U-51 Kapitänleutnant Hans Felix Hartmann

[CPTLTJASON]

10/15/1939, Spitzbergen 106thday at sea.

Proceeding SSW at 19 knots Schiff 35 struck an iceberg north of Spitzbergen the damage was patched up and lasted for several hours before water again began leaking, this time into the holds and fuel tanks with no chance of making it back to Germany Hartmann took Schiff 35 into “Ice Fjord”. Kybfels arrived the following night and the crew and secret material taken aboard. at 00:00 Schiff 35 was scuttled with her own mines and torpedoes in 106 days she sank the British freighter Mulberry 4,868 grt. The Kybfels arrived at Wilhelmshaven after 113 days at sea.
Schiff 35 will sail again this time ill ditch all the Arctic whaling fleets and the first mining operations and instead move directly into the Atlantic.

[CPTLTJASON]

Here we go again ��

2/1/1939 Kiel Naval Base 1st day at sea

The DDG Hansa freighter HAMFELS 9.000 grt was launched from Deshimag AG Weser, Bremen on January 25, 1937. She was assigned the Hamburg-Calcutta route. Under Kapitan Rudolf Karphorn the Hamfels would make 2 voyages to Calcutta, on her last voyage she returned fully loaded with tin, rubber oil nuts, and oil cakes. She docked at Hamburg on January 2, 1938 and began unloading her cargo. Early in the morning of January 14th 2 officers, 10 petty officers, and 45 ratings of the Kriegsmarine boarded the freighter and informed the captain that the Hamfels was being requisitioned for naval service. she was now under the command of Kplt.z.S Wolfgang Arnhart (N.4454.33V).By the 30th All civilian crew were disembarked, and the empty freighter departed during the night. At 07:00 hrs. she arrived at Deschimag, AG Weser Werft and work began. For 6 months she remained there where she was lengthened by some 200 feet (100 fore and aft), at the Oberdeck she was strengthened to take on 8x5.9 in guns from the old battleship Hessen (4 port and 4 starboard). 2 additional 5.9s were installed on the Poop deck and on the forecastle. On September 5 Barracks Ship 35 was assigned a new Kommandant KKpt.z.S Hans Felix Hartmann (N.1829.19A). Work on Schiff 35 was completed on April 30th, 1938 and she was commissioned today on May1, 1938 at 12:00 hrs. After commissioning Schiff 35 began taking on fuel, coal, and water and she departed Bremen on night of May 7th and worked her way up to Bremerhaven where she took on part of her crew. Remaining there during the night the mystery ship departed at 01:00 hrs. on the 8th making for Brunsbüttel passing Cuxhaven late in the evening she arrived at Brunsbüttel at 22:50 hrs. entered the lock and dropped anchor to make the passage in the morning. Weighing anchor at 05:00 hrs. Schiff 35 cast off and proceeded at 8 knots towards Rendsburg she passed the harbor at 13:11 hrs. Schiff 35 finally arrived at the Holtenau Lock at 00:15 hrs. on the 9th and proceeded to dock at Basin V where she currently remains. For the next 5 days she will take on fuel, coal, water, mines, torpedoes, ammunition, 110 officers and crew bringing the total to 400 officers, petty officers, and ratings. Before departure KKpt.z.S Hartmann was promoted to FKpt.z.S and the following day received Schiff 35’s orders, the ship will depart for an extended training cruise on May 10th at 04:00 hrs. Schiff 35’s training cruise completed her training cruise successfully during that time she carried out artillery and torpedo exercises followed by minelaying and boarding exercises she began her return voyage to Kiel. During the passage, the crew painted on the funnel the colors of the DDG Hansa Line. Schiff 35 arrived at Kiel on July 1, 1938 disguised as her old self the Hamfels 9.000 grt. She spent 52 days at sea. She dropped anchor in her designated area and that is where she has been. For months, the crew has not had anything to do but maintain the ship and for the Kommandant, adjutant, and officers to receive, acknowledge, read, and comment on dispatches from Berlin, Schiff 35 has basically become a floating office. Most of the crew had to remain below decks and those that were given leave had to depart at night and in small groups. Every effort was made to keep the purpose of the ship a secret. On July 12, 1938 FKpt.z.S Hartmann travelled to Berlin to receive the briefing from the Seekriegslietung. Hartmann was briefed by Kapitan.z.S Hans Voss (I. Asto), Schiff 35 will depart Kiel on September 1, 1938 she has orders to patrol Spanish waters and to inspect cargo ships. Any that were suspected of carrying contraband to the republicans were to be sunk. The tanker Ermland will depart on the 31st of January and make for “Point Blue I” 200 km NNW of the Azores. Hartmann returned on the 9th of August and Schiff 35 shifted to Basin V and began taking on fuel, water, and coal. The following day she took on her ammunition, 28 torpedoes, and 445 EMC mines. 3 trains arrived early on the 13th and delivered all kinds of equipment and supplies from tropical uniforms to cigarettes . The tanker Ermland came alongside on the 22nd and began loading crates, these contained 3 Arado Ar 196 A-1. After another request Hauptmann Vollrath Wibel, (Kommandant of Bordfliegergruppe 5/196) gave us another 2 fully assembled aircraft, these were loaded aboard one went into Hold No.3 and the other to Hold No.2. The catapult had been moved to Hold No.1. On the 28th 2 Leichte Schnellboote arrived and were taken aboard. These were acquired with great difficulty along with 20 torpedoes, and the 50 mines provided by the Kommandant of the Kiel Naval Arsenal (Kapitan.z.S Ulrich von Gross) these are commanded by L.z.S Erich Fredrich von Toltz and L.z.S Sepp Gruenwald. Each boat has a crew of 7 aside from these there are an additional crew of 5 (mechanics). Some items requested by the Kommandant and LI were not available at Kiel and had to be brought from Wilhelmshaven and the AG Weser shipyard. Due to these delays Seekriegslietung had Schiff 35’s orders amended, and she was to depart on November 1. 1938 then November 30th, and finally the date was moved up to January 5th, however, further delays by the personnel department caused the departure date to be moved up to February 1st. Eventually the last crew were taken aboard, and final loading was completed on January 30th with 2 final trains bringing in the fresh produce, live pigs, and poultry. Schiff 35 cast off from Basin V and as the sun set on the 30th she returned to her anchorage in the harbor. On January 31st at 10:00 hrs. a motor launch came alongside with GAdm Raeder and his staff. The Admiral inspected the ship from top to bottom afterwards there was lunch below decks and at 15:00 hrs. GAdm Raeder departed Schiff 35. Soon she will put to sea unbeknownst to Hartmann and his crew it would be years instead of a weeks before they were to see Germany again.

[CPTLTJASON]

2/20/1939 Mediterranean Sea 19th day at sea

Schiff 35 entered the North Sea and 3 days later made for the Straits of Dover, transited the English Channel, and finally entered the North Atlantic. Schiff 35 retained her disguise as the Hamfels and on February 11th she crossed the Strait of Gibraltar. Schiff 35 was ordered to patrol the Gulf of Valencia. Her orders were most clear, she was to stop a ship and announce that she will be boarded. The boarding party commander is to present the ship as “Boarding ship 30” if the vessel is carrying contraband for the enemy she is to be scuttled. The following day Schiff 35’s crew got out the scaffolding and paint brushes and removed all DDG Hansa colors from the funnel and was painted black. On February 13th a liner came into view closing to 1700m this vessel was flying no flag so by lamp Hartmann signaled “stop ship and prepare to be boarded”. The boarding party under L.z.S Schmidt went aboard and discovered that the mystery ship was a Spanish Republican ship and she was carrying supplies provided by the Soviets. The 60 man crew was ordered to abandon ship and the demolition officer Oblt.z.S Wolff set charges in the engine room, boiler room, and in the holds at 07:20 the ship goes up and 6 minutes later sinks over the stern. She was the Campillo 8,002 grt. Hartmann moved on to the Gulf of Valencia and on the morning of the 15th Hartman and his officers had a conference. He planned to mine the Port of Valencia with 30 mines. With a map captured from the Campillo they were to lay the mines in 2 separate areas. This was carried out successfully the same night. On the 16th again at night another vessel flying no flag was again boarded and sunk it was the freighter Vicente 4,883 grt. From Odessa to Barcelona 40 were taken prisoner. The following day the radio room reported 4 ships had struck mines 3 confirmed sunk. In the evening a further 6 were sunk totaling 40,237 grt. The total tonnage sunk is now 62,018 grt. Hartmann plans to head further south for a while and make a sudden reappearance in a location yet to the determined.

[CPTLTJASON]

2/22/1939 La Spezia Harbor, Kriegsmarine Pier A 21st day at sea

Since the last report things aboard Schiff 35 have gone from good to disaster. On the morning of the 21st a severe fire damaged on of her electrical panels and severely wounded 2 ratings. The firefighters swiftly brought the fire under control. The L.I. Korvkpt(Dipl-ing) Miller began sifting through the damaged panel to find the cause . The doctor Ob.Mar.Arzt Dr. Jensen treated them with what means he had aboard but informed the Kommandant that they would need to be landed soon. Hartmann radioed the Seekriegslietung to informed them on the situation and during this time Port Diesel No.4 failed. Hartmann got a quick response and was ordered to put into La Spezia Harbor and dock at Pier “A”. Schiff 35 arrived at the port early in the morning and both men were immediately disembarked. Schiff 35 cannot continue her war patrol and will have to make the return voyage to Bremen. In the meantime, a full investigation is underway as well as the onboard investigation one will be conducted by the Seekriegslietung, engineering department, and shipyard department.

[CPTLTJASON]

7/1/1939 Deschimag AG Weser Werft 1st day at sea

On March 23, 1939 Schiff 35 arrived to a roaring fanfare at Bremen . During her deployment to Spanish waters she sank with scuttling charges and mines 64,525 grt of shipping. The Spanish Civil war ended on April 1st with Germany on the side of the victors for their efforts the crew were awarded the following:
-445 (All) awarded the Iron Cross 2nd class and the Spanish Cross in Bronze without swords
-38 Iron Cross 1st class
-2 Wound Badges in Gold ( 1 posthumously)
-Kommandant was awarded the Iron Cross 1st & 2nd class and was later awarded the Spanish Cross in Gold with swords for his successful operations and the mining of Valencia.

Schiff 35 was decommissioned on April 5, 1939 and placed in the hands of the shipyard. For 4 months the entire electrical system was rewired, Port engine No 4 was taken apart and rebuilt, and a other adjustments made to the decks, holds and deck fittings. Work was completed on June 4, 1939 and on June 6, 1939 Schiff 35 was once again commissioned into the Kriegsmarine under her old Kommandant Fregattenkapitän Hans Felix Hartmann (EK I). Schiff 35 left Bremen for a 3 week training cruise and arrived at Bremen on June 27th final adjustments were made and now she was clear for sea. Final loading took place at Bremen any items missing were shipped in by train. Again Hartmann went to Berlin to be briefed on Schiff 35’s next deployment, he was to make for the via the Denmark Strait and remain there until further notice.

I know it’s getting repetitive and boring but please bear with me. Never had this much trouble getting a patrol underway

[CPTLTJASON]

9/20/1939 Central Atlantic DE 6825 81st day at sea

Schiff 35 spent 50 days off Jan Mayern awaiting her orders which finally came on 8/31. Schiff 35 was to leave her anchorage and proceed to the North Atlantic and await further instructions. On September 1st 1939 the bridge messenger came tearing into the chart room located below the bridge and made a report to the Kommandant, “the Wermacht invaded Poland”. By this time Ship 35 was making for the Denmark Strait. At full speed (25 knots) she made the crossing within hours. While in the strait she got the radio message the Kommandant and crew had waited for. “Ship 35 commence commerce warfare immediately.” Her disguise will be the Norwegian freighter Tariffa. A white line was painted around the hull. For 16 days she has gone up and down the Atlantic shipping lanes and not even a cloud in sight. On September 13 she sent away one of her aircraft for a reconnaissance flight and after a 3 1/2 hr flight returned empty handed. Hartmann began working his way south and today at 12:37 the lookouts on the bridge sighted a smoke cloud bearing 332°T range 4.000m. The alarm was sounded and the crew rushed to battle stations closing to 1.600m the ship was identified as a British freighter at 12:44 came the order, hoist battle ensign, de camouflage, and open fire! 56x5.9 in shells rained down on the ship and at 12:51 the battered ship was abandoned and went down by the stern. 21 of the crew were picked up and however 10 including the master went down with the ship. The second mate informed us that the freighter was the KINGTON 4,886 grt loaded with 5,000 tons of grain from Buenos Aires to London. Hartmann will now make for the Port of Hamilton for a mining operation before making for Pernambuco!

[CPTLTJASON]

10/6/1939 EJ 9472 Central Atlantic 97th day at sea

On September 30th, the Admiral Graf Spee sank the British freighter Clement off Pernambuco with this new development Schiff 35 began her trek east towards Freetown. enroute she sank a 2 ship convoy consisting of the liner PACIFIC STAR 9.889 grt and the freighter SILVER 3.672 grt both were sunk by artillery afterwards 2 hours were spent picking up 137 survivors. The Silver did send one radio message that was acknowledged by Freetown. In light of this Hartmann has no choice but to ditch yet again his minelaying plans and instead make for Central Atlantic as the Graf Spee has the entire South Atlantic to himself.

[iambecomelife]

Originally Posted by CPTLTJASON

2/20/1939 Mediterranean Sea 19th day at sea

Schiff 35 entered the North Sea and 3 days later made for the Straits of Dover, transited the English Channel, and finally entered the North Atlantic. Schiff 35 retained her disguise as the Hamfels and on February 11th she crossed the Strait of Gibraltar. Schiff 35 was ordered to patrol the Gulf of Valencia. Her orders were most clear, she was to stop a ship and announce that she will be boarded. The boarding party commander is to present the ship as “Boarding ship 30” if the vessel is carrying contraband for the enemy she is to be scuttled. The following day Schiff 35’s crew got out the scaffolding and paint brushes and removed all DDG Hansa colors from the funnel and was painted black. On February 13th a liner came into view closing to 1700m this vessel was flying no flag so by lamp Hartmann signaled “stop ship and prepare to be boarded”. The boarding party under L.z.S Schmidt went aboard and discovered that the mystery ship was a Spanish Republican ship and she was carrying supplies provided by the Soviets. The 60 man crew was ordered to abandon ship and the demolition officer Oblt.z.S Wolff set charges in the engine room, boiler room, and in the holds at 07:20 the ship goes up and 6 minutes later sinks over the stern. She was the Campillo 8,002 grt. Hartmann moved on to the Gulf of Valencia and on the morning of the 15th Hartman and his officers had a conference. He planned to mine the Port of Valencia with 30 mines. With a map captured from the Campillo they were to lay the mines in 2 separate areas. This was carried out successfully the same night. On the 16th again at night another vessel flying no flag was again boarded and sunk it was the freighter Vicente 4,883 grt. From Odessa to Barcelona 40 were taken prisoner. The following day the radio room reported 4 ships had struck mines 3 confirmed sunk. In the evening a further 6 were sunk totaling 40,237 grt. The total tonnage sunk is now 62,018 grt. Hartmann plans to head further south for a while and make a sudden reappearance in a location yet to the determined.

Hmmm... I think that ocean liner has seen better days. Great screenshots. Always loved the explosion/fire effects or Silent Hunter 5. And I like your choice to roleplay as an auxiliary cruiser. The amount of work that went into maintaining secrecy, disguising the ships, repainting in fake neutral colors, putting up artificial funnels etc is really fascinating.

[CPTLTJASON]

Originally Posted by iambecomelife

Hmmm... I think that ocean liner has seen better days. Great screenshots. Always loved the explosion/fire effects or Silent Hunter 5. And I like your choice to roleplay as an auxiliary cruiser. The amount of work that went into maintaining secrecy, disguising the ships, repainting in fake neutral colors, putting up artificial funnels etc is really fascinating.

Thank you sir! glad you're enjoying the series Yes it was a lot of work.

[CPTLTJASON]

10/9/1939 EH 2427 Central Atlantic 101st day at sea

Ship 35 has been proceeding slowly along the shipping routes in search of more targets. Hartmann plans to remain in the Central Atlantic until November 1st. The tanker Ermland is expected to depart Kiel on October 11th and we will meet her at Point Andalusia in December. On October 7th , several changes have been made to Ship 35 Hartmann decided to change the disguise to a Greek freighter for this the following changes were made,
-4 Single post derricks taken down (2 between the funnel and bridge and 2 deck house aft)
-Peeling paint was not touched up as Greek freighters are not maintained well. the white line will remain, and since Greece is neutral, 6 Greek flags were painted on the hull, 3 on each side.
-The word “Greece” was painted 4 times on the hull 2 on each side
Ship 35 is now the Greek freighter ZEUS 8,800 grt (AMMZ). If we are Questioned when going from S to N we will be loaded with Misc. cargo from Karachi to Piraeus when going from N to S we will be in ballast from Piraeus to Durban. Today at 23:38 the port lookout on the Bridge OStrm Witterhold spotted a smoke column bearing 039T range 11.400m this was confirmed by the lookouts on the crosstrees who should have sighted it earlier nevertheless battle stations were called and soon Ship 35 closed the range at 23:56 the ship decamouflaged and opened fire on the ships which turned out to be a two stack liner, tanker, and small cargo ship. 181 HE 5.9 inch shells sent all three ships to the bottom. Hartmann ordered the motor launch and 4 lifeboats to rescue the survivors. A total of 204 were picked up from the 3 ships only the master of the tanker survived. All prisoners were searched and then sent to the prisoner hold and Hold No.6 the wounded were treated in the ship’s hospital. We now have a total of 536. Ship 35 is now seriously overcrowded so the next ship that is sighted will have to be taken intact. Proceeding NNW speed 12 knots.
All ships departed in convoy from Southampton, England to Singapore All ships were British,
-CRUSADER 17,957 grt loaded with stores for the army and misc. cargo. Ship belonged to the Ellerman Line
-ULISES 10,028 grt loaded with 11,900 tons of gasoline. Tanker belonged to the British Tanker Co.
-WACOSTA 2,192 grt loaded with aircraft engines and propellers. Freighter belonged to the Smith Shipping Co.
So far Ship 35 has sunk 7 ships for 51,847 grt




[IMG]

[CPTLTJASON]

10/12/1939 DR 2814 Central Atlantic 103rd day at sea.

Ship 35’s search for a suitable ship to take prize came to an end. At 22:25 Lookouts on the bridge sighted navigation lights bearing 257°T range 3300m Hartmann turned Ship 35 around, decamouflaged, and fired a warning shot with the 3.7 cm the liner, a Portuguese, stopped and switched on its mast lights. A boarding party under L.z.S Schmidt boarded the ship and discovered that she had in fact been sold to the Hugh Shipping Co. Ltd, Southampton and that the transfer of ownership had taken place in Rio and was now sailing under control of the British company. The liner was travelling in Ballast from Rio to Clydebank for conversion into a troopship. Hartmann took the liner prize putting Oblt.z.S.d.R Burkhard von Muller in command he was given a crew of 2 officers, 8 petty officers, and 30 ratings. During the next 5 hours the prisoners except Captains, engineering officers, and radio personnel were transferred to the Meridian 9,988 grt (DMNL). The liner was renamed Marsburg and commissioned into the Kriegsmarine as a supply ship. She has room for about 800. Food and supplies were later transferred. The Marsburg is instructed to proceed to DF 70 via the Green Route and wait there until Ship 35 returns. Both ships parted ways at dawn.

[CPTLTJASON]

Preview:
3/13/1938 38th day at sea Baltic Sea Training Square A

Schiff 35 underway during trials. I’ve been planning a very detailed and complex operation for Schiff 35 it’s a mishmash of the cruises of the Wolf, Möwe, Atlantis, and Pinguin. I’ll go into more detail in the next post.

[CPTLTJASON]

https://www.facebook.com/HKSchiff35

Started a facebook page dedicated to Schiff 35 here I will post behind the scenes content as well as the logbook, charts, plans for minelaying, etc. Of course I will be posting here as well

[CPTLTJASON]

Working on Schiff 35's departure. she will depart Kiel via the Great Belt, Kattegat, and Skagerrak but before all this Schiff 35 will proceed into the Baltic to be disguised as a soviet freighter and only then begin the trek northward.

[CPTLTJASON]

For this patrol I will use the 2 versions of the Ehrenfels Class freighters that are available in the game, one being the Pinguin for battle scenes and the other for the static shots during the cruise.