End of first patrol was a bit of a fubar. I came across a 9000 ton cargo ship when the visibility was only 500m. I set up the attack with my remaining stern fish and as the ship approached I could only just make out a slight silhouette. I fired the fish and as I hit the fire button I realised that I had made the same error as before DOH! I had set the TDC up for a stbd beam approach instead of Port. The fish went off into the distance and I surfaced to take out the merchant with the deck gun. Finally I had my 11th kill of the patrol.
I made the final dash home with no fish, 30 rounds of HE and 25% fuel left. I arrived on October 20th 1939 after 46 days at sea.
Below is the final tally for U-51
I was awarded the Knight's Cross and given another patrol in the Western Approaches. The trip there should be interesting as the only realistic route to the patrol area is through the English Channel which will mean staying submerged during the day to avoid air patrols.
Patrol Log for 1st patrol Operation Monsun. I've just noticed that the dates for the attacks are wrong. I definitely didn't sink that many ships on the date I left Kiel LOL. It took couple of days to get north of Scapa Flow where I intercepted the trawlers and from then on It was several days between each ship until I made my way back to the area south of Kristiansand to attack my final 6 ships.
