Sorry for your loss, Mrs. Brag. He was a fine Kaleun and served his country well.......
........can I have his stereo??
Great story, matey! I love reading other Kaleun's experiences, positive or otherwise. Here's one of my own to reciprocate.
I came fairly close to annihilation on my last patrol. April 1940, Operaton Hartmut off the coast of Norway in my shiny, new IXB. I intercepted a Task Force in extremely bad weather, snuck in at PD, sunk an Illustrious and got away squeaky clean!! This gave me a huge confidence boost, and almost led to my premature death as you'll see below.
The next encounter was in the fjord at Namsos, same extremely bad weather, heavy rain and fog, wind speed 17MS. And out of nowhere comes this Fiji class. I'm running roughly parallel, ahead of him as he comes from behind. Spin up tubes 1 & 3, depth 3 metres, fast speed, impact pistol. A quick turn, my Exec lines up the TBT and....Torpedo, LOS! Less than a minute later, hits fore and aft and she lights up like a Christmas tree. All of a sudden, along comes a Troop transport, followed by another! Too good to be true, and not an escort to be seen. Same deal as before, 2 torps each and even though they were zig zagging, all were hits fired from >800m. As I'm moving off I spot a third Troop Transport, swerving to avoid crashing into his dead buddy. I'm out of torps, so I run parallel to him as I reload.
All of a sudden, I get a message:Enemy ship engaging us, Herr Kaleun!! What the....OH CRAP! Not one, but 2 escorts have me caught in a pincer movement, Radar the only explanation for their sudden, co-ordinated attack. Alaaaaaaaarm!!!! But before I can get under, the sharp bow of a C&D Class smashes into my port side. Verdammt! Heavy Damage all along the boat, flooding and whats this?? My E-maschinen are making 4Kts at flank??!! VERDAMMT!!! At least the heavy seas precluded her from going over 12Kts as she rammed us, else we'd probably be sinking fast. I ordered the boat levelled at 80 metres til we get the flooding under control, but she has other ideas. We're slowly sinking and in less than 200metres of water. My Chief works like a madman to plug the holes, while the escorts mill around above us, pinging like mad and dropping their cans uncomfortably close to our crippled boat. Only the grace of God and some sharp course changes kept us alive while the repair crew feverishly worked to get the leaks plugged and the E-maschinen working again.
By this time, I have every available crewmember scattered throughout the boat, assessing damage and trying to repair it, while I try to keep us alive in the command room. Finally, the electrics are in fully working order, and most of the leaks are stopped. U-108 still lives....for now. Silent routine, take her down Chief, level at 160 metres. I decide it's better to stay relatively shallow and outmaneuver the depth charges, than risk being crushed in our battered boat. Slowly but surely the escorts lose contact, the storm above us hastens our escape. Not until the last vestiges of propeller sounds have vanished from the hydrophones do I dare risk surfacing. We arrived back at Wilhelmshaven with 27% Hull Integrity and a very shaken crew, but a few promotions and and an Iron cross for my Chief soon led to the streets of the town being painted red in our celebrations.
What a patrol!
