11:21 We're entering the Strait. Current position 15km NW from Tanger. I can see the coast through the scope. It looks like the winds have calmed. Still no contacts. I'll proceed submerged until dark, and then surface for the break through the narrow part of the Strait.

14:13 Contact. warship moving fast. Bearing 002. Closing. Long range.
15:27 I have a contact with two warships guarding the Strait. Adjusting my course further south to evade.
16:05 Four warships on our way. One is getting dangerously close. Going deeper.
16:58 Slowing down to minimal speed that can maintain depth. CO2 level is raising. Waiting the night to surface. Still four hours.
19:49 Periscope depth. It looks dark enough to surface. There is one patrol far away, bearing 300, and another one closer, bearing 200. I'll take my chance. Current position 16 km NE of Tanger, 5 km from coast. I'll try to stay close to it.

19:57 On surface. Visibility 10km, wind 6 m/s. Visual contact with destroyer, bearing 191 distance 8km.
20:23 No visual contacts. Course 90, speed 15kt. 40km from Mediterranean.



(to be continued...)

Im gonna give you about a 40%chance of getting through. even I have tryed, but the number of distroyers always make me decide to turn back.

21:26 We're almost there! I can clearly see the lights from Ceuta harbor. Except for ships docked inside, there are no visual contacts.

http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/1...9193426784.jpg


21:57 We made it! The Strait of Gibraltar is behind us. :salute: It was almost too easy.

:woot:


22:06 Dived for a sound check. Four warships bearing 270. Hope they don't know we're there. Surfacing to open range.
22:27 Visual contact. Destroyer bearing 259. Long range. Turning away and increasing speed to get away.
23:23 Dived for a regular sound check. The only contact is a destroyer straight ahead. Probably the last patrol guarding the Strait. position CG9673.

April 4
00:11 I sank that destroyer. :oops: I don't know why, I guess I got a little bloodthirsty, because I didn't sink anything for too long. And she offered a perfect opportunity. Single T1, magnetic detonator, fired from 5 km. My first kill in the Med. Waste of torpedo, I know...
Now it's about time to do some serious hunting!


(to be continued...maybe)

Excellent report, I enjoyed a lot following it these last days :up:

Noooo change your attitude, you are now in the Mediterranean :D

The mare nostrum is essentially a warship campaign, with the challenge of few, well escorted, fast units and ocasionally a merchant with enough draft to be torpedoed (And a heavy enemy air cover). A destroyer is a legitimate target here, think that your main role is to clear the seas to help the italian convoys reach north Africa to resupply Rommel's Afrika Korps. Those pesky destroyers are the ones who ride the axis convoys, so you are doing well wiping them out!

Here's a very recommended reading to put you in the mood:

http://www.amazon.com/U-Boats-Medite.../dp/1591148936

Excellent Meduza:yeah:knew you could do it:03:Really enjoyed reading your adventure,:up: So much that when the time comes and the Med bases are active I'm going for it!:yep: First time ever:salute: Whats the earliest that they are active by the way:06:

Thanks, Hitman and nikbear! :up:

@Hitman
That sounds like fun. Certanly different from Atlantic. Actually, I did a few patrols in Med a few years ago, still playing stock game. Didn't had much luck though. And I didn't sail there like i did now. :DL

@nikbear
Salamis becams available in October 1941. In May 1942 your base becomes La Spezia. Since September 1943 it's Toulon.

Cool,thanks Meduza:03:,I've got a career running thats at November 41' I think it could be time to take a trip to the med:yeah:

Sounds like a perfect time for me. See you in Salamis. :salute:

Enjoy your time in the Med. :sunny:

Like others have said, watch out for airplanes. You'll do a lot of crash dives and spending the day submerged, especially around Malta.

There's lots of targets in that channel between Sicily and North Africa and South East from there as well as to the East of Malta. I've come across lots of warship patrols as well, so beware.

Lots of single and double cargo ships with single escorts and I've seen the occasional 4 ship convoy with escorts. Most are pretty easy pickings early on.
Also, the Luftwaffe/Reggia Aeronautica will actually help you on occasion as well as stealing the occasional kill after you torpedoed it. :damn:

I'm now near the end of Oct '43 out of Toulon and things are getting tough, really, really, tough. :nope:

:)

Glad to hear you made it through, Meduza! I checked in on the thread earlier and was going to say something, but I didn't want to jinx you before I knew you were in the clear :DL

We've probably all made the run at some point, and like you, my last trip was a few years ago by now--Stock or pre-GWX days, I'm not sure--but all this talk of the Med is making me think of givin' 'er another go soon.




It's so damn hard to pick my way through the cavaclade of titles in the U-boat library sometimes, but I've just added this to the shopping cart along with Patterson's book on the Inshore Campaign, and another bloke's work about German naval commandos... Molch, anyone?

Huzzah!

The adventure continues... :DL

(Apr 4 1942)
04:02 We are getting deeper and deeper into the Med, basicaly an unknown territory. I expect to be bothered by the Gibraltar based planes for two more day, most of which we'll spend submerged.
The plan is to proceed to waters SW of Sicily, where we'll linger for a while. Then we'll go along the suspected traffic routes, staying away from Malta.
The Mad has greeted us with good weather - visibility 10km, 6m/s SW wind.
Our fuel tanks are almost full, and we have all but one torpedoes left. Hopefully we'll have none aboard when we reach Salamis.

06:57 Sound contact, bearing 282, going slow. Merchant. Sounds like a big one.
07:49 Visual contact. Not one, but two merchants: ore carrier and coastal freighter. Getting into position for submerged attack.
08.33 As I came ahead of the ships and prepare to dive, with the leading ship already in visual range, my watch crew was surprised by two aircrafts. We received some damage, and have a bit of a flooding in the engine room. I'll have to improve my reaction time to aircraft threat.
Since the aircrafts are probably still in the area, I'll postpone my attack for 30 minutes.
09:43 Sank both ships, with three torpedoes. It was nice to see both ships hit exactly at same time. Unfortunately, the third torpedo was a dud. The ships went down within half an hour.
Returning to my previous course, going slow, submerged.

18:14 We're on surface. Doing minor repairs on deck and loading bow external torpedo. Weather unchanged, no contacts.

19:22 Spotted single Medium cargo. Under the cover of darkness, we approached on surfaced and fired 2 eels. The ship broke in two and sank imediately.

20:46 Received a report of a ship 90km E from our position. She's heading directly at us, I barely have to alter the course. Intercepting at full speed. I'm beginning to like Mediterranean.
22:32 we have sound contact. Judging by the sound, the ship is escorted.

Good reports. Keep them coming. :up:

With me, it is: "Aircraft Spotted" from watch crew = hitting the "C" key on my keyboard.
I don't wait to identify the aircraft. I'm sure I've gone under for some friendlies, but better to be safe than sorry.
At least in RL, to aircraft, the only good submarine is a dead submarine. I bet the game doesn't model mistaken attacks though.

I have still been suprised a couple of times and been damaged. Once pretty lightly. The second time was by a fighter with bombs near the coast of Sicily during the invasion. He came in quick and got me on the way down, causing some substantial damage. I had to return home after that one. :damn:

:)

I like to take a look to see what's coming. :D I'll have to change that...
------------

Apr 5
00:32 We came into the visual range and identified ship as Passenger/Cargo. It's escorted by a single destroyer. Fired two steam torpedoes, to spend them while the darkness covers their trails. Distance 4km. Both torpedoes hit. So far no sounds of bulkheads breaking. We silently dive to safer depth, awaiting retaliation.
01:28 The ship sank 30 minutes after being hit. We wasn't detected. As we leave the area, I can still hear the escort in distance, still pointlessly circling and droping DC in empty ocean. Maybe they're fishing. :DL

After the last aircraft attack, I keep thinking about the condition of my hull. In several occasions we were hit, by bombs and gunfire. I wonder how deep we can go. Hope I won't have to find out. We are currently at 100m, going E @2kt. Position CH7459.

06.21 Aircraft spotted. Crash dive.

18:15 The day has been quite peaceful. No one's complaining, after last night, filled with action. It's been 6 days since we left El Farrel, but it seem like eternity. I just sent my patrol report - we sank four merchants and one destroyer (all during the single night), total 18,500t. Six torpedoes still aboard. Position CH81. Weather unchanged.

Apr 6
05:04 During the night the wind completely stopped, and the sea is perfectly calm. It will make us more visible.
17:23 Received a report of a ship, 200km W of our position, heading W. Too far for us to intercept. Continuing on present course.

It looks like we're out of the area covered by RAF. Haven't see any plane for 24 hours. Position CH91.

Apr 7
01:45 Sound contact. Merchant bearing 235. Sounds like she's in a hurry. Intercepting.
02:26 It's a large merchant, escorted by Flower class corvette. I'm thinking of sinking both ships...
02:46 I made my decision - first I'm going to sink the Flower, then the merchant. With all the damage the boat sustained, I don't know how deep we can go. Maybe 150m? Since the sea is dead calm, we would be easy prey on that depth. It's a risk I'm not going to take.
05:08 I did it. The Flower is sinking, hit by one torpedo from aft tube (TII, magnetic detonator, 3km distance). Now it's that merchant's turn.
05:24 The merchant is hit by torpedo. I had to use magnetic detonator, because she is zig-zaging. I'm going to wait, maybe one hit will be enough to sink her. I'm in no hurry.
05:38 She listed to port and moving very slow, 2kt. She will go down soon.
05:48 She's going down. A lot of lifeboats swimming around. I hope someone will pick them up.

05:54 No contact. Surfacing.

21:13 Radio report came of a slow ship sailing west. It's 200km W from our position so we continue on present course. Position CJ74.
Tomorrow night we'll reach the passage between Sicily and Africa coast. Hope to find something there.

Apr 8
11:12 A report came of a friendly convoy 30km to the north. If they were nearer, I would've dropped by to say hello. :DL

Apr 9
03:09 Contact, bearing 340. long range. Sounds like merchant. Position CJ87.
03:39 We have a visual. It's a small merchant, heading NW. It's dawning, so I'll have to attack submerged.
04:50 The ship is flying New Zealand colors. I fired one torpedo from aft tube, a perfect midship hit from 400m. While I waited and observed the ship, suddenly all hell broke loose. Bombs falling all over the place, explosions, and water sprays. But not on me - on the merchant. The Luftwaffe! And they're gonna claim my kill! No, they wont! Blow the tanks!

My men quickly started fire on ship, already engulfed with flames. There was a huge explosion. Before she went down, her crew managed to hit us just behind the tower. The shell penetrated the hull, causing small flooding. :-?
When the three bombers flew directly overhead, I saw they were our Italian allies. For a moment I thought they're going to drop their bombs on us, for stealing their kill. :DL

05:05 I'm going to take a risk and load the aft external torpedo. I don't expect any air attacks, and there are no enemy ships around. position CJ87. Only three torpedo left.

(to be continued...)

You know what they say.....curiosity killed the cat! :D

I try to use the external camera to satisfy my curiosity.
:)

I'm trying hard to resist the temptation and use the external camera for screenshots only. ;) Maybe that's why I was hit so many times. :DL


(I'll keep using my previous post for new log entries for a while)