"I don't like this, Kap.."

"Nor me, Christian, can you still see Bruno and his men....?

"They'e in and out of sight Sir...."

Joachim has come up. He is the best deck gunner officer in 7th Fflotilla.

As time ticked by, and we stared without seeing...

There was a faint 'Pock' and 'Pock' travelling across the sea that carries so well,

That was a pistol round...A luger...Bruno!

Automatic fire breaks out across the beach, and all hell breaks loose.

"Ambush!" screams Christian "Fire into those gunflashes, kick up some shingle, don't stop till I tell you!"

Our AA gun immediately hammered away.

We laced the shore and cliffs with all but our last case of 20mm flak ammunition, only hoping to cover our Bruno and his people.

"Get under way Otto!, Get the boat running. Now!!

"Wait, Number One. keep her moving slowly up to speed Chief, Not everyone is on board the bus just yet...."

We can see our boys working their way back, and rowing like hell.

"Fire!"

"Sir, we should get out into deeper water......."

We peppered the shore with the 2Omm gun, just to keep their heads down, whilst Otto had the engine cranked up but idling as soon as he heard the word.

"Get them in!"

Even Bruno is exhausted, it took two attempts for a seaman like him to catch the rope.

"Get everyone downstairs! Cut the dinghy loose! We're leaving!

"Oscar! Blood on the deck!"

Otto, run away, flank speed"

I'm yelling unneccesarily. The Doc has always been there and bearing the seaman away. It's Gerhardt, one of Bruno's guys; from Second Watch; and U-46 is already picking up speed as her trusty diesels kick in.

"Willi... Navigation Officer....! ...Willi find us a safe depth to drop in to.

LS

Riveting stuff http://www.psionguild.org/forums/ima...s/thumbsup.gif

Nice work!
 

Been reading this constantly over the last week and I am addicted! Just waiting for the next installment.

Just read the whole thing. 3 hours straight. But I still want more!

LS,

I've just read the entire 54 page collection, and would like to add my congratulations on such a well written compilation. I too join the hundreds, if not thousands of members whom are holding their collective breath with each transmission from U-46.

You've been able to capture the dynamic that great storytelling entails, and in the process bring characters to life that are as real as the historic missions some 60+ years ago that Silent Hunter 3 recreates.

Bravo.

KptLt Barker U-8008

Flank speed LS! :huh:

Great story ! Keep up the good work LS .

"Run, Otto, Make her run! ..Reuben go aft and get every pfennig out of those pistons, Go!"

"Willi!" He turns from bending over Hans' shoulder in the sonar cabin.

"Any depth yet?"

"Still undulating around 30 metres, Kaleun"

I turn to my Number One.

"Christian, if they knew we were going in, then they must now know we have to come out. Maybe some double ambush, to get us as well"

"Dirty trick, Kap!"

"Yes, but let's face it, Christian .. we do it all the time. Now you and me upstairs and keep watch, have the whole damage management crew stood to, and let's get the hell out of here.

"Thirty metres and depth increasing under keel; we may be in a deeper channel"

"Good Willi"

Me and Christian are staring at the silhouette of a warship, no bigger (but also therefore no slower) than a destroyer. We can see it, because it has lit up a searchlight, which it is playing across the part of the sea and beach we have just left.

"Willi, keep us with as much under keel as you can, the more the better and get us out into open sea, and tell Otto that he needs to screw one or two more knots out of the diesels, unless he wants to get up here and help us paddle"

"Sir?"

"We've got the worst kind of company, Willi. Maybe it was a trap. We don't have time for that. Give me a consistent 50 metres depth at least, and we have a chance. Otherwise it's a straight race from whenever she latches on to us.

"Steer 081. Flank speed, send constant depth soundings"

"Willi, we just need to make some distance, before we can hide somewhere."

The searchlight from the escort was playing back across us again.

And even though we held our breath and hoped our low silhouette would conceal us again, this time the beam paused in it's sweep, and came back...

LS

"Jesus" muttered Christian

The beam passed lingeringly over us, and then moved on,

We dare not breath.

But then it comes back, and this time, Christian and I are caught squinting into the full glare of an escort's searchlight.

"Wave back, Christian. Stick your thumbs up. Maybe they'll think we're one of theirs."

"You see that orange flash just then, Rollie?....That would be their forward gun firing at us"

The shell splashed short of our stern, but not by that much for a first shot. We can hear another whistling through the air.

.."Faster Otto, faster!"

Christian, ever the professional, is staring intently through his binoculars.

"One forward turret, hard to tell but I think one stack. If she's a destroyer, she would be all over us by now. I think she's a corvette. Even she will catch us eventually"

"Well, she's not going to find U-46 in this rock pool if we can help it. Willi, what have you got for me?"

"Forty metres at best, Kap"

"Descending?"

"Yes"

"Any hope of getting or keeping us deeper, Willi?"

"Yes Sir, we'll maybe hit a deeper rift."

"Ok, the game is up. Sharp course to 280, and controlled dive to periscope depth, twelve metres should do it. Make sure we go down slow enough for them to see which way we are turning"

"Double back, Kaleun?"

Just a trick, to buy some time. Apparently they do this in Rugby all the time. Feint left, and swerve right, and out of sight.

We come down the ladder calmly, for all the world as if there was no crisis, but this is mostly a veteran crew, they've been chased and put under attack before, physcology is great, everyone needs to believe that it will be all right, but there are few illusions about what lies ahead.

"Cut all the noise, lads. You'll hear noise soon enough"

"Now Christian, ease her round to 80 degrees, you can probably drop her another couple of metres

We can both recognise the distant throb of an escort's engines growing louder.

"Hold your nerve, Christian"

He turned round and grinned.

"I've got it here Rollie. Go and see Bruno.."

LS

This is the only thread that when I see a reply has been made, and by LS himself, I drop everything and come running..Excellent!

Those webbed feet should soon be paddling like crazy beneath the surface http://www.psionguild.org/forums/ima...s/thumbsup.gif