Last night I decided to give this mission a go (Last one I have to complete and 3 months to do it) Started patrolling, and patrolling, and patrolling. I was alternating between surface and periscope depth (Longer range from the hydrophones then the watch crew)
Finally, I get a 2 warship contact. Maneuver my way in front of them. Night with foggy weather so I ran on the surface. Got about 700 meters from them and still they hadn't seen me.
Wasn't the Destroyers I was expecting, instead they were troop transports. Look kind of like freighters but the rear deck is built up and extended. I was a little surprised by this, had never run into one of these before.
Dieter and I shared some words trying to identify these strange ships before I said heck with it. Hollered down the hatch to get Max and his gun crew on deck. I was within 300 meters of the trailing ship by now. My crew and I had been through this drill before. 2 High Explosive rounds into the bridge to cut their communications. After that a quick switch to AP rounds to take out the propeller and rudder so we could finish them off at our leisure.
Max smiled slightly as we let loose the first round on the closest ship, a small cheer arising as secondary explosions rocked the bridge. They knew we were here now.
The smiles and cheers quickly changed to cries of alarm as my deck crew scattered and ran for the watch tower to get back inside the ship. Seems these new ships had new surprises in store for us.
The yellow tracer rounds reached out for us like the hands of death as I scrambled off the deck and headed for the watch tower, screaming crash dive all the way. The howling of a freight train made me look back as their 5 inch guns opened up on us, passing within inches of the watch tower.
"This is war, how dare they fire back at us" I said as I slid down the ladder to the command center. A few nervous laughs greeted me as I checked our gauges and had the commanders check in with damage reports.
Our ship was shot up to put it nicely. Diesel Engines were offline, radio was non operational, and our hydrophones were not functioning. I went to check on Benno. He had his hands over his ears rocking back and forth slightly. I shook him to get him back to duty
"This is nothing Benno, they surprised us is all, now, get these operational again and we'll send some surprises their way"
"Y-yes Herr Kaleun"
"Get us to Periscope depth, now. No one shoots my boat"
I climbed the ladder to the attack periscope, scanning the seas until I came upon the two ships.
"Congratulations Max, that fire on the command deck makes a perfect spotting target. Now let's do some shooting of our own eh?"
I walked to the Torpedo room to converse with Kurt.
"Fastest speed on all the torpedo's. All forward tubes flooded, I want as little delay as possible. They know we are here and will be evading so every second will count"
"Jawohl herr Kaleun, would you like me to tinker with any of them before we ship them off?"
"See what you can do. Nothing to affect the accuracy though"
I walked back to the command center, plotting the course of the ships as they ran serpentine patterns to evade. There, the turn to Starboard is after 2 minutes each time. I made my way up to the attack periscope and waited.
"Fire one and three"
"Firing one and three. Torpedo's in the water"
I watched the faint trail of bubbles in the periscope as they turned slightly toward the burning ship, Grinning like a mad man as the plume of water erupted from her side around the impact. Secondary explosions began lighting the night sky. The second torpedo impacted under the stern of the ship, lifting it out of the water slightly. I watched as the decks began to buckle and snap, the aft shearing off as the bow continue onwards.
I quickly quieted the crew from their revelry
"We still have a second ship to contend with gentlemen"
Deep in the ship I could hear Herbert motivating the men to reload the tubes faster. It would be good to have a 3rd torpedo ready just in case. The next ship was undamaged so I had no bright flames to help my view of her, but the little light I had was more then sufficient.
"Speed 7 knots, Range, 1,200 meters. She's not running a predictable pattern like the last one"
I checked and rechecked my calculations and waited until she had just completed a turn and straightened out.
"FIRE, Two and four FIRE!"
"Firing tube two, firing tube four. Torpedo's in the water herr Kaleun"
I watched, holding my breath for what felt like an eternity. Tracking the course the torpedo's were traveling. She turned at the last minute, my first torpedo must have passed within inches of her bow. The second would not be avoided however. The plume of water rose just in front of her bridge. Secondary explosions lighting her against the night sky. Fire broke out in her center and spread forward and aft quickly. A low groan permeated the water as she listed to starboard and rolled under the waves.
We surfaced a few hours later to fully assess our damage. Our lookouts scanning the surfaces in case the ships had gotten off a distress call. Our exterior resembled more of a cheese grater then a sleek Uboat. Emil called up to inform me that with the hull damage we'd best not push the boat past ninety meters.
I looked out over the glassy water and into the fog
"Well Gentlemen, it looks like the war will be getting harder from here"
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