(Story) U-46 puts to sea again

[Laughing Swordfish]

Cool Steve.

At Flores in the Azores, Sir Richard Grenville lay

And a Pinnace like a fluttered bird came flying from far away

"Spanish ships of war at sea, we have sighted fifty three!"

Then spake Sir Thomas Howard:

"Fore God I am no coward!"

"But I cannot meet them here; for my ships are out of gear,and half my men are sick,

I must fly, but follow quick!

We are six ships of the line, can we fight with fifty three?"

Then spake Sir Richard Grenville:

"I know you are no coward.

But I have fifty men and more who are lying sick ashore.

I would count myself the coward, if I left them, my Lord Howard, to those Inquisition Dogs and the devildoms of Spain!"

So Sir Howard sailed away with five ships of war that day

Their sails disappearred into the summers heaven

And Sir Richard bore in hand all the sick men from the land, men of Bideford in Devon.

And they blessed him in their pain

That they'd not been left to Spain, to the Thumbscrew and the Rack, for the glory of the Lord.

That's me coming out of the story for a moment and attempting to quote a poem by Tennyson.

Fighting and beating the French and the Spanish is kind of in our genes now, we just need Calais back again, which was ours and most of France up to the reign of Bloody Mary; and even then there'll be an uneasy peace!

We're hated by the french, but the feelings mutual; we hammer them at every military event, and nowadays they don't even turn up. The scots and the welsh and certain of the Irish who have started murdering us again, we've fought them, and beat them, again and again through our history. Maybe that's why they don't like us? Can't they let it go?

Enough with the politics, I'm supposed to be running a boat....

RdB (LS)

[bookworm_020]

Is the U-46 lost at sea?? No contact has been heard!

[Laughing Swordfish]

U-46 and all hands still very much alive

It was my computer that died, and the new one is making me tear my hair out. Does anyone have a good thing to say about Vista?

More soon Kameraden.

LS

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by Laughing Swordfish

U-46 and all hands still very much alive

It was my computer that died, and the new one is making me tear my hair out. Does anyone have a good thing to say about Vista?

More soon Kameraden.

LS

How about...."It's a good alternative to Windows 3.10"

[Rhodes]

Originally Posted by jimbuna

How about...."It's a good alternative to Windows 3.10"

I think that is an insult to windows 3.10, dear sir!

The laptop of my girlfriend is also suffering for having vista! Oh the sweet times of windows 98!

[bookworm_020]

Lets hope Windows 7 is better than Vista!

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by bookworm_020

Lets hope Windows 7 is better than Vista!

I certainly hope so...my XP Pro is getting a little tired

[Laughing Swordfish]

I'm always fascinated to watch them.

Directly across from my cabin, they are locked in combat again.

Oscar and Viktor are hunched over a chess board in the radio room.

I play the Doc occasionally but he is too good for me. Viktor on the other hand is intelligent in his own way, as you would expect from a 20 words a minute morse man, and he has a streak of cunning which you might also expect from an ex convicted criminal, now reformed of course.

So they make a good match.

Viktor with a flourish, makes a bold move with his Queen. Oscar nods and smiles appreciatively, "Good move, Viktor" and stares at the board for the longest time.

He looks as if he is about to counter with his knight, when...

"ALARM!!!"

Willi is jumping straight down the ladder, with the shrill bell ringing, amid a shower of spray, and the rest of his watch dropping down in quick order.

We have been bumped many times before, but while you have to stay composed, or at least look composed, the heart always beats faster. Each one could be our last one.

Reuben already has the boat canting downwards, and Christian is rattling out steering orders even before I poke my head into the Control Room. We have to break track either port or starboard, so we're not in the same line as our wake.

Oscar's action station is basically back by his bunk, with his medical kit. But he knows better than to venture out into the gangway when we're crash diving. Here they come now. All available hands running , scrambling and tumbling through the hatches to lend weight to our bows, and get us deeper, quicker.

Willi is still panting and gasping.

"Sunderland, Kap. Right out of the clouds. We shouldn't have long to wait."

I'm looking at the depth guage as it sweeps more quickly now to 30 metres. Reuben and Christian have got us hard to starboard, and full speed on the electric motors.

"Wasserbomben! Zwei!"

Hans yells from under his earphones.

"Brace menschen! Hold tight!"

The bang and crash of the two charges went off to our port side. Close enough to knock us a little sideways, a bulb has blown, there's a slight spurt of water from one of the valves, and Christian has cut his forehead against a dial on the control room bulkhead, and he is swearing like a panzer grenadier.

In the meantime I notice Viktor and Oscar staring forlornly at their empty chess board. All the pieces have been scattered on the radio room floor.

"I suppose that makes it a stalemate, Sir" says Viktor ruefully.

"Not at all, Viktor." says Oscar, picking up the pieces.

"I can remember exactly where we left off"

And he proceeded to reposition the pieces on the board just as they were. Except that his vital knight was now strangely missing.

"I believe you are close to checkmate, Viktor...."

LS

[Hondo314]

HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE'S BACK!!! Good to hear from you, LS.

[bookworm_020]

Fear the chess board, more than the planes!

Welcome back LS!

[Laughing Swordfish]

So Oscar let Viktor win.

As he passed me with a swab and some antiseptic for Christian, murmuring "That boy is always in the wars..come to think of it, we're all in one"

"Doc, you have an extraordinary mind"

"Thank you Rollie, but these are extraordinary times."

Willi, still dripping wet is pressing his fingers to his lips in a kiss and touching the small Laughing Swordfish emblem we have painted near the ladder. He does this regularly, especially after an attack. Totally supersticious. I would say hopelessly so, but in fact that adjective is quite the opposite.

Otto has just woken up after a twelve hour shift in the engine room, and is clambering through to the control room demanding to know what all the fuss is about.

Kuki is complaining that his stew and dumplings have been spilled all over the deck, and lunch will now be delayed until dinner. So Cox is sending two of our lordships from the forward torpedo compartment to help mop up.

Bruno is up, rousing his boys who are complaining like hell. Third Watch are resting, and it should be back to Christian's First Watch next up, but he has blood dripping off the end of his nose, and Oscar confirms that the cut is deeper than it first looked.

Kurt is going around checking and tightening the valves, and Muller trying to replace the bulb in it's cage, slips on his arse on the wet deck to a huge round of applause from everyone in the Control Room.

Reuben is bringing us back up to periscope depth, and calling for some apple juice. Apparently he took a mouthful of sea water after that last alarm when Willi dropped down the hatch.

Dieter and Lenz are arguing over one of Viktor's paperback novels in the foreends, so Joachim has to steam in and end it.

Liebowitz, one of the plane control hands starts humming the Marlene Dietrich song, and before long the whole control room is singing along.

"Underneath the lamp post, by the barracks gate....."

I turn to look at Oscar, now applying a bandage to Christian's forehead.

Extraordinary times indeed, Doc.

But another ordinary day on U-46.

LS

[Jimbuna]

Perfect

[Laughing Swordfish]

"Come on Christian, we have to go"

"One more minute, Kap, and we'll have her"

He is squinting through the ZBO, the sighting bridge binoculars, and giving a constant stream of instructions down the pipe.

To our front is a large oil tanker, looks American built, part of a small but heavily escorted convoy clearly heading for the Straits and on to Malta, but still at least 1500 metres away

But I am anxiously looking to our stern. There is the unmistakeable silhouette of a destroyer, and her speed creates a bow wave that we call having a bone between her teeth. She's some way off yet, but I'm sure she's on to us, she is making a direct line towards our boat, like an angry dog that has discovered a wolf between him and his sheep. With at least 30 knots, we'll hear the barking and growling soon enough.

Which is where we are. It took a lot of stalking to get in behind the screen since this morning's sighting, a risky business just before dusk, and now we just need a little more time.

"We don't have a minute, Christian. It's now or never"

I looked back. I have already sent the rest of First Watch below. That destroyer is looking much bigger.

LS

[Laughing Swordfish]

"Come on Kap, we're pirates, risk is our game"

I had to smile as Christian grinned back to me. With the bandage around his head, some blood triclking over one eye, and his cap skewed backwards to look through the sight, he did look like a pirate.

"Let's do it. Also call for Viktor onto the bridge with the signalling lamp"

"OK.... Signaller to bridge, bring the lamp!" he bellowed"

He looks at me bemused.

"Eyes on the target Number One"

We think she's the Ohio, a massive tanker full of fuel for Montgomery's tanks, and worse for us their fighters and bombers.

Now down to 1300 metres. We are closing but so is the destroyer.

Viktor comes up blinking into the late afternoon sunlight with his morse lamp clutched tightly to his chest.

"Ein und zwei Los!" yells my Number One and the boat jerks back a little as the two eels hiss away on their deadly journey. At this range and this sea about 50/50 is all we can hope for.

Viktor is staring at me nervously.

"Viktor, do you see that shape in the distance?" I pointed back over the wintergarten. That's a British destroyer gaining on us.

He nodded

Well let's say hello, and goodbye. Something like "Hello Tommies, we have to go, see you later"

Viktor laughed and began flashing to the ship that could be our death.

When he finished, the lamp was passed down.

"I'll close the hatch lads, but before we go....

Silly bravado

We three stood on the Flak deck and raised a Churchill two-fingered salute to our pursuer. They must have seen it through their binos.

Jumping down the ladder, Otto already has the boat going down, even as I tighten the last hatch ring. Joachim has his stop watch in hand, the eels are running.

"20 port, Chief. level us off at 40metres. All ahead. We won't go quiet just yet. We're going to join the convoy."

"And hide underneath it" Christian smiled

LS

[Lagger123987]

More to the story, but seems RL stuff is taking a toll on you LS.