The Tale of Two Trawlers

Snow White Sorrow · 02-16-10, 08:39 AM

Once upon a time my Type VII was returning to her home port after a fruitless Atlantic sortie. She had many torpedoes left and decided to take a foray up to the British Isles, somehow evading all British patrols and sunk two tankers with long range torpedoes into a busy port.

Sneaking out I was intercepted by a squadron of PT boats which sped past without seeing me, then just when gaining the safety of open waters in less than calm seas I was chanced upon by an armed trawler that somehow appeared less than 4000 metres away and started firing.

While I could have crash dived and snuck away from the slow ASW ship this time I decided that the U-boat's tiny frontal profile in low trim and the heaving seas gave me an advantage over the makeshift warship and I was right; tracer fire from MGs and shells from their single bow cannon arced harmlessly overhead as the sub eased into the swells, partially submerged.

Unfortunately, the moderate seas made my deck gun useless as well and a savage exchange of MG fire ensued. At this time the range had closed to literally spitting distance and just when the enemy 3 inch gun was about to blow me out of the water as I passed the bow of the trawler, a lucky burst of 20mm C36 fire impacted upon the 3" barbette, destroying it. Circling back around like Russel Crowe's HMS Surprise, withering fire from my 20mm AA gun defeated both enemy MG emplacements in turn without any damage to ownship. At that point it was just a matter of raising the boat to surface trim and a few shots into the declawed trawler did the rest.

Slipping out of English coastal waters I proceeded to hunt some coastal shipping off the coast of soon to be defeated France and chanced upon another ASW trawler in calmer seas.

I was observing this again quaint and jury rigged so-called warship and suddenly AA and 3 inch gunfire erupted from the French ASW craft at what seemed to be over 7,000 metres. I was not amused at all as I gave the order for ahead flank, accelerating to over 15 kts zigging left and zagging right yet the French long range gunnery unerringly straddled my uboat with every salvo.

Before I could comment on the impossible accuracy of the French gunners, a critical hit ended my career instantly.

02-16-10, 08:39 AM	#1
Snow White Sorrow Sailor man Join Date: Feb 2010 Posts: 50 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	The Tale of Two Trawlers Once upon a time my Type VII was returning to her home port after a fruitless Atlantic sortie. She had many torpedoes left and decided to take a foray up to the British Isles, somehow evading all British patrols and sunk two tankers with long range torpedoes into a busy port. Sneaking out I was intercepted by a squadron of PT boats which sped past without seeing me, then just when gaining the safety of open waters in less than calm seas I was chanced upon by an armed trawler that somehow appeared less than 4000 metres away and started firing. While I could have crash dived and snuck away from the slow ASW ship this time I decided that the U-boat's tiny frontal profile in low trim and the heaving seas gave me an advantage over the makeshift warship and I was right; tracer fire from MGs and shells from their single bow cannon arced harmlessly overhead as the sub eased into the swells, partially submerged. Unfortunately, the moderate seas made my deck gun useless as well and a savage exchange of MG fire ensued. At this time the range had closed to literally spitting distance and just when the enemy 3 inch gun was about to blow me out of the water as I passed the bow of the trawler, a lucky burst of 20mm C36 fire impacted upon the 3" barbette, destroying it. Circling back around like Russel Crowe's HMS Surprise, withering fire from my 20mm AA gun defeated both enemy MG emplacements in turn without any damage to ownship. At that point it was just a matter of raising the boat to surface trim and a few shots into the declawed trawler did the rest. Slipping out of English coastal waters I proceeded to hunt some coastal shipping off the coast of soon to be defeated France and chanced upon another ASW trawler in calmer seas. I was observing this again quaint and jury rigged so-called warship and suddenly AA and 3 inch gunfire erupted from the French ASW craft at what seemed to be over 7,000 metres. I was not amused at all as I gave the order for ahead flank, accelerating to over 15 kts zigging left and zagging right yet the French long range gunnery unerringly straddled my uboat with every salvo. Before I could comment on the impossible accuracy of the French gunners, a critical hit ended my career instantly. __________________ "A spoken word is a fired torpedo"