Let's have a moment of silence
 

U 45, her newly promoted KapitantLeutnant, receiver of Knight cross with sword and oak leave, along with the crews, were lost at sea on May 28, 1940 during their 6th patrol.

After finishing my patrol on the assigned grid, I headed to Western approcah to patrol the area. Somewhere North east of Rockall bank, I received a convoy report heading North east. I quickly set an intercept course. Later the crews reported a ship sighting, a Black swan, so I went to periscope dept and rigged for silent running. When the balck swan passed by, I took a peek at the convoy, and there it was ... HMS Revenge (or is it Revenge class?) in the convoy.
Juicy target!:D

After the peek and decided to focus on HMS Revenge I decided to go deeper to 40 m deep, and wait for the convoy to get within firing range. Open all torpedo tubes and wait.

And then ... without any warning at all, there was no asdic ping, my radioman got wounded! And there's flooding in the boat. There was no sound of DC explosions at all!! I was at 1x TC, and no, I don't use SH3 commander so I don't have the "sabotage" option :damn:

My boat just went deeper and deeper. I sent my crews to repair the damage and control the flood ... but all the noises of the reapir process, brought the Black swan to my position and starting to drop DCs.

I went deeper, flood got worse and there's nothing the damage control team could do to stop the flood. The boat just went deeper out of control ... I blow out the balast tank twice to rise the boat, but to no avail .... and finally the boat reached crush depth and imploded :cry:

Man, I really hate it when I have to go back to September 1, 1939 and start all over again :damn:

rammed by a merchant i would guess.

were you IN the convoy or way off to their flanks?

i have been grazed by a small merchant once or twice, but a convoy moving at medium speed - and if your hit by something with a deep enough draft say like a tanker or a large cargo, it would likely be enough to inure a man and cause flooding to the boat.

another possibility is that your periscope was spotted and an armed merchant or an escort fired at the periscope striking your sub in the process.

I was still far from the convoy, I would say at least 6000 m away. I don't know what hit me, if anything hit me. One thing that I remember is that I opened all torpedo tubes, 1 to 4, and then had to dive to 40 m. Is it possible that let the tubes open would cause a problem?

hmmm havnt heard of that

Sounds really strange :stare:


Couldn't be mines could it.

If you were at 40 meters, maybe the black Swine was in your baffles.

I find that staying at periscope depth with the scope just under water for quick peeks works best. I also keep track of the lead escort with hydrophone in case the bastard pretends not to have seen me then gets behind and comes for the kill.

Were you at silent running and speed under 3 knots?

What about a mine?:hmm: You were not very far from land, right?

Well, I had that in 1943, (all hands died) at 60 meters. What happened asked BDU afterwards?, well its seemed that due the frequent attacks of the RAF, the hull went down to 21% without noticing this. (it was hidden).

At 60 meters it was suddenly over.. hull crash, leaks.. etc..

So, I keep the hull integrety indicator always on. Some say it isnt real, but I beg to differ. The crew in my boat inspects the hull now and then, and report the damage. My helmsmen then inform me how bad the shape is, and give a rough percentage.

Is there someone who knows how much damage relates to a lower crush depth?

That's possible johan_d. On my way there I was attacked by air patrol several times. One Hurricane and Ansons. During one atack, my conning tower and flak gun was damaged, and my starboard propeler (or is it port?) was also damaged.
I order crash dive too late I guess, cause I forgot how deep the water was. I asked the Navigator to check the depth first before ordering crash dive.

But I don't have hull integrity indicator, where do I find it?

I salute our fallen comrades, and drink a toast to their memory.

Then don't. When I lose a boat, I start a new career at the same time and flotilla. I find it much more interesting that way.

That is what I started doing. Because I started to feel like Bill Murray in Groundhog day! If I hear BDU tell me to commence hostile action against England one more time, I will take my Uboat up the Thames and slap Churchill!

U-52 will hold a moment of silence tonight while on patrol.