My first patrol in the new sub, the crew and I went to Germany to make the trip with the new boat ourselfs. That way we got to know her a bit and it made our first patrol go much more smoothly.
5.1.41. 0221 Patrol 19
U-123, 2nd Flotilla
Left at: January 5, 1941, 02:21
From: Lorient
Mission Orders: Patrol grid DT29
The seas were clear when steaming to our designated grid, as was the grid itself. After some time covering suspected trading lines, we picked up screw noises and went down to periscope depth. The noise was coming towards us, so I decided to wait it out and see what shows up. Turned out to be a ASW trawler. After maneuvering a bit at silent running, I got a perfect shot and fired a torpedo. Range was about 500m, not giving the unaware ship time to react at the torpedo noises.
13.1.41. 1308 Grid EK 11 ASW Trawler, 1100 tons After that I continued the patrol and played some cards with the crew. Nothing much to do for about 4 days. But then, smoke at the horizon !! One warship identified, several unkowns. We went silent and down to periscope depth. As with the first, these ships were oblivious to the doom that was just meters below the surface.
17.1.41. 1054 Grid ET 38 V&W classes, 1188 tons
1104 Grid ET 38 ASW Trawler, 1100 tons
1125 Grid ET 38 ASW Trawler, 1100 tons
That'll thin out the enemy ranks in the mid-African area a bit. Still in high spirits, a message from BdU came in. Large convoy spotted, moving at low speed. Distance about 150k. We plotted the most likely intercept point and went there at maximum speed. Took us a day and a half to catch up, with another day waiting for the weather to clear and give us a good look of what we're dealing with.
A juicy convoy, several large cargo's, tankers, merchants and also a lot of smaller vessels. I picked a spot between the second and third row and drew up a new attack plan. Calculated the rough course and moved into ambushposition. Perfectly planned, only minor correction was necessary.
I had to avoid the large merchants because in order to get a clean shot, I would have to move in such a position that I could only shoot 1 highpriority target.
Launched all 6 torpedoes, of which 4 hit. No ships went down on the first hit. Went down to 175m and reloaded. Moved into a new firing position and fired again. One cargo went down immediately, another was dead in the water. I also hit and severely damaged a tanker.
20.1.41. 1724 Grid ES 31 Ship sunk! Large Cargo, 8449 tons
1739 Grid ES 31 Ship sunk! Intermediate Tanker, 3490 tons
1748 Grid ES 31 Ship sunk! Large Cargo, 8578 tons
Had to evade depth charges. Moved out of the convoy and about 10k away. Moved remaining external reloads inside and prepared for the final assault. Something went wrong, was almost ready to fire when escorts picked me up. Fired all remaing front torpedoes, because of which one large cargo later sank. Turned away and fired both stern tubes at the escorts, only 1 hit but managed to sink it.
1905 Grid ES 31 Ship sunk! Black Swan class, 1250 tons
1913 Grid ES 31 Ship sunk! Large Cargo, 8577 tons
Got DC heavy, one direct hit at 110m killed one of my senior officers. A 18 patrol veteran, who will be missed greatly. Also took on water and went down to 195m. Ship was keeping together 
. Previously tested her @ 225m.
Managed to shake them off. So a lot of ships went under, but also a good man, colleague and friend. 