[Immelman]

Third War Patrol
Date: 24 Jul 1942
Time: 20:33
Patrolling PZ South of Malta

“Aircraft of the port bow, medium range and closing!”
“ALAAARM! Dive the boat Chief fast. Clear the bridge!”
The sounds of a stampeding crew brought me out of a fitful sleep as the crew scrambled to transfer all possible weight forward shaving seconds off our dive time. By the time I got to the control room I had to hold on tight to the periscope, the steep angle of the deck threw me off balance. The deck tilted further as the diving planes fully extended bit the water driven by the props that were turning at maximum revolutions. Without any prompting from me as soon as we passed 30m Gerhart ordered a hard turn to port turning in the arc of the bombing run the text book evasive maneuver. A few seconds later a splash was heard followed by an explosion that rocked the boat.


Bombing run on U-83's last known position. In the middle of the spotlight the bomb is dropping...

“Damage report, Chief check the boat for leaks, pay extra attention to the aft compartments.”
“Yes Sir!”
“Gerhart, what the hell happened exactly?”
“He came out of nowhere Sir. We couldn’t see him in the bloody overcast. It’s a miracle he saw us in this storm!”
“Miracle or a technological marvel called radar lad. Either way we are lucky to be alive. Lets hope the boys back home come up with a counter to it soon or its going to put us out of business. Good thing you spotted him when you did. A few seconds later…”
“Wasn’t me this time herr Kaleun, it was Albert that spotted it.”
“So the Becks goes to young Albert, good job lad we will make a sailor out of you yet”


Third War Patrol
Date: 28 Jul 1942
Time: 04:17
Patrolling PZ South of Malta

“Is this bloody storm ever going to pass her Kaleun?”
“It will Gerhart, like all storms it will pass eventually. In the meant time we stay down here nice and relatively dry.”
“Your move Sir”
“Bold move old boy. Check”
“Scheiss”
Think of it this way, we sit here and play chess while Johan has to do all the hard work! Now how great is that?”
“Not so great Sir since I have lost the last two games.”
“Anything new Johan?” My IWO asks hopefully.
“Still intermittent contact, I keep loosing her in all this background noise from the storm its hard to get a fix, but its firming up Sir.”
“Very well keep at it lad.” I tell him with a smile. “Not off the hook yet friend we still have time to finish up.”


Third War Patrol
Date: 28 Jul 1942
Time: 04:52
Patrolling PZ South of Malta

“Now that was a perfectly executed blindfolded attack herr Kaleun!”
“Preceded by a text book hydrophone triangulation. Thanks to Johan we didn’t even need to see her to find her exact position course and speed. In this bloody storm it would have been impossible to find her unless we accidentally rammed her.”
“Unbelievable Sir!”
“What are you praising me for? I was busy kicking your butt at chess while he was doing it all.”
"We are lucky to have found what's left of her at all, even on fire she was hard to spot in this storm"


U-83 managed to find the stricken ship in time before it sunk beneath the waves.