Dowly
08-24-05, 05:46 AM
7th PATROL
March 13, 1941 U-103
04:46 - We just left Lorient for our seventh patrol, sea is calm and there are no clouds
in sight. What a great weather to sail! I ordered 1st watch to tower and went to talk with
my AA gunner, who got Iron Cross 1st class from his actions on our last patrol.
We were in the Irish sea and our batterys where almost empty because of the two destroyers
that whe had to evade earlier. As we were surfaced, loading our batteries, four enemy A/C
appeared from the clouds and started attacking us. Wolf Degen, saw our situation and before
WO gave the order to man the AA guns. He was there, blasting the enemy planes. After two of
the planes went down, the other two quit the chase and headed home.
After a nice chat with Wolf I told my navigator to take course towards grid DG91, 1800km
from the coast of NW Africa.
Our type IXB boat was fitted with a new conning tower. We lost our heavy flak, but they
gave us another AA machinegun. With men like Wolf Degen handling those, we don`t have to
worry about RAF!
21:48 - After travelling for 500km, weather is still clear and almost windless.
There haven`t been any sightnings of ships nor aircrafts. Crew is getting bored already.
Planned submerging at 00:00.
00:00 - Submerged to 30m, ahead slow. Planned to surface at 06:00.
March 14
01:11 - Karl Creuts, our sonarman, heard a faint screw sounds at bearing 183. Few minutes
later contact was lost. Propably our own merchant.
06:00 - After a six hours submerged and listening for contacts, we surface. The contact
spotted at 01:11, was the only one for the whole night. Ahead standard.
10:32 - I ordered a seven hour period on ahead one-third to save fuel.
14:25 - BdU asked for a weather report.
14:27 - Weather report sent to BdU
Weather report from U-103 at grid BF75.
Wind / 5m/s
Direction / 239
Precipitations / none
Fog / none
Clouds / clear
17:30 - Returned to ahead standard.
22:25 - WO yells from the tower that they have spotted a ship! I rush to the tower.
At bearing 358, 5800m away, I spot a C3 cargo ship. I order a parallel course to overdue it
and get to a good firing position.
22:37 - Based on my calculations, we should be way a head of it and on it`s right side.
I order the boat to periscope depth.
22:44 - I order tubes 1 to 3 to be prepaired. Fast speed, depth 6,5m, impact fuse.
22:51 - I launch both tubes from 950 meters.
55 seconds later a sound of something hitting metal was heard. So... number 1 was a dud...
1 minute and 3 seconds a loud explosion was heard. Number 2 hit the ship, possibly
damaging the engine compartment, because sonarman reported that the ship was slowing down.
I raised the periscope and saw that there was no smoke coming from the ships chimney, but
no signs of sinking.
After a couple of minutes, the ship is in total stop. I can see the stern is much lower than
the bow... she`s taking in water.
I give her peace by firing a third torpedo right on its stern. The new hole should make a big
enough flooding to sink the ship. 29 seconds later the third hits in just aft of the bridge.
The whole stern of the C3 is on a blaze. If the flooding won`t sink the ship, the fire will.
I order us surfaced.
22:59 - C3 went finally down. We gave the survivors directions to nearest coast, Portugal.
We returned to our course.
March 15
03:45 - Another ship sighted, bearing 002, small merchant, heading S. Decided to intercept
and attack.
03:52 - Starting our attack run, tubes 1 & 2 prepaired, speed fast, depth 5m, impact fuse.
At 03:57 first tube is launched, range to contact 1050 meters.
47 seconds later torpedo impacted and sank the ship. No survivors spotted.
Returned to course.
04:13 - Started transfering torpedoes from external reserves to internal reserves.
08:53 - BdU asked for a weather report.
08:56 - Weather report sent to BdU
Weather report from U-103 at grid CG12.
Wind / 5m/s
Direction / 0
Precipitations / none
Fog / none
Clouds / clear
16:28 - Transfering of the torpedoes reported complete. Weather has changed a bit, wind now
12m/s.
20:44 - Ordered a six hour submerged period, because of the storm.
March 16
06:40 - Surfaced. Weather still the same, winds 12m/s. Send a status report to BdU.
Status report from U-103
March 16, 1941
Location / CF62
Torpedoes left / 17
Ships sunk / 2
Estm. tonnage / 10,000
March 17
02:17 - Received message from BdU asking for our current position. Replied to message:
Current position CF83 - U-103
02:23 - Message from BdU
BdU to U-103:
New orders, you are assigned
to patrol grid CH63. Take
heading to new area ASAP.
CH63.... Have to check from the map... ofcourse... from all the boats, I had to be the
one. CH63 is in Mediterrain! Damn those dogs!! It`s a suicide! What are they thinking!?
But I have no choice! It`s not a surprise if we lose the war on atlantic! Those BdU
idiots waste good men on a missions like this!
02:33 - We take course to Gibraltar.
March 18
01:12 - Ship spotted, starboard side, heading W. Plot to intercept planned.
01:22 - Ship identified as C2. Starting attack run, tubes 1 & 2, fast, impact fuses.
Both tubes launched from 2200 meters.
01:24 - Both torpedos make a hit amidship, C2 splits in two and sinks very fast.
No survivors seen.
06:21 - 700km east of Gibraltar. I gave order to dive if any ship or A/C is spotted.
It`s not good idea to attack ships this close to Gibraltar. Hopefully the C2 we sank,
didn`t have time to report us.
06:37 - Sea is calm again, winds on 5m/s. Estimated time of arrival to Gibraltar, 27h.
I decide to take a quick nap, have to be sharp when we reach Gibraltar...
19:53 - Ordered a six hour submerged period. Starting at 00:00.
March 19
06:00 - Surfaced. 00:00-06:00 no sound contacts spotted.
14:07 - 200km to Gibraltar.
15:17 - Two enemy aircrafts surprised us, no bombs dropped. Submerged for an 30min.
15:52 - Another plane spotted, bomb hit directly to our stern.
Damage report:
Flooding: Stern torpedo room
Both engine rooms
Stern quarters
Both diesels damaged
Both electrics damaged
Radio damaged
Light damage in stern quarters
Stern torpedo room damaged
It takes max. 4h to repair all this... arsehole BdU!
18:33 - Repairs done, surfaced to charge batteries.
18:37 - Aircrafts! One bomb dropped, missed. I ordered AA guns to be manned and fire at will.
18:55 - After intense fightning, enemy aircrafts head for home.
19:09 - Another aircraft spotted, one bomb dropped, missed. Ordered us to 20m, ahead slow.
After we dived, we heard a depth charge go off on our port side, medium range.
03:47 - Surfaced to charge the batteries. 80km to Gibraltar.
07:23 - Enemy aircraft surprised and dropped a bomb on us. It hit almost directly where the
last bomb hit, on our stern. Electric engines were damaged beyond repair and there was heavy
flooding in stern quarters.
08:12 - Flooding under control. Report send to BdU.
U-103 to BdU
Boat heavily damaged by enemy A/C.
Electric engines beyond repair.
Infiltration of the Gibraltar impossible.
Requesting new orders.
08:21 - Message from BdU
BdU to U-103
Return to base.
It seems that lady luck was on our side afterall. Now we just must make it back to Lorient...
08:24 - Plotted course to Lorient.
15:36 - BdU sent me contact report of a three single ships heading for Gibraltar.
I`ll try to get atleast two of them.
18:30 - Spotted a C2 in light fog. I`m on its side on a perfect attack position. I launch a fast
running torpedo from 2500 meters.
18:32 - Fog is gettin really bad, can`t even see the C2 anymore. Sonarman confirmed that the
torpedo was a hit.
18:43 - Scored another direct hit on the C2 from close range. No signs of sinking.
18:46 - Third torpedo hit the target and finally she went down. Weather has turned into a storm,
so I decided to return to my course and let those two ships go.
March 22
12:01 - No contacts in two days. Position: 130km west of portugal.
20:44 - Friendly fishing boat spotted.
March 24
03:22 - We arrive at the port of Lorient, 4 ships worth 23,000 tons sunk. Another day in the office
is through.
Sunset:
http://img397.imageshack.us/img397/2563/eka3bk.jpg
Surfacing after a six hour dive:
http://img397.imageshack.us/img397/2668/toka2pd.jpg
Under attack by A/C near Gibraltar:
http://img397.imageshack.us/img397/5328/kolmas4vj.jpg
Damage made by bomb can be seen aft of the boat:
http://img397.imageshack.us/img397/3338/neljs5jr.jpg
Under attack by A/C near Gibraltar:
http://img397.imageshack.us/img397/3454/viides1gs.jpg
Bomb from the A/C missed:
http://img397.imageshack.us/img397/9176/kuudes6qi.jpg
AA gunners Wolf and Emil in action:
http://img397.imageshack.us/img397/5589/seitsems1ud.jpg
Last sinking of the patrol:
http://img397.imageshack.us/img397/9688/kasi7nn.jpg
Forgive me, I really really really suck writing AARs. :rotfl:
March 13, 1941 U-103
04:46 - We just left Lorient for our seventh patrol, sea is calm and there are no clouds
in sight. What a great weather to sail! I ordered 1st watch to tower and went to talk with
my AA gunner, who got Iron Cross 1st class from his actions on our last patrol.
We were in the Irish sea and our batterys where almost empty because of the two destroyers
that whe had to evade earlier. As we were surfaced, loading our batteries, four enemy A/C
appeared from the clouds and started attacking us. Wolf Degen, saw our situation and before
WO gave the order to man the AA guns. He was there, blasting the enemy planes. After two of
the planes went down, the other two quit the chase and headed home.
After a nice chat with Wolf I told my navigator to take course towards grid DG91, 1800km
from the coast of NW Africa.
Our type IXB boat was fitted with a new conning tower. We lost our heavy flak, but they
gave us another AA machinegun. With men like Wolf Degen handling those, we don`t have to
worry about RAF!
21:48 - After travelling for 500km, weather is still clear and almost windless.
There haven`t been any sightnings of ships nor aircrafts. Crew is getting bored already.
Planned submerging at 00:00.
00:00 - Submerged to 30m, ahead slow. Planned to surface at 06:00.
March 14
01:11 - Karl Creuts, our sonarman, heard a faint screw sounds at bearing 183. Few minutes
later contact was lost. Propably our own merchant.
06:00 - After a six hours submerged and listening for contacts, we surface. The contact
spotted at 01:11, was the only one for the whole night. Ahead standard.
10:32 - I ordered a seven hour period on ahead one-third to save fuel.
14:25 - BdU asked for a weather report.
14:27 - Weather report sent to BdU
Weather report from U-103 at grid BF75.
Wind / 5m/s
Direction / 239
Precipitations / none
Fog / none
Clouds / clear
17:30 - Returned to ahead standard.
22:25 - WO yells from the tower that they have spotted a ship! I rush to the tower.
At bearing 358, 5800m away, I spot a C3 cargo ship. I order a parallel course to overdue it
and get to a good firing position.
22:37 - Based on my calculations, we should be way a head of it and on it`s right side.
I order the boat to periscope depth.
22:44 - I order tubes 1 to 3 to be prepaired. Fast speed, depth 6,5m, impact fuse.
22:51 - I launch both tubes from 950 meters.
55 seconds later a sound of something hitting metal was heard. So... number 1 was a dud...
1 minute and 3 seconds a loud explosion was heard. Number 2 hit the ship, possibly
damaging the engine compartment, because sonarman reported that the ship was slowing down.
I raised the periscope and saw that there was no smoke coming from the ships chimney, but
no signs of sinking.
After a couple of minutes, the ship is in total stop. I can see the stern is much lower than
the bow... she`s taking in water.
I give her peace by firing a third torpedo right on its stern. The new hole should make a big
enough flooding to sink the ship. 29 seconds later the third hits in just aft of the bridge.
The whole stern of the C3 is on a blaze. If the flooding won`t sink the ship, the fire will.
I order us surfaced.
22:59 - C3 went finally down. We gave the survivors directions to nearest coast, Portugal.
We returned to our course.
March 15
03:45 - Another ship sighted, bearing 002, small merchant, heading S. Decided to intercept
and attack.
03:52 - Starting our attack run, tubes 1 & 2 prepaired, speed fast, depth 5m, impact fuse.
At 03:57 first tube is launched, range to contact 1050 meters.
47 seconds later torpedo impacted and sank the ship. No survivors spotted.
Returned to course.
04:13 - Started transfering torpedoes from external reserves to internal reserves.
08:53 - BdU asked for a weather report.
08:56 - Weather report sent to BdU
Weather report from U-103 at grid CG12.
Wind / 5m/s
Direction / 0
Precipitations / none
Fog / none
Clouds / clear
16:28 - Transfering of the torpedoes reported complete. Weather has changed a bit, wind now
12m/s.
20:44 - Ordered a six hour submerged period, because of the storm.
March 16
06:40 - Surfaced. Weather still the same, winds 12m/s. Send a status report to BdU.
Status report from U-103
March 16, 1941
Location / CF62
Torpedoes left / 17
Ships sunk / 2
Estm. tonnage / 10,000
March 17
02:17 - Received message from BdU asking for our current position. Replied to message:
Current position CF83 - U-103
02:23 - Message from BdU
BdU to U-103:
New orders, you are assigned
to patrol grid CH63. Take
heading to new area ASAP.
CH63.... Have to check from the map... ofcourse... from all the boats, I had to be the
one. CH63 is in Mediterrain! Damn those dogs!! It`s a suicide! What are they thinking!?
But I have no choice! It`s not a surprise if we lose the war on atlantic! Those BdU
idiots waste good men on a missions like this!
02:33 - We take course to Gibraltar.
March 18
01:12 - Ship spotted, starboard side, heading W. Plot to intercept planned.
01:22 - Ship identified as C2. Starting attack run, tubes 1 & 2, fast, impact fuses.
Both tubes launched from 2200 meters.
01:24 - Both torpedos make a hit amidship, C2 splits in two and sinks very fast.
No survivors seen.
06:21 - 700km east of Gibraltar. I gave order to dive if any ship or A/C is spotted.
It`s not good idea to attack ships this close to Gibraltar. Hopefully the C2 we sank,
didn`t have time to report us.
06:37 - Sea is calm again, winds on 5m/s. Estimated time of arrival to Gibraltar, 27h.
I decide to take a quick nap, have to be sharp when we reach Gibraltar...
19:53 - Ordered a six hour submerged period. Starting at 00:00.
March 19
06:00 - Surfaced. 00:00-06:00 no sound contacts spotted.
14:07 - 200km to Gibraltar.
15:17 - Two enemy aircrafts surprised us, no bombs dropped. Submerged for an 30min.
15:52 - Another plane spotted, bomb hit directly to our stern.
Damage report:
Flooding: Stern torpedo room
Both engine rooms
Stern quarters
Both diesels damaged
Both electrics damaged
Radio damaged
Light damage in stern quarters
Stern torpedo room damaged
It takes max. 4h to repair all this... arsehole BdU!
18:33 - Repairs done, surfaced to charge batteries.
18:37 - Aircrafts! One bomb dropped, missed. I ordered AA guns to be manned and fire at will.
18:55 - After intense fightning, enemy aircrafts head for home.
19:09 - Another aircraft spotted, one bomb dropped, missed. Ordered us to 20m, ahead slow.
After we dived, we heard a depth charge go off on our port side, medium range.
03:47 - Surfaced to charge the batteries. 80km to Gibraltar.
07:23 - Enemy aircraft surprised and dropped a bomb on us. It hit almost directly where the
last bomb hit, on our stern. Electric engines were damaged beyond repair and there was heavy
flooding in stern quarters.
08:12 - Flooding under control. Report send to BdU.
U-103 to BdU
Boat heavily damaged by enemy A/C.
Electric engines beyond repair.
Infiltration of the Gibraltar impossible.
Requesting new orders.
08:21 - Message from BdU
BdU to U-103
Return to base.
It seems that lady luck was on our side afterall. Now we just must make it back to Lorient...
08:24 - Plotted course to Lorient.
15:36 - BdU sent me contact report of a three single ships heading for Gibraltar.
I`ll try to get atleast two of them.
18:30 - Spotted a C2 in light fog. I`m on its side on a perfect attack position. I launch a fast
running torpedo from 2500 meters.
18:32 - Fog is gettin really bad, can`t even see the C2 anymore. Sonarman confirmed that the
torpedo was a hit.
18:43 - Scored another direct hit on the C2 from close range. No signs of sinking.
18:46 - Third torpedo hit the target and finally she went down. Weather has turned into a storm,
so I decided to return to my course and let those two ships go.
March 22
12:01 - No contacts in two days. Position: 130km west of portugal.
20:44 - Friendly fishing boat spotted.
March 24
03:22 - We arrive at the port of Lorient, 4 ships worth 23,000 tons sunk. Another day in the office
is through.
Sunset:
http://img397.imageshack.us/img397/2563/eka3bk.jpg
Surfacing after a six hour dive:
http://img397.imageshack.us/img397/2668/toka2pd.jpg
Under attack by A/C near Gibraltar:
http://img397.imageshack.us/img397/5328/kolmas4vj.jpg
Damage made by bomb can be seen aft of the boat:
http://img397.imageshack.us/img397/3338/neljs5jr.jpg
Under attack by A/C near Gibraltar:
http://img397.imageshack.us/img397/3454/viides1gs.jpg
Bomb from the A/C missed:
http://img397.imageshack.us/img397/9176/kuudes6qi.jpg
AA gunners Wolf and Emil in action:
http://img397.imageshack.us/img397/5589/seitsems1ud.jpg
Last sinking of the patrol:
http://img397.imageshack.us/img397/9688/kasi7nn.jpg
Forgive me, I really really really suck writing AARs. :rotfl: