U-45 "Der Wein" Eighth Patrol

[ECV56_PolTen]

19:26 I U-Turn and fire again with tube V to the T3, failing again; Rats!, I would like to see her explode.
19:37 I U-Turn again with tube IV reloaded and fire on the liner.
19:39 Torpedo hits the mark and the liner stops close to a pair of C2 already damaged and dead in the water.



19:45 With the last torpedo in tube V, I try a new shot on the tanker, but she ruins it varying speed and course. Where is the radio officer?!!... No, let's focus on the task at hand... just for now.
Ok, I don't have more torpedoes, but I have a deck gun, with a liner, and two C2 ahead, and one more in the ditance, all dead in the water.



We keep submerged wainting for the rest of the convoy and the corvette to sail away.
20:30 Impatienly I surface, but surely the ships spot us and radio for help, since the sonar officer yells that the corvette is coming back, very fast... woozies. We submerge again and wait. A few minutes later the corvette returns to the convoy; they must think we run away.
22:00 With the convoy gone, and no warship sounds near, we surface and start the slaughter.



I order to fire at the liner with HE shells. The gunners score almost everey shot, but we run out of HE shells and the liner is still afloat; tough one.
We load AP and fire on a C2.
22:17 After some hits, she sinks.



We attack the liner again.
22:20 This time she gives up.



Attack on the second C2
22:29 Another one to the David Jones' locker.



We march at 1/3 toward the third. At firing distance we fire the deck gun, sinking her at 23:00



In a questionable decision, since I don't have any torpedo left, I continue going east trying to find the convoy.

[ECV56_PolTen]

May 2nd, 1940.
01:00 We spot the corvette at starboard, heavily listing astern; it seems that they met another U-boat. Ahead, we spot the smoke colums of the convoy and barely see some ships damaged or listing. We surely have another U-boat here... Wolf Pack, baby! Ha!



Just for fun, I order to attack the corvette with the deck gun and the little ammo left, but at the third shot they return the favour and use their spotlights. Wit only 13 shots left I stop pressing our luck and dive away.
23:25 On surface we send our patrol report, and the BdU orders to return to base... No! Really?

May 3rd, 1940.
16:51 The chief engineer reports the fuel reserve at 50%.
21:43 By dead reckoning the navigator estimates we are south of Torshaven and North of Stornoway, british waters.



May 4th, 1940.
06:33 On surface, we are jumped by two Walrus planes that drop their bombs but with minor damages to the deck gun and flak. When they are turning for another run I dive.
In rage I order the radio officer to beat the watch guard for not seeing those planes; with tears of joy in his eyes he thanks me deeply and grabs a nearby crowbar. We level at 70 meters.



22:00 I go to periscope depth, and look around; with no ship or plane in sight we surface to ventilate, recharge batteries, and do some minor repairs.

May 5th, 1940.
06:00 Down, 70 meters.
11:02 Sound contact; warship closing fast on port, long range. Slow down to 1 knot and rig for silent running.



11:24 The warship starts to move away and half an hour later she's gone.
13:55 I secure from silent running, and accelarate to 3 knots, ahead slow.
22:00 Periscope search before surfacing to recharge.

May 6th, 1940.
I submerge during day and surface at 22:00. Rain again, lousy weather.

May 7th, 1940.
Since we left the danger zone we keep on surface to reach Wilhelmshave as soon as possible.

May 8th, 1940.
We are at 800 km from home.
12:52 Fuel reserves at 25%

May 9th, 1940.
09:48 We arrive at Wilhelmshaven. We sunk 6 merchants with a total of 61.000 tons. BdU lets me promote three men and give medals, three Iron Crosses 2nd class, one first class, and 12 U-Boat Front Clasp.



Te "Der Wein" is the top scoring sub of the OKM. To celebrate we have some beers at the local bar and beat the radio officer.

Thanks to ImageShack for Free Image Hosting

P.S.: No radio officer was harm while writing this report.

[Konovalov]

Fantastic mission that you have shared. Some really impressive tonnage on that mission.

[thegroo]

Very interesting to read

Regards
Dieter

[The_Blockade_Runner]

I enjoyed reading that and the screenshots are nice

[Corsair]

Nice report, thanks for taking the time... That sure was someting of a convoy, and with only a Flower to look after it

[ECV56_PolTen]

I guess the "lack" of escort is because I am still at the early stages of the war. In my previous patrol I found another large convoy (not so large at this one) without any escort, but some of the ships had defense cannons, that took their toll in my hull integrity (Noob asking for trouble thinking he's untouchable manning the deck gun )

[Firebird]

Nice read, thanks for posting it! Poor radio officer .