Quote:
Originally Posted by pikke
May 9, 1940 AF58
1502 The Sun, at last! Difference between dead reckoning and actual position 12 km. Wind 5 sea 5.
May 10, 1940 AF58
0202 Sound contact! At last! WSW of us, possibly on a ESE course, quite faint. Let's move to intercept.
0300 Heavy clouds on the horizon. Not another storm! We did not manage to spot our quarry so far. Will dive to sweep the area with sonar.
0334 Storm is upon us. Heavy rain visible straight ahead. Our quarry just vanished right under that mess. It's some kind of small coastal vessel, likely a small trawler or a fishing boat. Not worth it. We are not lucky.
0358 Waves grew quickly and visibility...disappeared. We will dive to check our surroundings with sonar.
May 11, 1940 AF58
0644 Still nothing to report but bad weather. Will now slowly make our way toward Bergen area.
1145 Engine room reports clutch growing hot. Diving to check.
1434 Cooling sistem water filter plugged by sand and vegetal debris. We will stay submerged and check them all.
1720 All filters checked and cleaned. On the surface now. Everything seems to be working properly now.
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May 12, 1940 AF58
0022 Sound contact! True bearing 253°, very faint and moving away. Let's take a closer look.
0204 Contact lost. Storm prevented us to spot anything. Perhaps she changed course? Let's try sniffing around...
0412 New sound contact NW of our current position. Very weak, possibly on a western course. U48 resumes the hunt.
0558 Dived again. Target sounds much closer now. This storm is really hampering our efforts. Forces us to dive often to use sonar to keep track of our target. Let's move.
0703 Seems like we managed to catch up to our quarry, or at least we are very close. Heavy rain is making it impossible to spot anything through our periscope, but we should be almost level with our target. I think our best chance is to dash ahead, dive again and close is using sonar.
0739 Plan worked out just fine. We managed to get ahead of her and she is coming straight for us. Now comes the tricky part: spotting her through this mess...
0744 Lights in the mist! Is it a neutral? She is slowly becoming more than a ghost...masts and cranes...funnel slightly astern...medium cargo? Yes, Swedish medium cargo. Spent hours hunting her and she turns out to be a neutral ship. Let's break contact before I do something stupid and sink her.