Sep. 17 1939, Irish Sea, 2nd patrol for the U-53. First patrol was a 14 day peacetime shakedown cruise.
Left Wilhelmshaven 12 days ago for grid BF 19. Decided to risk the channel, being so early in the war. Got jumped by a French armed trawler just as we entered the channel, no waves, no wind, daytime and sunny. Didn't have ASW capabilities, so we just dove and ran. The watch crew got a stern talking to.
Around the straight of dover we got jumped by a MTB. Again we dove and ran.
Found a lone French merchant, but had orders not to attack French vessles.
Almost out of the channel we spotted another MTB, this time before it spotted us. Dove and ran.
Reached the assigned grid, found it empty. Spent the next 10 days dodging MTBs, chasing a convoy that got away because a damn ASW trawler kept me busy, and dodging some more MTBs.
Hearing radio messages about the success the other boats were having, the crew was getting impatient. This culminated when we got word about the sinking of the Courages (sp?).
At last, on the early morning of the 17th, 12 days after leaving port, we found a lone intermediate tanker, which we sank with guns at 600 meters. First shot set it on fire, but man that thing ate alot of 88mm rounds before it went down!
We decided to take the long way home. With about 70-75% fuel still remaining, we could take our time and chase down anything we found, spending the last fuel hunting in the North Sea. Having just entered the Irish Sea, we get jumpet by yet another MTB.
Later on the 17th., we encountered a british tugboat, which was sunk by gun fire. A couple of hours later, we encountered what we first thought was a lone Black Swan class frigate, but turned out to be the leading escort of a large convoy.
Ended up in a poor position, but decided to attack anyway. Launched 6 torpedos in total, 3 hits, 1 dud, 1 premature detonation (by mere metres), and one miss. Two ships sunk, 1 coastal merchant, 1 small merchant. Unidentified large merchant vessel hit, but kept up with the convoy. Was prosecuted by two Black Swan frigates but managed to escape without damage, though we're now quite far behind the convoy. Might break pursuit and continue north.
Funny though, there was a british S-Class submarine in the convoy. I wasn't in a good position to engage it sadly.
Been about two years since I played this game. My old comps motherboard fried, and I just now got enough money to buy a decent gaming computer again. And using GWX for the first time. Damn it's good to be back!
Regards,
Kptl. Kaizer
U-53, "The MTB magnet."
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