[Bosje]

As soon as the boat was fully submerged he ordered a sharp turn to port, away from the destroyer which was speeding towards them. Not even a minute had gone by but it had already halved the distance to 4 km. It would be within asdic range shortly and Bremer had hoped to have turned his stern towards it by then. They did not make it but luck was on their side, the destroyer slowed down to listen for the submarine, it was about one km away. 'Silent running, 100 rpm, maintain rudder hard to port.' The commander had his eye pressed to the attack periscope. 'Target bearing 178, rudder amidships.'

His plan was simple but dangerous: he wanted the destroyer to come after him while he had his stern torpedo tube pointing straight at the enemy. The torpedo would run under the ship and devastate it with a magnetically detonated blast. If he missed, he would still have four bow tubes for another chance. Of course, that involved having the destroyer run right over him first, that was the tricky bit. The destroyer would likely drop depth charges and that would be a problem, to put things mildly. The plan seemed good at the time but now that there was a destroyer looming big and menacing in his periscope view, he suddenly wasn't so sure.

Once more though, it was too late for second thoughts. The destroyer had found them and came charging at them, coming in fast, directly behind. 'Ahead flank!'
The stern tube was now pointing exactly the right way but the destroyer was aware of that and made a series of tight turns, still coming at the U-boat but never in a straight line. That did not make aiming the torpedo any easier and the commander muttered curses in his beard. One stack, slightly tilted, little guns all over, torpedoes on deck, Q/R/S/T class. Which one exactly was immaterial, the depth of the keel would be 4.7 meters. 'Tube 5, magnetic trigger, depth 6 meters. Flood tube, prepare to fire on my bearing. Target speed and AOB blank!'

The crew needed a short while, then came the return: 'Set!'
'Bearing 190, standby, 187, standby, 185, standby, SCHEISSE, standby, standby, 186... FIRE!'
Breathlessly they waited while the commander looked on. He would need to start evasive manouvers soon. One second, two seconds, three sec...WHOOM.
The destroyer was lifted up by the bow as the torpedo exploded right underneath. It farted a series of depthcharges as it crashed back down in the sea and then it ran wildly away over starboard. All the crew on the bridge must have been swept off their feet. The 1.WO shouted down through the hatch into the control room: 'We got her!' and the news was met with cheers from below. Hans Bremer looked on, wordlessly, as the destroyer came to a stop, a fire burning just forward of the bridge. Then the bow took a plunge down into the water. She stood there for a moment, upright with her screws high up in the air, then she was gone.

The commander climbed down from the conning tower and looked at his men who looked back in awe. 'And that, boys, is how we do that.' It was terribly droll but the boys seemed to buy it. 'Congratulations on your first kill, Herr Kaleun,' the navigator said.
'Thank you, Herr Obersteuermann. We'll celebrate later, let's surface the boat and see if it's all clear up top. Maybe we can help some survivors.' Inside, he was bursting with pride and satisfaction. Destroying destroyers was like a drug; an incredible rush and the immediate desire for more. And, of course, the realisation that it was really not very healthy at all, a thought which he quickly suppressed again.