I Gotta Relate This......Mystery????

[cdrsubron7]

Ok, now that I have your attention, I tell you my story. I'm on my second patrol out of La Spezia in the Mediterranean. The date is December 14, 1941. Time is 14:45. I'm sailing in the U-48 and am patrolling in Grid CO48.

"Lookouts spotted two destroyers at a range of about 12,000 meters. BDU had sent contact reports of a Warship Group heading my way. Immediatiately, after the escorts were sighted, the U-48 went to periscope depth. As the distance was still at 9,000 meters, the periscope was kept up for a detailed view. The picture resolved itself as this. Nine escorts were sighted in a big circle, inside this circle, four Dido class light cruisers were spotted circling a lone Large Cargo merchant. Right away this piqued our interest. Would kind of cargo or passengers could be so important that would merit this kind of escort for one merchantship. Various theories were discussed, but no real conclusion was reached. Top priority became the sinking of the merchant and whatever it was carrying, regardless of the fact that four light cruisers were circling the merchant.

Penetration of the destroyer screen was accomplished with relative ease. We were not detected by the destroyers, they were averaging at least 24 kts apiece and appeared not to be even pinging. We were able to close on the inner screen of the four cruisers with the merchant inside still undetected. Keeping periscope esposures to a minimum, the U-48 was able to close to within 1,800 meters. From 1,800 meters, two G7E's were fired at the merchant. Two G7a's were fired at one of the escorting cruisers. A little over a minute later both G7E's struck home on the merchant. The first one must have hit a vital spot, because the Large Cargo Merchant blew up and disappeared so quick that she was hardly visible on the periscope for more than a minute. As soon as the merchant exploded, the U-48 headed deep. The two rorpedoes aimed at one of the escorting cruisers never struck home. It was figured later on that as soon as the torpedoes struck the merchant, the cruisers changed course.

It amazed the crew and officers of the U-48 that our escape was accomplished so easily. While sound reported hearing a few depth charges being dropped, none of them were ever close to the U-48. There were numerous explosions heard by the sonar operator that he described as bombs being dropped. Later that afternoon, after the U-48 had lost contact with the warship group and surfaced to recharge batteries, a radio message reached the U-48 mentioning that an airraid had been carried out against a warship group that had been escorting a lone merchant. It was believed that this airraid occurred at the same time as the U-48's attack on the convoy. It would help explain why the escorts were otherwise occuppied with the attacking aircraft.

This whole episode leaves one wondering what the heck was on that merchant ship that was so important."

I've played Sh3 for awhile now, and granted I've probably seen nothing yet, but it was really interesting speculating on what that merchantship was carrying that warrentied the escort it had. I apologise if I got alittle long winded with this, buit it really piqued my interest over what might be on that merchantship.



cdrsubron7 :p

Umm I think It would be typical for Task Forces to keep a couple merchants with them for supplies, the reason it blew up so easy was probably because it was an ammo ship for the TF..

[Eichenlaub]

Rilder: I seriously doubt that a merchant would accompany a TF for ammunition supplies. The reason is that a TF has a much higher cruising speed (20+ knots) than a merchant could have (max speed often 16 knots or less and that's top speed). TF's would resupply at set points, not carry a supply ship with them.

Kind regards,

Eichenlaub