May 1940 - AM43
all is set up for a great victory! right now I'm amidst a large convoy (travelling only 5knts) at PD. the flower and J&W already sailed by, now I'll raise periscope and pick three of the bigger vessels. then better going down to 160m to evade the DD-attack. after it I'll try a second run (the Irish coast is still more than a grid away and then will be night) probably on the surface. shame I cannot use the 8,8cm-gun - sea is too rough ...... :sunny: |
U 45, stalking convoy in N atlanic, off ireland.
We have picked up a warship in the convoy, some kind of cruiser we surspect. no clue yet. shadowing, will attack eventualy. |
U-82 VIIB
Departed Wilhelmshaven for AM23, 1 September 1939. Received orders to sink British shipping. Patrol of AM23 uneventful. Radio contact of one merchant ship reported 240km SE of AM23. British merchant intercepted in smooth seas. Two torpedoes fired, with one striking the stern and starting a fire. Observed merchant's bow lifting. Some explosions noted and after 20 minutes, merchant sank stern-first at 12:58 for 5081 tons. Radio contact reported NE of sunken merchant. Intercept course plotted. U-33 VIIB Departed St. Nazaire for AM34, 27 November 1940. Entered Irish Sea. Received message from U-101, convoy north of U-33, moving south. Moved to intercept and awaited convoy, listening on hydrophones. Engaged convoy in smooth seas at 16:58, in 104m of water southeast of Dublin. Attacked from 45 degrees starboard. One merchantman sunk for 6000+ tons. Destroyer escorts launched depth charges and stalked U-33 for 4 hours. U-33 sustained no damage. Disengaged from destroyers about 20:30 hours, surfaced at 21:15 and continued north towards AM34, plotting course through Hebrides. |
U 53 Type VIIB just returned to Kiel from her first war patrol with 28000 tons sunk in AL 36 and AM 53\52.
Preparing for 2nd patrol. |
My current campaign
U-666 (VIIC. Had her since 1940. Love this boat.) 12.01.1945 Spottet a task force and.... well, they spottet me aswell. Several sub-killers, one aircraft carrier and a battleship. Went to 200m. Depth-charges all over the place. Things went well until a hedgehog hit the hull. Heavy flodding in forward compartments. Boat sank to 240m. Heavy pressure. Crew managed to get the flooding under control. Crew been at sea with me since 1940. Couldn't give up now. A "few" hours later. Boat stable at 200m. Sonar contacts far away. Getting dark. Batteries had some juice left but oxygen reserve getting low. Surfaced. Destroyer wating on the surface. Captain of U-666 scared s***less. Crash dive. Fingers crossed. :shifty: |
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Saw to that I was at the surface when shutting down for the evening, too. But, of course, there were a lot of enemy vessels close by when starting up. On the first occasion going in these strange things happened: The sunk destroyer in the West we did. Those other two on the Northern island steamed towards the island when we were proceeding Eastwards through the sound and were both suddenly marked as sunk - beached. Those grey sunk symbols in the bottom of the picture also occured when we were cruising East, submerged. What was going on. Some other subs there or an air raid...? |
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there was sort of success at the first run! sank two empire typs (no bigger vessels in this convoy) and a flower which was coming up (attacked in bright sunshine and had to raise periscope). shame that one fish was dud (the rear one) which was aimed at a small freighter. two black swans hunted me then (I ran through the convoy getting down to 160m), but it never was so easy to evade them! just half an hour and I escaped. nothing, compared to the other DD-hunts I already had at 60-80m. hurrah to 1000m below you! :rock: I then shaded the convoy and now after sunset I attack the second time. the leading flower has already passed by, so it's now again: raising to PD and picking three targets with 5eels. maybe I can start a third approach in the morning with the left 3fish. :salute: |
December 1940
U48, Type VIIB Now docked in Lorient, took on a few new crewmembers. On my previous patrol, I was ordered to patrol DT 26 and found almost nothing of value on the way there, just some neutral merchants...though I did sink a lone british schooner not far from Cadiz, Spain. Headed north to the South of the British Isles and ran into a convoy, tried to attack despite a horrid storm at 2300. One torpedo fired at a Black Swan, missed, disengaged attack on convoy. Headed further north to raid Swansea harbor in the night and in a storm, launched 5 fish. Sunk 1 Large Tanker, an RAF Sea Air Rescue boat moored directly alongside (which flew quite a distance from the explosion) and a Depot Ship, Damaged one troop ship. Withdrew and headed back to Lorient. U48 was not engaged by opponents during patrol. Sunk Roughly 15000 tons. |
Kaleu Georg Eckhardt - U-122 - Dec. 4th. 1941 - 09:34 - patrol 17
Nothing more to see inside the harbour. The Fiji has settled on the bottom. As has the troop transport. We shall return now to search the South-Western area. |
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got the knight's cross after returning to base in Wilhelmshaven. could sink 8ships out of 21 the convoy existed in the beginning. I now can understand (at least a little) the excitement real u-boot commanders felt when they spotted a convoy and had three runs against it. too bad 3of14 eels were duds and deck-gun wasn't available due to rough sea. it was my first convoy-attack and I loved every minute of it. :ping: |
Patrol 2
U-32, Type VIIB, U-Flotilla Saltzwedel Left at: August 29, 1939, 18:01 From: Wilhelmshaven Mission Orders: Patrol grid BF16 05.09.39. 0223 Grid BF 16 Ship sunk! SS A. M. Simpson (Coastal Freighter), 1869 tons. Cargo: Coal. Crew: 35. Crew lost: 13 07.09.39. 0113 Grid BF 15 Ship sunk! SS Pampero (Medium Cargo), 4535 tons. Cargo: Aircraft. Crew: 47. Crew lost: 26 07.09.39. 0928 Grid BF 16 Ship sunk! SS Kooyong (Passenger/Cargo), 2091 tons. Cargo: Passengers. Crew: 40. Crew lost: 27 08.09.39. 1304 Grid BF 16 Ship sunk! SS Elmbay (Coastal Freighter), 1870 tons. Cargo: General Cargo. Crew: 30. Crew lost: 9 13.09.39. 1123 Patrol results Crew losses: 0 Ships sunk: 4 Aircraft destroyed: 0 Patrol tonnage: 10365 tons Patrol lasted 16 days, horrible weather for the entirety. Rough seas, rain and <400m visibility. Had to hunt by hydrophone the entire time. Kalen PAUL BÜCHEL earned UBoat Front Clasp, all 5 officers got War Badges and one got Machinery qualification. |
U-82 - VIIB
Following sinking of merchantman for 5081 tons, sailed south, 140km west of Irish coast. Sank small merchant vessel with one torpedo. Hydrophone contact of another merchantman, plotted to intercept and sank with one torpedo from a spread of two. Fuel running low, plotted return course to Wilhelmshaven between Shetland and Orkney Islands. Encountered task force north of Scotland – one battleship, two light cruisers, two destroyers. Ordered crash dive. U-82 undetected. Surfaced, encountered small coastal vessel but was not able to engage owing to rough seas and low torpedo count. Attacked by aircraft, ordered crash dive. Some flooding, repaired quickly. Boat in good working order. Passed between Orkney and Shetland Islands, 2:32 on September 18th. Encountered task force of three warships in North Sea. Dove, remained undetected. Surfaced and spotted a Polish large merchant. Sunk with deck gun. Docked at Wilhelmshaven at 6:00 on 21 September 1939. Total tonnage sunk in excess of 19,600 GRT. 2nd Patrol Departed Wilhelmshaven, 23 September 1939 en route to BE61. Hydrophone detection of merchantman, 250km north of Newcastle-on-Tyne. Plotted intercept course on surface. Intercepted merchant vessel, sank with deck gun. Continued northwest, plotting course between Scapa Flow and Shetland Islands. Passed Orkneys. Skies overcast. Detected an ore freighter. Sank with deck gun. Continuing east. |
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