[VonApist]

The Chief Engineer left the command room, walking swiftly towards the engine compartment “Arno, Johan , Bretzler , Feldmann with me. You know the drill. Take positions and wait for my orders” Herbert ordered in a composed tone, putting a damage control team in place.

After the initial commotion, the crew was now on battle stations. The only sound that could be heard was the rhythmic hum of the electric engines pushing U-53 deeper and the slight creaking of the hull, as the submarine continued its dive.

The crew remained silent in anticipation of the events to come. Most of them have been chased by destroyers before, having endured depth charging and lived to tell the story. For the few new members of the crew though, sailors like young Karl, this was the baptism of fire.

“Current depth, 80m” Wolf reported. Stephan acknowledged with a nod. The captain moved towards the sonar room, struggling to balance against the boat’s steep dive angle. “Heinrich, contact update”.

“Two contacts, bearing 320 and 300, short range. They should be closer than 400m Herr Kaleun”

Stephan leaned against the Sonar Box’s wall “Any change in their approach pattern?”

“No sir, they have been moving in an almost straight line since contact was made” Heinrich replied, putting back his earphones for another sweep.

“Depth 100m” his second-in-command reported. Stephan resumed his position in the Command room and pressed the intercom button. “Herbert, reduce your RPMs to 100. Silent running”. He then turned towards the boat’s helmsman.

“Jurgen. Rudder, 5 degrees to starboard. And keep it that way”. “Yes sir. Rudder 5 degrees to starboard” the helmsman acknowledged, adjusting the boats course.

“They are on top of us sir” Heinrich whispered, his head popping out of the sonar box. With this, everybody in the Command Room instinctively looked upwards, as if their gaze could pierce through the hull and the 100 meters of cold water above them.

“Maintain course” Stephan ordered. “Report depth”
Wolf checked the gauge. “Current depth 115 meters, descending”.

They had reached 120 meters when they heard something resembling the sound of a diapason hitting their hull. “Enemy is pinging us sir” Wolf reported the obvious.

“Jurgen, rudder 10 degrees to port, keep it that way” Stephan whispered as the helmsman obliged. ‘Heinrich, contact update”

“One screw on top of us sir the other performs what it seems like a left turn, bearing 303. I can confirm that both contacts are Black Swan destroyers…wait… Depth charges in the water sir!” Heinrich reported, agitation evident in his voice.

“Maintain current speed, rudder full left” Stephan ordered. He then pressed the intercom button “Herbert, prepare your damage team, it’s going to be bumpy”.

“We are not deep enough”, the boat’s second-in-command-whispered to the Kaleun’s ear only to receive a raised eyebrow. “ I know Wolf, with some luck we will be fine” Stephan replied.

It took less than two minutes for the charges to reach their pre-assigned explosion depth. Three muted bangs were heard in succession, followed by 2 louder, the last one worryingly close. U-53 rocked violently for a moment causing Franz to almost trip over.

“Ahead Flank” the captain barked at the intercom “Report Damages”.

He took his stop-watch out of his uniforms breastpocket and pressed the starter, marking 7 minutes. Then turning to the helmsman he ordered a change of course.

“Rudder 20 degrees Starboard”. Continue diving, depth 200 meters”.

“We have 10 minutes until the Black Swans recalibrate their hydrophones after the explosions. I suggest keeping current speed for 5 minutes before reverting to silent running”. Wolf proposed.

Herbert’s voice from the intercom interrupted their discussion “We have taken no damages sir. Close but not close enough” the Chief Engineer reported.

“Maintain current speed and course” the Kaleun ordered. With this, Stephan turned to Wolf.

“We should reach 200m before the 5 minute mark. Then we switch to silent running. Otherwise we will keep current RPMs for as long as needed to reach 200m, cut off at 7 minutes.”

Wolf nodded with acknowledgement and moved towards the depth gauge. “Depth 140, descending” he reported as the hull made a groaning sound on its trip to the ocean’s bottom.