Personal Diary of Gerhard Linden (Long!) - Page 4

Enchanter · 01-05-07, 05:32 PM

Personal Diary of Gerhard Linden – 1 Sep ’39 – 15 Sep ‘39

I have been given command of my first boat! After completing the Submarine Commander course in February, I have been waiting for my command. I was given my orders two weeks ago to prepare to take command of U-49.
A brand new VIIB! I can hardly believe my luck. I was expecting a well used Type II. My friend Jansen was put in one of those after he was caught ‘flirting’ (that’s the word he used) with the Commandants daughter. I suppose it was worth it. She is rather charming.

On my way back from BDu headquarters this morning, I chanced to walk past the barracks hospital. I was re-reading my boat specification when I walked straight into one of the nurses. I felt terrible. I immediately helped her pick up her things, and that’s when I actually realized how beautiful she was! She has long reddish hair, and a pale skin. Her eyes are as blue as the sky at sea. Being perhaps a bit emboldened by the fact I’m now a bona fide Kaleun, I introduced myself. Her name is Suzanne Wikus. Apparently she’s a volunteer nurse at the hospital on base.

Reported to my Commanding Officer today and was given my shore based office. It’s a cramped little thing, but I’ll take it over the filthy cubicle I worked in while I was at Naval Intelligence! I was given my crew manifests too! It seems with this war with Britain looming, the Command has seen fit to pass many of the youngsters through with little training. My crew is very inexperienced. I’m under-staffed with Officers, but I managed to enlist some higher ranking NCOs and seamen. I’ll train up a NCO to fill the Officer’s station within the next few cruises. It’s always better to have a ‘home-grown’ officer on ones boat!
In the past week, I’ve found myself thinking of the girl I bumped into at the hospital. I should try track her down again.

Over the last week I’ve met with the officers and crew of my new boat. They’re as green as they come, but I guess I’m not all that crusty either! Aside from one or two nervous looking rats, they seem an affable lot.
My first mate and chief engineer Sub Lieutenant Fritz will ensure we are fully ready to cast off in the morning.

This morning, we cast off our lines and departed from Kiel base. We’re assigned a quadrant on the western side of the British Isles. Our orders are to interdict the shipping routes there. I’m caught up in the euphoria of the moment.

Today, the 3rd of September, we received traffic from BDu that we are now at war with Britain! About time too, we’ll through off the stigma forced on us at Versailles and take our place as a power in the European community! Sadly, these thoughts fell on uninterested ears when I discussed it with my officers. They just shrugged at me, as if to say, ‘whatever’. Fritz, my Chief Engineer, was a little more excited than the rest. He looks forward to pitting our boat against the ‘fat and lazy English’. That’s the aggressive sort of thinking we need on this boat! We must cultivate a fighting spirit and take the wind out of the sails of the pompous west!
It is also my birthday, a fact only Fritz was aware of. Nevertheless, he and the rest of the officers took the time to approach me at the conn and wish me happy birthday. The news spread through the ship quite quickly, and most of the crew politely wished me too. I must remember to thank Fritz for his thoughtfulness. I just wish he’d stop staring at me and licking his lips all the time!

We are getting ready to pass Northen England. Before we could transit though, we received radio traffic informing us of a ship in our area. We managed an intercept and attacked! Sadly, our green crew fired off three torpedoes and only scored a hit with one! We were forced to surface and use our deck gun to sink her! I appointed one of our NCOs to man the guns, one Gotz Kals. His aim was marginal at best, but it could be he was nervous at the fact I was standing behind him telling him where to shoot. One would think the term ‘waterline’ pretty self-explanatory, but ‘ol Gotz seemed intent on shooting into the command deck. A well timed slap to the back of his head soon had him adjusting his aim.

We arrived on station in our patrol area with three kills to our name. This meant we only had four torpedoes left, two fore and two aft. Sadly, our torpedo skills leave much to be desired. A fact I have made clear to the crew in explicit detail. As a result, most of our kills have been due to shelling, not torpedo runs!
We had been on station for about 15 hours when we received news of a convoy heading towards the English coast. Too good an opportunity to miss, I plotted an intercept course for the convoy and ordered a flank run. We arrived in a position slightly behind the convoy, and proceeded with a surfaced stern chase. A risky maneuver, but due to the weather conditions, we were confident we could avoid any trouble. Visibility was dreadful, as we encountered the convoy smack bang in the middle of a storm! We were on course doing a good 17 knots when out of nowhere an American C3 appeared 200 meters off our bow! Some quick rudder work bought her alongside, but no alarm was raised. Steaming into the middle of the convoy, I decided to submerge the ship, knowing that the chances of my periscope being spotted in this weather were slim. We traversed the convoy at flank speed and managed to down three ships! The prize sinking was a T2 Tanker and the other two C2 cargo’s made for good target practice. The torpedo crew excelled. And with the four torpedo’s fired we only had one dud! I was very proud of my men. Having expended our torpedoes we submerged to 100 feet and exited the area. Although our hydrophones detected three warships, not one of them broke course to investigate, thanks to the appalling weather!

We transited back to base under orders from BDu, unfortunately, the stormed followed us all the way to port, so we couldn’t use our d/g for any engagement. Our last engagement before we entered the port occurred when we spotted a lone costal merchant. I maneuvered alongside her and allowed the officers each a chance to go onto the bridge and wave at the ship! That elicited a good few laughs and comments about how fast the softies could make their propellers spin when they had the correct incentive. The mood aboard the sub was excellent as we pulled into dock. We had performed an excellent patrol, expending all our fish, and although we have many areas in which to improve, we proved to each other we are capable of taking the fight to the enemy!

As we were docking, Fritz came onto the bridge and caught me staring at the base hospital, thinking about Suzanne.
“You have a brother in there Kaleun?” He asked, indicating the hospital.
“No Fritz. I met someone there, and I’m wondering what I can break to see her again.”
Fritz had a good laugh at that and made a very good point, “You just sunk 5 ships Kaleun. You shouldn’t worry about talking to a fraulein.”
I think Fritz is wiser than he appears.

We held an awards ceremony after the patrol, and I presented Gotz Kals my gunner with the Iron Cross for his exceptional work in sinking those boats. I also promoted one of our seamen. I’ve sent my Watch Officer Carlewitz for Torpedo man training, with the hope that he will assist the torpedo crew during underwater operations. The improvement in efficiency there may reduce our miss/hit ratio.

And now, a few days rest and we’ll get our orders. I’ll make more notes in this diary as that happens!

Gerhard Linden
U-49 Kapt.

01-05-07, 05:32 PM	#1
Enchanter Bosun Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: South Africa Posts: 66 Downloads: 21 Uploads: 0	Personal Diary of Gerhard Linden (Long!) Personal Diary of Gerhard Linden – 1 Sep ’39 – 15 Sep ‘39 I have been given command of my first boat! After completing the Submarine Commander course in February, I have been waiting for my command. I was given my orders two weeks ago to prepare to take command of U-49. A brand new VIIB! I can hardly believe my luck. I was expecting a well used Type II. My friend Jansen was put in one of those after he was caught ‘flirting’ (that’s the word he used) with the Commandants daughter. I suppose it was worth it. She is rather charming. On my way back from BDu headquarters this morning, I chanced to walk past the barracks hospital. I was re-reading my boat specification when I walked straight into one of the nurses. I felt terrible. I immediately helped her pick up her things, and that’s when I actually realized how beautiful she was! She has long reddish hair, and a pale skin. Her eyes are as blue as the sky at sea. Being perhaps a bit emboldened by the fact I’m now a bona fide Kaleun, I introduced myself. Her name is Suzanne Wikus. Apparently she’s a volunteer nurse at the hospital on base. Reported to my Commanding Officer today and was given my shore based office. It’s a cramped little thing, but I’ll take it over the filthy cubicle I worked in while I was at Naval Intelligence! I was given my crew manifests too! It seems with this war with Britain looming, the Command has seen fit to pass many of the youngsters through with little training. My crew is very inexperienced. I’m under-staffed with Officers, but I managed to enlist some higher ranking NCOs and seamen. I’ll train up a NCO to fill the Officer’s station within the next few cruises. It’s always better to have a ‘home-grown’ officer on ones boat! In the past week, I’ve found myself thinking of the girl I bumped into at the hospital. I should try track her down again. Over the last week I’ve met with the officers and crew of my new boat. They’re as green as they come, but I guess I’m not all that crusty either! Aside from one or two nervous looking rats, they seem an affable lot. My first mate and chief engineer Sub Lieutenant Fritz will ensure we are fully ready to cast off in the morning. This morning, we cast off our lines and departed from Kiel base. We’re assigned a quadrant on the western side of the British Isles. Our orders are to interdict the shipping routes there. I’m caught up in the euphoria of the moment. Today, the 3rd of September, we received traffic from BDu that we are now at war with Britain! About time too, we’ll through off the stigma forced on us at Versailles and take our place as a power in the European community! Sadly, these thoughts fell on uninterested ears when I discussed it with my officers. They just shrugged at me, as if to say, ‘whatever’. Fritz, my Chief Engineer, was a little more excited than the rest. He looks forward to pitting our boat against the ‘fat and lazy English’. That’s the aggressive sort of thinking we need on this boat! We must cultivate a fighting spirit and take the wind out of the sails of the pompous west! It is also my birthday, a fact only Fritz was aware of. Nevertheless, he and the rest of the officers took the time to approach me at the conn and wish me happy birthday. The news spread through the ship quite quickly, and most of the crew politely wished me too. I must remember to thank Fritz for his thoughtfulness. I just wish he’d stop staring at me and licking his lips all the time! We are getting ready to pass Northen England. Before we could transit though, we received radio traffic informing us of a ship in our area. We managed an intercept and attacked! Sadly, our green crew fired off three torpedoes and only scored a hit with one! We were forced to surface and use our deck gun to sink her! I appointed one of our NCOs to man the guns, one Gotz Kals. His aim was marginal at best, but it could be he was nervous at the fact I was standing behind him telling him where to shoot. One would think the term ‘waterline’ pretty self-explanatory, but ‘ol Gotz seemed intent on shooting into the command deck. A well timed slap to the back of his head soon had him adjusting his aim. We arrived on station in our patrol area with three kills to our name. This meant we only had four torpedoes left, two fore and two aft. Sadly, our torpedo skills leave much to be desired. A fact I have made clear to the crew in explicit detail. As a result, most of our kills have been due to shelling, not torpedo runs! We had been on station for about 15 hours when we received news of a convoy heading towards the English coast. Too good an opportunity to miss, I plotted an intercept course for the convoy and ordered a flank run. We arrived in a position slightly behind the convoy, and proceeded with a surfaced stern chase. A risky maneuver, but due to the weather conditions, we were confident we could avoid any trouble. Visibility was dreadful, as we encountered the convoy smack bang in the middle of a storm! We were on course doing a good 17 knots when out of nowhere an American C3 appeared 200 meters off our bow! Some quick rudder work bought her alongside, but no alarm was raised. Steaming into the middle of the convoy, I decided to submerge the ship, knowing that the chances of my periscope being spotted in this weather were slim. We traversed the convoy at flank speed and managed to down three ships! The prize sinking was a T2 Tanker and the other two C2 cargo’s made for good target practice. The torpedo crew excelled. And with the four torpedo’s fired we only had one dud! I was very proud of my men. Having expended our torpedoes we submerged to 100 feet and exited the area. Although our hydrophones detected three warships, not one of them broke course to investigate, thanks to the appalling weather! We transited back to base under orders from BDu, unfortunately, the stormed followed us all the way to port, so we couldn’t use our d/g for any engagement. Our last engagement before we entered the port occurred when we spotted a lone costal merchant. I maneuvered alongside her and allowed the officers each a chance to go onto the bridge and wave at the ship! That elicited a good few laughs and comments about how fast the softies could make their propellers spin when they had the correct incentive. The mood aboard the sub was excellent as we pulled into dock. We had performed an excellent patrol, expending all our fish, and although we have many areas in which to improve, we proved to each other we are capable of taking the fight to the enemy! As we were docking, Fritz came onto the bridge and caught me staring at the base hospital, thinking about Suzanne. “You have a brother in there Kaleun?” He asked, indicating the hospital. “No Fritz. I met someone there, and I’m wondering what I can break to see her again.” Fritz had a good laugh at that and made a very good point, “You just sunk 5 ships Kaleun. You shouldn’t worry about talking to a fraulein.” I think Fritz is wiser than he appears. We held an awards ceremony after the patrol, and I presented Gotz Kals my gunner with the Iron Cross for his exceptional work in sinking those boats. I also promoted one of our seamen. I’ve sent my Watch Officer Carlewitz for Torpedo man training, with the hope that he will assist the torpedo crew during underwater operations. The improvement in efficiency there may reduce our miss/hit ratio. And now, a few days rest and we’ll get our orders. I’ll make more notes in this diary as that happens! Gerhard Linden U-49 Kapt. __________________ Hasta la wookie...baby. Last edited by Enchanter; 01-06-07 at 02:58 AM.