In the bow quarters, Alois sat on his bunk and took out of his jacket a small leather bag. From inside, he retrieved a pinch of fresh tobacco and some rolling paper. Ceremonially, he started rolling a cigarette. When he was done, he pinched off the tobacco sticking out of the cigarette’s end, putting the residual back in the small leather bag.

“Waste nothing, that’s my motto” Alois said to young Karl, who was watching him from the bunk across.

The Bootsman turned to the young sailor who was staring at him.“I’m not going to smoke it in here lad. I will save it for when we surface” He said, keeping his voice low.

“What makes you so sure that we will surface?” “We have just been depth charged and we have 2 destroyers looking for us” Karl asked, his face a mask of anxiety. Even though he wanted to prove himself in the eyes of the more experienced crew and especially Alois, his brief depth charge experience left him shaken. It suddenly hit him that he was trapped well below sea level, with no escape route, limited air and batteries while 2 destroyers where looking for him.

“Stop worrying, it will get you nowhere. Don’t fool yourself and don’t feel guilty if you are afraid. Everyone is afraid. Myself included. Don’t confuse apathy with fearlessness. Show me a man that does not feel fear and I will show you a fool. What you see is not courage but apathy. Down here you cannot control your fate. Its all in the hands of the Kaleun and God. At first you panic, then you worry but from some point onwards you just don’t care” Alois concluded matter of factly.

“Fortunately we are in relatively deep waters. The Kaleun is very experienced and we had pulled out of worst situations in the past. We will go below 200m and sneak our way through. Provided the destroyers don’t call the whole God damned Royal Navy and Airforce to hunt us” the Bootsman concluded.

“200 meters? I thought you cannot go below 180 in a VIIB type sub. Has this been done before?” Karl enquired looking around as if checking the integrity of the boat’s hull.

“This baby has gone down to 235 before taking any pressure damage. You were not part of its first shakedown trip, but I can talk to the Kaleun and arrange another shakedown for you, if you insist” Alois replied with a grin.

“Will you two shut up? Obermaschinist August Kruger hissed from his bunk, extremely annoyed. “I spent 12 hours in the diesels. My ears are still ringing. Scheisse. I finish my shift, I lie down, the Brits wake me up because they obviously decided that THIS was the PERFECT time to depth charge us and on top of all that, I have you two gossiping old ladies disturbing my fine sleep. Get out or shut up!” August shot at the two men, turning his back at them and placing his thick jacket on top of his head.

Karl sheepishly lied down on his bunk, wondering if he would ever become as thick skinned as his experienced comrades. Alois smiled at him and nodded him not to worry. “Machinists are crazy” he whispered to Karl - only to hear the Obermaschinist mumble obscenities at them, under his breath.

Back at the Command Room ,Wolf checked the depth Gauge. “Depth 195, descending” he reported dryly, as he had been doing for every 5m depth change in the past several minutes.

“Depth 200 meters” Wolf announced, turning at the captain.

Stephan checked his stopwatch. 6 minutes had passed since the depth charge barrage. He switched on the intercom:
“Herbert, Speed 1 knot, 100 RPM max, silent running”.

Stephan released the intercom button and looked over Franz’s shoulder at their current position.

“Franz. New course 270. Speed 1 knot. Maintain speed and depth” he ordered as the Navigator acknowledged.

He leaned on the map table and took off his cap. “Heinrich, update on sound contacts. Let’s see what these destroyers are up to” he said, wiping his eyebrow.

A very nice story with good plot and nicely narrated.
Keep it coming.

Thank you von Harris.. appreciate the kind words.
;)

Another good read, thank you :DL

It took a little over a minute for the experienced sonar man to complete his hydrophone sweep. “Two contacts sir, bearing 145 and 180, closing fast. Estimated distance about 300m…no 200 meters sir…Wait… Depth charges in the water” Heinrich announced, the agitation in his voice clearly fading away.

Two minutes later the barrage of explosions was felt, but it was quite far away to inflict any damage.

“Bunch of bloody amateurs” Wolf noted with a half smile on his face.
“Yes, but lucky amateurs too. How the hell did they spot us in the first place” Stephan wondered, still leaning on the map table.

“Let’s hope that for the time, they will want to keep the kill for themselves and won’t notify other warships. Fortunately the weather is so dreadful they cannot call for air support. They probably wouldn’t, even if they could.”

“Vanity, boys” Stephan turned towards the crew in the Command Room. “Tommy navy men are too proud to call for air support. They want to bask themselves in glory. Sorry Tommy boy - no glory this time” Stephan remarked, sparking muted laughter from the officers and sailors on duty in the Zentrale.

Fifteen minutes later, there was another barrage of depth charges but the action was now taking place some 1 km away. Another 20 minutes later the subsequent barrages could hardly be heard.

Stephan put on his cap again. “It seems that we might be totally clear in an hour or two as long as we keep silent”. “Heinrich… keep your ears with them”.

He then turned to Wolf. “Maintain current depth, speed and heading”. “Boat with Wachoffizier” Stephan announced, making his way towards the electric engine compartment, as Wolf temporarily assumed the command of U-53.

Opening the hatch of the electric engine room, Stephan was taken aback. Herbert was moving his hands frantically towards a sailor holding a pair of pliers. The sailor’s eye caught the movement of Herbert’s flailing arms and stopped at his tracks wide-eyed, watching Herbert sprinting towards him. The Chief Engineer pulled the tool out of the hands of the dumbfounded sailor and whispered something unintelligible, but intelligible enough for the sailor in question to turn red-faced.

At that moment, Herbert noticed the big frame of Stephan stepping in. He turned to the sailor, hissed “Dismissed” and placed the pliers on a padded wooden toolbox, next to the port engine.

“What was that Chief?” Stephan enquired as the sailor returned to his post, looking anxiously towards the two officers.

Herbert took off his cap and combed his hair with his thick, greasy fingers. “All good, Stephan” the Chief replied, nodding at the sailor to mind his own business. “Willi here decided to do some piping handwork while in silent running. So I had to give him a silent grilling" Herbert fumed, putting his cap back.

“It’s his first patrol ever. If he causes trouble again, I will make sure that this is also his LAST” Herbert intentionally raised his voice above the whisper, to emphasize the finality of the word.

“I am perfectly sure you can whip the boy’s ass to shape. If anyone can, that’s you Chief. You run your own show here; you can fry the boy as far as I am concerned. Just do it quietly” Stephan commented with a smile, watching the young sailor shrug behind the engines.

“Anyway. How is the progress of our little project?” the captain inquired. “Ha… The boys here have found a proper name for it. They call it.. Das Bruchbude” the Chief chuckled. “Give me 10 minutes and I’ll be with you to explain the concept” .

“Ok Chief, I’ll see you in the Zentrale in 15 minutes” Stephan replied and with this he turned towards the command room.

Wolf and Franz will probably like this he thought walking slowly. “Let’s hope it works, although I'm in no hurry to try it” Stephan mumbled, scratching his itchy chin.

outstanding

Back at the command room, the mood was more relaxed. Heinrich’s latest report of the destroyers activity, pinpointed that the two Black Swans were depth charging an area 2.5km away from U-53’s current position. That gave everyone breathing space and the near certain belief that they have actually been through the hardest and more dangerous part of their encounter with the British destroyers.

“It seems that we are out of it Wolf” Stephan remarked, still whispering, just in case.

"It seems so Kaleun” his second replied moving away from the map table where Franz was giving him an update of their estimated position.

The captain looked at his wristwatch. “Herbert will be here in 10 minutes to discuss something I had asked him to prepare before we left port. I think that you will both find it very interesting”.


“What is it about?” Franz enquired.
“Close call escapes” the captain replied with a grin. “Heinrich, update on those destroyers?”

“Bearing 190 and 210, medium distance, moving away Sir. It seems that they have lost us” the sonar man replied from his box, earphones glued to his ears.

“Has anyone ever seen Heinrich without a set of earphones attached to his head?” Franz asked playfully, turning towards the crew in the command room.

“I think that he sleeps with them sir” Jurgen replied. “Rumor has it that they screwed them to his head when he was born” Joachim whispered from the other end of the Zentrale.”I think that he has them on even in his wedding photo” he continued causing everyone to silently laugh and relieve some of the stress built up during the past 2 hours.

“What’s so funny?” the Chief enquired, entering the command room.

“Joachim is just taking the piss out of Heinrich” Stephan replied.

“Ha.. The Shrimp” Herbert acknowledged.

“Who’s The Shrimp?” Franz turned to the Chief.

“Heinrich… Redheaded with antennas on his head. That’s how my boys in the engine room call him” Herbert concluded with a grin, shooing the rest of the command room crew who were about to burst out laughing.

“Ok boys, enough” Stephan interrupted still mindful of their situation.

“Wolf, Franz, the Chief is here to discuss an idea we both contemplated while at base.”

Walking towards the map table he continued “It’s no secret that our job is becoming more and more difficult as the Allies beef up their escorting presence in convoys.”

“On top of this, their air coverage is becoming thicker and they seem to have made significant progress in their ASDIC and spotting equipment. Hence from now on we should expect to be discovered more often than not. Evading 2 amateur destroyer crews in relatively deep waters is one thing. But during our patrols we may come up with much more challenging situations were odds will be against us” Stephan said leaning against the table.

“Like the 3 US Navy buggers that had us pinned down, depth-charging the Bejesus out of us for 9 hours in the Bay of Biscay last month” Herbert commented, looking around only to see the concerned faces of the crew. The ordeal had proved tough, even for the most experienced members of U-53.

Stephan took the lead again “This experience made me think of alternative ways to make an escape, non conventional if you wish, in case we get ourselves in a similar mess. The Chief and I had a discussion over a bottle of Schnapps before our patrol. This is the idea we came up with”.

Wolf and Franz moved closer in anticipation.

“We were thinking of measures of last resort” Stephan continued. “To be employed in circumstances where the survival of the ship and the crew are under serious and imminent threat. So what if there was a way to make the destroyers believe that they hit us? Wouldn’t that give us a window of opportunity, a breather to make an escape if the surface ships believed that we were hit?” Stephan enquired.

“Others have thought of that. The main disadvantage is that if you fill your tubes with diesel and debris and flood them to give the impression of a hit, you give away your position” Wolf commented, a dismissive tone in his voice.

“Exactly…But what if you could send the debris and the diesel to surface 300 meters away from your actual position? Wouldn’t that give you a small break?” Stephan enquired. “I agree, This should be a last resort..." he continued "...when all other methods of evasion have proved fruitless, when your oxygen levels deplete or when you’re running out of batteries. But it may help. Might give you some minutes to make a silent escape as destroyers will be trying to figure out if they got a hit or not. And trust me, destroyers will be more inclined to believe that they got a hit, because they want to believe it. Vanity again, my friends. We all suffer from it"
"Herbert this is where you come in” Stephan concluded.

“Gentlemen, I am proud to present to you Das Bruchbude. Here is a brief description; I will try not to be too technical.” The Chief cleared his throat. “This is a canister 4m long and with a diameter of 50cm. It is made of 3 compartments.

"The first two are for storing debris and diesel. The top of these compartments is secured by two small hatches rigged by springs placed on an arch. These springs keep the hatches closed up to a depth of 20 meters. Shallower than that, the hydrostatic pressure is lower that the force applied by the springs, hence the hatches open, releasing the contents. Upon release, propulsion stops and after some seconds, the Bruchbude starts to plunge to the bottom.”

Herbert scratched his chin and continued. “The aft compartment is reserved for propulsion, provided by 3 tubes of highly compressed air, enough to propel the canister to an estimated 300 meters at a speed of around 4 knots. If at any point of its course the Bruchbude reaches a depth of 20m or less then the compartments open giving the impression of a hit. Hence to fire it, the Uboat’s aft has to be at an angle of at least 30 degrees facing the surface.”

“Here I have to say that Obermaschinist August Kruger has to take the credit for sneaking all the parts to make this thing – I didn’t even ask whom he bribed to find the 3 compressed air tubes” Herbert grinned. “Not peak technology, but maybe it’s worth a try”.

Franz and Wolfed looked at each other and shrugged.

“I guess that this has never been tested” Franz asked with a skeptical look on his face.

Stephan took a step forward. “Worst case scenario, it doesn’t work. But that would mean that since we chose to use it we were already in really deep s**t. What do you think boys?” the captain enquired, only to receive half hearted approving nods from his two officers.

“Let’s hope we will never use it” Wolf whispered to Stephan as everybody made their way to their combat stations.

Why do I get all that gibberish instead of quotations marks? Any ideas?

If you're doing a copy/paste after typing it all out in Word or another word processing program, some of the formatting etc. might get "lost in translation" when you paste it here.

If you are pasting, highlight it all in the reply box then click on the 'remove text formatting' just above the 'Bold' option.

Thank you guys, getting ready for the next one but I dont want it to appear like this

You'll be fine...I bet your English is a damn sight better than a lot of folks on here Greek :DL