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Post by crushedhat on May 29, 2022 17:18:03 GMT
March 1941 Patrol Status
NOTE: With the fall of France, BdU will be moving operations into French ports. The 15th Flotilla will be based out of St. Nazaire. Any Boats currently in Wilhelmshaven, as well as any new Boats entering the game, will begin their patrol in Wilhelmshaven but end their patrol in St. Nazaire (Last patrol box will be ‘Bay of Biscay’). Once a Boat is in St. Nazaire, future patrols will begin and end there (First and last patrol box will be ‘Bay of Biscay’).
Mar Events: 19th, London, Bristol & Plymouth firebombed 25th, Italian MAS boats sink CA HMS York in Crete 27-29th, Battle of Cape Matapan: British/Italian Navies off Greece
U-Boat Status for month (Type IX patrols are two months long, Reports due the end of the second month) U# Type Rank Kommandant Player Patrol Assignment 30 VIIA ObLt Peter von Agstein Nenva Refit 37 IXA KKpt Siegmund von Margur siegmund Feb-Mar W African Coast 41 IXA KKpt Wilhelm Schultze ChefEd Mar-Apr Atlantic 46 VIIB KptLt Willi Gering Donitz Mar Atlantic 50 VIIB KKpt Joachim Helmert crushedhat Mar Atlantic 97 VIIC ObLt Otto Wladner silentwolf Refit 99 VIIB KptLt Fritz Rathke Andy Feb* British Isles (M) is a mining mission. (A) is agent insertion mission. *overdue, will be declared “Lost” if not reporting in by the end of March.
Lost Boats: U-39, did not return from Dec 39- Jan 40 patrol (British Isles (M)) U-45, did not return from May 40 patrol (British Isles (M)) U-48 sunk on Jan 41 patrol (Atlantic)
Required information for end of Patrol Report: U-Boat # Patrol Month(s) Patrol Location Patrol # for this Kommandant Successful Patrol (Y/N) Number of freighters sunk (This Patrol/Cumulative for this Kommandant) Number of Tankers sunk (This Patrol/Cumulative for this Kommandant) Number of Capital Ships sunk (This Patrol/Cumulative for this Kommandant) Tonnage sunk (This Patrol/Cumulative for this Kommandant) Refit Time Award Requests
Optional information for End of Patrol Report: Patrol narrative
End of Patrol Reports for Mar 41 due no later than Midnight, 4 Jun 2022 your time. Note: posting of the April 1941 patrols next week may be late.
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Post by crushedhat on May 30, 2022 22:09:28 GMT
U-50 enters the harbor at St. Nazaire, one pennant flying from the periscope.
Patrol Report U-Boat #: U-50 Patrol Month(s): Mar 41 Patrol Location: Atlantic Patrol # for this Kommandant: 10 Successful Patrol (Y/N): Y Number of freighters sunk (This Patrol/Cumulative for this Kommandant): 1/10 Number of Tankers sunk (This Patrol/Cumulative for this Kommandant): 0/6 Number of Capital Ships sunk (This Patrol/Cumulative for this Kommandant): 0/0 Tonnage sunk (This Patrol/Cumulative for this Kommandant): 4,900/116,000 Refit Time: 1 month + 1 month for Hull damage, ready Jun 1941 Award Requests: None
Narrative:
2 Mar 1941, St. Nazaire Harbor KKpt Joachim Helmert stands on the bridge of U-50. Having decided to give his new 1WO LtzS Waldo Forst a chance to prove himself by taking the Boat to sea, Joachim is free to watch the people gathered on the peer to see U-50 off. He has no problem picking Remi Latalle out of the crowd; after several nights together, he can easily identify her. Catching Joachim’s eye, Remi smiles and blows him a kiss. Even as his heart races, a nagging thought tugs at Joachim’s mind. Three thoughts actually: 1) He feels some guilt at how he is honoring Rudolph Mann’s request to ‘look after his girl;’ 2) There is also some guilt over Giselle Horst, the schoolteacher in Wilhelmshaven; and 3) Is his growing relationship with Remi putting his Boat and crew at risk; is she a spy?
Forst’s, “Ready, Herr Kaluen,” intrudes on Joachim’s dark thoughts.
Forcing a smile back at Remi, Joachim turns his attention to the task at hand. “Very well. Take her out Number One.”
10 Mar 1941, Atlantic, Night “Choice targets, Herr Kaleun,” 1WO LtzS Waldo Forst whispers to his Kommander, KKpt Joachim Helmert.
“Aye, Forst,” Joachim replies, not yet comfortable enough with his new 1WO to call him by his first name. But, Joachim has to agree with Forst’s assessment, the convoy they’ve found presenting them with a Tanker of 13,000 tons and a freighter of 8,900.
“Should I call for the UZO?” Forst asks eagerly.
To the 1WO’s surprise, but not that of the other men gathered on the conning tower who know their Kommander, Joachim says, “No. We’ll conduct a submerged attack at medium range.” Sensing the younger officer’s confusion, Joachim explains, “U-Boats and their crews are not easily replaced, Leutnant. While we wish to hurt the enemy, we do not wish to do so while needlessly risking ourselves. We’ll send three eels at the tanker, and one at the smaller freighter. That way we may sink one and cripple the other for a later kill.”
“Aye, Herr Kaleun.” While Waldo voices agreement, his tone implies otherwise.
“He’ll learn,” Joachim tells himself.
As it turns out, all but one of the four torpedoes fired misses. And that one is a dud. (OOC – I roll for Dud at the same time I roll for Hit/Miss. All three Misses would have been Duds as well!)
12 Mar 1941, Atlantic, Night “Submerged attack again?” LtzS Waldo Forst asks KKpt Joachim Helmert as they approach an unescorted tanker. The 1WO barely conceals the disdain in his voice.
Aware that others are listening, and watching, Joachim reproves his 1WO just loud enough for them to hear. “No need, Leutnant. There are no escorts nearby and, if ObFn Stieg’s guns don’t make short work of him, I’ll let you practice your torpedo attack. Call for the UZO.” The men on watch pointedly ignore the new 1WO’s dressing down. Still, word will quickly spread throughout the Boat that you don’t disrespect ‘The Old Man.’
Forst does not get the chance to practice his torpedo attack, the crew of the 8cm deck gun quickly sending the 4,900 ton freighter to the bottom.
29 Mar 1941, St. Nazaire As U-50 enters the harbor at St. Nazaire, KKpt Joachim Helmert has two problems on his mind: 1) What to do about his new 1WO who doesn’t seem to be fitting in very well; and, 2) What excuse can he devise to see Remi Latalle again. For his part, LtzS Waldo Forst considers going to the Flotilla XO and expressing his concern about Helmert’s lack of zeal in pressing home the attack.
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Post by Donitz on Jun 1, 2022 16:34:58 GMT
March 1941 – Patrol Report – Atlantic
U-Boat 46
Patrol Month(s) March 1941
Patrol # for this Kommandant Patrol 9
Successful Patrol Yes
Number of freighters sunk (This Patrol/Cumulative for this Kommandant) – 2/11
Number of Tankers sunk (This Patrol/Cumulative for this Kommandant) - 0/0
Number of Capital Ships sunk (This Patrol/Cumulative for this Kommandant) – 0/0
Tonnage sunk (This Patrol/Cumulative for this Kommandant) 7,100/50,100
Refit Time – 4 Months – August 1941 ready to sail again
Award Requests – Wound Badge Black - 2nd WO: Jakob Keppler & Li (Eng): Markus Rabbe
We leave St Nazaire heading for the Atlantic. This time we will be successful and take some risks to make sure that is true. The journey to the hunting grounds is without incident.
On the first night of our patrol we spot a convoy heading west towards the British Isles. We are submerged at a medium range and In our range are 4 small freighters and I target two British steam Merchant vessels, the Rio Claro at 4,100t and Culebra at 3,000t. 4 steam torpedoes are loaded in the front tubes and two are targeted on each ship. Stop watches ticking we wait for the results. One eel hits Rio Claro and explodes causing some damage whilst the other two rip the Culebra apart and it begins sinking immediately.
The escort quickly moves towards our position and seem to be able to see us beneath the waves. Depth charges are dropped and explode all around us. Initially we get no reports of damage but there must be some. The escort turns away from our current location and we seem to have survived that attack. We withdraw to surface and check damage but keep in range of the convoy. On the surface we find that the radio mast is completely destroyed and the 2cm Flak gun is beyond repair. With nothing further to do we submerge and make contact with the convoy again and following the now slower Rio Claro which is still escorted.
Keeping under the water we close to a medium firing position and launch 2 steam torpedoes at the damaged Rio Claro. Stop watches running one eel hits and there are massive explosions and the Rio Claro is destined for the bottom of the ocean.
The escort is immediately onto us and depth charges are released. The explosion feel like they are inside the boat. “Damage report” I cry. “Dive planes are not responding, One of the Diesel engines has taken damage” Responds my number 1. Jakob Keppler 2WO picks himself up from the floor where he had stumbled, blood pours from his head which he had struck against the hull as he fell.
Hydrophones reports the escort is on a second run. Explosions are all around us again and we lose the batteries. We are taking a lot of damage and the escort is making a third run. Again the captain of the destroyer seems to know exactly where we are. Explosions rock the boat and on of our electric engines stops working. Markus Rabbe the engineer has broken some fingers on his left hand whilst checking for damage but he is still able to function.
Take her down to 120m I order and hard to starboard. Again the destroyer turns and makes another run at us. We won’t be able to take much more of this. Charges are in the water again but explode a little above us.
Rise to 80m and hard to port,. I want to get behind the escort. The destroyer turns again but this time when charges are dropped the are some distance from us and it looks like they have lost contact with us. We wait for an hour before we surface and check for damage and make repairs.
We managed to fix the batteries and both the electric and diesel engines. The dive planes will need us to put into port for repairs. The hull has also taken damage that is visible on the skin of the boat.
Battered and bruised we continue on our patrol
With no contact with HQ a week passes by before we locate another convoy. It is noon and I decide to follow the convoy and wait for darkness to fall. We track the convoy and move submerged to the furthest range of our torpedoes, We can see 2 Large Freighters and 2 small ones. Loading the last of our forward steam torpedoes we fire all foure at the Beacon Grange a 10,100t British motor merchant ship. We wait and listen. 2 eels miss but 2 hit but only 1 explodes causing damage to the freighter. The escorts fail to locate us so we follow the damaged vessel which is still escorted. We load 2 electric torpedoes into the forward tubes and fire again from Long range. Waiting for explosions we are disappointed to hear none but neither do we appear to have been detected by the escorts.
We follow the Beacon Grange until sunrise but with no forward torpedoes left and with the damage ship still under escort we break of the engagement.
We continue our patrol hoping to find an easy unescorted ship but although we do find another convoy we don’t engage
The journey home is uneventful and we sail into harbour unannounced with two pennants flying.
We are greeted with shouts of “We thought you’d been lost” from the harbour hands. HQ will be pleased we made it back but the damage to the hull is obvious and it will be some time before we can put to sea again.
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Siegmund
Komandant
https://gyazo.com/02a30ba9c4d6048eb8d7f26644bfa8a2.png
Posts: 50
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Post by Siegmund on Jun 2, 2022 13:57:51 GMT
U-Boat: # 37 Type: IXa Patrol: # 5 Patrol Assignment: West Africa Coast Successful Patrol: Yes Number of Freighters Sank: 0 Number of Tankers Sank: 0 Number of Capital Ships Sank:1 (CVE Audacity) Total Tonnage Destroyed: 31700 (11000) Refit Time: 2 months Crew: Veteran Capitan: KLt Siegmund von Margur KC 1WO LtzS Otto Schulz 2WO ObfzS Andreas Abracham (Eng)Lt (Ing) Hans Braun Doctor Sanitatsmaat Andreas Holzmann 02.02.41 After long delays related to repairs, supplies and health problems for some of the crew members, we are back on the hunt. 08.02.41 We slipped unnoticed along the Bay of Biscay, but as soon as we reached the Moroccan region, an enemy plane fell out on us. Fortunately, our watchmen were on the alert, and we plunged before the enemy had time to enter the course of attack. 11.02.41 09:20 Escort carrier sighted, presumably Audacity. Well, it's time to use everything, why we learned to attack with all the fury. Despite the exceptional visibility, I intend to find as close as possible so that not a single torpedo is wasted. 1145 We got as close as we could. Well, I hope the torpedoes won't let you down! 1,2,3,4 torpedo tubes, launch! 1157 All four torpedoes hit! After the second hit, muffled explosions and a strong rattle were heard. The aircraft carrier slowed down and got a strong roll to starboard. There is a big fire on board. Without waiting for the escort to approach, I order you to dive to the maximum depth. 1230 The destroyers attacked us like a pack of hungry dogs. But deftly maneuvering, we received only damage to the forward torpedo room. 1245 We're going even deeper. There is a crack in the hull, a few rivets flew out, but there is no leak. We hid like mice and it looks like the enemy has lost us. We hear depth charges receding and cannot believe our luck. 1450 Ascending to periscope depth, we found only the wreckage of an enemy ship, many corpses and the receding smoke of a group of enemy ships. The team can't help but cheer. 1840 We managed to repair the doors of 2 and 3 torpedo tubes damaged by the attack. 18.02.41 1807 A lone tanker escorted by a corvette is discovered. I'm in attack position. 1947 I fire a salvo with all four bow tubes. 1957 Well, this time luck turned against us. One torpedo missed, and two more did not work. The latter nevertheless hit the target, and the tanker slowed down. Looks like he's badly damages. The corvette bombarded us with depth charges, and only by a miracle we managed to avoid severe damage. The explosion tore off the diesel engine from the foundation and, it seems, we lost one anti-aircraft gun. I order you to dive to the maximum depth. 2030 We managed to deceive the enemy and, having surfaced, we begin the pursuit of wounded prey. 19.02.41 0445 Fortunately, the tanker has completely lost speed and I can choose a position to attack. I order the aft tubes to get ready. I do not want to risk and I will attack from under the periscope. 0458 Looks like we've run out of luck. Of the two torpedoes, one missed, and the second did not work. 0540 Having dived to the maximum depth, we managed to escape from the escort. Now it's time to start repairing the damage. 2150 Unfortunately, neither the engine nor the anti-aircraft gun could be repaired. Looks like we'll have to break off our well-started patrol and hobble back to base. Well, this will be a lesson to me - never skimp on torpedoes. 23.02.41 1820 At sunset, we found a lone enemy ship. Unfortunately, the enemy noticed us and fled at full speed. 17.03.41 Somehow, setting up our handkerchiefs as sails, we managed to reach Saint-Nazaire. Well, an aircraft carrier is quite worthy prey.
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