(Story) U-46 puts to sea again

[Laughing Swordfish]

"Call Wolfram in, Coxswain"

I rubbed my forehead. It had all happened too quickly from a table with Heidi, back to the sea.

Much too bloody quickly.

"Cap off! Stand to attention!" barked the Coxswain enjoying himself.

"Wait outside, Cox, and be ready to bring in the unteroffiziers"

Wolfram stood before me. He coughed nervously. In fact he couldn't help coughing all the time.

"Hello Wolfram. How is it going with you?"

"Very (cough) well, Sir, (cough) Am I in any trouble, Sir, Because if it's about that oil valve check, I...?

"No, of course not, Wolfram. Just a chat. Tell me, you live in Magdeburg don't you?"

"Yes, Sir"

"The Cathedral there is quite something isn't it?"

"Yes, Sir, (cough) Magdeburg is a beautiful City and..."

"...And you have quite a family back there, nicht wahr?"

"Oh yes, Sir, three girls (cough) and two boys. They both want to join the Army and..."

"Quite so, Wolfram. How would you like to spend more time closer to them? Get some fresh air for once, and go home to them more often?

"I would like (cough) nothing better, Sir, but I belong here, Sir, on the U-46!"

"Yes, Wolfram, but you have done your duty, nobody could have done more. I'm recommending you for your outstanding service to take up a training post back in Germany. We need good men like you, and so does your family. I know we're at sea now, but next time we put in at St Nazaire, I want you to be ready with your kitbag and rush off home home to your wife and kids. We'll deal with the paperwork. What do you say?"

"Thank you , Sir!

"Good. Now look to those engines, because we're not home yet"

"Yes, Herr Kaleun"

"And another thing, Wolfram, I wouldn't like to hear that this had got about amongst the boys who are staying on, otherwise I might have to rethink my decision. You'll do you're duty while we're still on patrol or the Chief Engineer will want to know the reason why, and so will I!"

"Yes (cough), Yes, Sir!"

I looked at my watch. I'm hoping to surface soon.

"Next, Coxswain!"

Lt de Bunsen, U-46

[Bluewings]

The good thing is , we don 't have to wait long for the Author to report in

Cheers .

[Laughing Swordfish]

Otto and Reuben cram themselves into my cabin.

Reuben makes some effort at coming to attention, I wouldn't expect more than a shuffle of feet from Otto.

Those drill pigs were the bane of his life back in the depot; probably why he never made officer first time. Much more happy with machinery, which is why the instructors picked on him and called him an 'oily rag'

Anyway.

"What the devil do you mean by stowing away on my boat, Francks? And what do you mean by concealing it, Chief?"

"But, Sir, you said..."

"Never mind what I said. There are procedures. Have you any idea of the paperwork this will involve? The number of clerks who will be scurrying about because of this?"

"No, Sir"

"No Sir

"No!" I thundered

But I couldn't keep it up any longer.

"And I couldn't care less, either!"

"Welcome aboard again, Reuben. I trust the Chief here is showing you the ropes, and don't let him kid you or me that we're down to our last lite of fuel. He's a devil for that. It may take a bit of sorting out at BdU when we get back, but I'm prepared to do that exceptionally in this case."

Otto smirked at this, (as if to say, 'any pretty young clerk in particular?')

"What are you smiling at, Chief?"

He straightened his face as best he could.

And my show of temper was running out of steam, but with one last gathering of bluster.

"Well you'll have to hot bunk it between you. Wolfram is leaving us after this patrol, and then with a bit of re-arranging, you'll have your own pit, Reuben"

"Yes, Sir"

"Yes, Sir"

"We're going back in one piece, with everyone on board, and with some tonnage on the board, alles klar?"

"Yes, Sir!" they chimed

"Well what are you waiting for? First Watch have been stood under the ladder in their oilskins for the last half hour! One of you surface us, and the other be ready to start the diesels, we won't win the war by pootling along down here all night!"

"Sir!"

And then they were gone. Bending through the boat to their stations.

A good old squint through the observation scope, and then

"Surface!"

Lt de Bunsen, U-46

[Bluewings]

I 'm convinced Reuben will do well ...

Cheers .

[Laughing Swordfish]

"Well, this is what it looks kike lads,"

I had Christian, Otto and Willi with me in the cabin

Doenitz's sealed orders to me were unequivocal.

"Uncle doesn't believe in capital ships, you know him, he's a U-boat man, and we should be thankful for that. Our job is to be merchant tonnage. And that's what we'll do..

But if the Bismark breaks out, and starts making a mess of the Halifax convoys, or starts drawing the big ships of the Royal Navy on to her, guess where the U-46 will be, if we can!

Lt de Bunsen, U-46

[Bluewings]

You take care of yourself "Swordfish" , as something is telling me that Bismark will run into trouble ...

Stay out of it if you can :hmm:

Cheers .

[HundertzehnGustav]

i have a feeling he will never make it Home to Magdeburg... cant define it, but i feel something evil coming this mans way.

Hmmm....

[Laughing Swordfish]

"Can you all keep quiet! Now I've lost it, and I'll have to ask for a repeat, you idiots!"

Viktor was yelling at the assembled company of every off-watch officer, including me , who had gathered round his radio cabin. But to a man we all backed off, chastened.

The dits and dahs flew through the air to his pencil, for some minutes.

"How's Kaiserslautern getting on against Bremen in the quarter finals?" ventured Bruno.

"Shut up, Number Two!" I growled.

"What is it Viktor?"

He was busily punching the keys of the Enigma, oblivious of any impatient officers standing around him.

"One moment, Sir", but his eyes were gleaming with excitement

"Looking big, Sir!"

"All right gentlemen, and you , Bruno. Wait in the Wardroom. We'll know soon enough"

But I hung around Victor's cabin myself like a naughty schoolboy.

Viktor finally thrust the message triumphantly in my hand.

"Sorry sir, but I hope it was worth waiting for"

I took it into my cabin, and read it.

Made the short journey to the expectant officers of my crew.

"Gentlemen, the Hood is sunk, and the Bismark is out!"

Lt de Bunsen, U-46

[Bluewings]

Yes !! :P

I recieved the message too Kaleun ...
That will keep the Brits stunned for a little while . It 's up to us to take advantage of it

B. Goelf out .

Cheers .

[Laughing Swordfish]

"The Bismark and the Prinz Eugen smashed her to bits, lads, no contest! Also sent the Prince of Wales scurrying away with her bum spanked!"

"Pass the word. Never mind wolves, my friends, we have a charging rhino out in the North Atlantic!"

Huge cheers as the news was passed.

Me Willi and Christian looked at the map again.

She may have just boldly struck out in the wide gap between Scotland and Iceland. God knows we've had to do it often enough, but we're no bloody great battleship.

Or maybe she was crafty and went through the Denmark Straits, the northern side of Iceland?

Either way the Northern Fleet managed to find her, and she gave battle and won!

That has really thrown the cat among the pigeons.

We'e still a couple of whole grid blocks from where Willi and I think she might be. But well placed for any eventuality, including the sailing of the Gibraltar Fleet. Wouldn't that be something if I could get Otto his Ark Royal!

Something I didn't read out, though. Bismark took a hit in her oil bunkers, and we are already hearing repeated orders for auxilliary fuelling ships (and we have precious few of those) to report in and make their way to the North East Atlantic...

Lt de Bunsen, U-46

This is my first post here but I've been visiting since I picked up SHIII on day of release.

This is such a great read, puts me in mind of the Douglas Reeman books that I've read in the past, full of great characters and atmosphere, excellently done.

Keep this up and I think you'll have a lot more fans once word gets out about how good this is.

Please keep up the reports, and take care on the high seas....

[Stalker of the deep]

I've been reading this thread from the start keep it up!!!
cant wait for the next bit

[HundertzehnGustav]

Keep yer eyes sharp

[Laughing Swordfish]

We reach our dispersal point, and amid much waving of caps, and ribald humour over the blinker lamp, Bernie and his U-100 takes off further West into the unknown.

He's always keen to get away and come to grips with the enemy.

We're both very alive to the fact that the presence of the Bismark is going to make the North Atlantic even more interesting than usual, this time.

Good hunting, Bernie.

We hang around for a day in a small box pattern. We're not far from our designated patrol area anyway, and I want to see which, if any, of the other two boats makes the RV.

In a way it was gratifyingly difficult to spot a fellow U-boat, even when you knew it should be there. But also disconcerting; the Sunderland didn't prang them both surely?

Viktor hadn't been able to raise either of them on the radio, and apart from a listening watch, I'd forbade him to transmit any more signals apart from essential traffic.

Finally on the dawn of the day after the appointed RV, Oscar came up for a 'breath of fresh air' and immediately lit a foul-smelling cigar.
A fine example from the boat's doctor.

But as he tossed his match into the sea, he craned his neck almost casually and said:

"What's that, over there fellows?"

Sure enough there was a long low dark shape about 2,000 metres away, in the bright early morning sun

Willi was mortified, as this was his watch; soon he, Reuben and I were training our Zeiss binoculars on her.

"She's one of ours" Reuben stated, and we concurred.

But Willi regained ground by identifying her. He was an expert at conning tower emblems!

"It's a bear, the Berlin Bear!"

That's young Walter, the little bugger!"

So it was. A couple of lamp signals, and some nifty helmsmanship from Willi, and we were pretty much in hailing distance some few minutes later.

U-711, and her young crew had survived their first action. Their watch and flak gunner had been on the ball enough to at least shoot back, and once caught on top to see it through. Whilst the U-513 it seems had been caught hesitating between the option of diving or fighting. So that when she did submerge, it was too late, not enough depth and a clear wake, for a Sunderland that had already sheared away from the flak her fellow boat was sending up; U-513 was a much easier target, and she and her crew will never have the chance to learn from their mistake.

The crew of U-711 were cheering happily, like the boys most of them were. Not much younger than my lot, but a world of experience away in the year or so that seperated them.

"Ok, Willi, let's not have a big reunion party. The sun's up, and we're both asking for it up here"

"Tell Walter to go down to periscope depth too, and keep his distance.

Slow speed and maintain course. We'll surface again at 20.00.

"Sir! Clear the bridge men!"

As the lamp blinked one last time, amid some last waving and exhortations with a plunging downward thumb signal for U-711 to submerge also, we trooped below.

"Plucky kid," said Reuben, as we reconvened round the chart table.

"Yes Reuben" I smiled wryly,"That's one of the things we do have enough of at the moment"

Lt de Bunsen, U-46

[Bluewings]

Nice writing , really

RiP U-513 ...

Cheers .