a 1941 gun duel between a merchant and U-boat

[Sailor Steve]

I doubt that's the case. If the gun is 40 feet in the air and trained flat the shell is going to hit the water in less than two seconds. The 4.7" DAMS gun had a muzzle velocity of 2330 fps, which means that it will hit the water at about 800 meters. The problem is that the 4.7"/45 could depress 10 degrees, which means that for it not to hit the U-boat is going to have to be right alongside. Most of the different DAMS guns were similar in elevation.

I think they just got surprised, the same as HMAS Sydney.

[TorpX]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

The problem is that the 4.7"/45 could depress 10 degrees, which means that for it not to hit the U-boat is going to have to be right alongside. Most of the different DAMS guns were similar in elevation.

I think they just got surprised, the same as HMAS Sydney.

Yes, I didn't know that the gun could depress 10°.

However, just saying they were surprised doesn't really explain the matter. 130 rds. of 8.8 cm shells cannot be fired off that quickly. Possibly they knocked out the rear gun first off, then methodically worked over the ship from the rear?

[Niedowidek]

That reminds me of gun duel between U-123 and Culebra. January 1942, Hardegen was out of torpedoes while returning from Paukenschlag mission.

As tension built in the control room Hardegen continued to watch intently as the target came on in the bright daylight. “One thousand meters … We’ll surface at six hundred … Use E motors and planes, LI… nine hundred … eight hundred … Stand by to surface! … seven hundred … Periscope down! Surface!”

“Turmluk ist frei,” Schulz sang out. “Boot ist raus!” “Hatch is free. Boat is up!” The gathered deck force clambered noisily up the ladder, the Old Man in the lead. Hardegen took in the scene with his glasses while the gun crews took their positions and the two guns received their first shells from the crew chain. What must emotions be like on that steamer? he wondered. No doubt its seamen shuddered inside to see this huge metal shark suddenly break the surface and bare its teeth. “Permission to fire!” Hardegen called fore and aft through the megaphone. The target was now four hundred meters distant. With a sharp clang the 10.5 breach closed, and a second later the muzzle erupted with the first shot, which cleaned the barrel. It fell well aft of the target. The second shot hit below the bridge, the third below the stack. From von Schroeter’s gun dense brown cordite smoke trailed aft across the conning tower. But now the enemy gun crew was training its weapon in 123′ s direction, and an incoming shell plunged into the water to port of the U-boat sending up a large column. “Take out that gun crew!” Hardegen yelled to the 2-cm machine-gun crew behind him, but they yelled back, “Herr Kaleu, the firing pin is broken!” Now four more incoming shells ricocheted off the water sending some fragments banging against the U-boat’s hull and others whistling past Hardegen’s head on the bridge. One puncture of the pressure hull, Hardegen worried, and 123 would not be able to dive anymore. The enemy gun crew had continued to fire while von Schroeter’s gun was pounding away at the hull beneath them— Hardegen would say later: “It must have been awful for that gun crew to feel our explosions just below them. I have to show my respect to the enemy: They stuck to their battle stations.” 12 But finally the U-boat’s aim and range combined to hit squarely on the target’s gun pivot, destroying the gun and killing the crew. Von Schroeter’s 10.5 crew raised their arms and cheered. A few more shots set the bridge on fire and silenced the machine guns. The freighter blew off steam, slowed, and began settling by the stern. The surviving crewmen went into lifeboats while the wireless operator, among the last to leave, put out repeated SSS signals. On 123 the belowdecks crew one after the other were invited to the bridge to see the dramatic picture of a burning, sinking ship.

Gannon, Michael. Operation Drumbeat: Germany's U-Boat Attacks Along the American Coast in World War II

[Aktungbby]

I imagine Herr Hardigan is still savoring his victory...at the age of 101 and still kickin' He puts the 'hard' in Hardigan ?!!! SS Culebra After taking care of the injured men, Hardegen questioned the first officer of Culebra and after being told that there is water in some of the lifeboats and they only had one holed bucket, he provided them several buckets, provisions for a few days, a knife to open the canned food and the course to the Bermudas. The U-boat then went back to the ship to fire a few more holes into the waterline until she sank by the stern. However, the lifeboats were never found, the master, 38 crew members and six gunners were lost. SS Culebra> http://www.wrecksite.eu/imgBrowser.aspx?31727