Niklas Baumann and U-47 continued to patrol the Mediterranean. Patrols twelve, thirteen and fourteen were all successful. Patrol twelve left La Spezia in late May 1942, and U-47 returned from patrol fourteen in March of 1943. I am quite pleased to have survived this far, and transferring to the Mediterranean has certainly had a large role to play in that. After the Torch landings by the Allies in November of 1942, there has been a marked increase in Allied air patrols, but during refit before war patrol twelve, U-47 received an upgrade that may prove to be the most important of the war, the Metox radar detector.
The Metox proved invaluable time and again, giving advanced warning of approaching destroyers and aircraft, giving us ample time to dive and avoid, or get in better position. I can't say whether the enemy will employ radar wavelengths not detectable by the Metox, so we cannot rely on it exclusively, but the value of the warning it gives of approaching aircraft is beyond measure. Very happy to have it mounted it on our boat.
War patrol twelve saw U-47 return to the waters between Crete and Cyprus, patrol thirteen was largely conducted in the Aegean Sea near the southern approach to the Dardenelles Strait, and patrol fourteen was actually conducted in the Black Sea. Patrolling in the Mediterranean and Black Seas offers several advantages, not least of which is the relatively restricted area means that using aircraft as scouts is effective and useful. In the open Atlantic, scouts aren't very practical, in part becasue one tends to patrol so far from any German air bases. But in the Med, patrols are often well within range, and I found that utilizing the scouting system was very beneficial.
Here you see the numerous contacts that the scout has revealed for us. The scout is the black dot just west of U-47
The combination of the scouting planes and the lack of enemy ASW in this area along the Turkish Black Sea Coast meant the Happy Times returned for U-47. In a matter of just 2 or 3 weeks, eight merchants went to the bottom.
In this shot you can get a feel for the size of the search circle for the airborne scouts (500 km radius). Here, a patrol from Crete flies out over the sea in support of U-47
Other highlights of these three patrols include a look into Gibraltar during the twelfth patrol. Our assigned grid was off the Moroccan coast, and after completing it we set course for Gibraltar, hoping to catch units of the Royal Navy at anchor. And we certainly did! We had to dodge patrols and dive to avoid planes, but we slowly made our way toward the anchorage. A daylight periscope approach revealed two battleships, a fleet carrier, two heavy cruisers, and two light cruisers. U-47 made an approach to 2300 meters, and prepared to fire torpedoes at a Revenge class battleship and an Illustrious class fleet carrier. As they were at a zero angle to our boat, I planned to fire two torpedoes at each with depth set to run under with magnetic pistols. This type of attack had served me well in SH3 in Loch Ewe and Scapa Flow, but as we were ready to fire, U-47 bumped into the sub net protecting the harbor. I could have attempted to search for an opening, but felt that was an omen, and with patrols in the area we made for the open Mediterranean.
Here you can see our periscope picture just prior to running in to the sub net. On the right is the Revenge and the Illustrious is on the left.
At dawn the next morning we made contact with a large convoy that had just passed through the strait. As chance would have it, this convoy was unescorted. We got in to ideal position and toredoed three ships. One 5000 ton freighter went down immediately, and a large tanker and another medium freighter continued on damaged, but slowly falling behind their friends. AFter reloading the torpoedoes, we surfaced and ran end arounds on each straggler, sinking them both, though interrupted by radar equipped aircraft several times which forced us to dive.
Here U-47 reaches ideal position off the starboard beam of two overlapping freighters. The near ship was the first out of this convoy to go down. The far ship was damaged and sunk later that day in a follow up attack after an end around.
On December 9th, after the thirteenth patrol, Niklas Baumann was promoted to Fregattenkapitän.
As we enter mid-1943 I realize that our time in the Mediterranean is nearing an end. The enemy are slowly closing the ring around the Sea, and their ASW effort is increasing quickly. It won't be long before our base at La Spezia is no longer tenable, and eventually we will be forced back to the north, likely to Bergen if we survive that long. But this transfer has been a reprieve, and I have enjoyed the respite. It will only become more difficult from here, but the end of the war is in sight, if still a long way off. Quite frankly, I did not expect to survive this long, and as detailed earlier, we came very close to the end on more than one occasion. If we do return to the Atlantic, I will do all I can to make it to the end, though it may not be entirely up to me!