Hey Guys!

Thanks for all the comments and the encouraging icons.

I've no idea what you mean (because I'm not techy enough), but it sounds cool.

As far as I have gone is to compile the reports onto a website

www.laughingswordfish.net

But I'm a bit behind with that, and anyway, the reports appear here first. Although the intention is to edit them a bit better and maybe add some pictures/photos, but no screenshots, there's plenty of people in this forum who can do it far better than me.

Anyway, I'm sure we all have u-boats to run, so thanks again for all the kind messages.

LS

U-46 is still nosing down as I stumble desperately across to the control room. Still wearing my leather over-trousers and sea boots, but the red and white plaid cotton shirt was the last thing I still had that was still remotely dry.

"What is it Otto? Otto??"

He doesn't answer immediately. He is busy issuing orders, for a bold move to starboard, the full right rudder, glancing at dials, and generally cuffing any seamen foolhardy enough to get in his way

Francks is there too, staring at the Papenburg tube, with a hand on the shoulder of each of our young planesmen, murmuring reassuringly to them. Although his hands seem to be trembling.

The depth dial is 20 metres and dropping.

Bruno is sitting in the corner, staring ahead without seeing. "Halifax...Halifax.." was all that he had breath for.

"Otto?"

"Yes, Sir. Bomber. Low cloud this morning."

He gestured at Bruno

"According to the Second Officer, they were just as surprised as we were"

"Is Bruno ok?"

"Yes, Sir, just fell down the last few rungs, knocked the wind out of his sails for once."

"Damage to the boat?"

"Anytime now, Sir. He's bound to circle back. Hold on to something....."

"Wasserbomben!" Hans yells from sonar, yanking off his phones to protect his ear drums

"We maybe have just enough water"' muses Otto, for all the world as if he is contemplating some laboratory physics experiment, rather than the lives or deaths of the 63 men we have on board. We've survived depth charges before, but never this shallow.

Francks, who has already lost his Kapitan, his boat, and 39 of his shipmates to air attack, has his eyes firmly shut.

'Kaboom.... KABOOM!"

U-46 reels away from the explosion, we're all flung about a bit however much we were trying to anticipate it. There is a temporary loss of power, quickly restored. A few minor cuts and bruises, and not a few flapping hearts, but they don't give out wound badges for that. Reports indicate no serious harm done, just a couple of tiny repairs to make; a valve here, and a pipe there. Kurt and his damage control gang look almost disappointed. Almost, but not quite.

We level off at 40 metres, and cut speed so that we can hear, and not be heard. There might well be a surface follow up

"That last one was close, Sir"

"Not close enough my friend. But you did all the work this time, Otto, well done"

"Well, we're all in the same boat, as they say, Sir"

"Fine, but it was still a hell of a way to wake me for breakfast, you old rascal. Do you think the cook will bring the pair of us something hot to the wardroom, if we ask him nicely....."

:rock: :rock: :rock: :rock: :up: :up: :up: :up: :ping: :ping: :ping: :ping: :|\ :|\ :|\ :|\ :cool: :cool: :cool: :cool: :sunny: :sunny: :sunny: :sunny:

LS: I read this the very first time you posted, and haven't opened since. I kept seeing it pop up, but assumed it was another X1 Software or Starforce rant, so I ignored it.

Needless to say, I was quite surprised when I actually spent the last hour of my workday paging through this, reading every post! I won't be ignoring it anymore!

Great job! Cheers! :()1:

Someone get Wolfgang Petersen a link to this thread!!!!

You've certainly stoked my fire to play a little SH3! So it's off to the bridge of the U-64, currently on patrol in the North Sea in June, 1940.

Rumor has it we will be transferring to Brest soon. Maybe I will run into a Heidi of my own!

Thanks VS, and everyone else, it's really much appreciated.

Loved that boozy icon!

LS

"Of course, the thing about airplanes, is that it's all or nothing. The chances are they'll get you first time,"

Otto pauses with his fork to his mouth,

"Just look at U-467. She won't be the last. Nearly us today. But if we can get past that, we're pretty much clear.

"Your destroyers on the other hand, are a lot less quick. But quicker by far than us. They know time is on their side. Bit by bit they'll wear us down, because they'll damage us enough, or wear us out enough, that at some point we must surface, or worse, can't"

"They haven't caught us yet, Otto"

"Maybe tomorrow"

"I've told you before, Otto. Tomorrow is a fairly fictional concept while we are at sea."

"But when we get back home, Sir?"

"A lot of tomorrows, Otto. A lot of them"

Lt de Bunsen, U-46

coolness, he is becoming evan more cynical....i like the new direction/ twist

Of course the dilemma now presents itself.

Coming to periscope depth, and using the observation scope, I can see enemy planes routinely patrolling overhead. Bruno reckoned it was a Halifax that bounced us. I think on the evidence, it was more likely a Liberator, from what I can see. But either way, the RAF have plenty of twin-engines up there waiting for us.

Staying down is slowing us down during the day. I had hoped to sprint forward, and take another poke in the darkness that the next night will offer, but we risk losing them while submerged.

Stephan is making a wider loop to the North, and doesn't have 'eyes on' yet. Freddie is making best speed to the South, but I suspect his boat and crew are pretty banged up already. They've already done their bit and it would be a bonus if they could make it in time. Max, that wily old fox, should be limping back to France by now. I can't realistically expect him to rejoin the hunt.

So we are the contact boat and losing time with every minute and hour that passes. All the time what's left of the convoy is creeping closer to the safety of the Cornish coast, and we can expect things to be much more hairy next time we go in. Even if we can regain them and assume another good attacking position.

Then Hans gives me a secondary sonar contact.

"Heavy screws bearing North, Sir! They sound laboured."

I steer a course to give us a visual.

Sure enough it's a C3 class merchant, that has broken free, or got lost in the night. Even at that range I can see she's sporting some torpedo damage, which has to be the work of Freddie or Max.

Doesn't seem to have lost too much speed though. I wonder whether Stephan will pick her up; but the sea is still very big and he has his orders to out-race the convoy.

I look at the charts with the Navigator. Time is slipping away.

"The hell with it, Willi. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. Give chase!"

Pretty soon we're on her tail. But there isn't a torpedo solution We only have her stern and can't catch up any more from down here.. If we're going to do it, it's going to have to be under our guns on the surface. However it is broad daylight, just after lunch in fact, and I have the feeling that the pilots of RAF Coastal Command have brought their sandwiches...

"Take us up Otto, but be prepared to crash at a moment's notice. Joachim I want the ready-use 88 shells and no messing about. A quick kill and then back in, you understand?"

"Yes Sir!" replied my Weapons Officer as he summoned his crew and set them about their tasks as U-46 started to rise.

"Go! Go!" I urged as we broke surface.

The gun crew didn't let me down, beating the watch crew upstairs much to the chagrin of Christian who prides himself on the speed of his boys.

The first ranging shot wasn't bad either. One or two more and we'll hit her in the engine compartment. Christian's team weren't idle either, earnestly scanning the sky and horizon.

And a good job too. We'd just got off a second much nearer shot, when the alarm came.

Only a dot in the sky, but growing bigger, and coming faster than any seagull. Well done Christian.

We managed to get everyone back in, because Otto wasn't messing about, and the boat was already slanting rapidly down.

This time the charges were well off the mark. But they were on us like a ton of bricks, and again we lost distance with the evasive action.

Well, we tried three more times to surface and re-engage. Each time we were forced below by aircraft. It was as if that merchant had her own personal aerial bodyguard

We were having to run with the electric motors flat out just to keep up, and everytime we surfaced we were thwarted from the air. It didn't play so well with the survivors from U-467, who had already taken one dunking from an aircraft. And even Otto was back to his pessimistic best.

"Don't you think you're being a little stubborn, Sir?"

"She sinks tonight, Chief. If it takes forever we'll have her. As soon as it gets dark and the RAF bugger off, we'll scoot round ahead on full diesels and nab her from there. I know I'm caning your engines, but bear with me."

Sure enough, we dogged her long enough, that in the night we were able to burst ahead in a loop on the surface, and one well-placed torpedo did the trick, around midnight.

I hate rejoicing after a kill, but I was pleased to finally nail that one.

"BdU for you, Sir"

Victor hands me a message form.

Apparently our small rescue has created quite a stir back home, and they seem more excited about that than the convoy we have been decimating. Propaganda, I suppose.

Anyway we are to break off, and head back, and under all circumstances to deliver the 12 remaining crew of U-467 back to base, where no doubt the cameras are waiting.

To be sure, there were no complaints when I delivered that news to the boat.

"Set us for St Nazaire, Willi"

Otto winks at me.

"Can I have one of my tomorrows yet, please Sir...?"

Lt de Bunsen, U-46

The lads are busy cutting up white triangular victory pennants from that white bed sheet, for our return.

Francks is sharing my space the best he can. But to be fair we have both been busy over the last couple of days. The Bay of Biscay is far from safe if you're not on your toes.

"I meant to ask, Reuben, what was the emblem of the U-467 before she went down?"

And so it was that when U-46 guided herself up the river towards St Nazaire, intact for once, that alongside the Laughing Swordfish emblem, was a sheet draped on either side painted with the five olympic rings of the U-467. Their crewmen had pride of place standing to attention on our foredeck, and I think I spotted one or two of them blubbing.

We'd found another white cap cover to give to Francks. Against regulations of course, but he was the senior surviving commander of his boat and crew, and deserved to see them into harbour in style. He took the salute alongside me on the bridge, his eyes moistening on his craggy face.

Otto was hopping up and down with excitement, of course, just desperate to get the first train to Frankfurt and his pregnant wife.

I suppose there's no prizes for guessing who I was looking out for.
I caught a glimpse of her, waving frantically near the military band, and it made my heart leap into my throat.

"Christian," I whispered.

"Dock the boat for me this time will you?"

"I want to be first ashore..."

Lt de Bunsen, U-46

Great little rescue story. A pure Iron Cross 1st Class. :up:

Enjoy your shore leave! :yep:

:lost:

*bump*
...getting antsy for the next installment!!!

Seconded!!!!

S

Sea or Shore Action????

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

For one mad moment, I thought I would bound down the gangplank like a latter-day knight jumping from his trusty white stallion, after killing the dragon or black knight, sweep Heidi into my arms, (just like in one of Viktor's trashy paperbacks) and profess my love, the crowd would cheer and the rightful King would smile benignly and instantly pronounce.....

..But my faithful steed was a modern day Type VIIC U-Boat, battered and rusted by the sea. I'd completely forgotten how the landlubbers always recoil from the stench as they catch the unique aroma of over 51 unwashed men locked in a steel tube for weeks mixed with god knows what that had rotted, and the venting out of diesel fumes, when all the hatches are open. The swagger on to dry land became a stagger too, without land legs.

I suppose I looked like something more fit for the chain dogs from shore patrol to arrest, than a conquering hero.

But for all that, I was a hero. Cameras were flashing or reels turning. The crowd of soldiers, nurses and every other branch of auxilliary service only kept at bay by stern-faced soldiers enforcing a cordon.

I looked around bewildered for a sight of Heidi, but she was now lost in the throng, but of course she couldn't either get near or be seen.

A moment ago, I was in total charge of my little world, and now, in the reality we dreamt of, I wasn't.

It must have been Bruno who formed the two crews up on the quay, and urged me to the front of the parade.

Because Doenitz himself had come over to St Nazaire to see us dock safely. And was now approaching me.

In his way, he returned my salute and grasped my hand whilst leaning closer out of earshot.

"Well done, my boy"

He whispered.

"I know very well that you and your men are tired, and I'll sort that out later, but for now what's happening is just as much another part of the war effort. Now introduce me again to the men for the cameras. I know most of them anyway, but particularly the men you pulled out of the drink from U-467.

He winked.

"It's good to see you back lad, but the nation needs to see a miracle, and it won't do any harm for our lot either to know that they may not always be stranded, hein?"

"Not quite a miracle, Sir. We only saved a handful, and that was a stroke of luck because.."

"Shut up Leutnant! The Fuhrer has decreed it a miracle, and so it shall be!

We have more to talk about operationally, but that will have to wait. There are apparently more important things"

"I'm sure you have other things to think about.."

Did the Admiral wink at me just then?

"But for now, let's smile nicely for the Volkerische Beobachter, and their other Goebbels' friends in the news industry, and do this parade, Leutnant"

Lt de Bunsen, u-46

(I'm heartbroken. I just wrote a very long bit concerning the U-46 and U-467's debrief at Kerneval, and then clicked 'Preview' instead of the usual 'Submit'
Now I can't retrieve it at all to post it.
Does anyone know of a way to get it back, please? Or why the preview option turned into a black hole?
As always, I much appreciate your comments, but have so much to tell, before I can get out on patrol again)
LS