The crew are starting to talk
 

I think I've lost that fighting edge.

I've lived through those early days where I would think it normal to attack a destroyer with 12 m of water under the keel.
Ok maybe not lived but I learned from my constant deaths not to attack destroyers in 12m of water.

I had a brief exhilaration from avoiding depth charges where I would purposely attack the escorts to see if I could evade them underwater. That came to a halt when I discovered that I could not do it all that well.

I had at that point matured into the working kaleun who attacked his convoys, listened to his orders and fought the fight to the best of his abilities.

Today I ignored a convoy report. I was in grid AM51 and it was only about 100 km away and travelling at 7 knots. I could have caught it but convinced myself not to. There was no excuse. I had only started the patrol and was en route to my patrol grid. I had no idea if the escort was strong or not and had a full complement of torpedoes. I just chose to sail on and look for unescorted prey.

I've been a longtime fan of the Type VII and during this patrol I've actually been toying with the idea of trading it in for a type IX so I can sail further to find solitary ships. I must be getting old.

My First Leftenant is starting to get suspicous of me because to cap it all off I put a crapload of old alternative tunes in the gramaphone file and he feels uncomfortable setting up an attack solution to the strains of Mazel Tov played by I. J. Hochmanns Yiddischer Orchestra. I should tell him BdU loaned it to me from his personal collection

:rotfl:

Old or self preservation kicking in

Get yourself a IX and head for the Caribbean

I joined the navy to see the world....and what did I see ?....I saw the sea!! :lol:

Yup, destroyers at 12 meters, that's for the crazies :D

12m, nothing.

Battle surface!

Sounds like a sig I was using a couple of years ago: "The poster said join the navy and see the world. I'm here to tell you, the world is flat and blue."

IXC and IXC/40's are two great boats enough to go to America and back. Oh did I mention they are armed to a teeth?

They have more punch than a VII, but, nowhere near as nimble.

After 5 or 6 patrols, it's good to transfer away from the front for a year or so. After a stint of training new crews in the Baltic, your zest for battle will return! :D

:up:

Kptlt Balz says:

Nothing like a Caribbean cruise in a IX to get your hoochie woochies going.

Sorry its called the Balzic now :rotfl:

Only in Balzs head