StarTrekMike
01-18-06, 11:21 PM
After getting my orders from BDU sealed with wax I felt excited by the idea of getting to test out my new IXC in some waters I have never really been before...this is my 19th patrol and my crew was bearded and salted...most of the officers had picked up many different skills throughtout and that meant I was never without skilled men to get the job done...before I left my desk I looked at the aces list and smiled as I knew I was number three and intended to go up or stay...I will never go down on that list.
As I walked out to the cold air of the dockyards I found my men cleaning and polishing the wood panels and doing final checks before I was to arrive...I had lost a watch officer in a risky fight with a couple of armed trawlers and I still felt his absence...the green replacement was not really a help at all. the fatherland was feeling the pain of losing good sailors to the british navy and this was the first loss I had at sea myself and I could tell the men knew I missed him...Joachim was a good man and this tour would be rough without him.
As I got to the boat I noticed the sharp lines of the Anti Sonar coating on the hull and loved the new look...it was a new boat and I knew we would break her in.
My men lined up on the deck and waited for my arrival and my speech. The sailors were all men now with beards and lines in the face where worry had struck them hard. Uniforms were clean and straight but I knew that soon I would see them wearing whatever was dry.
As I got to the end of the line I got ready to do my speech...I was going to keep it short...really no reason to bore them in the sun and cold.
"Men...after eighteen patrols and one lost crewmate...we all know what is at stake..if convoys go untouched to the british empire than we lose the war...we have lost boat after boat in the atlantic and now is not the time to lose another...we must do our duty...for the Fuhrer and for the fatherland."
The men clapped as they always do...and then I released them to get ready for depparturef.
As the boat got under way I took out the orders and cut the wax seals to read it to the crew...I grabbed the loudspeaker and told them that we are going to grid DT77 and are to stay for a day and night and then head home...and that was what we were going to do...I knew that single merchant lines were in that area and I loved taking on lone merchants without any worry of destroyers or other problems.
The trip was worse than ever...day after day passed without a single contact on the way...the men were bored and started to do the strange things that men do when locked in a tub for days together...cards were dealt and liqour was drank at alarming rates.
When we arrived at our post we waited several days in hopes of a T2 or even just a coastal merchant...nothing...nothing but water and rain.
I retreated to the bunk to talk with my first mate and watch officer...we decided that we were close enough to get to gibralter and maybe find something to sink and maybe even live to tell about it...if the weather held and we had storms and fog on ourside we could sneak around and not get spotted.
As we approached gibralter the men got stern and focused...they knew what this place meant and they knew that everthing had to be perfect in order for us to live...the watch officer yelled down that he thinks he spotted a contact in the distance and I ordered flank to that location...it was a C3 and a coastal merchant together at the entrence to the straight...getting ready to split off to different coarses and we still had time to get both in one quick strike...I ordered my weapons officer to open all tubes and rig the fish for top speed and minimum range...as the ships came into range we were spotted and took a shot from the C3 deck gun...it was minor and we were still okay after we fired our deadly payload at the enemy...both ships sank and we watched the sailors jump into the rolling waves in hopes of help from the distant coastlines...we could not handle the survivors ourselves....the men were elated and we cheered all the way to periscope depth where we listened for more.
The hydrophone picked up more merchants...moving slow from behind...we played the same game and killed them with ease...a C2 and then shortly afterwards a fishing boat and a coastal merchant...time to go hom.
Then as I peered throught the uzo I spotted two ships heading at our postition very fast...we knew what they were...a destroyer and a trawler...they were to close to evade and they knew where we were...we dove and fast.
We heard pings getting closer and closer...sweat and fear stank up the boat as we waited for the sound of fast screws and splashes of the depth charges...they did just that...lights blew and the hull rocked...I ordered flank and a hard turn to port...the storm was really bad and I knew that as soon as I escaped out of there range I could surface and dash away at 20 knots while they still circled above my current position...after many hours of trying to evade them and hoping the sonar coating would help we escaped under silent running and going 2knts...after that we broke out the food and feasted a victory at gibralter...or at least the entrance.
Mike Holmes (U-109)
As I walked out to the cold air of the dockyards I found my men cleaning and polishing the wood panels and doing final checks before I was to arrive...I had lost a watch officer in a risky fight with a couple of armed trawlers and I still felt his absence...the green replacement was not really a help at all. the fatherland was feeling the pain of losing good sailors to the british navy and this was the first loss I had at sea myself and I could tell the men knew I missed him...Joachim was a good man and this tour would be rough without him.
As I got to the boat I noticed the sharp lines of the Anti Sonar coating on the hull and loved the new look...it was a new boat and I knew we would break her in.
My men lined up on the deck and waited for my arrival and my speech. The sailors were all men now with beards and lines in the face where worry had struck them hard. Uniforms were clean and straight but I knew that soon I would see them wearing whatever was dry.
As I got to the end of the line I got ready to do my speech...I was going to keep it short...really no reason to bore them in the sun and cold.
"Men...after eighteen patrols and one lost crewmate...we all know what is at stake..if convoys go untouched to the british empire than we lose the war...we have lost boat after boat in the atlantic and now is not the time to lose another...we must do our duty...for the Fuhrer and for the fatherland."
The men clapped as they always do...and then I released them to get ready for depparturef.
As the boat got under way I took out the orders and cut the wax seals to read it to the crew...I grabbed the loudspeaker and told them that we are going to grid DT77 and are to stay for a day and night and then head home...and that was what we were going to do...I knew that single merchant lines were in that area and I loved taking on lone merchants without any worry of destroyers or other problems.
The trip was worse than ever...day after day passed without a single contact on the way...the men were bored and started to do the strange things that men do when locked in a tub for days together...cards were dealt and liqour was drank at alarming rates.
When we arrived at our post we waited several days in hopes of a T2 or even just a coastal merchant...nothing...nothing but water and rain.
I retreated to the bunk to talk with my first mate and watch officer...we decided that we were close enough to get to gibralter and maybe find something to sink and maybe even live to tell about it...if the weather held and we had storms and fog on ourside we could sneak around and not get spotted.
As we approached gibralter the men got stern and focused...they knew what this place meant and they knew that everthing had to be perfect in order for us to live...the watch officer yelled down that he thinks he spotted a contact in the distance and I ordered flank to that location...it was a C3 and a coastal merchant together at the entrence to the straight...getting ready to split off to different coarses and we still had time to get both in one quick strike...I ordered my weapons officer to open all tubes and rig the fish for top speed and minimum range...as the ships came into range we were spotted and took a shot from the C3 deck gun...it was minor and we were still okay after we fired our deadly payload at the enemy...both ships sank and we watched the sailors jump into the rolling waves in hopes of help from the distant coastlines...we could not handle the survivors ourselves....the men were elated and we cheered all the way to periscope depth where we listened for more.
The hydrophone picked up more merchants...moving slow from behind...we played the same game and killed them with ease...a C2 and then shortly afterwards a fishing boat and a coastal merchant...time to go hom.
Then as I peered throught the uzo I spotted two ships heading at our postition very fast...we knew what they were...a destroyer and a trawler...they were to close to evade and they knew where we were...we dove and fast.
We heard pings getting closer and closer...sweat and fear stank up the boat as we waited for the sound of fast screws and splashes of the depth charges...they did just that...lights blew and the hull rocked...I ordered flank and a hard turn to port...the storm was really bad and I knew that as soon as I escaped out of there range I could surface and dash away at 20 knots while they still circled above my current position...after many hours of trying to evade them and hoping the sonar coating would help we escaped under silent running and going 2knts...after that we broke out the food and feasted a victory at gibralter...or at least the entrance.
Mike Holmes (U-109)