SUBSIM Radio Room Forums - (Story) U-46 puts to sea again

It all came back to me as I took another long pull of the schnapps, and cinched my jacket warmer around Heidi, as she murmured in her sleep and cuddled closer.

And now I am telling Reuben about those training days, as if I am back there myself.......

......"I can't do this..." Otto muttered. "...I really don't think I can do this..."

We kadets are standing in rows, in our underpants, shivering and not just because of the cold.I looked up again at the tower. Twenty metres high and filled with icy Baltic sea water. There is a small chamber underneath, into which we each must go. Up the side of the tower and the lower chamber is a thickened glass panel.

"Of course you can, Otto. You know how to breathe, and you know how to swim upwards, right?" I tried to sound breezy and confident, but it wasn't helped by the chattering of my teeth. I looked again at the tower and that small chamber soon to be filled with water. I wasn't that sure I could do it either.

Not everyone, indeed not many, passed their commission at U-Boot Schule. In fact not everyone even survived it. Otto was from Frankfurt, we had hit it off as friends ever since we were roomed together at the beginning of this course. He is second in line, I am third. Next is Kochsens, a former merchant deckhand like me. Unfallibly cheerful and always full of wheezes and scams, Otto was much better with his hands. He helped me scratch through my intermediate engineering test, because he was such a genius with tools and machinery. Kochsens was a a bit of a jack of all trades, who people warmed to instantly, particularly the Gunnery Instructors wife, which is how he passed that one.

Everyone, including the guy we call Bruno, normally cracking jokes in the rear ranks had fallen silent. We were all looking up at the water tower and down to the chamber that was the only way up through it.

The U-Boot Lehrer was still speaking..

"This, Gentlemen, is the Drager Breathing Apparatus. It goes over your head and onto your chest like so. It looks like a life vest but it won't keep you fat kids afloat, if that's what you're thinking. But it may just keep you alive. Put yours on now, The petty officer will come past you and check you have fitted it correctly."

We gingerly put the Dragers on, obsessively concerned about every meaningless strap, until the PO makes an adjustment here and fiddles there, slaps you on the shoulder, "Gut!" and passes on.

"Now this kit has it's limitations. What is the official crush depth of a Type VII U-boat?..... You, Krepps?"
"Ninety metres Sir, but.."
And we all joined in with the mantra that had been imbued into us from Day One, and repeated every day since..
"WE CAN GO DEEPER, SIR!"

"Exactly, men. These things have been tested to forty three metres. So this tower should be simple. But unless you've found yourselves in something as shallow as the British Admiralty's duckpond, as opposed to the Atlantic Ocean (and make no mistake, boys, that's where you're going) which in places is two miles straight down, then this thing is just kinky fancy dress. But everyone must keep and maintain his own at all times and they are to be inspected at least weekly by a CPO or above, as part of your routine boat checks".

I gulped, trying to imagine a tower of water at least five times the height of this one above my head and all around.

"Now here is the face piece, and here obviously,is the breathing tube. On your chest you will see a valve. No, don't touch it Lenge! That's to expel any excess air. The control you want is to your right hand side, I said don't touch, Lenge! That regulates the amount of oxygen you receive. Use it wisely. The only supply you have is in that small bottle you can feel in the bottom of your vest.
"Now, within the breathing system, there is this canister you can feel? This absorbs the carbon monoxide, so in theory you can rebreathe your own air. Again it's not perfect, the only real air is on the surface, but useful to know if you're forced underwater for any length of time."

"I knew I should have tried for a capital ship," Frenze murmurs behind us.. "Something safe like the Bismarck or the Scharnhorst"

"Sir...?"
"Yes, von Andreas?"
"Sir, with that much weight of water, how are we to even open the hatch?"
"A good question.."
"I knew it.." Otto groaned
"Gentlemen it would take a superhuman effort to raise the hatch, against that weight of water in anything other than shallow depths."
"I knew it, I knew it", Otto repeated
"On the other side, such air as you have left will be so compressed that it will help get you out. In otherwords you will either be knocked down the ladder by a surge of seawater and drowned, or pop out like a champagne cork and suffer the bends"
"I bloody knew it!" says Otto.
"So to counter this, we must counter the water pressure inside and outside the boat".

"Oh Christ!" Otto sighed loudly.
"What Otto?"
"The optimum conditions for using this escape apparatus, is when the boat is near to fully flooded. I can't do this, Rollie"

"But for the purposes of this exercise, if you can't open the hatch above you, we will do it hydraulically
"First Offizier Kadet forward!" yells the PO.
It is Schmeff. To the left of Otto, and first in line.
It's no coincidence, that he is first. A pale, shy and thin lad, clever and determined, I kind of liked him on the very few times that we talked. But in all such places, easily bullied. Konrad and his goons pushed him forward laughing when we formed up for escape training. Noone else would take his side, which is now why Otto me and Kochsens, are standing next to him, and cursing the day.

"Take it easy, Willhelm, you'll be okay. See you at the top."
He just stared at me with glassy fear-filled eyes.
Otto and even Kochsens couldn't say anything, with the kind of admiration mixed with guilt that kids have when they send the youngest and most vulnerable off on a dangerous dare.
In all the times since, I have seen great bravery, heroism even. But that moment when the instructor fitted the face piece on, and you could only see his eyes, Schmeff has stayed with me. Through that natural fear I could see an exceptional acceptance and courage. And loneliness. I suppose that's what makes a good u-boat man.
Schmeff is now standing in the chamber, his eyes are wide and blinking rapidly. All the students are silent.

"Now breathe normally Junge, I'm opening up the oxygen tap. And wait until I have made these final adjustments. When I seal the door behind me, you will be in a sunken u-boat that you must escape from. When I leave, this chamber will start to fill with water. Your test is simply to open the hatch. Wait until the last minute, Lad. You're not wearing anything at the moment, but imagine you still have several layers of sea clothing on, plus your boots, so I want you to kick to the surface; it'll be dark in the Ocean, so you may not know which way is up. Blow a few bubbles out of that valve I showed you, and follow them. They know the way to surface better than anyone".

He clanged the chamber door shut. "Begin!"

Water started streaming into the chamber, both from the floor up, but also some jets set into the wall to simulate valve burst and furthermore disorientate the hapless sinking u-boat man.
He waited longer than I could have before reaching for the lid wheel. The water was up to his chin before, standing on the improvised steps to show a ladder, and to give him purchase, he gripped the wheel.
"Go on, Schmeffie!" shouts Bruno from the back. And then we are all shouting encouragement that he can't hear.
He twisted and struggled, in a desperate world of his own. The hatch wasn't opening. We watched in despair as his efforts became more frantic and yet more weakened.
"Vent the tanks!" roared the Instructor, as Schmeff drifted off the ladder and tried to find his oxygen regulator.

"All Kadet students, Raus!"
We stood outside, trying to listen to the excitied cries and swearing from inside; still practically naked and chatting nervously as Schmeff was carried out. We couldn't see if he was alive or dead.
Before long and with no further word from inside, Kochsens had conjured up an urn of hot coffee, and some salt beef sandwiches. His 'Auxiliary Angels' as he waved them away giggling, and looking back at all these kadets in their underpants.

"They won't make us do this now, will they?"
"I'm afraid they will, and we have to, Otto. Look...."
Across the parade square, a quarter of our number were already making their way back to the accommodation lines. Anyone could quit or be weeded out at any time. The U-bootwaffe was at that time, a special service.

"I can't do it. Not now."
"Yes you can, you big pussy! It's just a long drink of water! Come on, I'll go first, and.." Kochsens carries on in the same vein, partly I suspect to hide his own fear
"No it's ok mate, We're supposed to be next.. Otto.. here's a plan.."
So we are back in the hangar and under the tower hours later and formed up in our original lines, which involved some schoolboy bumping and barging, because noone wanted to go first. So Me and Otto were still at the front of the line.
"Next!"

"Sir, us two, with your permission sir, it would be more beneficial to train with other crewmates, because as captains we would be the last up anyway"
The Instructor mused, "Actually it's not here in the training manual, but it makes sense..."
(I reckon it was because we were so far behind training schedules, and had also lost some students after Schmeff's incident.)
"OK, go in the pair of you. Everything has been checked out. Just open the hatch above your head and breathe in and out regularly, then kick to the surface."
We walk forward together. "Are you ok Otto?"
"No, not entirely, Rollie, what's your plan?"
The water is coming back in up to our knees
"That we at least drown together."
"That's your plan! You maniac! It's at our waists now!"
"Put your mask on Otto....."
"....Christ, help me Otto! Mine won't go on straight Where's the oxygen switch, help, I don't know where to turn it!"
And while he was doing that the cold water was swirling up to our chins. I had hold of the lid wheel and used my legs against the side of the chamber to open the hatch.
"Hang on!"
As soon as it was open a fraction, the water rushed in, but not enough to knock us too far back. We are now fully underwater, and I am trying to climb through the hatch, sucking desperately at my Drager mouthpiece. I could feel a weight on my left ankle, that was Otto. And then he was gone.
Only to clutch me by my right calf and then up by my waist, by which time I have levered myself up through the circle. I leant towards Otto's hand down my leg, give him an encouraging tap. As soon as I can feel his hands He kicks and I pull, and we out of the 'U-Boot' itself.
Now we just hang on to each other and get to the surface. Clambering onto the top platform, panting and laughing in relief.

I needed to give something technical for Otto to focus on, when the water was coming in. There was nothing wrong with my Drager; but there's nothing wrong with Otto either, he's just happier with things to work with.

And if I get a front boat, I want him with me. And I hope vice versa.

"Smile please for the camera!"

It's a really pretty blonde with a lovely smile from the Kiel Base, sent out to take some pictures of our brave new u-boat skippers in training.
"Rollie, there's something you should know.."
He handed me my own underpants. "In the dark I must have dragged them off, sorry"
"Otto!" I looked down horrified. I was naked at the top of the tower while this girl took more pictures without batting an eyelid.
She smiled, and dare I say, winked at me.

That was the first time I saw Heidi.

LS