Karl-Heinz Jaeger
09-05-05, 06:36 AM
I've just returned from a highly successful first career patrol, having been unceremoniously sunk on my last outing!! U-49 and her crew performed with the courage and devotion to duty expected of the famous strike force of the German Kriegsmarine, the U-bootwaffe!!
September 3rd-18th 1939
Our initial patrol area was to Grid AM32, just NW of Scotland so we set course for Scapa Flow and the bountiful British Home Fleet nestled there. Or so we thought...... Despite numerous surface patrols keeping a close watch on the harbour entrance, U-49 managed to sneak in to within 4000meters of the port itself, but alas the dock was empty. No auxiliary cruisers being fired up for duty, no escort carriers being refitted for another patrol-we would have to go hungry for now it seemed. (This was probably a blessing in disguise, since I would probably have been sent to the bottom if I had engaged anything in Scapa Flow!) Unperturbed, we continued on to our patrol area, pausing to sink a 98 ton Trawler and a small merchant with some fine shooting from our newly arrived Gunnery Officer. During our transit from Scapa Flow to AM32, we encontered sporadic air attacks and surface ASW patrols which we studiously avoided whenever possible. Despite our careful actions, a couple of bombs from the British fighters dropped a little too close and we took some slight damage astern which our repair crew handled with a minimum of fuss. Despite our Flak Officer's best efforts, we were unable to down an enemy plane even though we did score a couple of hits and left one limping home with smoke trailing from a wingtip.
Onward we sailed to a relatively empty stretch of the Atlantic, at this stage of the conflict at least. Not a sausage to be seen as we reached AM32 and waited our alloted 24hours, despite regularly submerging for hydrophone check. The weather was quite pleasant throughout all of this, clear skies and calm seas all the way for which U-49 and her crew were forever grateful since most of them still hadn't gotten their sea legs yet !! After completing our patrol we decided to sail down through the Irish Sea to the British ports of Blackpool and Liverpool to see what we could see. This was a most fortunate decision, revealing many unescorted lone merchant ships ie C2's, Coastal Merchants and best of all Large Cargo ships weighing in at 17,500 tonnes each! ASW activity was lighter than Scapa Flow had proven, and the quality of the vessels decreased also. Whereas earlier we had been dodging C and Hunt Class DD's, now it was Elco Torp Boats and Armed Trawlers-not enough to be overly concerned about given the lack of ASDIC suites, but still warranting us slinking past at depth to remain hidden.
We did quite well on our way to the deep ports at Liverpool/Blackpool sinking 2 Large Cargo's and several small and coastal merchants. We were sitting pretty at roughly 50,000 tonnes when Bdu reported a large convoy making for the SW Atlantic at 6 knots not 30KM from U-49's position. After plotting an intercept course and waiting for 2 hours, our SO reported screws on the hydrophone. What luck! We'd detected over 17 merchants with only 3 escorts. Now this is where u-49 was let down by her Kapitane's inexperience-I was unable to slip in and nail the choicest targets and what should have been a carefully planned submerged attack turned into a turn, lock, shoot fest as we switched targets unable to agree on what to go for. There were a couple of C3's in there, a T3 and a T2, many C2's and some neutrals in the shape of coastal and small merchants being escorted by a Black Swan Frigate, a C class DD and a Fiji light cruiser. We did manage to get inside the convoy lanes and nailed the Fiji with a single bow shot and one of the C2's astern of us again with a single shot. That left us with three bow tubes still loaded so we had to pick our targets carefully. We lined up a salvo shot using tubes 2 and 4, set to detonate under the keel of the T3 to send her to the bottom, but by this time the escorts were alert and furiously sweeping the area for us. We fired in too much of a rush and watched the seconds tick away on the chronometer in dismay as both tubes missed to magnetically detonate on the far side of the T3. Having only precious few seconds to get our last shot off before being spotted, we lined up on the closest C2 and loosed our last torp. We immediately went to 30 meters, and turned NW to escape the wrath of the convoys escorts which by this time were getting steadily closer but had not yet detected us. Just when we thought our last shot was a complete miss, we heard a boom in the distance followed by several smaller explosions. We'd sunk that last C2!! What a pity we'd missed that T3, but you can't hit em all however hard you try.
After several hours of creeping NW at silent speed, we'd managed to shake off those escorts but had been unable to reload our tubes as only external reloads remained, one for the bow and one for the stern. We'd also exhausted our deck gun ammo on the small and coastal merchants we'd met on the way here so any future engagements would HAVE to be with torps. As soon as the coast was clear we headed to PD for a visual sweep, and then went topside to reload. The weather had remained fine all the way through our patrol and still held now. Our torpedo crew under the watchful gaze of our new Gunnery/Torpedo Officer completed each reload in under 35 minutes and we were squared away and ready to sail again in just over an hour. Making our way up past the Antrim coast, past Belfast and out into the N. Atlantic we encountered more air patrols which forced us under, and more ASW patrols oddly seeming less than what we'd encountered entering this area. Having just cost the British almost 70,000 tonnes of shipping, we were a little insulted that U-49 didn't warrant a large search and destroy operation, but we held our heads high and plodded on. Just as we were leaving the area on our return to port, we detected 2 merchant contacts closing at medium range, one heading SE, the other heading NW with us smack in the middle. We tracked their course carefully and discovered they would pass within roughly 1500 meters of each other- pretty good shooting distance for a type VIIb! We id'ed a C2 and a small merchant, set our eels for keel hits using the magnetic pistol and moved into position. As the ships neared our position, the C2 changed course slightly, the new course taking it roughly SSE and increasing the chance of our torp taking a deflection and failing to explode. At this stage, we wouldn't be able to adjust our course sufficiently without losing both ships so we made adjustments to the torpedo as best we could, changing the gyro angle slightly to compensate. At the very worst we'd probably hit the C2 and slow her down a little without sinking her, but we still had a chance and we were gonna take it. We fired our bow tube on the C2 first, her being the farthest of the two ships, then opened the stern door and loosed our last torp at the small merchant. Agonising seconds ticked by as we waited, then the Small merchant went up with a bang and broke in two almost immediately and sank within 15 seconds or so. Seeing this, the C2 started a zig-zag maneuver and I thought we'd missed, but then she took the torpedo almost dead astern, her bow lifting up as her stern compartments filled with water. Her engines were quite obviously ruined, her speed dropping to zero and just sitting there looking ridiculous at almost a 45 degree angle out of the water. We surfaced and began raking her with the AA gun, she took magazine after magazine for almost 20 minutes before our rounds caught some fuel and she lit up like a christmas tree to the resounding cheers of the crew. Our torps expended, we headed back to Wilhelmshaven, docking in just as fine weather as we sailed in.
So for our first patrol we sank 70,694 tonnes of shipping, 10,725 of which was Warship tonnage from the Fiji class cruiser we downed with a single shot and I earned 2368.284 renown this patrol. Bdu was most pleased and ordered 4 promotions, 3 Iron crosses - 2nd class, a U-boot Front Clasp, and 46 War Badges-one for each of our crew . Our new Gunnery/Torpedo Officer was awarded an Iron Cross and the U-boat Front Clasp for his astounding work on getting those external torps loaded in record time and also for his sterling gunnery against those merchants. The other 2 Iron crosses went to our Flak/Machinist Officer for driving off those warplanes with a minimum of hassle and to our very own Machinist Petty Officer who worked an astonishing amount of overtime to keep those engines in good working order, and helped us make such good time across the ocean. Our crew should be proud of their accomplishments. They have overcome their inexperience to deliver what their Kapitane asked of them quickly and decisively to make quite a dent in the British Merchant Navy. I suspect they will have much more to celebrate in the coming months and years. We sail in three days time, just long enough to refit the Hydrophone and get our new 2nd Flotilla emblem adorned on the side of our conning tower. We'll be back in action again all too soon, but tonight we celebrate! Tonight we sleep with victory! :rock:
Installed Mods:Real U-Boat 1.43, SH3 Kommander and various aesthetic mods.
September 3rd-18th 1939
Our initial patrol area was to Grid AM32, just NW of Scotland so we set course for Scapa Flow and the bountiful British Home Fleet nestled there. Or so we thought...... Despite numerous surface patrols keeping a close watch on the harbour entrance, U-49 managed to sneak in to within 4000meters of the port itself, but alas the dock was empty. No auxiliary cruisers being fired up for duty, no escort carriers being refitted for another patrol-we would have to go hungry for now it seemed. (This was probably a blessing in disguise, since I would probably have been sent to the bottom if I had engaged anything in Scapa Flow!) Unperturbed, we continued on to our patrol area, pausing to sink a 98 ton Trawler and a small merchant with some fine shooting from our newly arrived Gunnery Officer. During our transit from Scapa Flow to AM32, we encontered sporadic air attacks and surface ASW patrols which we studiously avoided whenever possible. Despite our careful actions, a couple of bombs from the British fighters dropped a little too close and we took some slight damage astern which our repair crew handled with a minimum of fuss. Despite our Flak Officer's best efforts, we were unable to down an enemy plane even though we did score a couple of hits and left one limping home with smoke trailing from a wingtip.
Onward we sailed to a relatively empty stretch of the Atlantic, at this stage of the conflict at least. Not a sausage to be seen as we reached AM32 and waited our alloted 24hours, despite regularly submerging for hydrophone check. The weather was quite pleasant throughout all of this, clear skies and calm seas all the way for which U-49 and her crew were forever grateful since most of them still hadn't gotten their sea legs yet !! After completing our patrol we decided to sail down through the Irish Sea to the British ports of Blackpool and Liverpool to see what we could see. This was a most fortunate decision, revealing many unescorted lone merchant ships ie C2's, Coastal Merchants and best of all Large Cargo ships weighing in at 17,500 tonnes each! ASW activity was lighter than Scapa Flow had proven, and the quality of the vessels decreased also. Whereas earlier we had been dodging C and Hunt Class DD's, now it was Elco Torp Boats and Armed Trawlers-not enough to be overly concerned about given the lack of ASDIC suites, but still warranting us slinking past at depth to remain hidden.
We did quite well on our way to the deep ports at Liverpool/Blackpool sinking 2 Large Cargo's and several small and coastal merchants. We were sitting pretty at roughly 50,000 tonnes when Bdu reported a large convoy making for the SW Atlantic at 6 knots not 30KM from U-49's position. After plotting an intercept course and waiting for 2 hours, our SO reported screws on the hydrophone. What luck! We'd detected over 17 merchants with only 3 escorts. Now this is where u-49 was let down by her Kapitane's inexperience-I was unable to slip in and nail the choicest targets and what should have been a carefully planned submerged attack turned into a turn, lock, shoot fest as we switched targets unable to agree on what to go for. There were a couple of C3's in there, a T3 and a T2, many C2's and some neutrals in the shape of coastal and small merchants being escorted by a Black Swan Frigate, a C class DD and a Fiji light cruiser. We did manage to get inside the convoy lanes and nailed the Fiji with a single bow shot and one of the C2's astern of us again with a single shot. That left us with three bow tubes still loaded so we had to pick our targets carefully. We lined up a salvo shot using tubes 2 and 4, set to detonate under the keel of the T3 to send her to the bottom, but by this time the escorts were alert and furiously sweeping the area for us. We fired in too much of a rush and watched the seconds tick away on the chronometer in dismay as both tubes missed to magnetically detonate on the far side of the T3. Having only precious few seconds to get our last shot off before being spotted, we lined up on the closest C2 and loosed our last torp. We immediately went to 30 meters, and turned NW to escape the wrath of the convoys escorts which by this time were getting steadily closer but had not yet detected us. Just when we thought our last shot was a complete miss, we heard a boom in the distance followed by several smaller explosions. We'd sunk that last C2!! What a pity we'd missed that T3, but you can't hit em all however hard you try.
After several hours of creeping NW at silent speed, we'd managed to shake off those escorts but had been unable to reload our tubes as only external reloads remained, one for the bow and one for the stern. We'd also exhausted our deck gun ammo on the small and coastal merchants we'd met on the way here so any future engagements would HAVE to be with torps. As soon as the coast was clear we headed to PD for a visual sweep, and then went topside to reload. The weather had remained fine all the way through our patrol and still held now. Our torpedo crew under the watchful gaze of our new Gunnery/Torpedo Officer completed each reload in under 35 minutes and we were squared away and ready to sail again in just over an hour. Making our way up past the Antrim coast, past Belfast and out into the N. Atlantic we encountered more air patrols which forced us under, and more ASW patrols oddly seeming less than what we'd encountered entering this area. Having just cost the British almost 70,000 tonnes of shipping, we were a little insulted that U-49 didn't warrant a large search and destroy operation, but we held our heads high and plodded on. Just as we were leaving the area on our return to port, we detected 2 merchant contacts closing at medium range, one heading SE, the other heading NW with us smack in the middle. We tracked their course carefully and discovered they would pass within roughly 1500 meters of each other- pretty good shooting distance for a type VIIb! We id'ed a C2 and a small merchant, set our eels for keel hits using the magnetic pistol and moved into position. As the ships neared our position, the C2 changed course slightly, the new course taking it roughly SSE and increasing the chance of our torp taking a deflection and failing to explode. At this stage, we wouldn't be able to adjust our course sufficiently without losing both ships so we made adjustments to the torpedo as best we could, changing the gyro angle slightly to compensate. At the very worst we'd probably hit the C2 and slow her down a little without sinking her, but we still had a chance and we were gonna take it. We fired our bow tube on the C2 first, her being the farthest of the two ships, then opened the stern door and loosed our last torp at the small merchant. Agonising seconds ticked by as we waited, then the Small merchant went up with a bang and broke in two almost immediately and sank within 15 seconds or so. Seeing this, the C2 started a zig-zag maneuver and I thought we'd missed, but then she took the torpedo almost dead astern, her bow lifting up as her stern compartments filled with water. Her engines were quite obviously ruined, her speed dropping to zero and just sitting there looking ridiculous at almost a 45 degree angle out of the water. We surfaced and began raking her with the AA gun, she took magazine after magazine for almost 20 minutes before our rounds caught some fuel and she lit up like a christmas tree to the resounding cheers of the crew. Our torps expended, we headed back to Wilhelmshaven, docking in just as fine weather as we sailed in.
So for our first patrol we sank 70,694 tonnes of shipping, 10,725 of which was Warship tonnage from the Fiji class cruiser we downed with a single shot and I earned 2368.284 renown this patrol. Bdu was most pleased and ordered 4 promotions, 3 Iron crosses - 2nd class, a U-boot Front Clasp, and 46 War Badges-one for each of our crew . Our new Gunnery/Torpedo Officer was awarded an Iron Cross and the U-boat Front Clasp for his astounding work on getting those external torps loaded in record time and also for his sterling gunnery against those merchants. The other 2 Iron crosses went to our Flak/Machinist Officer for driving off those warplanes with a minimum of hassle and to our very own Machinist Petty Officer who worked an astonishing amount of overtime to keep those engines in good working order, and helped us make such good time across the ocean. Our crew should be proud of their accomplishments. They have overcome their inexperience to deliver what their Kapitane asked of them quickly and decisively to make quite a dent in the British Merchant Navy. I suspect they will have much more to celebrate in the coming months and years. We sail in three days time, just long enough to refit the Hydrophone and get our new 2nd Flotilla emblem adorned on the side of our conning tower. We'll be back in action again all too soon, but tonight we celebrate! Tonight we sleep with victory! :rock:
Installed Mods:Real U-Boat 1.43, SH3 Kommander and various aesthetic mods.