Minute of Silence

CapZap1970 · 06-25-07, 02:11 PM

Lasty night, as making my 27th patrol, U-123 was sunk, all hands lost.
I had to imagine the odds were against me last night. Left Kiel at Oct/1941 on my way to patrol grid AL29. The problems begun right after I left Scotland 20 Km behind me.
First, a DD comes out of nowhere, and beeing unable to dive due to shallow water, I engage the DD with my deck gun. After some 2 or 3 minutes of duel, the DD finally sinks, but it leaves my u-boat with 65% of hull integrity, 2 officers and 1 petty officer dead. They were under my command from patrol 1. At that point, while letting their bodies slip to the cold water, I realized how much we, as skippers, get attached to our crew members, even if it is supposed to be a game. Believe it or not, it's not easy to let them go.
Still far from my patorl grid, I decided to go forward and have the job done. About 70 Kilometers away from our patrol grid, we stumbbled upon a convoy in the middle of the night, with rough waters, rain and heavy fog. The warning came too late, when they were 400 meters away. Suddenly hell broke loose. Searchlights and starflares everywhere. It gave us almost no time to dive, but we managed to do so even if it was too late, since we had been spotted already by an escort. Managed to fire the 4 bow tubes, sinking 1 DD and and a C3, but failed to detect a destroyer approaching from my tail due to the pandemonium.
Got depthcharged and without any chance to run away, not even at flank speed, we sustained heavy flooding, and most of my crew died almost immediately.
Seconds after that, we passed the crushing depth limit....
Few hours later at BdU ,U-123 was reported as "Lost At Sea", all hands lost.....

I feel so sad....
CapZap

06-25-07, 02:11 PM	#1
CapZap1970 Sea Lord Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: La Paz, Bolivia Posts: 1,965 Downloads: 275 Uploads: 51	Minute of Silence Lasty night, as making my 27th patrol, U-123 was sunk, all hands lost. I had to imagine the odds were against me last night. Left Kiel at Oct/1941 on my way to patrol grid AL29. The problems begun right after I left Scotland 20 Km behind me. First, a DD comes out of nowhere, and beeing unable to dive due to shallow water, I engage the DD with my deck gun. After some 2 or 3 minutes of duel, the DD finally sinks, but it leaves my u-boat with 65% of hull integrity, 2 officers and 1 petty officer dead. They were under my command from patrol 1. At that point, while letting their bodies slip to the cold water, I realized how much we, as skippers, get attached to our crew members, even if it is supposed to be a game. Believe it or not, it's not easy to let them go. Still far from my patorl grid, I decided to go forward and have the job done. About 70 Kilometers away from our patrol grid, we stumbbled upon a convoy in the middle of the night, with rough waters, rain and heavy fog. The warning came too late, when they were 400 meters away. Suddenly hell broke loose. Searchlights and starflares everywhere. It gave us almost no time to dive, but we managed to do so even if it was too late, since we had been spotted already by an escort. Managed to fire the 4 bow tubes, sinking 1 DD and and a C3, but failed to detect a destroyer approaching from my tail due to the pandemonium. Got depthcharged and without any chance to run away, not even at flank speed, we sustained heavy flooding, and most of my crew died almost immediately. Seconds after that, we passed the crushing depth limit.... Few hours later at BdU ,U-123 was reported as "Lost At Sea", all hands lost..... I feel so sad.... CapZap __________________