(Story) U-46 puts to sea again - Page 70

bookworm_020 · 10-08-08, 06:48 PM

Geat to have you back

, but I'm hanging out to know what is going to happen!

Laughing Swordfish · 10-09-08, 06:58 PM

I knew it would be Bruno.

Even as my Number Two, he is the youngest and most impetuous.

"Are we going in, Sir?"

"No we are not, Bruno. Anders will be creeping through as we speak, and I'm sure he will be fine this time. There's not room for two."

"You may have noticed that the boat has turned about, and is heading South-South West."

I was met with a tired silence. It was either a sense of relief on the most part, that they dare not express. or for Christian, who would go anywhere with U-46; just sheer tiredness.

"Out to the Canary Islands, gentlemen. Box DH61 to begin with, here; Willi we'll go over that on the charts later. We are not to engage the enemy en route or to be seen or detected by any other means. We are to await further instructions at that RV, and be prepared to take on a 'special cargo' ".

There were a couple of low whistles all around. We weren't being sent through the Straits, which was good, and we all knew that Franco's Spain was neutral in a German sort of way, but she wouldn't dare risk any overt protection out into these island outcrops. Closely patrolled by the Allies as a result, and the treacherous shallow waters and razor sharp volcanic sea bed lay in wait for any but the most cautious Kapitan.

We would know more later, but there was little doubt about what the 'special cargo' was to be.

A friendly agent with some information, or who needs to be repatriated. Who knows?

"Ok Gentlemen that's it. Willi stay behind, Christian get your head down, and the word to the boys is just that we're not going into the Med, just another convoy sweep. And tell them that we would have got through anyway, if they'd asked us to!"

"Away you go gentlemen, and thank you."

LS

Jimbuna · 10-16-08, 04:41 AM

Enjoy the dolphins in that area

Laughing Swordfish · 10-16-08, 07:36 PM

Dolphins, Jimbuna? The whole boat is aqua-planing!!

LS

Bosje · 10-16-08, 07:56 PM

good to see you back, LS

sink em all!

Laughing Swordfish · 10-16-08, 07:58 PM

Turning south west towards the Canaries, put us right in the teeth of a gale. Gaining force 9 from a swirling depression in the Azores.

On the second afternoon Bruno dropped down the ladder with the rest of his drenched shivering and utterly exhausted crew from Second Watch.

"Ok, Bruno?"

He looked at me sourly and with out his usual cheeky humour.

"Hard to keep a cigar alight up there, Kaleun"

We almost lost Willi's 3rd Watch altogether straight after. They had just had time to buckle on to their hooks on the bridge, when a freak 20 metre wave deluged the boat. U-46 like all German Type VIIs is designed to ride out or under such waves, we are a u-boat after all. But tell that to Willi and his gang buffeted almost senseless and holding their breath for long seconds before the boat pierced back through the back of the wave.

All naval protocol gone, "Get us back in, Rollie!" Willi gasped down the tube once he had caught his breath, and the speaking tube had deposited several litres of sea water over the Control Room deck to emphasise his words.

"Bring them down, Willi. Reuben, set depth for 30 metres when the last man is reported in."

LS

LS

HansVonBeehan · 10-17-08, 04:17 AM

Hello Sir. *Salutes*

I really have enjoyed reading your "book".
I Have currently read up to page 6, and have really ENJOYED it.

One thing I have noticed, is a few spelling mistakes. Bah! I'm dyslexic so I cannot complain.

Please keep up the good writing.

Also the U-46 was a VIIB
http://www.uboat.net/boats/u46.htm

Hans Von Beehan
Commander U-48, Your sister ship.

Laughing Swordfish · 10-17-08, 04:44 AM

Thanks Hans, and welcome to SH3!

I shall certainly look out for the fortunes of U-48, good hunting my friend.

And you're right about the spelling, I blame it on the lurching of the boat!!

LS

HansVonBeehan · 10-17-08, 06:46 AM

Not a Problem!
Keep up the good hunting.

Laughing Swordfish · 10-22-08, 06:58 PM

As Willi gasped as he came last down the ladder, his sou'wester knocked skew-whiff over his right ear, and his and Third Watch'es oilskins' drips adding to the sea water that was now draining forward as our U-46 sought calmer and deeper waters.

His boys were understandably shaken. They had been knocked flat and submersed under water for many long seconds before the wave passed over. Oscar is now tending to the Watch for their cuts and bruises, but the main effect is the medicinal swig from his brandy supply. First Watch are up on boat routine. Second and Third are ordered to rest. Soon there are the usual mutterings and comings and goings and snorings of submerged u-boat life.

The Navigation Officer and I are at the chart table, and Willi has a point when he says that we're not making much less headway submerged than we are trying to hold the boat on course in the teeth of a surface gale.

Also there's nothing to see up there beyond the nearest wave, and we are rolling too much for any sensible observation.

Besides which, as Willi, and only a few of us know, we are not to attack anything anyway. Fat chance in this sea.

We will only surface now at night, to give Willi a star fix, and get off our daily reports, and recharge the batteries, and get some air in the Boat.

A slightly cushier routine, but Cox soon has them busy around the boat once they are fed and rested, and anyway it's always a risky business relying on being underwater too long. If you do get pinged by chance by a destroyer, you have to go deeper with whatever you've got in your batteries.

Hans and Viktor between them are maintaining a vigilant watch on the sonar phones.

What are we getting ourselves into this time..?

LS

Jimbuna · 10-24-08, 07:33 AM

The voyage continues

Laughing Swordfish · 10-28-08, 07:03 AM

Night. 2200.

Willi is cursing as he tries to hold the sextant steady in the rolling swell.

In the end, I strap him in tightly with the very same cordage that sved his life in the storm before. Even then he is buffeted, so I brace him in place.

Willi is too proud to call his 3rd Watch up to hold him in place.

"We can't keep meeting like this, Kaleun; what would Heidi say?"

"Just get your star fix, you idiot!" I laughed. "This is my last dry shirt!"

Later and below, with a warming cup of broth, Willi pores over his charts.

Well we are not far from the Canaries now Rollie, but my sun and star fixes aren't as accurate as I would like. What do you say I set a course to give us a landfall, And take it again from there? This filthy weather can't hold out for ever"

And so we turn south west towards towards the Dog Island; Gran Canaria.

LS

Laughing Swordfish · 10-28-08, 10:57 AM

Of course we came across two ships. Pretty fat merchants. At least 4,000 tons each and not armed or escorted.

"Viktor get us through....'Immediate to FDU. Two medium size cargos, red flag, north across our bow. Perfect range of 900 metres. Permission to engage now'

Send it Victor!"

bookworm_020 · 10-28-08, 08:43 PM

Quick! Have Bernard press the firing button for the forward tubes!

That, or just say you were creating more room for the new passenger!

Laughing Swordfish · 11-07-08, 07:49 PM

We tracked them. Steadily losing our perfect solution, and in the end it didn't matter.

'U-46. Engagement denied. Boats north of you will pick them up. Resume as ordered. BdU'

'They'll be lucky" Christian grumbled. 'That was a chance of a lifetime shot in this sea'

"Never mind Christian, we'll soon be at our RV, if Willi can get one more fix, and then we'll know more when we come up tomorrow night".

LS

10-08-08, 06:48 PM	#1036
bookworm_020 Navy Seal Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Sinking ships off the Australian coast Posts: 5,966 Downloads: 1 Uploads: 0	Geat to have you back, but I'm hanging out to know what is going to happen! __________________ "There is always one person in any organization who knows whats going on, That person must be fired"

10-09-08, 06:58 PM	#1037
Laughing Swordfish Seasoned Skipper Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: London Posts: 713 Downloads: 1 Uploads: 0	I knew it would be Bruno. Even as my Number Two, he is the youngest and most impetuous. "Are we going in, Sir?" "No we are not, Bruno. Anders will be creeping through as we speak, and I'm sure he will be fine this time. There's not room for two." "You may have noticed that the boat has turned about, and is heading South-South West." I was met with a tired silence. It was either a sense of relief on the most part, that they dare not express. or for Christian, who would go anywhere with U-46; just sheer tiredness. "Out to the Canary Islands, gentlemen. Box DH61 to begin with, here; Willi we'll go over that on the charts later. We are not to engage the enemy en route or to be seen or detected by any other means. We are to await further instructions at that RV, and be prepared to take on a 'special cargo' ". There were a couple of low whistles all around. We weren't being sent through the Straits, which was good, and we all knew that Franco's Spain was neutral in a German sort of way, but she wouldn't dare risk any overt protection out into these island outcrops. Closely patrolled by the Allies as a result, and the treacherous shallow waters and razor sharp volcanic sea bed lay in wait for any but the most cautious Kapitan. We would know more later, but there was little doubt about what the 'special cargo' was to be. A friendly agent with some information, or who needs to be repatriated. Who knows? "Ok Gentlemen that's it. Willi stay behind, Christian get your head down, and the word to the boys is just that we're not going into the Med, just another convoy sweep. And tell them that we would have got through anyway, if they'd asked us to!" "Away you go gentlemen, and thank you." LS Last edited by Laughing Swordfish; 10-09-08 at 07:25 PM.

10-16-08, 04:41 AM	#1038
Jimbuna Chief of the Boat Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: 250 metres below the surface Posts: 190,742 Downloads: 63 Uploads: 13	Enjoy the dolphins in that area __________________ Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something. Oh my God, not again!!

10-16-08, 07:56 PM	#1040
Bosje Seasoned Skipper Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 732 Downloads: 89 Uploads: 0	good to see you back, LS sink em all! __________________ And when an 800-ton Uboat has you by the tits... you listen!

10-17-08, 04:17 AM	#1042
HansVonBeehan Torpedoman Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Ramsgate, Kent Posts: 114 Downloads: 76 Uploads: 0	Hello Sir. Salutes I really have enjoyed reading your "book". I Have currently read up to page 6, and have really ENJOYED it. One thing I have noticed, is a few spelling mistakes. Bah! I'm dyslexic so I cannot complain. Please keep up the good writing. Also the U-46 was a VIIB http://www.uboat.net/boats/u46.htm Hans Von Beehan Commander U-48, Your sister ship. __________________ Cmdr. Mike Beehan Leutnant z. S. Hans von Beehan IC2,IC1,GC,KCOSDG Commander U-181, Type IXD2 1st Flotilla, Brest. Last edited by HansVonBeehan; 10-17-08 at 04:49 AM.

10-16-08, 07:36 PM	#1039
Laughing Swordfish Seasoned Skipper Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: London Posts: 713 Downloads: 1 Uploads: 0	Dolphins, Jimbuna? The whole boat is aqua-planing!! LS

10-16-08, 07:58 PM	#1041
Laughing Swordfish Seasoned Skipper Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: London Posts: 713 Downloads: 1 Uploads: 0	Turning south west towards the Canaries, put us right in the teeth of a gale. Gaining force 9 from a swirling depression in the Azores. On the second afternoon Bruno dropped down the ladder with the rest of his drenched shivering and utterly exhausted crew from Second Watch. "Ok, Bruno?" He looked at me sourly and with out his usual cheeky humour. "Hard to keep a cigar alight up there, Kaleun" We almost lost Willi's 3rd Watch altogether straight after. They had just had time to buckle on to their hooks on the bridge, when a freak 20 metre wave deluged the boat. U-46 like all German Type VIIs is designed to ride out or under such waves, we are a u-boat after all. But tell that to Willi and his gang buffeted almost senseless and holding their breath for long seconds before the boat pierced back through the back of the wave. All naval protocol gone, "Get us back in, Rollie!" Willi gasped down the tube once he had caught his breath, and the speaking tube had deposited several litres of sea water over the Control Room deck to emphasise his words. "Bring them down, Willi. Reuben, set depth for 30 metres when the last man is reported in." LS LS

10-17-08, 04:44 AM	#1043
Laughing Swordfish Seasoned Skipper Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: London Posts: 713 Downloads: 1 Uploads: 0	Thanks Hans, and welcome to SH3! I shall certainly look out for the fortunes of U-48, good hunting my friend. And you're right about the spelling, I blame it on the lurching of the boat!! LS

10-17-08, 06:46 AM	#1044
HansVonBeehan Torpedoman Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Ramsgate, Kent Posts: 114 Downloads: 76 Uploads: 0	Not a Problem! Keep up the good hunting. __________________ Cmdr. Mike Beehan Leutnant z. S. Hans von Beehan IC2,IC1,GC,KCOSDG Commander U-181, Type IXD2 1st Flotilla, Brest.

10-22-08, 06:58 PM	#1045
Laughing Swordfish Seasoned Skipper Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: London Posts: 713 Downloads: 1 Uploads: 0	As Willi gasped as he came last down the ladder, his sou'wester knocked skew-whiff over his right ear, and his and Third Watch'es oilskins' drips adding to the sea water that was now draining forward as our U-46 sought calmer and deeper waters. His boys were understandably shaken. They had been knocked flat and submersed under water for many long seconds before the wave passed over. Oscar is now tending to the Watch for their cuts and bruises, but the main effect is the medicinal swig from his brandy supply. First Watch are up on boat routine. Second and Third are ordered to rest. Soon there are the usual mutterings and comings and goings and snorings of submerged u-boat life. The Navigation Officer and I are at the chart table, and Willi has a point when he says that we're not making much less headway submerged than we are trying to hold the boat on course in the teeth of a surface gale. Also there's nothing to see up there beyond the nearest wave, and we are rolling too much for any sensible observation. Besides which, as Willi, and only a few of us know, we are not to attack anything anyway. Fat chance in this sea. We will only surface now at night, to give Willi a star fix, and get off our daily reports, and recharge the batteries, and get some air in the Boat. A slightly cushier routine, but Cox soon has them busy around the boat once they are fed and rested, and anyway it's always a risky business relying on being underwater too long. If you do get pinged by chance by a destroyer, you have to go deeper with whatever you've got in your batteries. Hans and Viktor between them are maintaining a vigilant watch on the sonar phones. What are we getting ourselves into this time..? LS

10-24-08, 07:33 AM	#1046
Jimbuna Chief of the Boat Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: 250 metres below the surface Posts: 190,742 Downloads: 63 Uploads: 13	The voyage continues __________________ Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something. Oh my God, not again!!

10-28-08, 07:03 AM	#1047
Laughing Swordfish Seasoned Skipper Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: London Posts: 713 Downloads: 1 Uploads: 0	Night. 2200. Willi is cursing as he tries to hold the sextant steady in the rolling swell. In the end, I strap him in tightly with the very same cordage that sved his life in the storm before. Even then he is buffeted, so I brace him in place. Willi is too proud to call his 3rd Watch up to hold him in place. "We can't keep meeting like this, Kaleun; what would Heidi say?" "Just get your star fix, you idiot!" I laughed. "This is my last dry shirt!" Later and below, with a warming cup of broth, Willi pores over his charts. Well we are not far from the Canaries now Rollie, but my sun and star fixes aren't as accurate as I would like. What do you say I set a course to give us a landfall, And take it again from there? This filthy weather can't hold out for ever" And so we turn south west towards towards the Dog Island; Gran Canaria. LS

10-28-08, 10:57 AM	#1048
Laughing Swordfish Seasoned Skipper Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: London Posts: 713 Downloads: 1 Uploads: 0	Of course we came across two ships. Pretty fat merchants. At least 4,000 tons each and not armed or escorted. "Viktor get us through....'Immediate to FDU. Two medium size cargos, red flag, north across our bow. Perfect range of 900 metres. Permission to engage now' Send it Victor!"

10-28-08, 08:43 PM	#1049
bookworm_020 Navy Seal Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Sinking ships off the Australian coast Posts: 5,966 Downloads: 1 Uploads: 0	Quick! Have Bernard press the firing button for the forward tubes! That, or just say you were creating more room for the new passenger! __________________ "There is always one person in any organization who knows whats going on, That person must be fired"

11-07-08, 07:49 PM	#1050
Laughing Swordfish Seasoned Skipper Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: London Posts: 713 Downloads: 1 Uploads: 0	We tracked them. Steadily losing our perfect solution, and in the end it didn't matter. 'U-46. Engagement denied. Boats north of you will pick them up. Resume as ordered. BdU' 'They'll be lucky" Christian grumbled. 'That was a chance of a lifetime shot in this sea' "Never mind Christian, we'll soon be at our RV, if Willi can get one more fix, and then we'll know more when we come up tomorrow night". LS Last edited by Laughing Swordfish; 11-07-08 at 07:50 PM.