Transfered to Panang

[David I]

On the morning of Oct 5, in heavy seas we got a radio intercept. Plotted an interception course and bye and bye got a radar contact. Two ships in column. I assume they are armed and the seas are rough so I set up for a submerged attack.

As they got closer I identified the lead ship as a Granville and the second as a Medium Cargo, both of just under 5,000 ton. I set my three bow TIII torpedos for 1m to 1.5m beneath their hulls turn until I'm about 30 degrees off the 90 degrees to their course and fire two torpedos at the Medium. I then turn hard to port and brought up the Granville and fired my third torp. I heard the explosion of a premee torpedo. Damn. The Medium got hit by the second torpedo and veared sharply to port just as the Granville's torpedo hit.



Great! But wait a moment, both ships are proceding at 9 knots. I spun the U-129 hard to port and got off a stern shot at the Medium as she went by. A good solid hit amidships and she broke in two.



Now for the Granville. There she is steaming away at 8 knots, one better than I can do. I began the pursuit The crew frantically loaded torpedos and I wait until the Granville straightens out his course. He must have thought I was gone. My batteries are running low and I take a long shot at a bad angle trusting in the depth setting of the T III. The torpedo travels about 600m of the 1200m to the target when it too premees. I'm going to loose my prize! I foolishly fire another torpedo and am rewarded with a complete miss. Time to rethink as the Granville pulled steadily away.

New plan. I drop my speed and head North, letting the Granville gain more distance to the South East. When the Granville is about 2,000m + away I surfaced the boat and head North at high speed. The Granville sees the boat, started to zig zag and fired a couple of shots off with his stern chaser. I replotted a intercept course further down his anticipated course, but because I am recharging I am making only 11 to 12 knots in these seas. I stop the recharge at about 50% and the boat kicks up to 15 knots. Now I'm gaining on him. We kept just out of visual, used my radar to keep tabs on him I get ahead of the Granville. I began my starboard turn to intercept him when....

"Aircraft Spotted!" Crash Dive! He'd called the cavarly in and they were arriving just in time. The stern of the U-129 was still on the surface when the Wellington drops it's depth charges. Oh we are so dead. Bam. Bam. Bam. Leaks in three compartments, two of them serious. I rushed my damage repair parties to the worst hit. Gradually they started to get the upper hand. We hear more depth charges go off and I brought the boat to slow speed. Oh crap, my batteries are only 50% charged.



I waited for an hour and then surface. The pursuit began again. It was now getting dark, and my speed was slowed by the battery recharge, but this time I was determined to be patient. Got a radar fix, and stayed on it.

The pursuit went on into the early morning of the 6th of October, but finally I set up the shot I was looking for. I dove down for the attack.



Flood Tube One. Torpedo Loos. The end of the Granville.



All together we fired 7 torpedos (two premees one miss) for just under 10,000. I've got to do better.

Surface. Reverse course. Back to the patrol.

Crew is pretty tired, but morale is good.

[KL-alfman]

great work, Kaleu!
your stories are always thrilling and exciting.
pls keep them going.

[Sailor Steve]

Good stories! Keep it up!

[David I]

U-129 South West of Capetown

After the excitement of the 'Long Chase" the crew settles down and we search for enemy shiping. The seas remain high, but visiblily is moderate.
Minimal use of the radar during the day (I'm not sure it doesn't attact Allied Radar Detection). During the night, however, we get a radio intercept and an almost immediate radar contact. We set up the intercept and see it's a Coastal Freighter. In calm weather I would be tempted to take it on head to head in a long range gun duel (it's only packing a stern chaser) but the crappy weather stays with us.

Periscope level, flood tube 1, Loos....



The next day another Coastal Freighter crosses our path. Fatally...



With damage from the air attack and diesel fuel approaching 50% I'll hit anything that comes my way and go home. But in the hopes of bigger targets we move off to the West of Capetown.

Crew morale is good and they are recovering from the events of 5-10 and 6-10-44.

[David I]

From 8-10-44 to 12-10-44 the U-129 patrols to the West and South West of Cape Town with absolutely no joy. The seas are semi-rough with moderate to unlimited visiblity but not a sighting, radio intercept, radar contact or sound contact. These were such rich waters in 1942, what has happened? All in convoys? Well fuel is becoming a concern so will patrol to the South of Capetown with a view of heading toward home soon.

13-10-44 just South of Capetown we got a radio intercept, drew an intercept course and soon had a sighting. Small Freighter doing 9 knots to the South East. We submerged and set up our shot. At 800m a bow shot torpedo hits the 2000 ton vessel.



Her speed rapidly decreased to zero, and there she sat, and sat, and sat.
I wait one hour and then two. To hell with this. I hate to use two torpedos on a 2000 ton vessel. 2000 tons for one torpedo I can accept, but 1000 tons per torpedo is downright embarrasing. If the surface was half way calm I would move off her bow a sink her with gunnery. Damn. Reluctantly I set up a stern shot. Flood tube 6. Loos.



She goes down like a rock, of course. Well time to move on, we increased speed to Ahead Full and prepared to surface. As I was swinging the periscope to the 0 degree possition, I spot another ship!

Sure enough there was a Passenger Cargo ship entering the arena! Sailing straight and steady. She must not have seen the other go down. On the other hand I got no hyro-sound warning from my sound room either (that's one petty officer that will hear from me later). We set up our boat for a bow shot since tube 6 is reloading. At 1000m we fire.



She was hit and rapidly slowed to 0 knots, and then sat, and sat and sat.
Oh No, Not Again! Sure as big fishes eat little fishes, she's dead in the water and refuses to sink. Crap. Well this time I'm going to wait her out.
1 hour went by. 2 hours went by. 3 Hours! That's it! I manuvered to sink her with a stern shot, as I made my turn she listed slightly to port, her nose dipped and she began a long slow slide to the bottom.



We surfaced and headed to the South East. I took the time to take stock of our situation. Fuel is more than half gone, I've sunk 32,599 tons, I've two bow TIII, one bow TIV, 1 stern TIII and 1 stern TIV torpedos and known and unknown damage - Time to head home 11,000 + miles away.



The crew is tired, but morale is high.

[David I]

I decided to head North through the Mozambique Channel and hopefully get rid of the rest of my torpedos, then head East for Panang.

The weather from 14-10-44 till 18-10-44 was total crap. High seas and heavy rain. No contacts.


On the morning of the 19th the weather improves and soon the seas are calm and the rain stops. On 20-10-44 we get a radar contact and closer investigation shows a Coastal Freighter South bound. I was, more or less, directly in front of her, and she only has a stern chaser, the sea is calm, so...."Gun Crew on Deck". The engagement commences at 2,500m and closes rapidly:


I kept us to her front and although her zig-zagging allowed her to get a few shots off with her stern gun (which turned out to me a 40mm AA Gun), we badly outweighed her in weight of shell. Then suddenly it was over and we closed to take a closer look at our handy work.


We continue Northward with another victory and no expendature of torpedos.



Morale is high.

[David I]

The U-129 continued North into the Mozambique Channel. The weather got worse as we moved North, from 22-10-44 to 26-10-44 it rained constantly. On the 26th we received a radio intercept of a large convoy headed directly for us, but again I decided that we would have nothing to do with that and turned away. Visibility was terrible anyway.

On the 27th the skies cleared and we bagan to run a search pattern North and South in the Channel.



On 30-10-44 a Radar Contact, finially! A solid fix and we determine her course and set the ambush. An Empire Freighter going 9 knots, "Flood tubes two and three". "Torpedos Loos!" Since the seas were mild, I had set both torpedos .5m below her keel and we must have broke her back. She rapidly came to a halt, listed to starboard and went under.



With only 1 stern tube loaded with an offensive torpedo (I still had one bow and one stern homing torpedos), it is deffinatedly time to head home.
We plot out a direct route for Panang and set off.

The lads are tired, but the news that we are heading for port raises morale even higher.

[David I]

We set a direct course for Panang and head home at a ripping 8 knots. Half way there, about 5,000 miles out, we get a message to report to Jakarta. Transfered Again?!



We received that radio message twice, so we changed course to Jakarta. The crossing of the Indian Ocean was completely uneventful, no contacts of any kind and on 24-11-44 we arrived at our new berth in Jakarta.



No cheering crowds, no band, but safe at home. I received diamonds to my Knight's Cross with Swords and Oak Leaves which made me one of the most decorated, living, German sailors in the War. My crew received 2 Iron Crosses 2nd Class and one first. Now for a long, long shower, a series of very stiff drinks and then a very long sleep in a bed that does not pitch and roll.

[RConch]

Great story!

[David I]

Patrol #10 for the U-129 began on Dec. 14, 1944. Our patrol station was the Andaman Sea (just off Burma). We didn't find a single ship, of any kind there and began what turned out to be a tour of the Indian Ocean's shores. We followed followed the coast line and off Calcutta found some joy in the form a couple of Small Freighters. Aircraft were present but usually got good radar warning.

Around India we went and got another ship near Bombay. We then sailed to the Gulf of Oman hoping for tankers leaving the Persian Gulf, but again no joy. Southward we went past Oman and into the Gulf of Aden. In January we sank a few ships in the Gulf, including a perfect pair shot.
Two torpedos at two ships, striking almost simultaineously, each ship sank within a minute of each other. Lovely.



At the mouth of the Red Sea, again hoping for tankers, we got a rude shock - Egyptian Aircraft with no radar got perillously close to hitting us. On one occasion we took strafing damage.

We ended our patrol in the Mozambique Channel with only defensive torpedos and little fuel left. Back to Jakarta, where we arrived 31/3/44.



All together 39,000 tons. The convoy system is crushing us. The war news was all bad, but we are alive.



War Patrol #11. In the second week of April we had finally gotten enough fuel and supplies for another patrol. Destination - our old hunting grounds off South Africa. By now we had expected to hear great things from all the new super weapons promised but Berlin is strangely silient about them, apart from more promises. The Russians were in Vienna and threatening Berlin. The Allies had crossed the Rhine. How can we succeed?

Well duty is duty, and we were determined to do our part. We started across the Indian Ocean with little hope but with great determination.



On 30-4-45, with a Wagner dirge news came that Hitler had died in the defense of Berlin. The end cannot be far off. Then stunning news, Doenlitz had been appointed the new Head of State and he promised that the war would continue. The crew looked at each other, and then away, in order to keep their thoughts to themselves.

On May 7, 1945 we received the following dispatch:



It was over. After an active war of almost four years, my war was over. My duty was not however. Not until I got the crew back to Jakarta (where else to go?) could I relax my obligations and duty.

We reached Jakarta on 16-5-45. I thanked the crew for their loyal service, got gloriously drunk and stayed that way for days. I remember wondering how I was going to save my Knight's Cross from ending up in some Tommy's pocket.

It was so long ago, but it seams as if it was only yesterday.....

[Sailor Steve]

Congratulations on a job well done! A glorious career, and most importantly, surviving to bore your grandchildren with the story!

[RConch]

Well done Commander. A great sea story.
Sadly you have to put up with the Japs and their less than friendly attitude to their former allies till August\September.

[KL-alfman]

great story, was always eager to read your new log-entries.
good that you survived, now get drunk and think about a way to reach Germany .....

[David I]

Thanks guys. It was fun to write it up and added an extra umph to an already great game.

This was the first time I ever had a captain survive through the war's end. I have voluntarily retired some captains but most ended up on the bottom of the sea. I have no doubt that the transfer to Panang saved both my captain and his crew.

Cheers,

DavidI

[Jimbuna]

BE MORE AGGRESSIVE!!