Your patrol stories

[pyret]

So, I as I very much enjoy hearing from people telling me about their patrols and such. So therefore I thought it would be nice to have a thread to collect peoples stories.
Me starting ofc.

So I was on my patrol yesterday, late 1939 I beliave it was. And I was cruising around north of Ireland when I got a BdU message telling me there was a large convoy In the grid right next to mine. So I went there and discovered that this convoy consisted of 5 * 6-7 ships guarded by only one destroyer. So I put miself in position to shoot at the large ships in the middle.
I waited and at the right time I **** two torpedoes at a Large tanker wich went down instantly, One torpedo at a C3 Cargo wich was seriously damaged and Another one that missed.
Now I was out of torpedoes in my forward tubes and had to reload and 10 minutes later I got another shot wich sunk a T2 Tanker.

After a while I slowly cruised away from the convoy, happy about having sunk 5 Ships.

It was my first convoy encounter so I am very pleased.

To bad that my sub was shot down by planes on the next patrol.

So, If you got the time please write down any special moments you had in SH3.

Take care.

[AceChilla]

In my last patrol I was send to patrol a square close to freetown, so after patrolling the square for 24 hours I decided to sneak up at the harbor at night.

Unfortunatly the depth of the water was very low along the whole coast so I was forced to stay on the surface to see if there where any juicy targets inside the harbor gates. :|\

I closed in, it was foggy but I could see the harbor lighthouses clear already, I was already anticipating slowly crawling towards the boats docked inside and sending them down to the bottom when I heard "schip gesichted!". I looked towards my right and saw a patrolboat comings straight at me, with guns blazing! I heard the shot screeching along my helpless boat.

I knew I was screwed, there was no way I could dive in 11 meters of water. So I ordered my engines to go Flankspeed straight back to the deep water.

Because I had to turn around my boat, the was an instance when the patrolboat was at 0 degrees infront of me, coming at me at flankspeed. I decided to fire a torpedo at him at 0 degrees and hoped to get lucky. But no way ho see, the torpedo missed.

I finished my turn and headed for the deep water, followed by the patroller shooting at me. I outran him but some shots hit my boat which was damaged, water leaks everywhere. I fired a stern torpedo at him, but again it missed.

But in the end I was faster and I saw the patroller disappearing in the fog.

That was my story about the sneaky attack on freetown

[thyro]

in GW, Freetown has 2 speciall goodies

Also a nice and intresting net... But very easy to get in and out and to attack all ships from inside of the harbour...

It lacks of british patrols (well just one DD and one corvette)... no land cannons protecting the port (its a nice piece of cake).

Beware almost all ships are armed but nothing better than a gunship battle after all torps gone

GW freetown has 2 main glitches (at least in my game)

1) One of the goodies (the big goody) once sank... it moves slowing towards the second big goody hiding it (dammit)... also the same odd movement for a medium merchant, which ends up out of the port - print screens can be available on request.

2) armed trawler can move through buildings (what was a bit anoying). - print screens can be available on request


Anyway, easy kills and tons of tons

<--- I'm on my way to 2nd raid there...

have fun

[Salvadoreno]

Ahh Patrol Stories are always fun
Ill get in character

Johann Werner U-371
Patrol 3
October 6th 1942
Port: La Spezia
After Action Report.

Patrol Log- 10 Days into patrol
BdU sent a decoded message to radioman Jerger about a large convoy spotted going ESE with heavy escort presents towards the dangerous water around Malta. U-371 only 2 hours away from contacts, decision to operate against convoy confirmed despite heavy escorts..

This was U-371 first large convoy in the Meditteranean- Last 2 patrols have produced slim results, 2 ships sunk, 1 damaged for grt 9.000. Both patrols U-371 aborted due to air attacks and depth charge damage, Crew morale low at patrol 3.

At 13:32 a DD was spotted heading towards U-boat. Dove to 25m and rigged for Silent Running. Evaded successfully.

Crew morale lifted when hearing about the convoy-unknown to crew- 12 destroyers, 20 merchants

At 14:30 Watch spotted heavy smoke 9000m away. We hit flank speed to gain position over convoy. No air cover due to cloudy-stormy weather. The thunder and wind created a symphany for destruction.

While gaining postion over convoy numerous contact reports were sent. BdU approved for attack and ordered to abort at any signs of danger to U-boat. Seemed trivial to us. The 29th flotilla cannot afford to lose another boat, the meditteranean has turned against our U-boat force, The water around Malta has served as a death trap for our u-boot. We have been unable to reach our patrol zones, even unable to pass the island. But again BdU has ordered us North of Tobruk to try and prevent supplies and men from reaching North Africa.

Convoy is now 6000m away- Old report of 12 destroyers was incorrect, obeserved destroyer contacts added 3 more-15 destroyers. Merchants still stood at 20 ships. A juicy convoy indeed, if we were able to sink some ships from this convoy, U-371 will undoubtley help the war effort. 2 Troops Transports-1 Passenger Liner-Numerous c2's and a few small tankers

Kaluen Werner ordered to dive and man attack stations. I took my position at the dive planes. We have overtaken the convoy, and got well within firing position without being spotted. Kaluen Werner now headed toward the conning tower. For an hour and a half he plotted the ships and watched the destroyers. Our target was the Passenger Liner-Troop Transport- and a C2 cargo fitted with aircraft. Around 16:10 We were in perfect position. I heard our masters voice come from the conning tower to our weapons officer. Fire Torpedo 1! Fire Torpedo 2!...a pause... Fire Torpedo 3!...pause... Fire Torpedo 4!... We have sent 2 fish into the liner, 1 into a transport, and 1 into a C2. Wisely our Kaluen did not waste any time and dove as soon as the 4th fish was released. I drove the boat to 100ms and we ordered silent running and waited..

We heard all 4 hits, assumed it to be ships targetted. 1 sent our boat shivering from explosion. The other did considerable damage, and slowly a boat would start sinking. The other was damaged, but still sea-able.

Hydrophone operater heard DDs heading toward all directions, a strange thing. Our Kaluen decided to break operations against convoy, too strong of an escort presence. For the first time of the war U-371 had a stroke of luck. The DDs did not spot us. The reason found out later was because of the positions where the torpedos hit. We did not hit our intented targets after all, but even better targets.

The 2 fish sent the Liner down in 15 minutes. It broke in two and exploded with a mighty roar. The torpedo intented for the Troop Transport hit and disabled her. The last torpedo hit a medium tanker that was in convoy, but on the far starboard side. Looked like numerous u-boats had engaged convoy, and that caused confusion among escorts. Our first salvo against a convoy had been a major success. 1 passanger liner sunk for over 10.000grt and a medium tanker sunk for another 6.000grt. The troop transport was later sunk in a Coup de Grace for another 9.000grt. Crew morale had never been higher, and we were excited at our change of luck. Maybe we would pass malta into our patrol zone and attack Juicier targets!

After i was ordered to my bunk for rest after about 20 hours on duty, our crew celebrated like the war was over. We were rationed 1 beer for each man. We continued to our patrol area, and our celebration was cut short due to another DD sighting.

We reached the water near Malta and held our breathe. This had been our warzone before. Aircraft attacks, numerous destroyer sightings. The British never seemed to run out of aircraft in this area. Kaluen Werner patrolled ever close to the island until we were maybe 50-60 miles away from valetta, the port in Matla. amazingly. No sightings.

We had finally passed the island unscathed, a feeling of happiness grabbed all the crew, and u could see it in their faces. We were now in safer deeper waters on our way to our patrol zone Noth of Tobruk.

The rest of the patrol produced small results. We had spotted nothing for about 5 days while near and in our patrol area, save from a small coastal merchant that was unguarded. It took 2 fish and some deck gun ammo to polish her off, a tuff ship. She was also able to radio aircraft, but we managed to escape underwater and heard depth charges some distance away.

Kaluen Werner ordered a return journey. I estimated about 12 days before we would be home. We would come home to celebrations and Berlin propagandists. Kaluen Werner was awarded the ritterkrausz for his excellent patrol. Even he could not hold back the anxiety of returning home. Malta was our last obstacle. The same route was planned, maybe we would be lucky twice.

At the 15th day at sea i was ordered watch. It was to be an 8 hour watch, after which i would be given an hour for rest and on duty at the dive planes. I started at 12:00 in the afternoon. 1 Hour into my watch we spotted a DD. Dove to 30m. Under for about 1 hour and resurfaced. Only 6 Hours left. An easy watch so far. Another hour passed and no sightings. Dusk was only a few hours away, the air was clean and crisp. The water could have been a paved street it was so calm. A beautiful day...

And a beautiful night as well. Dusk had finally set in-Only about 1 hour till complete darkness and no more aircraft. We would be clear of Malta by tommorow, and our ordeal of waiting would be over. At dusk the planes began to pour out of the sky. My sleepy eyes did no spot them on time, neither did the rest of the watch. There was no time to dive and i gave the scream....

ALLAAAARM!!!!!!.. I manned the 20x twin flak guns with my comrade Helmut. 2 other manned the other 20x twin flak gun and waited for the pass of the two PBYs... Our IWO along with Kaluen Werner came running up to witness the attack. The planes made their turns toward their attack run, they were comming off the starboard side. Hurriedly we put on our lifevests that the officers brought up. 1 plane broke off and was getting into another firing postion. The IWO told us that it was to prevent us from diving, the 1st plane would attack and the second would attack seconds after. I could see the colors and designs on the PBY now. I aimed toward the aircraft, my hand shaking on the trigger. Helmut had the ammunition assuring me it was no problem. THe propellers were loud and the attack dive started. The IWO and Kaluen took cover behind the conning tower. The plane fired its machine guns hitting the deck and damaging the deck gun-at the same time i fired the flak guns without success. The other 2 men fired as well sending bullets close the the aircraft. I was blinded by the muzzle flash and could barely see the plane. Helmut screamed and i ducked at the time of the aircraft passing. Our boat shook violently and a geyser of water was sent into the conning tower and us. Our accurate fire had prevented serious damages. Our IWO yelled the other plane was comming at 180degrees directly behind us. I regained my strenght and brushed aside the fear. My hands took to the trigger-my shoudlers again secured to the flak gun. The plane had gained a pefect position, we tried to manuver violently to prevent such an easy target but it was too late. The propellers again grew louder-helmut finished reloading. These rounds would determine the life of our boat, or the death of it. Helmut padded my shoulder and i began the unrelenting fire towards the approaching plane, the plane fired back. My eyes squinted, the sky was blur, my concentration had revealed the pilots head in the cockpit. Red Water had splashed in my face, i heard the yelling comming from the IWO and Kaluen. I saw the bombs being released, my other gunners had stopped firing and the impact of the bombs and explosions had knocked me so violently i had blacked out.

Seconds later i awoke on the floor of the conning tower. The IWO was laying next to me, his face blue, his eyes white. I could not make out what was said belowdecks, my eyes had not adjusted and my ears were still ringing. I could hear the Kaluen but could not make out the words. Thick black smoke covered the sky. Propeller sounds seemed distant. I looked at my body to see the damage, i had blood sprayed on me on my left side. Nothing had yet registered in my brain. I tried to stand up with help from the side of the conning tower but slipped on the watery bloody deck. The Kaluen came up from the command room lifting me up. His words were slurred and i was thrown overboard into the warm soothing water. Another splash had followed. I floated helplessly in the water, watching the U-boat list severely. A second run by the planes kept the men in the conning tower down with machinegun fire-The plane kept it down just long enough for the boat to lay on its starboard side trapping men. My eyes adjusted slowly, the boat was upside down... Minutes later U371 dissapeared beneath the clear water.

A hand grabbed me, it was radioman Jerger. We floated together for 30 minutes until a nearby ASW trawler picked us up. Luckily the plane reported the position of the boat, and it brought up 2 more Destroyers. I was rehabilitated in a POW hospital and returned home in 1946. U-371 had only 2 survivors, its stroke of bad luck never ceased.

Final Count for U-371
Patrols: 4
Ships Sunk: 5 merchants for 30,000 grt.
Sunk by Depth Charges from 2 PBY aircraft Southwest of Malta. 39 Dead. 2 Survivoes.

[pyret]

Thats a realy nice story Salvadoreno, it becomes much more alive when you tell it from the perspective of a crew member! ;D