Patrol 12 (20DEC40 - 23JAN41)

= Patrol 12 =

November, 23th 1940

Been promoted to Oberleutnant zur See.
Tonnage for this patrol : 23900.

Matrosenobergefreiter Karl-Heinz Kohler has been
transfered to another Uboat. He is replaced by
Matrosenobergefreiter Georg Etzkorn.

Got a full load of type II torpedoes. Boat just
needs some minor repairs. Optics of the attack
and observation periscope have been changed,
as all the needles of the attack computer (the
previous ones just look the same, no change.
Why are they changing those needles anyway ?)

--

December, 20th 1940

06:49 - Boat is ready. It's covered in snow,
as with everything around. It's quite cold
this morning. The sea is rocking a lot.
Ordered patrol grid is AM41. That's a grid
far away, south of the Rockall Banks. Well, we
will be in the middle of Nordsee when christmas
comes. For the second year, I am spending this day
at sea.

16:19 - We reached the exit of the Kanal.
It's a beautiful day. Cold, but clear sky. Not
a single cloud.

--

December, 23th 1940

15:17 - Aircraft spotted, grid AN21.

--

December, 25th 1940

Diving and offering the crew an evening of good
food and rest. Will resume course to patrol area
tomorrow around midday.

--

December, 30th 1940

21:02 - Radio reports another massive raid from
German air forces has attacked London last night.

--

December, 31th 1940

22:34 - Diving to search for ship reported
around.

--

January, 5th 1941

00:00 - Weather is so bad we have not spotted any
ship for weeks. It is like being alone in a world
of sea.

--

January, 6th 1941

11:01 - Traking an hydrophone contact. Merchant.

11:39 - Merchant spotted. Setting torpedoes to
depth of 0, impact. Visibility is 300 meters,
ship is 250 meters away. Firing tubes 1 and 2.

11:47 - Torpedo 1 is a dud. Torpedo 2 did hit.

11:49 - Ship has stopped. Huge fireballs.
She is burning a lot. Surfacing.

--

January, 7th 1941

14:09 - Hydrophone contact. Heading north.
Weather pretty bad. Very low visibility.

14:50 - Contact lost. No ship in sight.

20:58 - Hydrophone contact. We are stuck in bad
weather. Clouds everywhere, and poor visibility.

--

January, 10th 1941

22:39 - Hydrophoene contact. Diving to periscope
depth.

22:30 - Firing tubes 1 and 3. Contact, set to
0 meters.

22:34 - Both torpedoes hit!

--

January, 11th 1941

19:17 - Taking the passage between Ireland and
England.

--

January, 12th 1941

03:25 - Hospital ship. Lights on.
Cancelling attack.

10:20 - Hunt I Class warship spotted! At 800
meters in front of us. Ordering crash dive.
They emerged from the mist!

10:21 - Diving. Ship is using ASDIC against us.

10:49 - Over 50 depth charges and they are still
searching us. We hear ASDIC but they keep attacking
astern of us. Ordering 50 RPM rotations and changing
course.

11:18 - They have run out of depth charges. They
are moving away. Raising depth to 25 meters and
going away.

15:17 - Caught on surface by enemy warship.
Took damage from attack. Ordered crash dive,
and put flooding under control.

15:21 - Depth 93 m. Ordered silent running.
Warship using ASDIC. Depth charges close, but no
damage.

15:41 - Enemy destroyer still sending depth charges.
Counted 16 charges until now.

16:10 - Stopped engines. Once speed nul, we slowly
bottomed the boat on the ocean's floor, at 94 meters.
Ordered crew to rest and sleep. Warship is still
going around, but no ASDIC and not launching depth
charges anymore. They lost us. We counted 18 depth
charges.

17:09 - Counted 36 depth charges. Another warship
is closing on us.

17:31 - The second warship is dropping depth charges
while the other one is going around helping her
to find us. 48 depth charges, still no damage
except all dials have exploded around.

17:42 - 63 depth charges. They are exploding farther
from us now.

17:51 - 79 depth charges.

18:51 - 3 warships going around us. 129 depth
charges. Hydrophone operator reports a convoy
is coming to us!

19:40 - Depth charge exploded near bow. Torpedo
tubes 2, 3 and 4 are destroyed. Tube 1 is damaged.
Observation periscope is destroyed. Radio antenna
is damaged, we cannot receive or emit.

21:04 - 135 depth charges. Convoy is passing
south of us but we can do nothing with those
three warships attacking us.

23:03 - Attack is over. 138 depth charges.
Surfaced and recharged batteries. We are at the
entry of Irish sea.

--

January, 13th 1941

00:01 - Waited for reported ship.

00:09 - Ship sighted. Periscope depth. Will pass
south of us. Using stern tube.

00:12 - First stern torpedo did miss.

00:19 - Torpedo did miss.

10:21 - Dived for hydrophone check, convoy reported
north of us. Many contacts. Plotting interception
course.

10:43 - Convoy detected. Closing slowly and
avoiding front. Hearing escort doing slow
ASDIC search in the front.

11:10 - One torpedo hit. Two dud, one miss.
Targeted large cargo. Ordered crash dive
and running silent away. Destroyer looking for
us.

12:54 - The ship we did hit sunk about 20
minutes ago. It's been almost two hours
and the destroyer is still tracking us and
launching depth charges.

13:16 - Pinging and depth charges have
stopped. Almost two hours evading the
attacks. Crew exhausted. Took no damage.
Waiting one hour then we will move away.
Battery at 4000 A, CO2 at 1.3 %

14:45 - Still trying to evade the warship.
She is over 100 depth charges launched.

15:01 - Warship is out of depth charges.
They almost lost of 10 minutes ago. we
are slowly getting out of reach and she is
out of ammo.

21:05 - Warship gave up. Keeping underwater
and silent running until midnight. We are
out of torpedoes.

--

January, 14th 1941

01:12 : Surfacing. Setting course back to
Kiel.

--

January, 23th 1941

10:24 : We reached Kiel. Ending patrol.
Been awarded the Knight's Cross.