December of 42 we set out for the Caribbean yet again in hopes of enjoying the last bit of hunting for the year. It was actually a really boring transit we made it a good way through the Bay of Biscay before we encountered an aircraft and it didn't seem too eager to bother us when we dived. Picked up some warships transiting the Atlantic when we did a hydrophone check near the Azores as well.
Finally made it off the coast of the Dominican Republic again but honestly it was a really boring patrol nothing was happening and it was pretty quiet. Decided to head down to Curaçao this time instead of Florida. While steaming south we caught sight of a destroyer and luckily dived before they noticed. Eventually a really nasty storm showed up when we were right outside the port which made me nervous as I couldn't pick up any patrols around well I decided to slowly slide in and take a peak. It was a massive jackpot 3 tankers in Port and not a single destroyer to be seen. Torpedoed all 3 and headed home happy and feeling like the war was going well.
Then we had our patrol in late February of 43. Oh how quickly the tables have turned already. Shortly after leaving Lorient we encountered aircraft and it was pretty much a constant game of whack-a-mole. Eventually we found a pretty good groove of avoiding aircraft and charging batteries. Encountered a lone cargo ship while charging batteries and used the deck gun to a sink her then quickly dived and slunk away a few days later found another lone cargo ship and did the same to them as well. Needless to say other than the very noticeable increase and organization of Allied aircraft it was seeming like a great patrol and figured the transit to the Caribbean would be fairly smooth. Then suddenly the closer we got to the Azores the more we seemed to be running into trouble and it was harder to predict the aircraft patrols. Eventually we got caught out charging our batteries one morning and we took heavy damage. We took down the aircraft but I decided it was better to limp home it was not worth the risk of trying to even get to our patrol zone. 43 is looking to be a ugly turn.
On a side note I'm really stoked this is the furthest I have made it in a career before. 42 was usually where I met my demise but so far I'm alive. First time I literally couldn't justify finishing a patrol and it felt weird to return with all my eels aboard. The surfacing thing is going to be my downfall played so many nuc sims I have never given it much thought but now I really to adapt as I am prey and no longer the predator.
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