West off Casablanca, 7 Dec. 1943, 0800.
U77, a VIIc from the 7th, lost 2 officers and 1 petty officer plus the starboard diesel, radio and radar antennas and half off the diesel fuel. Why? Because kapitänleutnant Neuner did not run a full set off tests on the boat before leaving in patrol
He tested all speed settings, rudder, crash dived, dived to 275m and he found the attack scope to be blurry. But when he got attacked by 2 Catalina's the flack gunners took down 1 with their Flakvierling only to find the reload mechanism to be broken. 4 more Catalina's joined the party and no maneuvering could save the boat from being hit. U77 made it back to St Nazaire the 18 Dec with 23% hi and only 1 Catalina downed. After all repairs and fitting the boat with the latest technical achievments its now Mar 13 -44 and U77 is going for her 21st patrol and Neuner will now run a complete sea trial on the boat to see what sh3 com has thrown at him this time
