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klh · 06-29-20, 09:49 PM

With orders to intercept shipping on the convoy route to the Mediterranean in grid CF99, U-45 and her crew departed Wilhelmshaven on 8 August 1940. We took the English Channel and between the fog and little luck, we avoided detection by the enemy.

En route to our assigned patrol, we intercepted a lone British merchant on the 15th and sunk her with the deck gun.

A few days after arriving on station, we were alerted to a large convoy headed our way. We plotted an intercept course and were in position to attack in the dark early morning hours of 23 August. We fired a full spread of torpedoes, and managed to quickly reload and fire three more. We sunk three ships including a large merchant and two freighters. We surfaced as soon as possible and plotted and end run to meet the convoy again while also taking the time to bring on board our external eels.

The convoy changed course during the day, but our hydrophone operator was able to maintain contact as we dove every two hours to check their position. We again were in position to ambush the convoy later that evening and fired our remaining torpedoes, sinking two more vessels. The large tanker exploded quickly and broke in two. A freighter took longer to sink, but we confirmed she was going down before we were forced to go deep and silent.

We spent the next several hours avoiding depth charges with only minor damage. We surfaced in the early evening and plotted a course for home through the channel, hugging the coast of France.

U-45 arrived in Wilhelmshaven on 29 August 1940 celebrating six sunk for a total of 34,000 tonnes.

Kapitänleutnant Hähl, U-45

06-29-20, 09:49 PM	#5498
klh Ensign Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Indiana, USA Posts: 221 Downloads: 200 Uploads: 0	KTB-10 U-45 (klh) With orders to intercept shipping on the convoy route to the Mediterranean in grid CF99, U-45 and her crew departed Wilhelmshaven on 8 August 1940. We took the English Channel and between the fog and little luck, we avoided detection by the enemy. En route to our assigned patrol, we intercepted a lone British merchant on the 15th and sunk her with the deck gun. A few days after arriving on station, we were alerted to a large convoy headed our way. We plotted an intercept course and were in position to attack in the dark early morning hours of 23 August. We fired a full spread of torpedoes, and managed to quickly reload and fire three more. We sunk three ships including a large merchant and two freighters. We surfaced as soon as possible and plotted and end run to meet the convoy again while also taking the time to bring on board our external eels. The convoy changed course during the day, but our hydrophone operator was able to maintain contact as we dove every two hours to check their position. We again were in position to ambush the convoy later that evening and fired our remaining torpedoes, sinking two more vessels. The large tanker exploded quickly and broke in two. A freighter took longer to sink, but we confirmed she was going down before we were forced to go deep and silent. We spent the next several hours avoiding depth charges with only minor damage. We surfaced in the early evening and plotted a course for home through the channel, hugging the coast of France. U-45 arrived in Wilhelmshaven on 29 August 1940 celebrating six sunk for a total of 34,000 tonnes. Kapitänleutnant Hähl, U-45