A quiet night turns into opportunity

InvisibleDeath · 10-06-13, 01:16 PM

The sun was setting as my new sub and crew headed back to our favorite hunting grounds at the Dublin entrance out to the Atlantic. I put my faith in my crew and was resting on my bunk when I got a call that a group of ships were headed out to sea to the north of us. Best of all they were heading right at us.

We got ourselves into position and went to periscope depth to wait and see what England was sending us. To my surprise it was a group of 4 warships. Normally I would avoid this situation, but the seas were particularly bad this evening due to a rising storm. Besides we were already in position so we held our breaths.

With great anticipation I watched as 4 destroyers slid along side of us moving at only about 10 knots. I locked up two in the rear and timed my torpedoes so that they would hit at exactly the same time. As we unleashed our volleys we filled the ballasts and sank down to 50 feet waiting for retaliation. Each report came in from sonar, torpedo hit and rending metal...sounds like it is sinking sir. I ordered the ship up to 30 feet to listen and see what the other two were doing.

To our surprise it was as if the other two ships did not know their companions had sunk. I called periscope depth without hesitation. While the lead destroyer was not in a good firing solution, the one behind him was. We locked and sent off another fish before repeating our 50 foot dive and this time I fired up the motors to reposition us to make it hard to find us by triangulation.

We managed to run deep and quiet an move to the opposite side of the death field and the other destroyer continued on its' way. I called to surface the boat. As we surfaced, the last destroyer came into sight and we watched it closely when it suddenly made a sharp turn in our direction. I slid down the ladder and called to dive, dive, dive 50 feet rudders full port. The other three sinkings must have brought fear to the captain because he broke off his attack as soon as he saw us dive. He headed over to the death field which made us assume he was recovering survivors.

After heading to our patrol area underwater for several hours we surfaced and breathed a sigh of relief; there was no destroyer or worse in the area. We headed to our patrol area and began our search pattern right away. It was deep into the night when we got a call that there was a group of ships to our north, and as we began to head that direction we got a call of a group of ships to our south heading right at us. The decision was easy as the sound in the water was big. We did out trick once again, get into position and dive to periscope depth and hold our breath in anticipation. It wasn't too long before our prayers were answered. Sonar counted 11 distinct screws!

The decision was difficult as to my approach when I finally just dove in and fired torpedoes at the first 4 ships in front. By the time I fired the first salvo and got the computation for the next ship my first and second torpedo were reloaded and we got reports of torpedoes hitting. Unfortunately not only was it dark, but it was foggy making it hard to see each individual ship. I lined up for what looked like the next biggest targets and fired my fish. It was a target of riches and I could not believe how hard it was to pick out my targets! With my last fish in the water and explosions everywhere we moved for our next firing solution.

As we moved into position I saw that the ships were starting to break up. With them moving at 10 knots and us moving at only 2 I feared we would lose our quarries so I picked to targets, fired on them, and kept my eyes on the results. The first ship took damage but the second one broke it's spine and went right down. I called for the boat to surface and ran up the bridge waiting for the call to crack the hatch.

Our guns began taking on the few remaining ships that were undamaged. and after they went to the bottom we had one clump of ships that were scooting away but grouping together and a final ship that was making a run for it. We headed for the group and I remained on the bow watch to monitor the ships. There was only one ship not raising smoke and I was concerned it would run if we didn't cripple her. So I jumped on the UZO and fired to torps at it. The first fish hit it in the rear and I watched as the spine broke and the two halves slumped into the water. I didn't even care that the second fish missed. We headed to the remaining ships in the clump and used our guns to send them to the bottom. As I watched them explode my crew began the surface run for the last runner and waited.

My last quarry was running fast and I could see that even so she was hurt pretty bad. My torpedo left her taking on enough water in the bow that I swear I'd see her props surface soon. I made a gun solution that would fire a single high explosive at the bow and then move to add some holes in the rear. The crew fired the bow shot and I was so surprised I let out a whoop. The shell must have hit ammo because the entire ship lifted out of the water upon the hit. The explosion threw her so far out of the air that the entire empty ship line was showing. It then hit the water, broke up, and went down bow-first so quickly that I was watching nothing but floating boxes.

This was a long night of riches: 11 cargo ships and 3 war ships and no one complained when I said we were heading back for a refit. I guess the Brits thought they could easily sneak in a large group of ships late at night without any escort. I went back to my cabin, pulled out a nice bottle of scotch and went around personally congratulating each shipmate.

V13dweller · 10-07-13, 12:03 AM

Are you sure your not a Novelist or Writer? Because this is an excellent read.

It does sound like when you sunk the destroyers near the beginning it appears you did not have TDW's IRAI mod installed, because attacking a HK group is almost certain death with this mod, adding to the challenge.

Other than that, it's great.

gap · 10-07-13, 12:47 PM

Agree with V13, very good report

if you don't mind, I have a question though: 11 merchants and 3 destroyers sunk in one patrol... do you command a nuclear submarine?

InvisibleDeath · 10-08-13, 08:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gap

Agree with V13, very good report

if you don't mind, I have a question though: 11 merchants and 3 destroyers sunk in one patrol... do you command a nuclear submarine?

I used my guns alot when I hit the 11 ship convoy.

InvisibleDeath · 10-08-13, 08:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gap

Agree with V13, very good report

if you don't mind, I have a question though: 11 merchants and 3 destroyers sunk in one patrol... do you command a nuclear submarine?

It was a moment I just HAD to memorialize. I was just north of my patrol zone when the 4 destroyers headed my way. I was starting the down stroke of my fist zigzag when the huge convoy was heading right at me. Two convoys heading right at me in one night. That is worthy of a great drink.

V13dweller · 10-08-13, 09:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by InvisibleDeath

It was a moment I just HAD to memorialize. I was just north of my patrol zone when the 4 destroyers headed my way. I was starting the down stroke of my fist zigzag when the huge convoy was heading right at me. Two convoys heading right at me in one night. That is worthy of a great drink.

You should pickup that bottle of scotch again, and take another mouthful.

And tell all your mates when you get back.

InvisibleDeath · 10-08-13, 08:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by V13dweller

Are you sure your not a Novelist or Writer? Because this is an excellent read.

It does sound like when you sunk the destroyers near the beginning it appears you did not have TDW's IRAI mod installed, because attacking a HK group is almost certain death with this mod, adding to the challenge.

Other than that, it's great.

You are right I do not have the mod installed and I was scared like heck that they'd shred me in minutes. I was surprised they didn't attack me....but I did read that in the early years the British destroyers were more content with driving subs down than destroying them so (in a way) I was kind of accurate.

And I have been trying to find the time to write a book. But writing books is much harder than writing a nice post about my adventure.

10-06-13, 01:16 PM	#1
InvisibleDeath Loader Join Date: Sep 2013 Posts: 85 Downloads: 122 Uploads: 0	A quiet night turns into opportunity The sun was setting as my new sub and crew headed back to our favorite hunting grounds at the Dublin entrance out to the Atlantic. I put my faith in my crew and was resting on my bunk when I got a call that a group of ships were headed out to sea to the north of us. Best of all they were heading right at us. We got ourselves into position and went to periscope depth to wait and see what England was sending us. To my surprise it was a group of 4 warships. Normally I would avoid this situation, but the seas were particularly bad this evening due to a rising storm. Besides we were already in position so we held our breaths. With great anticipation I watched as 4 destroyers slid along side of us moving at only about 10 knots. I locked up two in the rear and timed my torpedoes so that they would hit at exactly the same time. As we unleashed our volleys we filled the ballasts and sank down to 50 feet waiting for retaliation. Each report came in from sonar, torpedo hit and rending metal...sounds like it is sinking sir. I ordered the ship up to 30 feet to listen and see what the other two were doing. To our surprise it was as if the other two ships did not know their companions had sunk. I called periscope depth without hesitation. While the lead destroyer was not in a good firing solution, the one behind him was. We locked and sent off another fish before repeating our 50 foot dive and this time I fired up the motors to reposition us to make it hard to find us by triangulation. We managed to run deep and quiet an move to the opposite side of the death field and the other destroyer continued on its' way. I called to surface the boat. As we surfaced, the last destroyer came into sight and we watched it closely when it suddenly made a sharp turn in our direction. I slid down the ladder and called to dive, dive, dive 50 feet rudders full port. The other three sinkings must have brought fear to the captain because he broke off his attack as soon as he saw us dive. He headed over to the death field which made us assume he was recovering survivors. After heading to our patrol area underwater for several hours we surfaced and breathed a sigh of relief; there was no destroyer or worse in the area. We headed to our patrol area and began our search pattern right away. It was deep into the night when we got a call that there was a group of ships to our north, and as we began to head that direction we got a call of a group of ships to our south heading right at us. The decision was easy as the sound in the water was big. We did out trick once again, get into position and dive to periscope depth and hold our breath in anticipation. It wasn't too long before our prayers were answered. Sonar counted 11 distinct screws! The decision was difficult as to my approach when I finally just dove in and fired torpedoes at the first 4 ships in front. By the time I fired the first salvo and got the computation for the next ship my first and second torpedo were reloaded and we got reports of torpedoes hitting. Unfortunately not only was it dark, but it was foggy making it hard to see each individual ship. I lined up for what looked like the next biggest targets and fired my fish. It was a target of riches and I could not believe how hard it was to pick out my targets! With my last fish in the water and explosions everywhere we moved for our next firing solution. As we moved into position I saw that the ships were starting to break up. With them moving at 10 knots and us moving at only 2 I feared we would lose our quarries so I picked to targets, fired on them, and kept my eyes on the results. The first ship took damage but the second one broke it's spine and went right down. I called for the boat to surface and ran up the bridge waiting for the call to crack the hatch. Our guns began taking on the few remaining ships that were undamaged. and after they went to the bottom we had one clump of ships that were scooting away but grouping together and a final ship that was making a run for it. We headed for the group and I remained on the bow watch to monitor the ships. There was only one ship not raising smoke and I was concerned it would run if we didn't cripple her. So I jumped on the UZO and fired to torps at it. The first fish hit it in the rear and I watched as the spine broke and the two halves slumped into the water. I didn't even care that the second fish missed. We headed to the remaining ships in the clump and used our guns to send them to the bottom. As I watched them explode my crew began the surface run for the last runner and waited. My last quarry was running fast and I could see that even so she was hurt pretty bad. My torpedo left her taking on enough water in the bow that I swear I'd see her props surface soon. I made a gun solution that would fire a single high explosive at the bow and then move to add some holes in the rear. The crew fired the bow shot and I was so surprised I let out a whoop. The shell must have hit ammo because the entire ship lifted out of the water upon the hit. The explosion threw her so far out of the air that the entire empty ship line was showing. It then hit the water, broke up, and went down bow-first so quickly that I was watching nothing but floating boxes. This was a long night of riches: 11 cargo ships and 3 war ships and no one complained when I said we were heading back for a refit. I guess the Brits thought they could easily sneak in a large group of ships late at night without any escort. I went back to my cabin, pulled out a nice bottle of scotch and went around personally congratulating each shipmate. __________________ ________________________________________ From the depths of the sea you shall never know my presence until it is too late.

10-07-13, 12:03 AM	#2
V13dweller Grey Wolf Join Date: Dec 2012 Location: Perth, Western Australia Posts: 768 Downloads: 101 Uploads: 2	Are you sure your not a Novelist or Writer? Because this is an excellent read. It does sound like when you sunk the destroyers near the beginning it appears you did not have TDW's IRAI mod installed, because attacking a HK group is almost certain death with this mod, adding to the challenge. Other than that, it's great.

10-07-13, 12:47 PM	#3
gap Navy Seal Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: CJ8937 Posts: 8,215 Downloads: 793 Uploads: 10	Agree with V13, very good report if you don't mind, I have a question though: 11 merchants and 3 destroyers sunk in one patrol... do you command a nuclear submarine?