Kaleun's private diary - summer 1941
I was assigned to patrol the coasts around Freetown. Little success was achieved there but as weeks went by I felt that I should relocate closer to home base. On the way back I looked at the charts and saw that many shipping routes closed up on the area west of Gibraltar. So there I went!
The west passage had lots of merchants but also ASW ships and planes so I didn't feel like the best place to hunt. I saw that the port of Gibraltar was actually very close to where I was and loving raiding ports I start planning an attack there. I timed my journey so that I would be on the passage to port on night time, so having the best change to be unspotted and time to creep into the port to be in best position at the break of dawn.
I positioned myself at around 1,5 km from the shore next to the port at periscope depth and waited until it was lit enough to see around. Little by little I started to see the ships in the port. I looked around and marked some interesting targets to my map when I suddenly saw something huge sitting in the bay, far away from other ships moored in: it was the HMS Nelson!
I understood that this is my primary and perhaps only target now. I prepared to spend all my torpedoes to this baby and planned a hasty retreat. I set my torpedoes to run at different depths: some to strike the hull with impact pistol and some with magnetic fuse running beneath the keel to crack the mighty spine of her.
"Tubes 1 to 4, LOS!"
Right away I started to turn the boat around for silent retreat and of course bring the lone aft tube towards Nelson in case it is needed. It wasn't; all four torpedoes struck the Nelson causing massive explosion. She went under in a matter of minutes. I targeted one lone ship in anchor and released the last aft torpedo. It also found it's mark. I engaged silent running as the port came to alive and soon all the ASWs in 10 km started the search. It was all in vain since they could not get a fix on me and so I slipped away from the bay and straight out to Atlantic.
Back in home base Kptlt. Zahn was more than happy to buy me and my boys a round!
