Writing mood. U-137 hitting the convoy routes.

[VonApist]

"The periscope is still up sir" Gerald whispered to his Kaleun's ear.

He was right. Having the periscope up for an extended period of time in such close vicinity to Allied escorts was very risky.

Stephan nodded and gave the order to retract it. He moved his big frame towards the U-Boats' sonar box.

"Jorg. I dont know how you're gonna do it, but you have to locate the 7th warship, pronto. I will slowly turn the boat to starboard in case she is in your hydrophone's blind spot. Let me know as soon as you get a fix on her. We dont have much time."

"Yes sir" the sailor replied and focused on his hydrophone sweep.

"Chief. Speed 1 knot. And, Albert, keep RPMs below 100 at all times. Turn 20 degrees to starboard."

At a snail pace the U-Boat started its anorexic turn. Stephan kept checking his wristwatch. They would have to complete their circle before the convoy's pass from their attack spot. It would be tight. But Stephan was not going to risk an attack at low visibility with a warship unaccounted for. For all he knew, this warship could be positioned for an attack run as they spoke.

The crew fully complied with ther Kaleun's order for ultimate silence. All that could be heard was the low humming of the electric engines and the occasional creak of the hull as U-137 started to turn.

They were all, or most of them, experienced, patrolling the Atlantic for more than 3 years. They had seen their fair share of convoy attacks. Everybdy knew, that it was all up to the Kaleun and their efficiency in obeying his orders fast and effectively.

They trusted Stephan. He had managed to pull off some spectacular attacks and always seemed to have a hand for moving them out of harms way when things got nasty. Like their encounter 7 months ago when they were pinned down at relatively shallow waters by 2 Tommie destroyers. Despite the long depth charge barrage, they managed to escape with only some dents on their hull.


Half way through their turn,Jorg's agitated whisper broke the eery silence. "Sir, i think I got her. Bearing 330 but she is moving at a slow speed within the convoy lanes. Its a warship but she doesnt sound or move at the pattern of a destroyer, sir."

"Good job Jorg." Stephan replied relieved. "If its not a destroyer, it may prove a juicy target." He turned towards his Chief.

"Albert, 30 degrees to starboard, lets complete this turn as soon as possible. I want to reposition the boat and have another look. The convoy should be within our visual range by know. We dont have much time"

"Yes sir. Rudder 30 degrees to starboard, move it gentlemen" the Chief ordered as the helmsmen oblidged.

"All stop. Rudder 0 degrees" the Chief ordered and turned towards Stephan.
"We have completed our turn sir."

"Thanks Albert. Periscope UP"

Stephan glued his face on the eyepiece and started scanning the horizon. Visibility remained low but the convoy was close. The sound of the merchants propellers could be now heard, albeit faintly, without the need for a hydrophone.

He turned the scope to the left. Damn they were close. The convoy was closing in . His U-boat was positioned within the lanes. Thankfully, he didnt have to move to avoid the approaching vessels. He started identifying targets to his second.

"Gerald. We only have 3 eels ready to go. Lets find a juicy one...5,000 ton steamer... Granville.... couple of medium cargos....wait... I think I have the warship. Scheisse! Its a light cruiser. Range 900m Must be Southampton class....check penant C76 on the recognition manual" Stephan ordered as his second in command fumbled through the manual's pages to find the vessel.

"Its HMS Newcastle Herr Kaleun. Eleven thousand tons!!"

"Ok Gerald. We have our target. Assume weapon officer duties. We will go for the cruiser."


"Ok Gerald. Target Bearing 340, give me length"
"170m sir. mast height 27m"

Stephan, eyes still glued on the periscope retrieved a small notebook and a pencil from his breast pocket. With his left hand he grabbed his wristwatch.

"Ok Gerald. 2 Degrees, Mast height 27m . Length 170. Calculated distance..." Stephan scribbled calculations on his notebook
"...930m". He pressed the starter of his stopwatch and after a minute scribbled again. "No time for precise measurement Gerald, approx speed 7 Knots"

"Open tubes 1 and 2"

"Tubes 1 and 2 open and flooded sir"

"Confirm depth 2.5 metres, impact pistol.... Albert, make sure that the torpedo compensating tanks will keep us below surface...."

"Yes sir" his Chief replied.

Stephan continued

"Gerald. Get ready to calculate solution. Bearing 355, speed 7 knots, Impact angle 90, leading angle 30.. ."

Gerald inputed the data into the TDC.

"Solution ready Sir!!"

"Fire tube 1" Stephan ordered as he pressed the starter of his stop watch.
"Torpedo out"

He let 5 seconds pass

"Fire tube 2"

"Torpedo out sir"


Stephan stepped back and retracted the handles of his periscope. According to the torpedoe's speed and targets heading, impact should be in roughly 50 seconds, if his calculations were right.

"Periscope DOWN. Albert take us down to 150m. Speed 1 Knot. Silent running. Rudder 5 degrees left. Lets move before the fireworks!"

"Yes sir" the Chief acknowledged.

They had barely passed the 20m mark when the first explosion was heard, or more correctly FELT as it was pretty close. Then the second!

They had hit it! A low cheer rose from the crew on their success. But there was no time for celebrations. Now the escorts knew that they were there. They had to get out. Fast.

They had passed the 30m depth mark when they heard something resembling the sound of a diapason hitting their U-boat's hull...

"Enemy sonar pinging us" Gerald reported.

"Chief, rudder 10 degrees to port... Jorg warship contact update"

"2 escorts approaching sir, bearing 060 and 240, moving fast. 060 medium range."

The pinging sound became more fast and intense.

"Keep taking us down Chief. I dont care about silence. Full Ahead. Lets go down deep, fast. Depth 150m. They know we are here."

He then turned towards the crew at the Zentrale.

"Get ready for a bumpy ride gentlemen. It seems that we have really pissed them off."

(To be continued)

*******************
PS thanks for commenting. It motivates me to keep writing.

[TwoGamers]

This is really inspiring I like to write occasionally and this inspired me to start writing some stories about submarines thx

[Mowgli]

I just read the whole lots again and if this was a book I would buy it.

You could call the book "Kaleun".

[VonApist]

Actually I am writing a book ! But with a different story and a different Uboat.

[VonApist]

U-137 continued its dive towards the bottom of the ocean. It was fast, noisy and sloppy. Everybody on board knew that. But, all knew that since they had already been detected by the escorts above, their only chance lay in diving as deep as possible, as fast as they could.

The dive's steep angle had forced all sailors to lean on the hull, on a table or a bunk to keep their footing. There was no commotion inside the U-Boat, but it was obvious that adrenaline hit highs. Her captain could feel it, in the stiffening bodies of the crew.

This was good. Adrenaline sharpened the senses and increased efficiency. It was his duty to keep it flowing but preventing it from transforming into panic. The survival instict makes people give their 110%. Panic dismantles all.

Stephan turned towards his Chief. "Alber, please put a damage control team in place."

"Yes sir" the red-headed LI replied, heading towards the engine room.

"Gerald, depth please"

"Depth 60m descending"

At that moment a muted sound of explosions rattled the boat.

"She is going down sir!" the sonarman reported. "And she's close!"

Faint smiles across the Zentrale, but noone was in a real mood for cheers. The tables had turned. Now THEY were the pray.

"Rudder 15 degrees to port" Stephan whispered.

"Depth 70m sir" Gerald reported again, eyes glued to the needle.

"We need to get down as fast as possible, Chief. Give us all you got. At 100m we will turn silent. We need to get at that depth ASAP"

He then turned towards the sonar box

"Update me on escorts, Jorg"

"Yes sir. We have two destroyers coming our way. The one closer Bearing 055, short distance, speed fast. The other one is now heading 180 turning to our side. Medium distance."

Stephan took of his cap and wiped his eyebrow from perspiration. He needed a moment to gather his thoughts.

Yes they had nailed the cruiser. He wondered if he would be the one and only commander of a Type-II with such a prize under his belt. But there was no time for vanity. Maybe later. At port. Now he had other business to attend to. Their escape.

Thankfully the weather was bad, a fact that prohibited the mighty RAF from patrolling over him as they were relatively close to shore. That was good.

It was him vs the crews of the destroyers. His boat presented a relatively small target. On the other hand their crush depth was limited. In her shakedown trip, U-137 dived down to 167m before taking damage. They would have to take advantage of every centimentre of that.

"Depth 100m" the voice of Gerald interrupted his thoughts.

The pinging sound continued. It was chilling, no matter how experienced one was.

"Chief. Speed 1 knot. RPMs below 100. Rudder zero degrees" Stephan whispered on the intercom. "And please come at the Zentrale"

At that moment, Jorg's head came out of the sonar box

"The destroyer is on top of us sir!"

With this, everybody on board instictively looked upwards, as if there gaze could pierce the 100m of cold ocean and see their hunter above.

"Depth Charges in the water, sir"

"Gentlemen, brace for explosions." He turned to Albert who had just entered the Zentrale. " Chief, notify the damage control team and get ready to move full ahead after the first explosions"

Depth charges interfered with the detection systems of escorts. It usually took some minutes for the hunters to recalibrate their ASDIC in order to launch another search. That left a window of opportunity for U boat captains to change course at high speed and avoid the trail of death.

"Its cat and mouse again boys. And now we are the mice" Stephan adressed his crew at the Zentrale with a grin.

Suddently two muted bangs where heard in succession, followed by another two, much closer.

The last barrage seemed to have exploded right on top of them. The sound was deafening and the small U-Boat rocked violently as the electric lighting failed.

The unmistakable sound of hissing water chilled the spine of Stephan.

"Emergency lights on. Chief, damage report" he shouted as the boat tilted, to an unnatural angle, slowly descending toward's the ocean's abyss...

(To be continued)

[TwoGamers]

I don't like this, I have a feeling they got in too deep this time

[VonApist]

The emergency lights were switched on in less than 3 seconds. Holding tightly the map table with both hands in order to keep his footing against the steep angle of their dive , Stephan had a look around. Water was coming in from the conning tower hatch.

Immediately 2 sailors with pliars attacked the spot.

But Stephan was not worried about flooding. They were descending towards the ocean's floor fast. Too fast.

"Depth 120m sir" Gerald reported anxiously

He turned to the Chief. "Albert, report damages"

"Just the leak from the hatch Stephan. The wave of the explosion pushed the bow down hard. No structural damage but we need to level, fast"

Stephan watched the 2 sailors securing the hatch. It was still leaking, but pretty much under control.

"I know Chief. All stop. Dive planes full up. Rudder full left. We need to balance, fast"

The Chief obliged. Their rate of descent decelerated but they were still sinking.

"Depth 130m" the second in command reported, as the hull produced a chilling creaking sound.

"No good Stephan. Need to balance. We are still diving nose down."

U-137's captain looked at his Chief. They had one last card to play. But if they did, they would be detected, as this was a noisy card.

One problem at a time Stephan thought. Survive this and deal with the escorts later.

He pressed the intercom button. "All crew to the stern. Fast."

" Chief. Flood rear ballast tanks. Blow bow tanks. Pronto". Stephan barked in an effort to bring the bow up and level the boat.

"Depth 140m sir" Gerald reported as the crew from the bow torpedo room darted from the hatch running towards the stern in an effort to alter U-137s center of gravity.

The commotion was incredible as the U-boat's torpedoman zig - zagged between the crew in the Zentrale. The latter were pulling levers and releasing the vents, controlling ballast tanks. The noise of sprinting sailors, the hissing sound of ballast tanks and the voices of petty officers was so loud, that the escorts above would hardly need a hydrophone to detect them.

"Depth 150m"

"155"

Slowly, at a snail's pace, the angle of their descent decreased. The ballast tanks seemed to have done the trick. But they were not level yet. They were still sinking. At a lower rate, but still sinking

"158m Sir" Gerald reported

"160m"

They were approaching their crush depth. And they could do nothing more about it. Just pray that they would manage to level before the hydrostatic pressure crushed their hull into oblivion.

All eyes on the Zentrale were now focusing on the depth needle
162m
163m

A loud groaning sound, reverberated throughout the U-boat. Pressure. Their killer on the hunt.

The crew moved on their seats, uncomfortably. Most of the sailors were wet with sweat from their effort to regain control of the U-boat and from fear, which was now knocking at the doors of their souls.

Knock - Knock

164m

Knock-Knock

165m

The hull creaked again. How long will it hold?

The muted glow from the red emergency lighting added to the solemn atmosphere. It was surreal.

Stephan felt that he was in a dream. Trapped in a metal catacomb.
But it was the real thing. Hans, the helmsman was staring blankly at the steel hull above him, his gaze mechanically following the riny drops of condensation dripping from the ceiling to the floor.

Jurgen crossed himself, discreetly, murmuring a silent prayer.

But there was no God under the cold ocean. They were too deep for Him to see them. It was up to them. The boat was slowly levelling. But they were still sinking. It was angle vs depth.

Knock-Knock
166m

Knock-Knock
167m

That was it. We will never make it Stephan thought as they passed their tested crush depth. He turned towards Albert.

The depth gauge showed 168m

Death was not knocking at their door. Death was now banging it with a sledgehammer.

The Chief was pale. A sad smile on his face. His fists were clenched, so tight that his knuckles had turned white. The silence was so thick, it was deafening.

Suddenly, all hell broke loose.


(To be continued)

[TwoGamers]

Eh? whats that knock knock sound? the sound of the hull or the sound of pinging?

[Parkera]

No its the man they left on the tower when they went down lol.

[VonApist]

"....fear, which was now knocking on the doors of their souls."

The forgotten sailor on tower watch was not a bad idea actually

[ShadowSlayer1]

I can hardly wait till the next installment, I am on the edge of my seat!
Very nice!

[zygoma]

During our brief commercial break, I opt for the noise being Poe's "Raven", thusly:
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore--
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
"'Tis some visiter," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door--
Only this and nothing more."
********************************************
And VonApist: as HW3 pointed out, your grasp of English is much better than many of our "locals" here in the States. I recently visited Iceland for a gamer fanfest, and was humbled to learn that all citizens there learn Icelandic and English at a minimum in school, and typically at least one or two European languages through secondary school. I feel lucky to have had 8 years of Spanish. And were it not for having joined a college fraternity, I could not read the Greek alphabet as single letters; I do not comprehend the tongue at all.
The very minor differences between your writing style of English and what might typically be expected are hardly worth mentioning; the story itself is so engrossing that it makes the reader (at least in my case) keep reading ahead. The suspense is killing me. And I cannot hold my breath this long!
Great job!!

[VonApist]

First of all thank you all for the kind words. They give me motive to keep writing.

Here's the update.

********************

A deafening sound reverberated throughout the hull of the U-boat. The bow was suddenly raised and the boat rocked violently throwing sailors and officers on the floor.

The emergency lights flickered, went off and then on again in a blink. Multiple explosions were heard from below the hull. At the same time the chilling sound of twisting metal came from above as the conning tower, the Uboats softer spot, started to yield to the hudrostatic pressure of the deep.

Panic gripped the crew and Stephan could hear shouts of agony, mixed with obscene curses and muffled prayers. All at the same time.

Gerald moved first to secure the Zentrale's hatch. Seconds later the rush of water could be heard, breaching the upper conning tower. Close.. Too close.

Stephan checked the depth gauge.

169m. But their bow was now up! He didnt care how this had happened.He would think about it later. He only had a few seconds to take advantage of the situation, before the boat slipped stern first towards the ocean's abyss.

"Chief. Ahead Flank. Rudder zero degrees. Level Planes. Give me all you got" Stephan shouted on the top of his lungs to be heard over the commotion, as Albert rushed to the controls to gain prescious seconds.

"Everybody get a grip of yourselves! Crew to stations! I dont plan to die today. Move your butts sailors. On the double. " Stephan barked in an effort to rally his crew. Dont let panic settle. Be on top.

The humm of the electric engines filled the room. The lights were still flickering. Come on. Come on.... Come ON Stephan mumbled to himself as he felt the boat moving slowly ahead, eyes stuck on the needle.

169m....the needle was stuck

Another barrage of explosions was heard from below. This time, further to their starboard.

169m.... the sound of twisting metal has stopped but the hull groaned from fatigue.

169m Come on you son of a b**ch Stephan cursed under his breath. The helmsman had resumed their positions and the Chief was now near him, eyes glued on the depth gauge

And then... the needle moved. Everybody held their breath.

168m
167m


"Speed 2 knots" Gerald reported, we are moving up sir!llll

A collective sigh of relief. Then the first muted laughter, followed by an explosion of celebrations. Sailors patted each other's back, hugging. Fists in the air. The tention of the past minutes, which seemed an eternity, was now released violently. Absolute fear was transformed into absolute joy. In less than a minute...

Stephan turned to Albert. "Chief damage report. Set depth 140m. Turn to silent running, max RPM at 75 as soon as we reach it".

"What the hell was that" Gerald enquired. "How did THAT happen?"

"I think that we have to thank the Brits. Their hedgehog barrage somehow missed us and the force of the explosion somehow pushed or bow up."

He turned to the crew, which was still celebrating. "Boys. Keep quiet. We have escorts looking for us on the surface. We are not out of the woods. The next one to make a sound, will be in my report. And trust me gentlemen, no-one wants to be there for the wrong reason"

"Jorg. Report warship contacts."

The Chief had returned to the Zentrale with his damage report. "Conning tower damaged. Some dents in the torpedo room. Wouldnt go deeper than 150 again. Just to be on the safe side. I gave the order to put up the wooden beams in the torpedo room and the engines for that extra meter of depth"

At that time Jorg's head protruded from the sonar box. "Two escorts on top of us Sir".

148m

"Ok Chief. Silent Running. Max PRMs 75. Maintain current depth. Rudder 10 degrees to port. "

He turned to the crew. "This is it gentlemen. You know the drill. Utmost silence. Lets try to get the hell out of here".

With this, it seemed that the crew collectively held its breath. The men turned their heads up towards the surface expecting the inevitable depth charge attack. They were already as deep as possible. Now they had to remain silent, undetected. And hope that their damaged hull would make it through.

Every little sound, every little creak of the hull, now sounded magnified. It felt as if the men could hear the heartbeat of the sailors sitting next to them. As if the sound of their collective heartbeat could betray their position to the escorts above.

Jorg took of his headset and whispered, agitation in his voice

"Depth charges in the water, sir"

(To be continued)

[VonApist]

To whom it may concern:
swamped with work, but next installment coming soon.

[sharkbit]

C'mon Maaaaan! Don't leave us hanging like this.