Quote:
Originally Posted by Akula4745
After being told the Suez Canal was controlled by the British in late 1942... I just had to try and sneak through. I refueled at Messina and then entered the canal at port Said around 16:40 and arrived at the Red Sea 3 days later. Picked up multiple radar warnings by Port Said - but the canal itself was thankfully empty all the way down to As Suways and the Gulf of Suez.
I ran wide open - 17 knots - all the way down to the Gulf of Suez. Making the transit at night proved a smart choice as I did not have to worry about finding any undiscovered shore emplacements. The Great Bitter lake passed without any sightseeing at all.
When I came out into the Gulf of Suez by As Suways I picked up several merchants docked at the port... but decided not to make a ruckus... and it was a good thing too because the north end of the Gulf of Suez turned out to be thoroughly patrolled by Elco torpedo boats and armed trawlers. Transit time for the canal itself was just under 8 hours at 17 knots.
The canal itself and the Gulf of Suez were mostly empty... with the exception of several troublesome fishing boats and armed trawlers as I got closer to the Red Sea. But then once in the Red Sea there was nothing but open water to the Gulf of Aden.
I left St. Nazaire in the wee hours of October 7 1942... and arrived in Penang on November 15, 1942 - with only 4% fuel remaining. Running wide open as often as possible to transit the canal ate up a lot of fuel. I am not sure I would want to make it a regular route... methinks luck and good karma played a large hand in my completing the transit safely. But anyway... there ya go - it can be done.
Your turn, Ivank!  |
I try late may 1943,and u have right the canal was almost empty some Anson planes come from the land,but before the small lake there was the first real problem, I saw some bunker and pick up RWR beyond and the depth was not more and 6 m under the keel,so I stop the engine and slowly go to PD in silent rig,set speed to 2 knots and the sonar guy and me too heard 4 DD on the left side from the bunker,after that we slowly get away from this part of canal and also the DD so we go up and start the mission first was it calm and no wind after that it be heavy rain and fog 14m/s so in the last end of the canal 3 DD come are way so we where lucky to have the wheather on our side ,in red sea was a lot of MTM i count 15 and no vessel at all in the end before Gulf Von Aden hit a Tanker,but the Post said was also lot of DD ,but I manage to go the Suez. (IXC)