Strange encounter last night with a British Destroyer - Page 2

cawimmer430 · 08-27-09, 04:29 AM

Hi guys,

I had the most weird encounter last night with a British V&W Destroyer off the Western Cost of the British Isles.

It was around midnight in extremely poor weather and rough seas. Visibility was close to zero and it was pouring heavy rain. I was traveling on the surface at Kleine Fahrt speed. All off a sudden, directly across from me, a V&W Destroyer comes my way. He basically just appeared out of nowhere and was maybe 10 meters across from my port bow. Our trajectories meant that we were perpendicular to one another.

Here is the funny part. I was too stunned to react. My first thought was to crash drive but at the same time I figured THIS IS IT, I'M DEAD MEAT. Strangely enough, the British warship didn't fire at me - no machine guns and no cannons. I guess we were too close to each other for that to work. Anyway, he was traveling at extremely low speed too. So for those 15 seconds maybe, my watch crew and the guys on the destroyer just stared at each other in pure amazement as our ships pass each other - each not daring to make a wrong move. After I pass the destroyer, I order an immediate crash dive at max speed and a hard turn to starboard, dive to 150 meters and then go silent. The destroyer, doing his part, increases speed, circles the area and drops a few depth charges. Both of us then part ways. He gives up after awhile and I creep away.

Wow.

08-27-09, 04:29 AM	#1
cawimmer430 Torpedoman Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 114 Downloads: 3 Uploads: 0	Strange encounter last night with a British Destroyer Hi guys, I had the most weird encounter last night with a British V&W Destroyer off the Western Cost of the British Isles. It was around midnight in extremely poor weather and rough seas. Visibility was close to zero and it was pouring heavy rain. I was traveling on the surface at Kleine Fahrt speed. All off a sudden, directly across from me, a V&W Destroyer comes my way. He basically just appeared out of nowhere and was maybe 10 meters across from my port bow. Our trajectories meant that we were perpendicular to one another. Here is the funny part. I was too stunned to react. My first thought was to crash drive but at the same time I figured THIS IS IT, I'M DEAD MEAT. Strangely enough, the British warship didn't fire at me - no machine guns and no cannons. I guess we were too close to each other for that to work. Anyway, he was traveling at extremely low speed too. So for those 15 seconds maybe, my watch crew and the guys on the destroyer just stared at each other in pure amazement as our ships pass each other - each not daring to make a wrong move. After I pass the destroyer, I order an immediate crash dive at max speed and a hard turn to starboard, dive to 150 meters and then go silent. The destroyer, doing his part, increases speed, circles the area and drops a few depth charges. Both of us then part ways. He gives up after awhile and I creep away. Wow.