[Paul Riley]

Originally Posted by Leandros

North Sea, Sept. 22nd, 1940 - patrol 12.

Dear Paul!

I have now finally found time to answer you. We came to Wilhelmshafen yesterday and it turns out our base people (2nd flotilla) have moved to Lorient with all their gear and replenishments. We did not feel very welcome in Wilhelmshafen now and was only given a quick refuelling, a standard torpedo load-up - and whisked out of the base. It seems we missed the message that our base was changed to Lorient and therefore went to Wilhelmshafen. You can surely understand how busy I got at this speedy turnaround. If we reach Lorient safely this letter shall be mailed from there. In the meantime we have some serious business to attend to enroute.

Thank you for your nice letter and your congratulations on our latest sortie. Sorry to hear about your less than totally succesful patrols. Please do not despair, I am sure your luck shall change eventually. Or, rather, your constantly improved proficiency. The important thing is to conserve your boat and crew - do not take too many risks, you are very valuable to the defense of the Reich. After all, you have already expedited much more of enemy tonnage than your own.

As for your question how my boat has achieved the result it has - this honour goes mainly to my crew. If anything, my contribution to this is my ability to pick the best men, to get the most out of them and see to that they are properly taken care of. I let them serve on various stations and when in harbour use much of the time to run them through all possible specialist courses. I constantly pester the Commander for their rightfully earned leave, promotions and decorations. My officers are very special. I have two mathematical geniuses as navigation and weapons officers. They practically dream fire solutions from all angles and, together with our sonar crew, have an uncanny abiltity to see the enemy's moves on the surface.

My torpedo officer and engineers are also very special. They have investigated much into the recent torpedokrise and have come to their own conclusions on the problem. These have been conveyed to the TVA but due to political reasons their opinions have not been followed through. In the meantime they are taking their own steps to see to that our topedoes are functioning properly. These are regularly overhauled with particular care to the correct pressure ratios in the vacum chambers. We have therefore experienced much less of the problems our comrades have. This is something you should suggest to your own torpedo crew.

While you find it frustrating that you yourself have not been able to demolish any of the enemy's capital ships history shows this shouldn't really be a problem. Günther's experience outside Narvik in April proved that he could have sunk the Warspite three times had his torpedoes functioned properly. The Brits have also shown that submarines can do this (Karlsruhe, Lützow) - so why not our own...? As for the success in this respect on our latest patrol much credit must go the fact that we ventured straight into the enemy columns (rather they run us over) - as you yourself have advised is a good tactic - and the very bad weather on both occasions which made us very difficult to detect. As a matter of fact, in the instance with the Rodney, Nelson and Hood, we weren't even detected by the escorts. They just sped off to cover the wing-shot Hood and its Southamptons.

While my boat do not have the latest upgrade (3.0) I have found that at the present I do not want to make these improvements for fear of upsetting the fine harmony of my boat and crew. However, this is bound to take place in some not too distant future.

I shall also regret the day my best officers shall be transferred to their own commands. An action that has not been sabotaged by me but rather by their own decisions to stay on as my crew. However, that day shall also not be too far away and I shall have to take over the work of these professionals as today's replacements, due to the present extreme build-up of the uboat fleet, tend to be quite inexperienced. Even if our training system is excellent. I have been quite spoiled by my present fine young officers and it shall certainly take some time for this old salt to learn the trade they way they have handled it.

If this had been a game I'd say the proficency of my men have resulted in a 65% reality score if compared with normal uboat crews.

I wish you good hunting in the future and - Hals und Beinbruch!

Your Friend

Karl Schulz - CO U-108

A fine letter Leandros.

You clearly are a bull at sea,taking the fight to the enemy head on.Prien would be proud no doubt.
I see myself as a meticulous hunter...much like a snake carefully observing its prey,holding its life in the balance until the time to strike arrives.If the prey is too strong then the hunter retreats,only to come back with stronger venom next time.There is a lot to be learnt from close calls and disasters,how else are we to learn?