Your first sub lost... Tragic Tales.

Angelo Cire · 09-26-11, 01:45 PM

So, I just had my first loss of a crewmember (2, actually) when a C&D class plowed into me - just a tad SO from Lerwick.

I was only 2 meters above the seabed, but the water was very shallow. They both died, and I proceeded to rest on the bottom, repairing the damage. After getting it under control.... the damn thing rammed me again.

Catastrophic damage; heavy, unstoppable flooding, diesel fuel all leaked and gone, bottom of the seafloor - even if not a very deep bottom. Seeing no way out, I did the only responsible thing I could think to do in hopes of saving some of my crew's lives - I blew the ballast tanks.

At first I saw no change, and I feared for the worst - that the ballast tanks and oxygen reserves had been irreparably damaged - but after a few long moments, my tiefenmesser slowly ticked upwards from 17 to 16, and then on.

I could still hear the pinging of the C&D above, even as we broke the surface, but before I could order an evacuation of the boat, a round from their deck guns hit us dead-center.

Lost both boat and crew. All because of my recklessness.

I'll never underestimate these 'mere' surface ships again.

Where were you, when you lost your first sub (not counting, if you don't wish to, "practice" subs)?

BossMark · 09-26-11, 01:55 PM

I lost my first sub with all hands trying to sneak into Gibraltar a very bad idea

JazzJR · 09-26-11, 02:11 PM

I lost two Crew members (Watch officer and a deck gunner) and one injured after a deckgun fight against a Imperial Type Freighter. But didn't lost my ship.....yet.

frau kaleun · 09-26-11, 02:31 PM

I think the first time I lost a boat may have been when I tried to "re-ace" the flak exam after installing GWX.

Not sure about tragic but certainly the most memorable loss was when I managed to get us hung up on the outer gates of one of Wili's locks as they swung closed. The best part was that I was actually backing out through them at the time because I was in reverse after slamming the bow into the already closed inner gates of the same lock.

andwii · 09-26-11, 02:34 PM

just recently lost 9 members when I somehow survived a whole night of depth charging. Problem was I think I was the one who killed them. I forgot I was on the bottom and started the uboat to move, breaking all sorts of things and killing 9 members and wounding one other.

gt_magnus · 09-26-11, 03:27 PM

My first loss was on the east coast of England, in early 1940. Me and my Duck (IIA type) was on our 6th patrol. This was planned to be kind of a goodbye patrol with her. We spotted a convoy off south east England, dived quickly and raised my periscope to check for destroyers. Just one! A lousy ASW Trawler! Only problem is that I only have 5 torpedoes.

I planned to send two torpedoes towards a medium cargo and another one against a small tanker (Yeah, no big ships). Open tubes, los! ASW trawler didn't notice it. 30 seconds later:

Tripal class coming straight towards me and another unknown destroyer beside it. They dropped a lot of charges on me. I tried to evade them, but both ships dropped charges at the same time and one of them hit my radio room and killed both men inside. Depth charge after depht charge, I was nearing collapse when one of the destroyers suddenly turned towards the convoy again. Maybe one of my fellow kaleuns were also attacking the convoy? The questions had to wait. My Duck was hard to keep on depth. I had no option, blow ballast! We breached surface. I ordered my crew to abandon ship. I stayed on the boat. I wouldn't give away my lovely Duck so easily, so I wen't down to the engine room, put the engines on flank speed and started to zig zag. Try and catch me, brits. You killed my fr.. Wait! I couldn't just leave my two dead friends on the floor! So I dragged them to their stations while the destroyer was chasing me, wrote on a paper: In memory of... Look what you've done, brits! And put one of them in each of my friends pockets and started walking towards the bridge, but then, one of the destroyers cannons hit one of the torpedoes I had in the forward section, so they blew up, and I was trapped inside the u-boat. I then went down with the boat.

In memory of my two friendly, hard working radio and sonar men. And my faithful Duck! R.I.P.

As you can see by the length of this text, you'll understand I remember this moment very well.

Bye for now!

Kapt Z · 09-26-11, 04:24 PM

Can't say I remember my first loss, but my most embarrassing loss was being rammed at periscope depth by a tanker I had already torpedoed.

CherryHarbey · 09-26-11, 04:39 PM

don't remember the exact details but it would have included the following
1 a type II
2 over-confidence
3 shallow water

Sailor Steve · 09-26-11, 06:40 PM

The first sub I lost was playing Silent Service, so I'm afraid that after twenty-six years I really don't remember.

If you meant the first sub in SH3, well, that was six years ago, so I don't remember that either.

Missing Name · 09-26-11, 07:03 PM

Took on a convoy and a good amount of water. Fought off the initial flooding, but the engines were severely damaged. Compressed air failed to get me to the surface, and I watched as I slowly sank below crush depth over the span of two hours...

mightymightychatham · 09-26-11, 07:10 PM

The first sub I lost was a VIIB. After installing the merchant fleet mod, I started a new career on 100% realism. I was in the channel when war was declared and made a spirited fighting withdrawral to the south west, sinking a few merchants and evading the many patrol craft and a couple of proper escorts.

Anyway, drawing about level with Land's End, I thought "phew, I made it!" when my lookout spots a lone freighter steaming for the channel. It's daylight and I'm still well within air cover so I decide to make a submerged attack. She shrugs off the one torpedo I sent her and continues with only a slight list to port.

Well, I'm not following her for hours back into the channel to see if she sinks, so I decide to surface, sink her quickly with the deck gun and continue to my patrol sector. Big mistake.

I surfaced at about 1000m and immediately I'm being fired upon. "But she's not even armed!" I cried and then it dawned on me... A Q-ship! Well, not wanting to chance a dive now that my boat's filling with water at a rate of knots, I manned the deck gun personally (I'm rather good with it if I do say so myself) and actually sunk her first. None of my crew were even injured but the boat was beat up pretty bad, I began repairs and sailed off to my patrol sector.

Days later, returning to Germany, I spotted an Anson off the north coast of Scotland and without thinking ordered a crash dive. The boat imploded at 55m.

Just my luck there was a Q-ship, already in service and out to sea before war was declared. What the hell?

Luno · 09-27-11, 12:16 AM

On my first ever career I got bold and decided to sneak into a port. I sunk a fishing boat and a tug with the 20 mm flak gun, but I attracted a destroyer. The water was too shallow to escape.

I'm on my second patrol and I haven't killed myself yet (fingers crossed).

On single missions I tend to be bit more reckless. My goal was to sink one of three capital ships. However, I did something wrong and all four of the torpedoes from my salvo missed. An hour later after the BBs were gone, I spotted a destroyer. I was going to quit anyway, so I engaged with the deck gun. I actually knocked out its main gun and bridge in a few hits. It was on fire and tried to ram me. I evaded it at the last second, but it must have been a mere few feet away. More ships came to assist and three boats came to ram me at once. I evaded one, and nearly another, but it scraped me along the hull, depleting hull integrity (minimal flooding at the time...)

On another single mission I was killed by a vastly reduced crush depth. I think I was only at 20-30 meters or so. It really caught me by surprise (it would be nice if the crew got more nervous as the boat reached the critical depth).

I have to ask though: how do you guys surrender/abandon ship?

gt_magnus · 09-27-11, 12:57 AM

Of course I have lost some subs before the one I wrote about, but I don't remember them! Now, suddenly I remember one of the first subs I lost. A bit embarrasing, that one. It was outside Brest in 1941. I got hit by a **** schnellboot!

Lord_magerius · 09-27-11, 03:21 AM

I don't remember my first loss in stock SH3 but I do remember my first GWX loss. Very well in fact

I was out near Rockhall banks when I got word of a Task Force heading straight for me. After having weeks of miserable weather, zero visibility and a boat load of dud torpedoes everything went red and I ordered flank speed for an intercept course. Being battered from a convoy attack that went wrong and Bernard manning the hydrophones missing every contact in the known universe I decided to vent my pent up medieval blood rage that had been brewing.

We sat at periscope depth, only coming up for the occasional bit of air and the odd game of life-size guess who (it was usually Hans, though by this point we all looked pretty similar after a month at sea) we picked up contacts directly east of us. Stroking my epic face rug that now clung to my chin like some form of rabid squirrel I took a peak through the periscope.

"one... two... three... four. Yes four of them heading our way. Hubert fetch me my battleaxe and prepare a boarding party"
"Sir, you don't have a battleaxe." he stuttered nervously "nor do we have enough men to board four ships."
"Very well, we'll just have to use the torpedoes instead." I replied, still nursing the creature that was now living on my face. We sat and waited, listening as the sound of the screws grew closer to us and our impending glory.

I risked another look through the periscope, "My God! It's the Nelson, open tubes one, two, three and four."
Slowly she edged towards us, 40,000 tonnes of glory, medals and all the women in Germany. Hmm... All the women in Germany, swooning over my shiny new medals and new found renown.
"Up periscope!" I yelled.
"Sir, the periscope is already up"
"Oh sorry, my mind was elsewhere" I said rather sheepishly. "Make ready to fire."

Just a few more seconds and she's mine. Time seemed to slow down to a crawl. I could hear my heart pounding in my ears, sounding like the warships screws we had eagerly anticipated all day.
"Wait for it, wait for it" I started to hesitate, she looked just beyond reach "Fire"

The whooshing of the torpedoes told us that they were all on their way, in less than sixty seconds we would know whether our gambit had paid off. The pounding of my heart grew louder and louder. It really did sound like a warship. Well maybe not a warship but a destroyer closing fast...

Spinning the periscope 90' my heart sank. The last thing I thought as the destroyer went through my face was how much I really liked my beard.

VONHARRIS · 09-27-11, 06:26 AM

I can not recall how I lost my first command but I remember very well how I lost my last one.

1941 , U-65 IXB attacking a convoy from within its columns , sunk two ships and a Black swan comes out of no where bearing 165 - 170 runs over the sub and depth charges her.
It was over in seconds!

09-26-11, 01:45 PM	#1
Angelo Cire Swabbie Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: SF Posts: 13 Downloads: 12 Uploads: 0	Your first sub lost... Tragic Tales. So, I just had my first loss of a crewmember (2, actually) when a C&D class plowed into me - just a tad SO from Lerwick. I was only 2 meters above the seabed, but the water was very shallow. They both died, and I proceeded to rest on the bottom, repairing the damage. After getting it under control.... the damn thing rammed me again. Catastrophic damage; heavy, unstoppable flooding, diesel fuel all leaked and gone, bottom of the seafloor - even if not a very deep bottom. Seeing no way out, I did the only responsible thing I could think to do in hopes of saving some of my crew's lives - I blew the ballast tanks. At first I saw no change, and I feared for the worst - that the ballast tanks and oxygen reserves had been irreparably damaged - but after a few long moments, my tiefenmesser slowly ticked upwards from 17 to 16, and then on. I could still hear the pinging of the C&D above, even as we broke the surface, but before I could order an evacuation of the boat, a round from their deck guns hit us dead-center. Lost both boat and crew. All because of my recklessness. I'll never underestimate these 'mere' surface ships again. Where were you, when you lost your first sub (not counting, if you don't wish to, "practice" subs)? __________________ Tauchen, Volle Fahrt voraus! Type VIIB U-83, Flotilla Saltzwedel, Wilhelmshaven. Sept. 6, 1939. Angelo Schilling.

09-26-11, 01:55 PM	#2
BossMark Fleet Admiral Join Date: May 2011 Location: Leeds, West Yorkshire Posts: 15,272 Downloads: 278 Uploads: 0	I lost my first sub with all hands trying to sneak into Gibraltar a very bad idea __________________ Never trust the Tories look what Thatcher and Major did in the 80s and 90s and look what the wicked witch May is doing now doing now

09-26-11, 02:11 PM	#3
JazzJR Lieutenant Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Germany - Berlin Posts: 263 Downloads: 98 Uploads: 0	I lost two Crew members (Watch officer and a deck gunner) and one injured after a deckgun fight against a Imperial Type Freighter. But didn't lost my ship.....yet. __________________

09-26-11, 04:24 PM	#7
Kapt Z Grey Wolf Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: ...somewhere in the swamps of Jersey. Posts: 909 Downloads: 157 Uploads: 0	Can't say I remember my first loss, but my most embarrassing loss was being rammed at periscope depth by a tanker I had already torpedoed. __________________ ...I fought in many guises, many names, but always me. Patton

09-26-11, 06:40 PM	#9
Sailor Steve Eternal Patrol Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: High in the mountains of Utah Posts: 50,369 Downloads: 745 Uploads: 249	The first sub I lost was playing Silent Service, so I'm afraid that after twenty-six years I really don't remember. If you meant the first sub in SH3, well, that was six years ago, so I don't remember that either. __________________ “Never do anything you can't take back.” —Rocky Russo

09-26-11, 02:31 PM	#4
frau kaleun Rear Admiral Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Skyri--oh who are we kidding, I'm probably at Lowe's. Again. Posts: 12,706 Downloads: 168 Uploads: 0	I think the first time I lost a boat may have been when I tried to "re-ace" the flak exam after installing GWX. Not sure about tragic but certainly the most memorable loss was when I managed to get us hung up on the outer gates of one of Wili's locks as they swung closed. The best part was that I was actually backing out through them at the time because I was in reverse after slamming the bow into the already closed inner gates of the same lock.

09-26-11, 02:34 PM	#5
andwii Frogman Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: Bridge of U-123 Posts: 300 Downloads: 76 Uploads: 0	just recently lost 9 members when I somehow survived a whole night of depth charging. Problem was I think I was the one who killed them. I forgot I was on the bottom and started the uboat to move, breaking all sorts of things and killing 9 members and wounding one other.

09-26-11, 03:27 PM	#6
gt_magnus Sailor man Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Norway Posts: 46 Downloads: 15 Uploads: 0	My first loss was on the east coast of England, in early 1940. Me and my Duck (IIA type) was on our 6th patrol. This was planned to be kind of a goodbye patrol with her. We spotted a convoy off south east England, dived quickly and raised my periscope to check for destroyers. Just one! A lousy ASW Trawler! Only problem is that I only have 5 torpedoes. I planned to send two torpedoes towards a medium cargo and another one against a small tanker (Yeah, no big ships). Open tubes, los! ASW trawler didn't notice it. 30 seconds later: Tripal class coming straight towards me and another unknown destroyer beside it. They dropped a lot of charges on me. I tried to evade them, but both ships dropped charges at the same time and one of them hit my radio room and killed both men inside. Depth charge after depht charge, I was nearing collapse when one of the destroyers suddenly turned towards the convoy again. Maybe one of my fellow kaleuns were also attacking the convoy? The questions had to wait. My Duck was hard to keep on depth. I had no option, blow ballast! We breached surface. I ordered my crew to abandon ship. I stayed on the boat. I wouldn't give away my lovely Duck so easily, so I wen't down to the engine room, put the engines on flank speed and started to zig zag. Try and catch me, brits. You killed my fr.. Wait! I couldn't just leave my two dead friends on the floor! So I dragged them to their stations while the destroyer was chasing me, wrote on a paper: In memory of... Look what you've done, brits! And put one of them in each of my friends pockets and started walking towards the bridge, but then, one of the destroyers cannons hit one of the torpedoes I had in the forward section, so they blew up, and I was trapped inside the u-boat. I then went down with the boat. In memory of my two friendly, hard working radio and sonar men. And my faithful Duck! R.I.P. As you can see by the length of this text, you'll understand I remember this moment very well. Bye for now!

09-26-11, 04:39 PM	#8
CherryHarbey Engineer Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Derby, UK Posts: 200 Downloads: 86 Uploads: 0	don't remember the exact details but it would have included the following 1 a type II 2 over-confidence 3 shallow water

09-26-11, 07:03 PM	#10
Missing Name Seasoned Skipper Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Westun New Yahk Posts: 748 Downloads: 131 Uploads: 0	Took on a convoy and a good amount of water. Fought off the initial flooding, but the engines were severely damaged. Compressed air failed to get me to the surface, and I watched as I slowly sank below crush depth over the span of two hours... __________________ Largest target sunk with deck gun: Japanese auxiliary cruiser, 15000 tons Largest engaged: HMS Nelson. Results inconclusive. Read Brag's stuff

09-26-11, 07:10 PM	#11
mightymightychatham Watch Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: U52, Wilhelmshaven Posts: 30 Downloads: 16 Uploads: 0	The first sub I lost was a VIIB. After installing the merchant fleet mod, I started a new career on 100% realism. I was in the channel when war was declared and made a spirited fighting withdrawral to the south west, sinking a few merchants and evading the many patrol craft and a couple of proper escorts. Anyway, drawing about level with Land's End, I thought "phew, I made it!" when my lookout spots a lone freighter steaming for the channel. It's daylight and I'm still well within air cover so I decide to make a submerged attack. She shrugs off the one torpedo I sent her and continues with only a slight list to port. Well, I'm not following her for hours back into the channel to see if she sinks, so I decide to surface, sink her quickly with the deck gun and continue to my patrol sector. Big mistake. I surfaced at about 1000m and immediately I'm being fired upon. "But she's not even armed!" I cried and then it dawned on me... A Q-ship! Well, not wanting to chance a dive now that my boat's filling with water at a rate of knots, I manned the deck gun personally (I'm rather good with it if I do say so myself) and actually sunk her first. None of my crew were even injured but the boat was beat up pretty bad, I began repairs and sailed off to my patrol sector. Days later, returning to Germany, I spotted an Anson off the north coast of Scotland and without thinking ordered a crash dive. The boat imploded at 55m. Just my luck there was a Q-ship, already in service and out to sea before war was declared. What the hell?

09-27-11, 12:16 AM	#12
Luno Ensign Join Date: Mar 2011 Posts: 234 Downloads: 123 Uploads: 0	On my first ever career I got bold and decided to sneak into a port. I sunk a fishing boat and a tug with the 20 mm flak gun, but I attracted a destroyer. The water was too shallow to escape. I'm on my second patrol and I haven't killed myself yet (fingers crossed). On single missions I tend to be bit more reckless. My goal was to sink one of three capital ships. However, I did something wrong and all four of the torpedoes from my salvo missed. An hour later after the BBs were gone, I spotted a destroyer. I was going to quit anyway, so I engaged with the deck gun. I actually knocked out its main gun and bridge in a few hits. It was on fire and tried to ram me. I evaded it at the last second, but it must have been a mere few feet away. More ships came to assist and three boats came to ram me at once. I evaded one, and nearly another, but it scraped me along the hull, depleting hull integrity (minimal flooding at the time...) On another single mission I was killed by a vastly reduced crush depth. I think I was only at 20-30 meters or so. It really caught me by surprise (it would be nice if the crew got more nervous as the boat reached the critical depth). I have to ask though: how do you guys surrender/abandon ship?

09-27-11, 12:57 AM	#13
gt_magnus Sailor man Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Norway Posts: 46 Downloads: 15 Uploads: 0	Of course I have lost some subs before the one I wrote about, but I don't remember them! Now, suddenly I remember one of the first subs I lost. A bit embarrasing, that one. It was outside Brest in 1941. I got hit by a **** schnellboot!

09-27-11, 03:21 AM	#14
Lord_magerius Seasoned Skipper Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Right by the hydrophone station Posts: 724 Downloads: 96 Uploads: 0	I don't remember my first loss in stock SH3 but I do remember my first GWX loss. Very well in fact I was out near Rockhall banks when I got word of a Task Force heading straight for me. After having weeks of miserable weather, zero visibility and a boat load of dud torpedoes everything went red and I ordered flank speed for an intercept course. Being battered from a convoy attack that went wrong and Bernard manning the hydrophones missing every contact in the known universe I decided to vent my pent up medieval blood rage that had been brewing. We sat at periscope depth, only coming up for the occasional bit of air and the odd game of life-size guess who (it was usually Hans, though by this point we all looked pretty similar after a month at sea) we picked up contacts directly east of us. Stroking my epic face rug that now clung to my chin like some form of rabid squirrel I took a peak through the periscope. "one... two... three... four. Yes four of them heading our way. Hubert fetch me my battleaxe and prepare a boarding party" "Sir, you don't have a battleaxe." he stuttered nervously "nor do we have enough men to board four ships." "Very well, we'll just have to use the torpedoes instead." I replied, still nursing the creature that was now living on my face. We sat and waited, listening as the sound of the screws grew closer to us and our impending glory. I risked another look through the periscope, "My God! It's the Nelson, open tubes one, two, three and four." Slowly she edged towards us, 40,000 tonnes of glory, medals and all the women in Germany. Hmm... All the women in Germany, swooning over my shiny new medals and new found renown. "Up periscope!" I yelled. "Sir, the periscope is already up" "Oh sorry, my mind was elsewhere" I said rather sheepishly. "Make ready to fire." Just a few more seconds and she's mine. Time seemed to slow down to a crawl. I could hear my heart pounding in my ears, sounding like the warships screws we had eagerly anticipated all day. "Wait for it, wait for it" I started to hesitate, she looked just beyond reach "Fire" The whooshing of the torpedoes told us that they were all on their way, in less than sixty seconds we would know whether our gambit had paid off. The pounding of my heart grew louder and louder. It really did sound like a warship. Well maybe not a warship but a destroyer closing fast... Spinning the periscope 90' my heart sank. The last thing I thought as the destroyer went through my face was how much I really liked my beard. __________________

09-27-11, 06:26 AM	#15
VONHARRIS Konteradmiral Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Greece Posts: 1,992 Downloads: 300 Uploads: 0	I can not recall how I lost my first command but I remember very well how I lost my last one. 1941 , U-65 IXB attacking a convoy from within its columns , sunk two ships and a Black swan comes out of no where bearing 165 - 170 runs over the sub and depth charges her. It was over in seconds!