Story of U-53 - part 1

[VonApist]

Here we are. I will try to post one per day. Hope I make it..

In the relative dryness of the command room, two sailors helped Stephan to get out of his soaked coat. It was so wet, that the grey fabric was glued on the Oberleutnant’s uniform – it took the effort of all three of them to get rid of the damn thing. Relieved to be finally out of his wet outfit, Stephan put a blanket over his shoulder and headed towards his navigator.

“Guten Morgen Franz. What’s our current position?” he enquired, still shuddering from the cold. He would need to change pants and boots, fast. “Guten Morgen Herr Kaleun. We are currently 65km SSW of Rockall Banks, heading south. Assuming a speed of 4 knots we should reach our patrol grid in approximately… 6 hours and 40 minutes” the boat’s navigator replied checking his wristwatch.

“Where is Wolfgang” the Oberleutnant enquired referring to his second in command.

“He is in a private place where even kings go by themselves Sir ” Franz replied with a smile .“He is locked in there for the past 15 minutes. Doesn’t look good Herr Kaleun” the navigator added with a grin.

“OK Franz. For the next 45 minutes the boat is yours. Keep current speed and heading. Let me know as soon as the electrics are fully recharged – and ask Wolfgang to come to my cabin as soon as he re-emerges from the abyss.”

“Yes sir. Boat now with Navigator, speed 6 knots, current heading” Franz repeated out aloud to the helmsman, getting back to his maps.

With this, the Oberleutnant made his way towards his quarters. Walking by the Radio room, he peeked inside to see Heinrich performing one of his Hydrophone sweeps.

“Bit tough to spot any screws with the Hydrophone while surfaced and in this weather Heinrich.” Stephan commented. “But don’t take this as an excuse to stop.”

“You never know Herr Kaleun”. “I try one sweep every 8 minutes just in case. And anyways there’s not much I could do to keep myself busy at the moment. Unless there is a party in the torpedo room and nobody bothered to tell me” the red headed sonar man replied with a smile, earphones glued to his head.

Heinrich was one of the best hydro/sonar guys in the Flotilla. Never complacent, despite the boring chores of his task. He would stay glued to his earphones listening for sound contacts for as long as it took. Stephan was very glad to have him on board. While at base, he had to pull all his weight around to keep Heinrich part of the U-53 crew. Heinrich’s reputation as a sonar guy attracted the envy and transfer requests from many other U-boat captains, more often than not.

Stephan nodded and made his way towards his cabin. The ship was rocking violently as it cruised at 6 knots, surfaced, in the middle of the storm. It took an enormous effort to walk in a straight line. Jorg, U-53’s cook, handed him a mug of piping hot tea . The mug was half full to prevent a spillover. Stephan thanked the sailor and enjoyed a long sip. That was better.

He opened the cabin’s sliding door and placed his hot cup of tea on his desk. Stephan sat on the small stool next to his bed , took his boots and socks off and slipped to a new , dry pair of pants and jacket. According to regulations, smoking was not allowed in the U-boat. What the hell, I am the captain thought Stephan with a grin and lit his first Mokri of the day.