U-69: Convoy attack (story)
 

It was early morning on the 18 November, 1940. Wolfram Raabe, radio operator on board the German type VIIC u-boat U-69, jerked in surprise as the radio next to him started crackling. He had only just gotten up, after a horrible night in a fierce Atlantic storm. However, he quickly and proffesionly decoded the message using the Enigma cipher machine. Again, he jerked with surprise. It was a contact report! He was even more surprised by the sender. The message read;
Large enemy convoy sighted X 40+ ships X 5 Destroyers X 1 Battleship X
KMS Lützow. Excitement overcoming tiredness, he took the message to the the conning tower, where Kapitanleuntant Manfred Werner was studying a map of the North Atlantic, a bottle of apple juice in his hand. "Herr Kaleun?" "Yes, Wolfi, what is it? Contact report?" Yes, Herr Kaleun" Manfred took the piece of paper out of his hand. As he read, his eyes widened. "Navigator!", he called down the hatch. "Plot new course!"

Manfred climbed down the ladder to the control room, where the navigator, Emil Dubler, was waiting. Manfred showed him the message, and went over to a chart showing their immediate area. His XO, Erich von Dobenecker emerged from the forward quarters. Emil showed him the message. "Herr Kaleun, are we moving to intercept?" Manfred looked up. "Yes, First officer, we are. Go to the torpedo room, tell Kurt to load up some eels." When Erich emerged, he remarked,"It'll be difficult, attacking." Manfred looked up, a puzzled look on his face."What makes you say that?" "Well, Herr Kaleun, the escorts will be on high alert, after the Lützow's attack." " Ah, but you're forgetting, our capital ships are under strict orders from the Führer not to engage enemy battleships. Besides, Sharnhorst and Gneisenau attacked that convoy in '39, and Rollie de Bunsen in U-46 had a field day the night after!" Erich seemed puzzled. "Rollie de Bunsen? That name rings a bell!" Manfred grinned. " He was the one who kept lapsing into shock whenever that secretary, Heidi walked past. And she couldn't take her eyes off him!"

Where is this area located?

Mid-Atlantic, 40 degrees west, 60 degrees north.

Great story
What mod list ?
What realism settings ?

45% realism
Limited fuel
Limited oxygen
No stabilize view
No event camera
Limited compressed air
No ship health bars
Realistic repair time
Realistic reload

MODs
MFCM (alt heads w/beards)
Lifeboat mod open horizons II light
IRAI v.0.0.37
No damn bubbles, no damn halos
On torp, one ship v.1a
A fistful of emblems
Equipment fix mod
XO TDC dialogue fix
More crew commands by dialogue
Sub flags v.0.0.8
AI sub crew
TDW'S patcher

"Okay, new course, 15 degrees!" ordered Emil. The chief engineer, Josef Erdmann, repeated the order to the Helmsman. Manfred turned to the chief. "All ahead full!" Again, Josef repeated the order, and the Helmsman turned the telegraph handles. There was a short ring, and several seconds later U-69 increased in speed. Manfred went up the two ladders to the conning tower, where Dieter Epp, his second officer and three enlisted watch crew were stationed. "Dieter, we're going to intercept a convoy. Keep your eyes open!"
Dieter looked at his captain, excitement spreading across his face. "Jawhol, Herr Kaleun!"

U-69: A brief history
 

U-69 is a type VII C U-boat, assigned to the 2nd uboat flotilla in Lorient. She is the lead boat of her class, and was commissioned on the 1st of July, 1940, under her present commander, Kapitanleuntant Manfred Werner. Her emblem is a red shield with an Iron Cross in the center.

Later that day, still with no sign of the convoy, Mannfred decided to go down to 13 metres for a hydrophone check. As soon as the boat was stable, he ran to the hydrophone room, where his sound-man, Benno Scheu, was turning the wheel. After several minutes he stopped, the arrow pointed at 347 degrees. He whispered, "Very faint contact, Herr Kaleun!" Manfred gestured at Benno to pass him the headphones. As he slid them on, he heard very faintly, a chhhhhhhhhh sound.
It was the convoy.
Turning around and passing the headphones back, he ordered "Auftauchen!"

Just outside the Lorient sub pens. You always get faint signals from there. ;)

Just picking on ya Cyber. Looks to be a good start on narrating a patrol. Go get em and 'Sink em all' ! :arrgh!:

By the timeU-69 was in visual contact of the convoy, it was 9 o'clock.
And, sure enough, there were 5 destroyers and a battleship. "Verdamnt!" Manfred whispered. They were not in any position to torpedo the battleship. Oh well, he thought, might as well get some freighters. However, when they were within 1000 meters of the first escort, he noticed that there were 10 or so men on deck, watching through binoculars. It would only be a matter of time before they saw U-69. "All men below, take us down to 14 meters!" ordered the captain. By his reckoning, the destroyer was out of ASDIC range. After several minutes, when Benno judged that they were surrounded by the merchants, Manfred gave orders to surface. When their boat emerged from the depths, Manfred raced up the ladders, opened the conning tower hatch, and placed the UZO on its pedestal. After doing the calculations for a shot at a freighter, he ordered "Rohr einz und zwei, Los!" He then switched to a closer freighter. "Rohr drei und veir, Los!"
Now all they could do was wait.

A brief biography of Manfred Werner
 

Manfred Werner joined the kriegsmarine in 1938. Promoted to captain of U-28 later that year, he became a national hero in the first month of the war, infiltrating Scapa Flow and sinking the battleship Royal Oak and the battle cruiser Belfast. Later that year he took command of U-51, which became famous for being the only successful uboat during Operation Weserübung in April 1940. He was given command of U-69 on July 1st, 1940, and is still in command of that boat.

Whumpf! The first torpedo had hit the freighter! It was followed by another detonation, and several seconds later, the other freighter went up in flames.
However, this had the result of every freighter in the vicinity switching on their search lights. "ALARM!!!!" Manfred yelled, then, followed by the watch crew, slid down the ladder "Take us down, chief, 40 meters!" Benno yelled " Herr Kaleun, all of the destroyers are heading for us!" "Make that 70 meters, chief!"
Benno listened intently to his head phones.
chhhhhhhhhhhhhhsplashchhhhhhhhhhsplashchhhhhhhhhhh splashchhhhhhhhhhhBOOM!!!!!!
Benno ripped his headphones off, for fear of the detonations rendering him deaf.
He looked around, puzzled at the lack of damage. Then he realized that the explosion had only been so loud because he had been listening to the hydrophones. Fortunately, all the other attacks were just as inaccurate, and the escorts gave up after an hour or so. When the captain ordered them to surface, they went after the convoy, with their tubes reloaded, ready to add some more tonnage to their score.

Once again, the U-69 found itself in an unfavorable position to attack the battleship, so they moved in on the freighters. Manfred was standing ready at the UZO, hoping to sink two very juicy freighters. One of his watch crew was watching the nearest destroyer. He frowned. Had it just raised its guns a little?
BOOM! Suddenly, the entire ocean was as bright as day, and all the destroyers were firing at them!
Manfred yelled "All men below! Take us to periscope depth!" They ran down the ladder, Manfred taking his post at the attack periscope. He got the solution, and ordered "All tubes fire! Take us down to 120 meters!"
A destroyer roared over them, dropping depth charges, none of which hit. Then, Whumpf! Whumpf! one freighter down! Whumpf! Whumpf! That's two!

While the crew was silently celebrating, though, a destroyer dropped depth charges on them, one of which descended close to the aft, nearly level with the boat, and BOOM!

Are you sure that this phrase wasn't intended for von Dobenecke, our longsighted first officer? :hmmm: :03: