March 19, 1940 AN44
0023 U48 just reached assigned patrol area and will now start the operations. We are already changing our course to 270°. Weather is good: clouds clear, wind 7 knots and visibility moderate. During the night we will do a 90 minutes cycle: 30 minutes submerged / 60 minutes surfaced. If the weather does not change during the day we will spend most of our time surfaced and dive just long enough to do sonar checks.
1233 Ship spotted! ENE of us...closing...Dive to periscope depth! We will approach submerged and identify her
1244 ...I'd say we have a Medium cargo sailing WSW at 7 knots...let's adjust our course slightly to the north and get closer...I guess we may use our deck gun again...
1251 A neutral! She is from Norway...let's move away unnoticed. We will let her go out of visual range than surface again.
2112 We have a faint sound contact west of us...seems like it is moving southward...we will surface and get closer
2143 Ship spotted! NW of us...range about 5000 meters...weather got worse: overcast, wind 13 m/s and visibility moderate...time to dive and get ready for a torpedo attack.
2158 Our target is a Granville type freighter sailing SSE at 6 knots...U48 is now turning and getting ready to use the stern tube.
2204 Tube 5 ready: Ato running fast, depth 4 meters, impact pistol...range 500 meters...open tube 5!...aiming at mid ship....fire!...torpedo is away and running...she is bouncing all around...I aimed at mid ship since that part is the one that is more steady....3...2...1...did I miss?...or it just went under?...ahead flank! Change course to...Impact!...I underestimated her distance...got her almost in the propellers...small fire burning...time to shadow her and see if it is enough... Ahead slow! Reload tube 5!
2209 She is dead on the water...I bet we killed her propulsion...fire still burning...
2251 She is going down at last!...slowly got lower and lower on her back... I was somewhat lucky, I underestimated her range and almost missed her, also with all that bouncing around our torpedo could have slipped under.
We are now in grid AN18 and need to return to grid AN44 to complete our 24hours patrol...Surface the boat! Ahead full! Change course to 085°!
Ship sunk! SS Bradfyne (Granville-type Freighter), 4707 tons. Cargo: Copper Ore. Crew: 102. Crew lost: 27
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