[klh]

After some very quick and questionable repairs, U-45 left Wilhelmshaven on 11 July 1940 with orders to again harass shipping off the southeastern coast of England in grid AN81.

Our crew was upbeat and welcomed our new bootsman, who hardly looked older than a schoolboy. Fortunately he was competent and quickly fit in to the routine.

Shortly after arriving on station we were snagged in a deep fog. BdU reported a large convoy coming our way, and we put ourselves in a position to intercept. We manged to get into the middle of the convoy, but only spotted two ships. We fired all five torpedoes, but only one exploded, hitting a large freighter. She quickly melted into the fog. After reloading, we attempted to make contact again, but the convoy slipped away.

The following day the weather cleared up, but that allowed us to be spotted and fired upon by a small torpedo boat. She was too quick to engage with our deck gun, and was scoring hits that were sure to do damage. Unable to fend her off, we dove to periscope depth in the shallow water and eventually made our escape. It was clear that she was not equipped with sonar.

On 17 July we were again hiding in the shipping lanes, and found a lone coastal freighter that evening, approximately 2000 tonnes. She put up a fight, and took three torpedoes to put down.

The following morning in the same area we detected a large tanker escorted by a torpedo boat. Unable to get close, we fired two spread of two torpedoes at 6.5 km. Three hit, and the tanker exploded and sunk with masts still above the waterline.

As we evaded the escort, another merchant was detected by our hydrophones. We made visual contact and were preparing a firing solution as we saw German planes make an attack and sink her.

With only two torpedoes remaining, the weather worsening, and a desire to complete repairs from our previous patrol, U-45 returned to Wilhelmshaven on 19 July 1940. Our score this patrol was nearly 12000 tonnes.

Kapitänleutnant Hähl, U-45