Date: The early morning of May 16th, 1943. Location: Grid ET11 off the coast of Africa.
We continue our trip to Freetown. The mood on the boat is cautiously optimistic. So far, the four leaf clover on our conning tower has brought us luck. Four ships sunk for 39,000 tons. A fine bag.
The radio crackles to life. There's a report of a convoy from another U-boat. According to the sighting report, the convoy is headed almost directly for us.
We make a minor course correction and are on the way. When the Biscay Cross starts chirping it's warning at us, we know we've come upon our prey. I order the boat down to 100 meters and set the engine speed for 100 RPMs. We will let them come to us.
The first warship is picked up by Georg. He can hear distant screws of the convoy behind it. We're in perfect position. I order silent running.
My thought is to become a hole in the water until the lead escort passes overhead. Then, once we're in his baffles, we come back up to periscope depth right in the center columns of the convoy. Erwin, my number 2, smiles at the cleverness of the plan. He's been with me for six patrols now, and the thought of having to relinquish him to commander training after this patrol is a bittersweet thought.
But no time to worry about that now. The entire boat is silent as we hear the "swish swish swish" of the escort's propellers overhead. I don't need Georg to tell me that he's now behind us. I order periscope depth. The diving officer and the planesmen carry out the order and bring us up. So far there's no indication that any of the escorts are aware of our presence.
My plan is working perfectly. I pop the attack scope briefly and select our targets. I spot another fat ore carrier! Mein Gott, there won't be any minerals left in Africa at the rate the Tommies are shipping it out. I select a large cargo for our second two bow torpedoes and, as targets of opportunity, a couple of small merchants for our two aft torpedoes. The aiming data is fed into the TDC and it's torpedoes los!
Four his are heard after a brief interval. It seems our bow torpedoes have found their marks. Another explosion signals one of our aft eels has hit. I briefly take one last look to assess the damage and see the large cargo and ore carrier listing and burning, respectively. The convoy is obviously aware of our presence now, so no sense in being quiet about it. I order a crash dive to 160 meters. As we head to the basement Georg reports that two ships are going down.
We can't celebrate just yet, though. I'm sure the Tommies will be sending some ashcans in retaliation. We make it down to 160 meters and quietly wait. We can plainly hear screws searching overhead. A couple pings, but nothing more. I order us on a southernly course, putting the convoy directly abaft us. As we slink away, the escorts screws fade. I look at Erwin with a look of surprise and smile. Did we really give them the slip? We put 17,000 tons of Tommy shipping on the ocean floor and don't even get one depth charge in return? I order periscope depth and we spend the rest of the day submerged. We surface that night to load the last of our external torpedoes.
The next day brings glassy seas and fair weather. We report our successes to BdU, who would be pleased to receive our report of 55,800 tons sunk so far amidst the SOS's of sinking boats. U-519 presses on, convinced that our four leaf clover will continue to bring us luck.
