Close calls, tell your story!
 

It was early 1940, I left from Wilhemshaven on my VIIB and had to go trough the english channel. Everything went fine, but then suddenly 3 destroyers came from the west and 2 from the north. I dived to 15m. There was so shallow, I almost hit the bottom. i managed to evade them.

Destroyers dropping their load on the wrong spot:
http://img358.imageshack.us/img358/7...yers0ij.th.jpg

I raised my periscope to get a better view. Then suddenly, out of nowhere a 6th destroyer a fast towards me. I lowered my periscope, but it was too late. It had spotted me.

6th destroyer giving me a beating:'
http://img358.imageshack.us/img358/6997/6th1hn.th.jpg

View from inside the sub:
http://img358.imageshack.us/img358/4...side8ji.th.jpg

I got a really bad flooding to my bow torpedo room and minor flooding to bow quarters. My deckgun was smashed, conning tower damaged, flag gun smashed, hydrophone dead and two sailors were killed. I still managed to lose that destroyer from my tail. I dived slowly to bottom, repaired all the damage and completed my mission.

That`s it! Now post your close calls!

December, 1939 on my first patrol in a brand, new Type VIIB out of Kiel. I was transiting on the surface at night, south of the Shetland Islands en route to the Western Approaches. My Watch Officer spots a ship, I look and see a destroyer at short range off my starboard beam! I order hard right rudder to line up for a shot... The destroyer's searchlights come on, tracers fire and my superstructure is riddled with gunfire. Crash Dive! Depth charges go off all around me, but without effect. I manage to sneak away, lesson learned: Next time, I'll dive to periscope depth before starting my attack :oops:

VIIC '44 AM51. At periscope depth approaching a convoy. Send 2 salvos of 2 eels each. The first at medium the second at fast. Seconds after firing I was picked up on radar, I'm guessing. I dive to 150 meters. I'm crapped on like never before. I take flooding in all compartments except bow torpedo room. I literally was dropping meter by meter and at 185 meters flooding is stopped and recovery begins. I'm blowing ballasts to buy time and at 205 meters I finally maintain depth and finish repairs all the while more DCs are dropped in my general direction.

I couldn't have planned a more exciting tense moment in my SH3 gaming experience, it truly was something movies are made. I would have loved to hit a sandy bottom at 180 meters only if it existed in AM51.

XXI air dc
 

It is july of 43 and yes I know I mod'ed to get the 21 this early:<) I am traveling north of England.... coming around to the Southwest.. and I looked away from screen.... next thing two ac are almost on me... crash dive... usually down to 50 meters b4 they can get to me.... I was down to about 20 meters.... at 10 knots.... several dc rocked the boat and ....

took out my fuel tanks (below control room)!!!!! so much for this XX1 and this mission! Can not repair at sea.

I had torpedoed a destroyer after a quick snapshot and was satisfied she was going down. I passed close by when suddenly her forward magazine went up... sending a piece of debris in my direction that landed so close it soaked my watch crew.

14 February 1941

I was on my way back from a patrol in AM19 when I got a war contact on my radar. I went to periscope depth (from a previous depth of 50 meters) and saw that it was a Destroyer (C class I believe). I was detected by the destroyer so I went silent trying to avoid him (all machines stop). I couldn't dive so I just sat there waiting to see what would happen, the destroyer passed above me, maybe 6-10 meters was all that seperated my boat (VIIB) and the hull of the destroyer. I managed to slowly creep away after taking some light damage from the depth charges and surfaced for repairs once I was clear.

Not to much of a deadly situation, but that was the second close call I've had with a destroyer (the other happening in a single mission).

being stuck at 210 meters and having turds being dropped by 2 V&W's 1 Clemson, 1 J Class, and a Flower corvette. heavy flooding foward and aft. about a night and 2 hours in the morning later, they decided to run off or they ran out of turds. surfaced with 93% hull integrity (what the??? lucky or bug?). finished patrol with 50,000 tons.

My closest call was last nite, I got vodked and decided to drag my computer with me outside when I needed a lung torp.........

Pulling into the dock way too fast and have to order emergency reverse to barely keep from smashing into the dock in front of all those bigshots and pretty nurses.

I had a queer Ensign on my boat, this one time... the radar op woke me over the speaker about a contact.. i flipped on the light just in time to see Ensign Dooseldorf standing at the foot of my bead with a pair of micky mouse ears on his head, a fat coheba in one hand, a bottle of KY in the other...


i had him shot out of tube 4 at 50m

Attacking a convoy in medium fog, i'd already taken care of the corvette escorts.

I was approaching the convoy from it's Starboard, I'd used one bow tube to sink a T3 and both aft tubes to sink a C3 when my ever vigilent lookout crys "Warship Spotted" Looming out of the fog was a Aux Cruiser!

She opened fire as i ordered flank speed and periscope depth. His first salvo is a hit on my bow. Flooding in two compartments, damage to my radio room, bow quarters and torpedo tubes. I'm not going to get under before he sinks me!

Then i spot the sinking C3 from earlier, change my course and use it the screen the Cruiser to buy me a minute to get uder the waves. Of course the Cruiser kept firing and the last thing i saw of the Transport was it's bridge getting blown clean off!

Most Fun moment
--------------------

Being chased by a corvette while i dodge through a convoy sinking transports at flank speed with him hanging on my tail as i try to duck behind sinking ships.

Managed 4 runs through the convoy, then the other two escorts noticed and i slipped below the waves.

When i got back to base i found my hull was at 32%.

I'm in August of 42, not far from the US east coast in an IXC, and the happy times it ain't. Have been attacked by an endless stream of aircraft, most of which have missed thanks to a pathetically inadequate aim, but what they lack in aim they make up for in number...

Anyway, I was on the surface at DC35 when the first attack occurred. I was trying to load some external torpedos down below. My lookout gave the chilling cry "flugzeug gesichtet!". I didn't immediately dive because the boat was in no condition to do so while loading externals (self-imposed rule) so I sat helplessly on the surface for several minutes while a group of Catalinas dived on me.

I ordered our best flak gunner up top and we did our best to fend them off while the crew buttoned up the ship.

The water erupted around us as the first load of bombs fell. None of them hit. Another plane dived on us. Another miss. But the machine gun fire was tearing us apart. Both flak gunners were killed. Fortunately the bombs kept missing us. One of the aircraft was hit and plunged into the water.

Finally, after several minutes, my exec reported we were ready to dive. I ordered a crash dive and all hands rushed below, bringing the bodies of our fallen comrades with us.

Our bow was under, our stern helplessly exposed, when the bomb hit us. Just aft of the tower. BOOM! We lost our port diesel, radio both flak guns were destroyed, and suffered flooding which I eventually brought under control. But our hull integrity was severly weakened and damage to the engine could not be repaired..

In the face of such unrepairable damage I abandoned our patrol and we're now heading for home. For two days we've been limping away from the area and are now about a 100 miles due south of Bermuda. The air bombardment has been intense. At best I've managed two hours on the surface before the planes com. Typical time is 30 minutes. We've taken further hits and have now lost our radio, deck gun, and suffered further damage to hull integrity.

I don't know if we'll make it back.

(Our blackened boat....)

http://img301.imageshack.us/img301/9...99682ar.th.png

ALAAAAARM!!!
 

Heh! Yeah, I did that on my very first patrol, before realizing you don't have to go back to the docks, just within 20km...it's fairly forgiving.

I had a close shave just outside valetta, I had just came from alexandria and en route to la spezia I decided to pay the maltese a visit, after doing so I was caught on the surface by a hurricane, which evidently radio'd my position to the surface fleet, which came swiftly, two hunts, a tribal, a corvette and a pt boat. The hunts made thier passes and took out my aft dive planes, gave me severe flooding in the rear and i started to go down.... and down I came, hard.


I was quickly approaching the bottom (the bottom was 260 metres down, which in a VII/C is rather scarey) the lights were blinking the flooding worsened, luckily i had an engineering officer and the repairs were continuing, I had reached 230 metres and I blew ballast, it slowed my decent, the flooding was soon fixed, but i had no chance of an attack with the bow tubes destroyed and no more forward torps left, so I lay on the bottom, listening to the DC's falling around (I never knew they made a sound till I checked the hydrophone). Eventually they gave up and I raised to the surface, it was dark when I eventually broke the water, I had been down for 5 hours of intense attack, but I survived, but ofcourse I still go patrolling around valetta :)

Re: ALAAAAARM!!!
 

Actually I do believe it's 30km. I've ended patrols and "dock at..." was given upon clicking exit patrol.