circle of his sonar dial for any stronger contacts.

He offers me one ear of his headphones that he knows I will already soon be reaching for; if not me, it's Christian (who should be now catching up on some sleep in his bunk, but which I know he is not); either way, Hans gets pestered a lot at times like this.

Apart from the only too obvious crash of the depth charges, or if an escort's engines are really running too close, or the asdic is pinging loud and hard, the sonar is our only sensory perception of life and death up there, and down here.

It's faint. Hans tweaks his dial to give me a better and broader sound picture.

Faint. They're somewhere behind us, but not growing. I clap Hans on the shoulder.

"Thanks Hans, that's good enough for me."

I duck back out of the sonar cabin's curtain, and inevitably bump into my First Lieutenant hovering outside.

"Come on Christian, back into the Control Room. Maybe some fresh air soon!"

"Chief! periscope depth, please. On dive planes only; no ballast. Maintain silent routine".

Otto nods and grins, before giving his helm orders. There are more smiles around the confines of the control room. It will take longer to get up to 12 metres without blowing air into the tanks, and water out but that would be noisy, and better safe than sorry. However long it takes, we will be inching back up, and if not able to see the sky and ocean again straightaway, at least then take a peek at it from a set of wonderfully engineered German lenses and optics.

LS

[donw]

Happy Birthday Rollie! Miss ya mate
:Kaleun_Salute: :Kaleun_Cheers:

[Kpt. Lehmann]

Happy Birthday Rollie! Miss ya mate
:Kaleun_Salute: :Kaleun_Cheers:


That makes two of us. Good to see you as well, donw.


Happy birthday, RdB! Hope you're having a great one. :D
Know that you are missed!:Kaleun_Salute::Kaleun_Cheers: