Scene right out of U-571...

[Navigator857]

I don't usually give war time patrol stories but this one was way too different. Comming back from a photo recon mission and run into a fast moving Destroyer that has for some reason already spotted me, (Glitch of time compression I guess). Anyway, I sound G.Q., order a crash dive, but then figure I'd try and get a few fish on him first since he was still about 6000 yards out. Set 3 stern fish at him and crash dive, searching for a thermal and turning 90 degrees starboard. I cut engines to 1/3, hit run silent and at about 200 ft go all stop.

Well, I have one of the new handy dandy realism mods on and this Jap is good, VERY good. After he drops about a dozen pills on me he finally gets his depth right and I start taken major damage. DCC is reporting all compartments flooding, pumps offline and among it all, we are out of COFFEE!!!. Well, I'm now re-living the scene from U-571 where I have no choice to emergency blow at 9 knts, knowing that tin-can is up there waiting to see my conning tower. Well, we surface and just as I swing to the stern to line up that "one shot" to end this he starts firing like crazy AND is only about 300 off my port side. I man up the deck gun and start shooting back.

Amazingly I get several hits on him but he comes racing up my port side until he collides with me (gawd I wish we had a collision alarm, and a "ALL HANDS BRACE FOR COLLISION!!"). Well, to end this story, he's unable to fire at me because apparently his guns will not trian that low, however I continue to fire away until he finally blows up. I limp ahead and spend the next two days floating at 2 knts while repairs are made. I wish I had a movie of it because that had to be the most entertaining thing I been through.

Well, just my time in the game, all take care and have fun.

P.S. No sailor's drowned trying to get air back to the torpedoes.

P.S.S. We were also out of Toliet Paper, which after this encounter was needed BADLY!