(Story) U-46 puts to sea again

[Oberon]

Originally Posted by Laughing Swordfish

Just to say I'm away for 4 days doing the whole Christmas thing, U-46 is alive and well somewhere out in the Bay of Biscay as we speak.

And I'm determined to make it back again.

Thank you so much one and all for your kind responses. I avidly read every one, and it really encourages me to write each episode.

My New Year's resolution is to bring the website up to date, and sink more ships! (and also brush up on my morse code!)

But anyway, you'll read it all here first!

Merry Christmas everybody, and thanks again.

LS

Biscay? Keep those binoculars trained Kaleun! Good sailing! And a Merry Christmas to yourself and all the crew of U-46!

[Bluewings]

Well , it has been a real pleasure to read what as become your novel Laughing Swordfish .

You do have a great talent

I have been reading your words and ... I am hooked ! Characters are vivid ! Willy and Otto especialy .

Heidi found herself a true Sea Lover and admirable U-Boat Captain . They both deserve to spend more time together but being a Skipper is a rather busy life ...

Some posters did bring the idea of possibly publishing your writing and I entirely agree with the idea . Nevertheless , keep your website updated .

This is my 1st post here as I am usually on :
http://www.steelbeasts.com/

I am a Frenchman living in UK (Sidmouth , Devon) and I am a Mod/Designer for the Tank Sim "Steel Beasts" . That being said , Tanks are not my only passion as I have my own Boat too ~VII-B Class , U-100 "BlackCat" , 2nd Flotilla) .

To cut it short Laughing Swordfish , keep up the good work

You have one more fan

Cheers .

[Drebbel]

This is my 1st post here as I am usually on :
http://www.steelbeasts.com/

Welcome aboard Bluewings.

Just checked your websit, never saw any ingame tanksim footage, was sure fun to watch it

[Bluewings]

Thx for the welcome Drebbel .

I 'll gladly explain what Steel Beasts ~SB~ is all about , but obviously not on this special thread .

Swordfish , my Boat is in Lorient and is especialy rigged to go after Destroyers . I keep 'em busy while boat like yours can wreck havoc on the convoy . I know BE like the back of my hand and I 'll happily give you a hand if we ever met at sea .

I find it funny that you and your crew drink in "Le Chat noir" as it is the name of my boat ! I 'll try to give you a quick visit in a couple of days as U-100 "BlackCat" is in dock for minor repairs .

We encountered a "Clemson Class" on its way back from Gibraltar in heavy Sea and the bugger jumped on us in the harshest mannner
We sent it down the bottom like an anvil in a pool , but not before it managed to damaged my front deck and destroyed my 88mm ...
It was a close call ...

Cheers .

[Steeltrap]

At the risk of being killed for being pedantic, Bismarck was sunk 27th May '41 whereas Barbarossa began 22nd June '41, so you're a bi out of synch with your timing.

Having said that (I'm just teasing), it's a fun read, especially when my partner is a real-life "Heidi". Her mother is German and escaped Eastern Germany soon after WWII as a very young girl.....

[Laughing Swordfish]

Hey Guys, I'm back. I hope you had a good Christmas?

I knew this was coming. Yes, the Bismark did go out earlier than I have said. There's probably a lot of other historical inaccuracies that, not to mention typing mistakes, need to be sorted out.

I'm just telling a story as close to the terrible original as I can.

The 'Black Cat' came to me out of the blue (must have been memories of AoD), but I'm really glad that someone is carrying the emlem.

You might find U-100 pitched into the action rather soon.

LS

[Laughing Swordfish]

Well we're out.

The Bay is the feeding tray for the Birds of Prey that periodically come round for a nibble, or often a swoop.

"I don't like this, Bruno" I murmur,

"The sky is too clear"

I looked across at U-100, with much better mounted AA guns than us, and he could sense the same unease.

"Clear the bridge, Number Two. Too much daylight. We're going below for a while.

Looking across at U-100 he seemed to have made the same decision. His semaphore lamp winked at me briefly, and then I saw
his men disappearring below in an orderly fashion.

"Tell Otto to put us down to 12. Get Viktor up here. We need to relay the message on."

We had U-513 away to our starboard, yet another 'green' boat, and U-711 beyond her. The idea being that there's safety in numbers getting away from France.

The first we knew of it was the 'punch, punch, punch': the repetitive noise of a 20mm answering to the call from the heavens.

Then I could see the tracer arcing up seemingly lazily at red intervals, from U- 711, previously just a distant speck on our starboard flank, and now fighting for her life.

That dot in the sky, they were firing at was turning into a Sunderland.

"As quick as you please, Bruno. I should think we may be paid an unpleasant visit in the next thirty seconds. Tell the Chief to drop us like a stone!"

Most of the watch were halfway down but my Number Two didn't need to be asked twice. I could hear him yelling at Otto even as I clamped the last two lids and slithered (less gracefully than I would have wished) down into the Control Room.

"What is it, Sir?"

"Bloody aircraft, Willi, what did you expect? The Good Fairy?"

Suitably chastened, Willi resumed his battle station by the chart table. It won't use much of his pencil lead to work out our progress at this slow rate.

He lifts his chalkboard. Another of his jobs is to mark off the number of depth charges dropped.

Most of the surviving boats do this. It's not all about crew morale, and striking out all the ones that haven't killed us. As a guide for me, it's good to know as a commander how many my friend up there has chanced his arm with. Unless it's changed for better or worse, and she might have already dropped some somewhere else, I can get a feel, or hope to, for when she might be giving up the chase, maybe even take a pop back at her? It's happened once.

Yes damn it, there are too many possible variables. But you know what Willi is like for his lucky mascots, and if there's anything that holds the boys together in the preliminary stages of a depth charge attack, it's Willi confidently holding his little blackboard. He nearly ran out of chalk once or twice though. (but as he pronounced proudly):

"I may run out of chalk for the depth charges, Kap, but I'll never get it wet!"..............

"I think we should be ok, boys but keep us going down. A nice straight line, please Otto"

There are three other boats in relatively tight formation who are probably swimming about all over the place. It wouldn't be good to collide with one of them underwater now, however freaky the accident might seem. It has happened in training in the Baltic.

"Hans! Give me good sub-surface reports"

I think we have ducked away in good time; as Otto says, it's all or nothing if they catch us on the surface. But I'm concerned about the others. U-100 seemed to be heading down before , or at least the same time as we sought sanctuary.

But the other two 'younger' boats were slower off the mark in diving before it turned nasty. At least U-711 was slugging it out with them on the top.

"What do you think, Sir?" said Christian, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, and trying to find out about this new threat.

It could be either or both of them, Number One. I don't think they dived in time. At least the picket boat, U-711 put some flak up. Maybe they managed to drive him off, but...

...I tailed off. It couldn't have been nice for those youngsters to see their senior commanders of the Pack vanishing beneath the waves But that's what it's like out here. The Devil takes the hindmost.

"... Well we'll soon know, Christian, you know what a depth charge sounds like surely. And we've sunk enough ships for you to be familiar with the noise of a vessel breaking up underwater. Sorry to be morbid about it, but..."

Hans interrupted us.

"Depth charges, Sir!"

And with the loud crack, boom and unforgettable sound of rending metal, even from a kilometre away at most, from the expression on Christian's face,I could see that he was listening to the sound of his own death...

Lt de Bunsen, U-46

[soundken]

couldnt read your beutiful work without thanking the author
Im especially liking it since we share the same u boat designation(u-46) and are almost at the same point in the campaign. i read the storys of the legendary Herr Kaleun to them and i swear they are more motivated
The laughing swordfish is the first boat i look for in the pens upon my arival back to port
May we both see it through and meet at the chat de noir for a beer when its all over Herr Kaleun,
good luck, and sink them all

ps: i just did that "preview" thing to myself posts as valuble as yours should typed out in word or somthin then pasted in i know i for one dont want to lose a single word to the digital abyss
Happy New Year, thanks for the read
Lt De Holt (the other U-46)

[Camaero]

While I can't say I have read them all yet, I have really enjoyed every one I have! Just keep it up and I will keep on loving this stuff!

[magick]

very very nice writing

[U-104]

:|\ :|\ :|\ :|\

[Kpt. Lehmann]

[Laughing Swordfish]

"Hans?"

"Two other sets of screws below the water, Sir, both U-boats, one to port approximately 400m"

(That'll be U-100. Well done, you old salt)

"Another one, further off to starboard, hard to tell the distance yet"

He grimaced wryly,

"There's other noise interference"

It didn't take the brains of Einstein to know what he meant. It was clearly audible. The mournful song of a vessel going down. The odd final crack of bulkheads giving way, the background noise of air escaping, and worse, the keening whine of metal breaking open, like a whale's song. A song of anguish. A mortally wounded whale.

We'd heard it often enough, and even cheered at it. This was one of ours, and everyone was quiet in the Control Room.

"Well they didn't dare come for us this time, menschen! And anyway we're always too quick for them"

I attempted to lighten the mood.

A few forced smiles around the crew.

"Level again at periscope depth, Sir" reports Otto

"Anything from the other boats, Viktor?"

"Nothing, Sir, I doubt if they had time"

"Can you transmit and receive from this depth?"

"Should be able to, Sir"

"Try and raise the other two boats periodically. They might still be too deep at the moment, whichever one made it."

Lt de Bunsen, U-46

[Laughing Swordfish]

"Red light on! Prepare to surface at my command!"

I'd checked the charts again with Willi, and Hans had given me regular sonar reports. Remarkably, U-100 had kept a rough station with us underwater.

That's Goelf in her. Bernhardt; or Bernie to his mates in the Club, which is everyone.

I was surprised when he came out with us, I thought he was sunk, or more likely locked up long before now. Bernie was a bit of a maverick. And that's saying something in the U-bootwaffe.
A habit of speaking his mind, when senior officers are talking rubbish, and had his own table at the 'Cat', but it had been empty for a while. Popular in the Flotilla for his unfallibly jolly attitude, and good to his men, he could still kick them into action when needed.

So that's two of us. Where, or who is the third out of the four we started with?

Lt de Bunsen, U-46

I cant stand waiting for more! I'm seriously addicted to your stories!