[BillCar]

In the wake of U-97's destruction in 1940, I started a new career in September, 1939.

U-53 is a Type VIIB attached to Saltzwedel Flotilla.
Leutnant z. S. Jochen Lübke is her commander.

Departed Wilhelmshaven on September 2nd, 1939, with orders to patrol AM32. While traversing the North Sea, U-53 twice came under air attack, both times driving off the offending aircraft with flak (though U-53 did not succeed in destroying the aircraft).

The rest of the trip to AM32 was uneventful, but on reaching AM32 on September 7th, U-53 encountered a coastal freighter. The first Type I was a dud, but the second holed the freighter in her stern, and she sank within minutes. Later that same day, a small merchant was sunk with a single torpedo.

The remainder of the AM32 patrol was uneventful. U-53 opted to hunt AM51, off the northwest coast of Ireland. While there on September 12th, she sank a passenger cargo with a single torpedo, bringing her total haul to roughly 6000 tons.

Two days later, off the southwest of Ireland, U-53 surprised a Granville freighter, sinking her with a single torpedo amidships, and increasing her first patrol bag to roughly 10,000 tons.

U-53 then headed to BF13, and ran a search pattern that turned up a small merchant on September 17th. U-53 overhauled her, sinking her with a single torpedo amidships. Immediately afterwards, another merchant vessel was caught and torpedoed by U-53. Though she was only a small merchant, she took two torpedoes to sink, despite developing a severe list after the first one.

On the morning of the 18th, another coastal freighter was caught and torpedoed by U-53. With only two torpedoes left, she made for home, plotting a course through the English Channel. Later that afternoon, U-53 caught a large cargo ship, sinking it with a magnetic torpedo on a fast-running Type I, after having missed her first shot.

Heading through the channel was strenuous, but U-53 made it through undetected. Proceeding at flank speed on the surface when no ships were visible, she would dive and run silent for hours on end when one appeared. Through this method, she made it out of the channel and then ran at flank speed all the way home, arriving on September 22nd after 20 days at sea. Her total haul was in excess of 28,000 GRT.