It Finally Happened

[Brag]

11 May 1941, 5th day of patrol. U-103 IXB. 200 miles west of Gibraltar. U-boat lost with all hands.

With accute perspicacity, I intercepted the large zigzagging convoy at 0315. The weather had turned sour: Moderate seas, rain. Without seeing escorts found myself amid a bunch of small freighters. Managed to get intermittent sightings of a large and a medium merchant. Launched four torpedoes at extreme range. 2 exploded prematurely, one missed. One hit: Large merchant sank immediately. Following my own dictums dove silently to 200 meters. Was not bothered by escorts.

Clear of the convoy, surfaced, plotted intercept for the following evening. followed plotted course at TC32, dealing with tired crew and torpedo reload.

Crash, bang "Das Boot ist bescheldig."
"Alaaarm."
We crash dived. Conning tower, flasck & DG, forward crew, aft crew, electric motors, aft torpedo compartments damaged.

Evaluating: Damage was not severe.
Pinging, destroyer rumbles overhead. We qre at 30 meters (I had slowed the dive not to agravate damage.
"wasserbomben."
Ahead flank. We avoided the DCs.
Off silent running, fixed leaks. Damage under control. Continue dive to 80 meters. Back to silent running.
Destroyer makes another pass. Depth charges explode some distance away.
Haha, we've made it. 5 minutes later we are at 100 meters. The destroyer makes another pass.
End of career

Analysis
Mistake number one. Proceeding in vicinity of convoy in low visibility at more than TCx1
Not considering convoy would change course.
Getting too smug about destroyer's capabilities, not avoiding depth charges by going flank at the moment of drop until the misses were at a greater distance.
Forgot to keep turning ALL the time.
Conclusion: After many succesful attacks, captain got overconfident.

Read the advice on convoy attacks on my webbie. If you don't get overconfident, they will work until you make a mistake.

[Myxale]

It happend once to me too. After some cat and mouse games the DD started dropping his cans way behind me...and i felt save...but on his second run i was dead.

Never again

[DanCanovas]

do you start a new campaign or reload, i find i play much better and enjoy the game much more when i restart. when im dead im dead. it makes things much more nervous, especially if you got a lot to lose!

[Karl-Heinz Jaeger]

Sorry for your loss, Mrs. Brag. He was a fine Kaleun and served his country well.......


........can I have his stereo??

Great story, matey! I love reading other Kaleun's experiences, positive or otherwise. Here's one of my own to reciprocate.


I came fairly close to annihilation on my last patrol. April 1940, Operaton Hartmut off the coast of Norway in my shiny, new IXB. I intercepted a Task Force in extremely bad weather, snuck in at PD, sunk an Illustrious and got away squeaky clean!! This gave me a huge confidence boost, and almost led to my premature death as you'll see below.

The next encounter was in the fjord at Namsos, same extremely bad weather, heavy rain and fog, wind speed 17MS. And out of nowhere comes this Fiji class. I'm running roughly parallel, ahead of him as he comes from behind. Spin up tubes 1 & 3, depth 3 metres, fast speed, impact pistol. A quick turn, my Exec lines up the TBT and....Torpedo, LOS! Less than a minute later, hits fore and aft and she lights up like a Christmas tree. All of a sudden, along comes a Troop transport, followed by another! Too good to be true, and not an escort to be seen. Same deal as before, 2 torps each and even though they were zig zagging, all were hits fired from >800m. As I'm moving off I spot a third Troop Transport, swerving to avoid crashing into his dead buddy. I'm out of torps, so I run parallel to him as I reload.

All of a sudden, I get a message:Enemy ship engaging us, Herr Kaleun!! What the....OH CRAP! Not one, but 2 escorts have me caught in a pincer movement, Radar the only explanation for their sudden, co-ordinated attack. Alaaaaaaaarm!!!! But before I can get under, the sharp bow of a C&D Class smashes into my port side. Verdammt! Heavy Damage all along the boat, flooding and whats this?? My E-maschinen are making 4Kts at flank??!! VERDAMMT!!! At least the heavy seas precluded her from going over 12Kts as she rammed us, else we'd probably be sinking fast. I ordered the boat levelled at 80 metres til we get the flooding under control, but she has other ideas. We're slowly sinking and in less than 200metres of water. My Chief works like a madman to plug the holes, while the escorts mill around above us, pinging like mad and dropping their cans uncomfortably close to our crippled boat. Only the grace of God and some sharp course changes kept us alive while the repair crew feverishly worked to get the leaks plugged and the E-maschinen working again.

By this time, I have every available crewmember scattered throughout the boat, assessing damage and trying to repair it, while I try to keep us alive in the command room. Finally, the electrics are in fully working order, and most of the leaks are stopped. U-108 still lives....for now. Silent routine, take her down Chief, level at 160 metres. I decide it's better to stay relatively shallow and outmaneuver the depth charges, than risk being crushed in our battered boat. Slowly but surely the escorts lose contact, the storm above us hastens our escape. Not until the last vestiges of propeller sounds have vanished from the hydrophones do I dare risk surfacing. We arrived back at Wilhelmshaven with 27% Hull Integrity and a very shaken crew, but a few promotions and and an Iron cross for my Chief soon led to the streets of the town being painted red in our celebrations.

What a patrol!

[Brag]

Originally Posted by Karl-Heinz Jaeger

Sorry for your loss, Mrs. Brag. He was a fine Kaleun and served his country well.......


........can I have his stereo??

Great story, matey! I love reading other Kaleun's experiences, positive or otherwise. Here's one of my own to reciprocate.


I came fairly close to annihilation on my last patrol. April 1940, Operaton Hartmut off the coast of Norway in my shiny, new IXB. I intercepted a Task Force in extremely bad weather, snuck in at PD, sunk an Illustrious and got away squeaky clean!! This gave me a huge confidence boost, and almost led to my premature death as you'll see below.

The next encounter was in the fjord at Namsos, same extremely bad weather, heavy rain and fog, wind speed 17MS. And out of nowhere comes this Fiji class. I'm running roughly parallel, ahead of him as he comes from behind. Spin up tubes 1 & 3, depth 3 metres, fast speed, impact pistol. A quick turn, my Exec lines up the TBT and....Torpedo, LOS! Less than a minute later, hits fore and aft and she lights up like a Christmas tree. All of a sudden, along comes a Troop transport, followed by another! Too good to be true, and not an escort to be seen. Same deal as before, 2 torps each and even though they were zig zagging, all were hits fired from >800m. As I'm moving off I spot a third Troop Transport, swerving to avoid crashing into his dead buddy. I'm out of torps, so I run parallel to him as I reload.

All of a sudden, I get a message:Enemy ship engaging us, Herr Kaleun!! What the....OH CRAP! Not one, but 2 escorts have me caught in a pincer movement, Radar the only explanation for their sudden, co-ordinated attack. Alaaaaaaaarm!!!! But before I can get under, the sharp bow of a C&D Class smashes into my port side. Verdammt! Heavy Damage all along the boat, flooding and whats this?? My E-maschinen are making 4Kts at flank??!! VERDAMMT!!! At least the heavy seas precluded her from going over 12Kts as she rammed us, else we'd probably be sinking fast. I ordered the boat levelled at 80 metres til we get the flooding under control, but she has other ideas. We're slowly sinking and in less than 200metres of water. My Chief works like a madman to plug the holes, while the escorts mill around above us, pinging like mad and dropping their cans uncomfortably close to our crippled boat. Only the grace of God and some sharp course changes kept us alive while the repair crew feverishly worked to get the leaks plugged and the E-maschinen working again.

By this time, I have every available crewmember scattered throughout the boat, assessing damage and trying to repair it, while I try to keep us alive in the command room. Finally, the electrics are in fully working order, and most of the leaks are stopped. U-108 still lives....for now. Silent routine, take her down Chief, level at 160 metres. I decide it's better to stay relatively shallow and outmaneuver the depth charges, than risk being crushed in our battered boat. Slowly but surely the escorts lose contact, the storm above us hastens our escape. Not until the last vestiges of propeller sounds have vanished from the hydrophones do I dare risk surfacing. We arrived back at Wilhelmshaven with 27% Hull Integrity and a very shaken crew, but a few promotions and and an Iron cross for my Chief soon led to the streets of the town being painted red in our celebrations.

What a patrol!

That was quite something! (I see you also had my old boat, the U-49)

Once dead is dead. I started a new career in 1940 (U-108 IXB)

[Karl-Heinz Jaeger]

Originally Posted by Brag

That was quite something! (I see you also had my old boat, the U-49)

Once dead is dead. I started a new career in 1940 (U-108 IXB)

Aye, matey! U-49 was a good old reliable boat. 160k odd GRT to her credit with myself at the helm. Looks like we're in the same boat now (pun oh so very intended:P:P:P), U-108. She turns like a BB, but she's tough as nails. Treat her well, and she'll get ya home safe.

[IRONxMortlock]

Originally Posted by Karl-Heinz Jaeger

The next encounter was in the fjord at Namsos, same extremely bad weather, heavy rain and fog, wind speed 17MS. And out of nowhere comes this Fiji class. I'm running roughly parallel, ahead of him as he comes from behind. Spin up tubes 1 & 3, depth 3 metres, fast speed, impact pistol. A quick turn, my Exec lines up the TBT and....Torpedo, LOS! Less than a minute later, hits fore and aft and she lights up like a Christmas tree. All of a sudden, along comes a Troop transport, followed by another! Too good to be true, and not an escort to be seen. Same deal as before, 2 torps each and even though they were zig zagging, all were hits fired from >800m. As I'm moving off I spot a third Troop Transport, swerving to avoid crashing into his dead buddy. I'm out of torps, so I run parallel to him as I reload.

I came across that exact same task force yesterday. Two troop transports and a fiji. These guys were sitting stationary inside a fjord though so although the water was only 11m deep, I was able to sneak in (Type IID) and launch torps from about 10,000m out. Escorts never had clue. Fiji went down with two and three other torps were duds. The last destroyed a troop transport. Not a bad days work for a Type II!
________
Live sex

[Karl-Heinz Jaeger]

Originally Posted by IRONxMortlock

I came across that exact same task force yesterday. Two troop transports and a fiji. These guys were sitting stationary inside a fjord though so although the water was only 11m deep, I was able to sneak in (Type IID) and launch torps from about 10,000m out. Escorts never had clue. Fiji went down with two and three other torps were duds. The last destroyed a troop transport. Not a bad days work for a Type II!

Pretty good going mate! Sounds like Onkel Karl will be most pleased with your little dugout canoe!

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

[Brag]

You guys been doing great!
My first patrol in U-108, so far: Grrr Grrr Grrr.
8 days out of Lorient --Nutting.
Report: Warship heading SE.
If I can sustain 16 knots for 10 hours I can interecept. I arrive at intercept point. 2hrs. 20 minutes later sight destroyer. down to PD, 2 kts. Lots of engine noises. Quick peek on the scope (sunny day, flat seas). two BBs, Revenge and Rodney, heading straight for me. Fire two magentic torps at Rodney from 400 meters. Both fail. Rodney passes me less than two hundred meters to one side. Revenge 200 meters on the other. Frustration!!!!

But did get some screenies of the BBs :rotfl: :rotfl:

[High Voltage]

Start fresh young Jedi, learn from your mistakes and feel the force. Only once you have mastered your emotions will you finally be able to confront the anger which lurks within you.

[Iron Budokan]

Hubris has been the death of many a SH3 kaleun, including myself!!

[Finback]

Once to the ocean floor I have dove, nevermore shall I sample the sweet air that beckons my return.

*sniff*