Sturgeon
10-03-05, 02:35 PM
I had to relate the story of the demise of U-46. It was a complicated sequence of events that led to a watery grave for one of the finest crews in the Kriegsmarine.
It all started in port. It was February 1942, and due to the outstanding record of the U-46 (over 1,000 ktons sent to the botton in 21 patrols), BdU provided 4 acoustic homing torps, which were not available to the fleet in general. Captain Schultz was excited, although wary, having little experience with these weapons. "Maybe we can sink a few escorts and have our way with a fat, juicy convoy," the captain hoped aloud to his WO. Captain Schultz spent much of his time in port reading weapons manuals and quizzing any Uboat captain he came across on the use of these wonder-weapons.
U-46 received her orders to proceed to AM-15. This meant that, from Brest, U-46 could pass through the fertile waters of B-13 and B-15 on the way. The captain set course, and in only a matter of hours U-46 came across the enemy. Not a ship, but an airborne contact. Few things in his job satisfied Captain Schultz more than seeing the interaction of high speed aluminum and cold water. This engagement matched previous experience. A couple of pathetic fighters who couldn't hit a carrier with 100 bombs, let along a tiny Uboat. U-46 sent them away trailing black smoke.
Twenty minutes later, another airborne contact, but something U-46 had not seen before. 5 Catalinas were bearing down on U-46. Captain Schultz knew to be wary, but couldn't resist the chance to test his crews mettle. "Give 'em hell!" After one pass, the captain quickly changed his mind and ordered U-46 to submerge. "Next time to see one of those, don't wait for my orders, get underwater!" he told the WO.
Hours passed and the seas remained calm. U-46 approached the heavily trafficked waters south of Ireland. Almost on cue, the radio report came in. "Captain, message from BdU! Large convoy west of us, and heading east-northeast!" This was luck beyond luck. U-46 had a full complement of torpedos, which included 4 escort-killers, and a full loadout of deck gun ammo. "What is the weather up there?" he shouted to the WO. "Clear and calm seas." The captain shook his head in disbelief. "This attack is going to go down in history," he thought to himself.
With all his luck, it came as no surprise to the captain that U-46 would intercept the convoy one hour after sunset. The first ship sighted was a mere Hunter escort. The captain laid out his plan. "We will slip into the convoy and hit the most valuable targets first with the element of surprise. This time, I hope the escorts come sniffing for us, since we have sound-homers to deal with them. Hopefully, we will finish the escorts and then have an entire convoy to punish."
U-46 slipped past the front escort with ease. When the periscope finally went up as the first merchants approached, U-46 saw that the convoy was larger than any before encountered. 4 tankers, 5 C3's, multiple C2's, and about a dozen small merchants. "Could we sink all of these?" The captain couldn't wait to find the answer.
The first victims were a T3 and 2 T2's. All torps hit their mark (2 at the T3 and 1 apiece to the T2's), and all 3 ships went to the bottom. Well, the stern of the T3 protruded from the surface in the shallow water and continued to burn. At this point, U-46 found herself at the rear of the convoy with tubes being reloaded. No escort serioulsy threatened her. The reload put two acoustic homing eels in the forward tubes, while one was already in the stern. A juicy C3 was close by, and couldn't avoid being hit even with evasive maneuvers. The keel shot stopped the C3. "Don't worry, pet, we will be back for you."
The rear escort (a Hunter) finally woke up and became a pest. "Time to try the seeker!" The stern torpedo, set at magnetic to be sure it wouldn't bounce off at a bad angle, was fired with the Hunter moving 14 kts at about 2 km. Time went by. Another seeker was being loaded in the stern tube. Time went by. Nothing. The escort was close, but didn't seem to have a lock on U-46. The second seeker was loaded, and the escort continued to creep closer. "Let's give it another try," said the captain who still had visions of an ocean massacre on his mind. The second seeker was fired, again magnetic, and again nothing happened after minutes of waiting. "Who came up with these worthless sticks of lead?" As the bow tubes were ready, the captain turned his attention to the merchants in front of him. That is, until he saw the forward escort bearing down directly at him. "I guess they figured out where we are." With much less confidence, another acoustic seeker was fired, this time at the escort forward of U-46. "We could be in trouble here, boys." But after a minute of waiting, the anticpated explosion rattled through the boat. "Periscope up!" The forward escort was finished, but the rear escort was now nearly on top of U-46.
Previous depth-charge attacks did not prepare U-46 for this onslaught. Another escort joined the rear escort and pouned U-46. Severe flooding sent U-46 to the bottom, which fortunately was only 100 m down. Frantic repair work saved U-46, but the bow dive planes were destroyed. Tense minutes went by, but eventually the escorts gave up the chase and U-46 came to the surface. It shouldn't have mattered to the captain, but when he came to the bridge, his heart fell to see the mangled deck gun. There would be no massacre, which should have been obvious by this point. U-46 returned to the crippled C3, and instead of poking holes in the hull with the deck gun, she sent a valuable eel to finish her off.
Captain Schultz never backed down from a challenge. "Yes, we could crawl home with 40,000 tons, but there is a convoy nearby and we have weapons! There are several hours of darkness left, and we want payback!" The crew nervously peered around the cabin to see who this 'we' was.
U-46 chased down the convoy, while replenishing the compressed air used in the recent emergency. The rear Hunter of the convoy was soon spotted. "We are going to send that ******* to the bottom with our last seeker before we hit the C3's. Keep him in view, but far enough away so we can flank him and set up a perfect shot." Several minutes passed as U-46 tried to move into position. The watch crew focused on the convoy, in case any other escorts decided to slip around to the rear. "This is going to work," Captain Schultz thought as the excitement began to rise.
Nothing was going to go wrong this time. The captain was determined to take it easy. If the seeker wouldn't find the escort, U-46 would disengage and head home. But fate had different plans. "Captain, the escort is firing on us!" Captain Schultz raced to the bridge in panic. Sure enough, another flash from the three deck guns confirmed the report. "How did he find us in the dead of night at 6 km range?" His question was answered suddenly by the bullets spraying across the bridge. "Contact, 100 meters, bearing 20 degrees!" Captain Schultz swung to his right in total confusion. "What could be at 100 m?!?!" Then he saw the Elco, plain as day, but missed by the watch crew who were trained on the convoy. The captain had never before hesitated in barking orders, but this time he was dumbfounded and stared speechless at the torpedo boat. His position had been given away by some #*#* shore patrol.
After a few seconds, the captain came back to reality. "Periscope depth! Line up a shot on that escort!" The only hope that the captain saw for an easy escape was to sink the charging escort with the acoustic seeker. To make matters worse, the ship dove slowly due to the destroyed bow planes. Bullets from the Elco continued to spray across the hull as U-46 dove. When the shot to the escort was within reasonable range, the captain ordered the shot. "About two minutes to impact," reported the weapons officer, but the captain knew that didn't mean much for a homing torpedo. The course was changed once U-46 was underwater, "and keep it quiet for the next few minutes!"
One minute passed. Two minutes passed. No explosion, but plenty of pinging from the escort. "Wait for it," said the captain, more to himself than to the crew. The captain's heart jumped to his throat when he heard the explosion. But seconds later it fell again when he heard the pinging continue unabated. That could mean only one thing. Germany's latest anti-ship technology had decided that the most valuable target in the immediate viscinity was a 35 ton torpedo boat.
U-46 did her best but was crippled by the bow dive planes. She could not get deep quickly, so the first wave of depth charges ripped of the stern dive planes, which made diving even more difficult. "Can we even surface without dive planes?," wondered Captain Schultz. Eventually, U-46 got to 80 m and zip-zagged its way out of danger.
The crew was visibly rattled. "Surface the boat," ordered the captain, not knowing if anything would happen. Slowly, ever so slowly, U-46 rose. Once on the surface, the captain climbed to the bridge to get some fresh air. It was nearly dawn ("Not good"), and Germany seemed worlds away. "We probably should submerge again and wait until darkness, but I can't bear the thought of going down there again. Ahead full! Set course for Brest! Keep a sharp eye! At the first hint of an aircraft, get her under!" It didn't take long for the aircraft to come. A lone fighter found U-46, and harmlessly dropped its only bomb. Captain Schultz wasn't concerned about the fighter, his thoughts were on the aircraft that would undoubtedly follow. The watch officer had ordered periscope depth when the aircraft was spotted, but the captain repeated the order. "And ahead flank." Maybe speed would help push U-46 under the waves.
Minutes passed while Captain Schultz stared at the depth gauge. Nothing. "Maybe you should use the periscope to keep an eye on the skies," he said to the watch officer. More minutes passed, and U-46 could not bring herself to sink. As the captain paced, he paused long enough to whisper in the watch officer's ear, "Shouldn't it be easier to dive than to surface?" He paced some more. More minutes passed, then the watch officer suddenly fixed on a bearing and held his breath. "Aircraft spotted. Multiple Catalinas. They're heading right for us." This time, his report didn't contain the sharp, barking style the crew was used to. "Here they come." The crew in the command center all subconsciously reached out for the nearest railing or pipe. The captain's gazed fixed on the map table, which showed the convoy's route and several markings for the location of sunk merchants. "I wonder what symbol the British use for sunk Uboat's" was his only thought.
The ship erupted in sound. Metal tearing against metal, and officers shouting commands. U-46 was under water again, but not in the way the captain had been hoping. The captain struggled to process all the damage reports, when U-46 suddenly lurched. Once again, U-46 had hit bottom. The shallow bottom saved U-46 from the crushing depths, but could do nothing to stop the cold ocean water from streaming into the Uboat.
U-46, lost at sea in February 1942. Was it too much confidence in acoustic homing torpedos? Or was it too much agression after losing the bow dive planes? That #!*& Elco sure didn't help (at least he paid for his sins).
It all started in port. It was February 1942, and due to the outstanding record of the U-46 (over 1,000 ktons sent to the botton in 21 patrols), BdU provided 4 acoustic homing torps, which were not available to the fleet in general. Captain Schultz was excited, although wary, having little experience with these weapons. "Maybe we can sink a few escorts and have our way with a fat, juicy convoy," the captain hoped aloud to his WO. Captain Schultz spent much of his time in port reading weapons manuals and quizzing any Uboat captain he came across on the use of these wonder-weapons.
U-46 received her orders to proceed to AM-15. This meant that, from Brest, U-46 could pass through the fertile waters of B-13 and B-15 on the way. The captain set course, and in only a matter of hours U-46 came across the enemy. Not a ship, but an airborne contact. Few things in his job satisfied Captain Schultz more than seeing the interaction of high speed aluminum and cold water. This engagement matched previous experience. A couple of pathetic fighters who couldn't hit a carrier with 100 bombs, let along a tiny Uboat. U-46 sent them away trailing black smoke.
Twenty minutes later, another airborne contact, but something U-46 had not seen before. 5 Catalinas were bearing down on U-46. Captain Schultz knew to be wary, but couldn't resist the chance to test his crews mettle. "Give 'em hell!" After one pass, the captain quickly changed his mind and ordered U-46 to submerge. "Next time to see one of those, don't wait for my orders, get underwater!" he told the WO.
Hours passed and the seas remained calm. U-46 approached the heavily trafficked waters south of Ireland. Almost on cue, the radio report came in. "Captain, message from BdU! Large convoy west of us, and heading east-northeast!" This was luck beyond luck. U-46 had a full complement of torpedos, which included 4 escort-killers, and a full loadout of deck gun ammo. "What is the weather up there?" he shouted to the WO. "Clear and calm seas." The captain shook his head in disbelief. "This attack is going to go down in history," he thought to himself.
With all his luck, it came as no surprise to the captain that U-46 would intercept the convoy one hour after sunset. The first ship sighted was a mere Hunter escort. The captain laid out his plan. "We will slip into the convoy and hit the most valuable targets first with the element of surprise. This time, I hope the escorts come sniffing for us, since we have sound-homers to deal with them. Hopefully, we will finish the escorts and then have an entire convoy to punish."
U-46 slipped past the front escort with ease. When the periscope finally went up as the first merchants approached, U-46 saw that the convoy was larger than any before encountered. 4 tankers, 5 C3's, multiple C2's, and about a dozen small merchants. "Could we sink all of these?" The captain couldn't wait to find the answer.
The first victims were a T3 and 2 T2's. All torps hit their mark (2 at the T3 and 1 apiece to the T2's), and all 3 ships went to the bottom. Well, the stern of the T3 protruded from the surface in the shallow water and continued to burn. At this point, U-46 found herself at the rear of the convoy with tubes being reloaded. No escort serioulsy threatened her. The reload put two acoustic homing eels in the forward tubes, while one was already in the stern. A juicy C3 was close by, and couldn't avoid being hit even with evasive maneuvers. The keel shot stopped the C3. "Don't worry, pet, we will be back for you."
The rear escort (a Hunter) finally woke up and became a pest. "Time to try the seeker!" The stern torpedo, set at magnetic to be sure it wouldn't bounce off at a bad angle, was fired with the Hunter moving 14 kts at about 2 km. Time went by. Another seeker was being loaded in the stern tube. Time went by. Nothing. The escort was close, but didn't seem to have a lock on U-46. The second seeker was loaded, and the escort continued to creep closer. "Let's give it another try," said the captain who still had visions of an ocean massacre on his mind. The second seeker was fired, again magnetic, and again nothing happened after minutes of waiting. "Who came up with these worthless sticks of lead?" As the bow tubes were ready, the captain turned his attention to the merchants in front of him. That is, until he saw the forward escort bearing down directly at him. "I guess they figured out where we are." With much less confidence, another acoustic seeker was fired, this time at the escort forward of U-46. "We could be in trouble here, boys." But after a minute of waiting, the anticpated explosion rattled through the boat. "Periscope up!" The forward escort was finished, but the rear escort was now nearly on top of U-46.
Previous depth-charge attacks did not prepare U-46 for this onslaught. Another escort joined the rear escort and pouned U-46. Severe flooding sent U-46 to the bottom, which fortunately was only 100 m down. Frantic repair work saved U-46, but the bow dive planes were destroyed. Tense minutes went by, but eventually the escorts gave up the chase and U-46 came to the surface. It shouldn't have mattered to the captain, but when he came to the bridge, his heart fell to see the mangled deck gun. There would be no massacre, which should have been obvious by this point. U-46 returned to the crippled C3, and instead of poking holes in the hull with the deck gun, she sent a valuable eel to finish her off.
Captain Schultz never backed down from a challenge. "Yes, we could crawl home with 40,000 tons, but there is a convoy nearby and we have weapons! There are several hours of darkness left, and we want payback!" The crew nervously peered around the cabin to see who this 'we' was.
U-46 chased down the convoy, while replenishing the compressed air used in the recent emergency. The rear Hunter of the convoy was soon spotted. "We are going to send that ******* to the bottom with our last seeker before we hit the C3's. Keep him in view, but far enough away so we can flank him and set up a perfect shot." Several minutes passed as U-46 tried to move into position. The watch crew focused on the convoy, in case any other escorts decided to slip around to the rear. "This is going to work," Captain Schultz thought as the excitement began to rise.
Nothing was going to go wrong this time. The captain was determined to take it easy. If the seeker wouldn't find the escort, U-46 would disengage and head home. But fate had different plans. "Captain, the escort is firing on us!" Captain Schultz raced to the bridge in panic. Sure enough, another flash from the three deck guns confirmed the report. "How did he find us in the dead of night at 6 km range?" His question was answered suddenly by the bullets spraying across the bridge. "Contact, 100 meters, bearing 20 degrees!" Captain Schultz swung to his right in total confusion. "What could be at 100 m?!?!" Then he saw the Elco, plain as day, but missed by the watch crew who were trained on the convoy. The captain had never before hesitated in barking orders, but this time he was dumbfounded and stared speechless at the torpedo boat. His position had been given away by some #*#* shore patrol.
After a few seconds, the captain came back to reality. "Periscope depth! Line up a shot on that escort!" The only hope that the captain saw for an easy escape was to sink the charging escort with the acoustic seeker. To make matters worse, the ship dove slowly due to the destroyed bow planes. Bullets from the Elco continued to spray across the hull as U-46 dove. When the shot to the escort was within reasonable range, the captain ordered the shot. "About two minutes to impact," reported the weapons officer, but the captain knew that didn't mean much for a homing torpedo. The course was changed once U-46 was underwater, "and keep it quiet for the next few minutes!"
One minute passed. Two minutes passed. No explosion, but plenty of pinging from the escort. "Wait for it," said the captain, more to himself than to the crew. The captain's heart jumped to his throat when he heard the explosion. But seconds later it fell again when he heard the pinging continue unabated. That could mean only one thing. Germany's latest anti-ship technology had decided that the most valuable target in the immediate viscinity was a 35 ton torpedo boat.
U-46 did her best but was crippled by the bow dive planes. She could not get deep quickly, so the first wave of depth charges ripped of the stern dive planes, which made diving even more difficult. "Can we even surface without dive planes?," wondered Captain Schultz. Eventually, U-46 got to 80 m and zip-zagged its way out of danger.
The crew was visibly rattled. "Surface the boat," ordered the captain, not knowing if anything would happen. Slowly, ever so slowly, U-46 rose. Once on the surface, the captain climbed to the bridge to get some fresh air. It was nearly dawn ("Not good"), and Germany seemed worlds away. "We probably should submerge again and wait until darkness, but I can't bear the thought of going down there again. Ahead full! Set course for Brest! Keep a sharp eye! At the first hint of an aircraft, get her under!" It didn't take long for the aircraft to come. A lone fighter found U-46, and harmlessly dropped its only bomb. Captain Schultz wasn't concerned about the fighter, his thoughts were on the aircraft that would undoubtedly follow. The watch officer had ordered periscope depth when the aircraft was spotted, but the captain repeated the order. "And ahead flank." Maybe speed would help push U-46 under the waves.
Minutes passed while Captain Schultz stared at the depth gauge. Nothing. "Maybe you should use the periscope to keep an eye on the skies," he said to the watch officer. More minutes passed, and U-46 could not bring herself to sink. As the captain paced, he paused long enough to whisper in the watch officer's ear, "Shouldn't it be easier to dive than to surface?" He paced some more. More minutes passed, then the watch officer suddenly fixed on a bearing and held his breath. "Aircraft spotted. Multiple Catalinas. They're heading right for us." This time, his report didn't contain the sharp, barking style the crew was used to. "Here they come." The crew in the command center all subconsciously reached out for the nearest railing or pipe. The captain's gazed fixed on the map table, which showed the convoy's route and several markings for the location of sunk merchants. "I wonder what symbol the British use for sunk Uboat's" was his only thought.
The ship erupted in sound. Metal tearing against metal, and officers shouting commands. U-46 was under water again, but not in the way the captain had been hoping. The captain struggled to process all the damage reports, when U-46 suddenly lurched. Once again, U-46 had hit bottom. The shallow bottom saved U-46 from the crushing depths, but could do nothing to stop the cold ocean water from streaming into the Uboat.
U-46, lost at sea in February 1942. Was it too much confidence in acoustic homing torpedos? Or was it too much agression after losing the bow dive planes? That #!*& Elco sure didn't help (at least he paid for his sins).