U-97, TypeVIIC, Oberleutnant z. See Theodor Winter
Patrol II
Left St. Nazaire for AM51. Sank one Granville freighter with deck gun for ca. 4000 tons.
On reaching AM51, received report of enemy large convoy making 4 knots on an easterly course. Moved to intercept in 15 metre seas.
Spotted lead escort at 20:15. Ran decks awash in already-high seas, at roughly 3 knots. At 4000 metres from the escort, U-97 dove to periscope depth and ran silent.
U-97 was running parallel to the convoy at this point, directly between the two centre columns. As the merchants made their ways to 45 and 315 degrees of relative bearing, U-97 executed a right angle turn, and waited.
To the stern, a passenger-cargo was passing. In front of U-97, two medium cargo ships were visible. The closest was engaged with two Type II torpedoes on impact setting. Immediately afterwards, a Type I was sent from the stern tubes towards the passenger-cargo on a fast setting.
Oblt. Winter was giving firing data to the weapons officer when the passenger-cargo exploded, sinking almost instantly. Four seconds after the explosion, two Type I torpedoes on impact setting were launched at the second medium cargo. While they were en route to their target, the first medium cargo caught the two Type IIs and sank.
One Type I impacted the second medium cargo, holing it under the bridge. The second never detonated.
At no point was U-97 directly engaged by escorts, as they had no clue where she was.
Surfacing half an hour later, U-97 overhauled the convoy at flank speed to attack from the side before dawn broke. Spotted by a destroyer, U-97 turned into the convoy early and, still at flank speed, fired four more torpedoes, sinking a large merchant and damaging a tanker. U-97 dove at flank with the destroyer almost directly above her, but took no damage from the depth charges. She dropped to 210 metres and turned west, directly out the backtrack of the convoy. Evaded for a mere 20 minutes, then surfaced, headed for St. Nazaire.
Encountered a lone passenger-cargo, which was torpedoed from periscope depth at a distance of roughly 4km with a fast-moving Type I torpedo. Oddly, this kill was not recorded in the ship's log. Possible neutral vessel.
Finally, a lone small merchant was overhauled by U-97 and, the seas being calm, was sunk with the deck gun.
Total patrol tonnage: roughly 28,000 GRT (over 30,000 if counting the possible neutral passenger-cargo), making for a career total of roughly 60,000 tons in two patrols for Oblt. Winter.
EDIT:
U-97, TypeVIIC, Oberleutnant z. See Theodor Winter
Patrol II
Left St. Nazaire for AM51. Sank one Granville freighter with deck gun for ca. 4000 tons.
On reaching AM51, received report of enemy large convoy making 4 knots on an easterly course. Moved to intercept in 15 metre seas.
Spotted lead escort at 20:15. Ran decks awash in already-high seas, at roughly 3 knots. At 4000 metres from the escort, U-97 dove to periscope depth and ran silent.
U-97 was running parallel to the convoy at this point, directly between the two centre columns. As the merchants made their ways to 45 and 315 degrees of relative bearing, U-97 executed a right angle turn, and waited.
To the stern, a passenger-cargo was passing. In front of U-97, two medium cargo ships were visible. The closest was engaged with two Type II torpedoes on impact setting. Immediately afterwards, a Type I was sent from the stern tubes towards the passenger-cargo on a fast setting.
Oblt. Winter was giving firing data to the weapons officer when the passenger-cargo exploded, sinking almost instantly. Four seconds after the explosion, two Type I torpedoes on impact setting were launched at the second medium cargo. While they were en route to their target, the first medium cargo caught the two Type IIs and sank.
One Type I impacted the second medium cargo, holing it under the bridge. The second never detonated.
At no point was U-97 directly engaged by escorts, as they had no clue where she was.
Surfacing half an hour later, U-97 overhauled the convoy at flank speed to attack from the side before dawn broke. Spotted by a destroyer, U-97 turned into the convoy early and, still at flank speed, fired four more torpedoes, sinking a large merchant and damaging a tanker. U-97 dove at flank with the destroyer almost directly above her, but took no damage from the depth charges. She dropped to 210 metres and turned west, directly out the backtrack of the convoy. Evaded for a mere 20 minutes, then surfaced, headed for St. Nazaire.
Encountered a lone passenger-cargo, which was torpedoed from periscope depth at a distance of roughly 4km with a fast-moving Type I torpedo. Oddly, this kill was not recorded in the ship's log. Possible neutral vessel.
Finally, a lone small merchant was overhauled by U-97 and, the seas being calm, was sunk with the deck gun.
Total patrol tonnage: roughly 28,000 GRT (over 30,000 if counting the possible neutral passenger-cargo), making for a career total of roughly 60,000 tons in two patrols for Oblt. Winter.
Patrol 3 (Final Patrol)
U-97 left St. Nazaire for AM41 on 1st November. Encountered one Empire-class, which was sunk with one magnetic torpedo under her keel.
U-97 encountered 8 metre seas and thick fog for the duration of her patrol of AM41, and these conditions continued after she left the apparently-empty AM41 grid to patrol AM51. It was here that she received orders to intercept an SC convoy making roughly 3 knots. Overhauling the convoy, U-97 approached from the front in very heavy fog which limited visibility to roughly 3 kilometres.
U-97 made a surface attack with decks awash, commencing at 02:07 on November 11th, 1940. Four torpedoes were fired, with hits on a large cargo and medium cargo. As these hits were on the far side of the convoy, and searchlights were only visible at that great distance, U-97 assumed it safe to press home an attack on a small merchant 1800 metres to her 160. As she began her turn, the merchant suddenly snapped on her spotlight, fixing U-97 within a second.
No more than two seconds after this, U-97 came under extremely focused fire the likes of which are rarely seen. This fire came from an unseen source, but was instantly devastating, with four shell impacts in the space of three seconds. The first shell hit the conning tower, killing the WO and one petty officer outright.
Oblt. Winter ordered a crash dive and had the damage control team (led by CE Bergmann) do an immediate assessment. U-97 continued to sustain hits from shellfire as she dove, and it became apparent that no compartment had escaped severe damage. CE Bergmann declared all compartments to be condition red, with heavy flooding. As his team worked in the bow quarters to stem the rapid flooding, an explosion claimed the lives of CE Bergmann, his seven-man team, and six other seamen who were also in the compartment.
The boat continued to sink out of control, breaking up at 138 metres at 02:14, less than one minute after the first shell hit her conning tower. Oblt. Winter and all hands were lost....
Which sucked, because this was my favourite and most immediately-successful career so far.
