My best patrol ever!

[Syxx_Killer]

GWX 2 couldn't have come at a better time today. We are suppose to get about a foot of snow. We already got quite a bit and the winds haven't got strong yet (suppose to get as high as 40 mph). Drifts are going to be huge. Anyway, it is a good day to hunt some convoys. Little did I know that it would be my best ever! I can now join the ranks of the 100k ton club.

The patrol started easy enough. I was tasked with patrolling BE61. I left Wilhelmshaven on October 24, 1939, not really expecting anything to happen this patrol. I enjoyed the scenery while leaving then plotted a course to the patrol grid. I didn't want to go through the English Channel. I have never trusted it. I would rather sail up nort of Scapa Flow. My plotted course took me through BE38. I was traversing it when I got a couple contact reports. Turns out they were some fat, juicy tankers. Both enemy. My first kills. I reached my patrol grid some time later. It was a rather uneventful 24 hours until I received a ship spotted message. Being alone with no DDs nearby, I want to try an attack on the surface. Turns out it was just a coastal freighter. I gave the order to fire a magnetic torpedo. Turns out it was a dud. I did not want to waste another torpedo on such small prey, so I ordered the deck gun crew on deck. Being the first deck gun engagement of the war, it was good practice. The ship took its final plunge at 17:02. After the patrol time was spent, I decided to head northeast. I head back to and reach BE38 a couple days later and stumble upon the convoy of a lifetime. It is earlier in the day. Clear skies, good visibility and the spot of a lifetime - HMS Rodney! There is no way I am going to let a prize such as that get away. I head on a parallel course on the port side of the convoy heading northwest. They are just barely in view when I notice the lead DD making a beeline right for me. "How the hell did he spot me?", I wonder. I could just barely see them,how could he see me? It is a A&B DD. I order periscope depth. I get my rear torpedo ready. I set it for 1m under his keel. I open order the outer door and give the order to fire. Direct hit! Explodes right under the bow. The DD takes a nose dive and is but a memory. I scope out the convoy and notice something - that was the only DD! I really begin to salivate now. I give the order to surface and order ahead flank. I'm racing along at 17 knots - the very most U-46 could give. I felt like saying "Give me 110% on the reactor!", but realized that is a few decades away yet. Anyway, it the Rodney was somehow able to spot me at very long distance. I could still barely make it out. What a rush it is racing along at flank being fire upon by a battleship! She opened up on me with her secondary weapons. Then she turned her primary guns at me. There's nothing like the sound of shells wizzing by over head and splashing nearby. Some misses to close. Too close.






The BB is in the ring of my anntenae in this shot. Just a bit of messing around with the camera.



Once I get into position I order periscope depth much to the relief of everyone else on board! There she is.



The convoy is zig-zagging now and I am not going to risk it. I switch to magnetic contacts. I only have six torpedoes left at this point. My previous encounters really ate up the fish. I have 5 forward torps and 1 rear. I get my four forward torps ready. Ready. Aim. Fire! I originally sent three torpedoes towards the BB. Then I kind of panic at the thought of that might not be enough so I send a fourth. All four are direct hits! She slows to a crawl and eventually stops. The convoy's main source of protection is going down!





Part 2 coming...