My turn to brag

[Hakahura]

I'm not in the habit about bragging about patrols but I've just finished one of my best ever.
I've recently started a new career with 100% realism enabled. This was down to One Life Crisis's excellent new GUI with jagd tools. If you have'nt tried or got the hang of manual targeting yet, try this mod out because it's so good.

Lieutenant Commander, Herr Kaleun Kurt Linke set sail from Wilhemshaven in command of the U64 (a type IXB boot) on November 16th 1939.
It was his 6th patrol with this crew and they had performed well under his command. But this patrol was to be different.

For some unknown reason he threw his usual caution and common sense to the wind. It started when he gave his Navigation Officer an unexplanable course once they had cleared port. Yes they were to sail and patrol grid BF11 but Herr Kaleun wanted to go via the Channel. The crew were aghast. The war was only a few months old yet they all new of friends and comrades who had perished, fates unknown being lead through the channel by impatient skippers.

Jnr Lieutenant Emmo Akermann plotted the course anyway, after all what else could he do? The kapitain had never let them down, U64's paintwork was as unmarked as the day she was lauched down the slipway. U64 proceded at good speed, skimming across the Nord Zee, it's surface flat and clam as a mirror. As midnight approached the boot neared Dunkirque.

Siegfried Zapf a young boy of 19, could'nt believe his eyes. He wanted to shout out yet was unsure of himself. He tugged gently on Jnr Lieutenant Hagemann's sleeve and pointed on towards the starboard forward quarter. Unbelievable, upwards of 20,000 tons of passenger liner steaming from England to France, unescorted!

The kapitain was roused from his bunk and a submerged attack was conducted under his leadership. Kurt Linke returned to his usual cautious self during the attack though. Unwilling to risk loosing such a prize he ordered a salvo of 4 torpedos into the hapless liner. Within minutes she was ablaze from bow to stern and sunk below the waves in less than quater of an hour.

Linke rapidly surfaced the boot and headed for the Channel while darkness was on his side. Wary of mines he sped the U64 through the Channel on the surface at flank speed. He only dived reluctantly when dawn broke.

The following day way spent creeping, submerged, hugging the sea bed listening to all manner of shipping. None bothered the U64 or her crew who were as quite as the grave they surely expected, for such audacity. The channel does not belong to the Germans.

When darkness fell on the waves once again the U64 broke to the surface and continued on it's Channel dash. Darkness was its friend and the current seemed to be speeding the U64 ever quicker to her patrol grid.

Then hardly 24 hours since he had seen the great liner young Siegfried Zapf spotted a large merchant. There was no hesitation in his voice as a called out the bearing. Again Linke opted for a submerged attack this time with only one torpedo. Yet before the eel had even struck he ordered an emergency suface and flank speed directly towards the towering merchantman.

As the eel struck U64 broke the surface and Linke ordered the gun crews to finish what was left. Less than 20 rounds from the mighty 105mm were required to send over 10,000 tons to Davy Jones.

Again U64 raced along the Channel, flank speed 19 knots darkness her friend.

When dawn broke again Linke had the boot dive and creep along the seabed till their friend returned. The day was long and boring, the crew longing to great their friend at sunset and breath fresh air.

As darkness fell again U64 rose to meet it and still pushed by the current sped over the surface of the channel towards the moon. Little but the moon was to be seen despite the excellent visibility. Young Siegfried Zapf was beginning to doubt his abilities, his patience tested to the full as he strained his eyes to the horizon.

Linke to was impatientent for action he ordered the boot to 30 meters for a sound check. As he strained at the controls Snr W/O Karl Oesten could just make out the tell tale thrum of a warships engines. And then another and another. 6 in total and making good speed. The range was hard to make out but it wasn't anywhere nearby.

Linke listenend to the Warrant Officers report and made his decsion on the spot.
Ahead Flank, Emergency blow, new course 265! Towards the warships? On the surface? What was the Kapitain thinking? The crew lept to their orders as usual, after all their friend was still above for a few more hours yet.

Siegfried Zapf opened the hatch and lead the way for the rest of the watch closely followed by his Lieutenant. Once atop the tower they all scanned the horizon to see if they could find the warships that had been heard.

Linke arrived on deck seconds after to watch crew and pointed to port. "There they are!" he shouted. "We will be lucky to catch them, look at their bow wave's, They're making at least 20 knots". The watch crew all trained their glasses towards the warships. A task force of 4 destroyers, escorting 2 cruisers. A Fiji and A Southampton in line astern.

The range was long but U64 ate it up. Her engines at flank again, their friend darkness covering their approach. The taskforce was faster than U64, but U64 didn't need to catch it, just get close enough for her torpedoes to do the rest.

At 4600 meters Linke ordered 2 eels against each cruiser. As the eels lept out the tubes Linke ordered hard to starboard and the U64 snuck further to her friends embrace. She was over 7 kilometers away as the eels found their prey. One of the cruisers erupted in a fireball the other would take over half an hour to sink. U64 was so far away when the explosions came that the escorting destroyers never even caught a sniff of her wake.

As their friend was chased away by the sun U64 dove to the depths again and continued to creep towards her goal. All was quite and when their friend returned they rose again expecting violence. Yet this was the quitest night they had had since leaving port nothing was seen or heard despite the numerous sound checks. Their friend had protected them once again, but yet had provided no prey. As the sun rose they once again slipped beneath the waves.

Another tedious day of creeping along the seabed began. Only this time without kill's or victory to saviour from the night before. The day dragged till late afternoon when Linke ordered the U64 towards the surface again.

As the boot passed through 60 meters and probably a thermal layer Snr W/O Karl Oesten heard a contact on his hydrophone. Not just one but many, all merchants bar one higher pitched one. Surely a convoy.

Linke took all this in ordered the boot to halt at periscope depth and altered course slightly to the north west. He struggled with the scope, the sun low on the horizon burned his eyes. "Where's our friend when we need him? eh lads" he asked. Linke's efforts were rewarded when he saw smoke on the horizon. He watched for a few minuets to determine its course. Yes there could be no doubt it was coming the U64's way and with luck should arrive just in time to meet their friend as well.

The convoy chugged towards England not knowing what lay in it's path. Sailors aboard those merchants watched the sun dip below the horizon and wondered if they had seen their last sunset. For surely the dark was no friend of theirs.

Snr W/O Karl Oesten could hardly keep track of all the ships heading their way, though he never lost contact with the small on just infront of the heard. The one that could fight back. Linke too tracked the destroyer through his scope. An elderly JK class if he wasn't mistaken. He peered beyond the destroyer trying to make out each ship in the convoy. There must have been about 18 in total he guessed, 6 abreast and 3 deep.

Linke had to blink hard as he scanned the second row through the scope. There in the middle of the convoy hidden at first by the mechants, a battleship! 3 huge triple turrets, all forward it must be one of the 2 Rodney class monsters. What a prize for the U64 if they dared.

Linke started to give small course corrections as he had the boot creep forward. His plan, to get between 2 of the convoys columns. Allowing the U64 to use her 4 forward tubes against the Rodney battleship and the 2 in the stern at a tanker sailing to the battleship's starboard. The approach was going well. U64 had got past the destroyer and Linke guided them all towards their firing position.

Then Oesten shouted from the sound room. The destroyer was turning! Linke realised he had left the scope up to long. Darkness might be his friend but the full moon and calm seas were not. Through the scope he saw the destroyer racing towards the U64's stern. The attack was ruined. Undettered Linke ordered a single shot from the stern at their pursuer. At less than 600meters the eel soon stuck and the destroyer was engulfed in flame. The convoy started to zig zag but Linke's approach had put them in such a position it didn't matter. 4 torpedoes ripped into the huge battleship. Oesten was briefly deafened by the impacts and his eardrums barely recovered when a final eel from U64's stern stuck a large tanker.

As linke ordered the U64 towards the seabed he asked if Oesten was sure he could hear no more destroyers. It took several minuets before Oesten to complete his sweeps to be sure, but all that could be heard were merchants.

Linke had the U64 rise to meet their friend again and directed fire and bloody carnage in all directions on the hapless convoy. When U64 sped away to her friends embrace she left Davy Jones a total of 6 more wrecks on the seabed.

Her tubes were empty and the mighty 105 magazines spent when she had finished her nights work. Linke had the funker radio Bdu with their nights sucess and the remainder of the convoys position.

4 short hours later U64 was rewarded with a reply. "Return to base"

Caution returned to Linke on the return home as he conned the U64 around the British Isles. Even with a friend on your side, once through the Channel is enough!





Now I've written this I realise this was my best patrol ever!
Can't wait to set sail with the U64 again.
I've taken other boats to the end of the war, but never with manual targeting.
It makes all the difference.
And as if there can be any doubt, darkness is every U-boot's friend.

CAPTAIN'S LOG

Date and Time
Grid
Occurrences
16 Nov 19391609Patrol 6
U-64, U-Flotilla Saltzwedel
Left at: November 16, 1939, 16:09
From: Wilhelmshaven
Mission Orders: Patrol grid BF1118 Nov 19390134AN 87Ship sunk! S.S. Ackia (Passenger Liner), 26761 tons19 Nov 19390113BF 35Ship sunk! M/V Blommersdijk (Large Cargo), 10248 tons2247BF 24Ship sunk! HMS Manchester (Southampton class), 10725 tons2314BF 24Ship sunk! HMCS Uganda (Fiji class), 10725 tons20 Nov 19390857BF 16Ship sunk! S.S. Silvermaple (Passenger/Cargo), 2482 tons0920BF 16Ship sunk! S.S. Frederika Lensen (Tug Boat), 1829 tons1222BF 13Ship sunk! S.S. Pawnee Rock (Tramp Steamer), 1538 tons1756BF 16Ship sunk! HMS Jaguar (J&K classes), 1690 tons1757BF 16Ship sunk! HMS Rodney (HMS Rodney), 36000 tons1802BF 16Ship sunk! M/V Cimarron (Large Tanker), 15783 tons1814BF 16Ship sunk! S.S. South America (Large Merchant), 10234 tons1816BF 16Ship sunk! S.S. Hanne (Large Merchant), 10232 tons1840BF 16Ship sunk! S.S. Perryville (Large Merchant), 10235 tons26 Nov 19391709Patrol results
Crew losses: 0
Ships sunk: 13
Aircraft destroyed: 0
Patrol tonage: 148482 tons
BACK


GWX + SH3 Commander + SH3 Generator and One life Crisis GUI and Jagd tools.

[Umfuld]

Nicely done. I've gone through the channel like...uh, once in the past couple of years. And when I did I had no interest in attacking convoys in those shallow depths. I was ascared

[Brag]

Good patrol, congratz!

[U49]

6th patrol in '39 :hmm: wow!

But nevertheless one of the greatest victories of the Kriegsmarine!


Since GWX 1.03 I never tried a peek in the channel again

Well done Kpt. Linke!

[Spin Doctor]

Great job! Drinks are on you, right?!?

[PapaG39]

Sometimes your the windshield, sometimes your the bug, sometimes it all comes together, sometimes you loose it all.....LOL...

Great patrol....My experiences in the channel were just a bit different...lol..

[Sailor Steve]

How do you do 100% without manual targetting?




Anyway, impressive job!

[Hakahura]

I am using manual targeting Steve.

I think my original post wasn't written that well and has mislead you. (I wrote it after an all night patrol.) My bad.

I now use One life Crisis's New Gui and Jagd tools. An excellent mod. I think it was designed for those who do use manual targeting. Until I used this mod I struggled to hit salt water manually. This set of tools and new layout brings it all together for me.

Get OLC's mod here http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=124639