"Hans?"
"Two other sets of screws below the water, Sir, both U-boats, one to port approximately 400m"
(That'll be U-100. Well done, you old salt)
"Another one, further off to starboard, hard to tell the distance yet"
He grimaced wryly,
"There's other noise interference"
It didn't take the brains of Einstein to know what he meant. It was clearly audible. The mournful song of a vessel going down. The odd final crack of bulkheads giving way, the background noise of air escaping, and worse, the keening whine of metal breaking open, like a whale's song. A song of anguish. A mortally wounded whale.
We'd heard it often enough, and even cheered at it. This was one of ours, and everyone was quiet in the Control Room.
"Well they didn't dare come for us this time, menschen! And anyway we're always too quick for them"
I attempted to lighten the mood.
A few forced smiles around the crew.
"Level again at periscope depth, Sir" reports Otto
"Anything from the other boats, Viktor?"
"Nothing, Sir, I doubt if they had time"
"Can you transmit and receive from this depth?"
"Should be able to, Sir"
"Try and raise the other two boats periodically. They might still be too deep at the moment, whichever one made it."
Lt de Bunsen, U-46
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