Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul Riley
Events in the last 3 or 4 hrs real time
19:00
Finally black up top now,safe to make our interception proper now.Proceeding towards target at high speed while recharging.Making about 12kts,which seems adequate.We expect visual contact any time after 20:00
19:59
Finally made visual contact on target.Looks like a Coastal,heading from Iceland to GB.Making initial course observations from directly behind target for approx 30mins.
Target vessel is heading on course 115deg at about 6kts.
Proceeding to move up onto the port flank keeping at a distance of between 2500-3000m,ship just about visible through the binoculars,that is close enough.
Drew up level with ship and monitored his speed for a final 30mins.Target is confirmed at 6kts.
Prepared an ETorp for 1st attack,range 2500m,impact,depth 3.Also made meticulous preparations this time with the ETorp,due to our disappointing result with the last attack made with them.
All settings finally ready for attack.
20:52
Fired 1,AOB 90,aiming point just forward of centre.Torpedo makes its slow crawl to the ship,crew can barely look at the stopwatch,seconds later BOOM!,torpedo slams into the bow of the ship causing fires on the deck.An EXCELLENT shot! 
Ship however still afloat after about 30mins,meaning we will need to send another to finish it off.Will wait 1 hour for ship to finish zig zagging,allowing us another perfect opportunity.
22:00
As planned ship has returned to original course.As we have already set our speed to his crippled speed of 5kts we already have most of our settings ready for the attack.
New range - 2600m,chose steam torp in order to save our dwindling supply of ETorps,depth 1m in order to try and cause more fires nearer to the ones already blazing.
22:14
Aiming point - forward masts.Tube 2 fire! Seconds later again another huge explosion,this time ripping the ship into 3 seperate parts,going to the bottom in seconds.
Patrol report sent in just before diving to 50m and returning to previous contact spot of last engagement.We could spend a few days,even 1 week in this spot,hoping of course that ships will in fact sail past this spot again.
Tonnage - 2.620
Total so far - 2 small merchants for 5.238 tonnes.
7 torpedoes remain (5 steam,2 ETorps) + 3 Falkes for emergency/and or rare opportunities against important warships,like BBs etc,which I have yet to encounter in my career.
End of report
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Finally a great result from the ETorp at medium range.As this was a perfect shot it has definitely lifted my confidence using them.
Shame about the low tonnage so far.
Will try our best to get as much use out of the deck gun as possible on the remainder of this mission.
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Tonight's report
16th Nov 1942
Day 11
01:12
surfaced to reload tubes after previous attack.
finally in position in patrol zone.
01:51
radar signals detected! aircraft incoming! immediately dived,bomb glanced us
damage report
flak 2 damaged
minor damage to foredeck
01:54
attack ends.
will need to carefully monitor how much time we spend on the surface now,this seems to be a more dangerous area than the bay of biscay at the moment!.
current range from Rekyavik - 660km
02:30
surfaced for repairs
repairs complete
almost recharged
03:00
submerged to patrol depth
will leave area after patrol expires , then proceed to patrol 2 in the Denmark Strait.
en route to PZ2 we will run 1 hr at 7m and 1 hr submerged in the day,and make a full surface run at night to recharge.
07:00
Patrol 1 complete
08:45
proceeding to PZ2
first 7m sf run at 09:00
19:00
daylight runs passed without incident
surfaced for night surface run proper
recharging
17th Nov
Day 12
last 5 hrs passed without incident
01:30
radar signals incoming! ALARRRRRRRRRRM!! no sooner had I bellowed out the command the bomb caught us at about 15m sending my UBoat into a fierce roll!
plunged into the depths as fast as we could,levelled off at 50m
damage report
both flaks destroyed
serious damage to the watch tower
radio antenna destroyed
serious damage to the forward deck
carrying out hull test,dive set for 200m
01:43
dive successful,no damage to pressure hull
list of changes to now be implemented due to the last events
daylight
daylight must now be used to try and counter allied radar which has increased significantly recently.
we stand a better chance of evading radar if we can spot the planes further out on a clear day,but to dive as standard during even the slightest cloud cover.
night time protection is now officially at an end.
recharging to be carried out in daylight.
damage to be repaired only in daylight.
night time
this is now the critical time.
as we were running 1hr at 7m and 1hr smd during daylight it must now be done at night.
both engines to be used at night,strictly no recharging whatsoever.
*if we sustain another hit like the previous one then we will have to turn back for base.better than losing everything to a rush of blood.
03:00
1st hour of 7m sf run
end of report
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As you can see,a lot to think about
For the moment the loss of my guns and radio antenna is not as bad as it sounds,I rarely use both,and the loss of the radio antenna just means we have no contact with base,which doesnt neccessarily mean we should turn back.As they will assume us lost in about a weeks time we hope to give them a nice surprise sometime in the new year of 1943.
We shall see.