Ships Journal - U-560 - Hein Biernot

[Thaine]

Prologue:

The actors had appeared for the fifth time already, and still the applause wasn't going to stop. Hein Biernot's hands were already aching. But neither him, nor any other of the audience would dare to stop applauding before Goering did. So he endured it, as he had to endure a lot of things lately.
He was no opera expert, luckily he wasn't asked to give his opinion on the performance. All in all he thought it was a bit to long. He was no fan of Wagner anyway; Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert were more to his liking. He even liked Purcell quite a bit but didn't dare to say since he was the enemy’s composer.
He could see an annoyed expression on Erich Raeder's face by the time the sixth round of applause started. But Goering didn't pay attention to it. Alois Rembremadeng just moved along with the crowd. He had done a good job in keeping quite the whole evening, except for the mandatory: "Yes, sir.", "No, sir." or "Thank you, sir." when he was spoken to. Hein just hoped he wouldn't become to arrogant with his new medal. Jealousy on a ship is not a good thing.
Finally, Goering left the concert hall without any comment or further word to him or Erich Raeder. Back to normal life, as normal as it can get during war, were Hein's thoughts. He intended to forget the whole incident, the daily ship routine on his M-Class Minesweeper would surely help with this. He was about to ask for his and Alois's leave when Erich Raeder asked him to join in at the bar:
"If you would join me for a second, Herr Oberleutnant. Your actions in the channel didn't go unnoticed. Dönitz was pleasantly surprised by your commitment. He wants you in his crew. That means you are taking command of U-560, congratulations commander."
Hein was taken aback. Sure, the whole intention with charging into the convoy was to impress the command of the Kriegsmarine. But he wasn't counting on getting assigned a U-Boat, he merely wanted to show them what they had missed out by sending him on a Minesweeper.
"Thank you, sir. I'm honored, sir." Was the only thing he could think of in the moment.
"Let's be frank here, Hein. I'm allowed to call you that?", Raeder continued. "The Luftwaffe failed, the invasion of England is cancelled. Hence the Führer is giving Dönitz's U-Boat force a chance. It's up to us now to besiege the Tommies. So we will increase our activity in the Atlantik, especially from our French bases. Commanders that are willing to attack against the odds are required. Hence you're assignment. I'm sure you won't disappoint us." He finished with a ensuring smile.
"Take the next train to Kiel. You will undergo some additional training on your new Boat before you're sent to the Atlantic."

[Thaine]

Familiarization drill

It felt good to be back in Kiel. I was even able to meet some of my old friends and family before we were sent out for our drill. They were pretty impressed by my transfer to the U-Boats. Especially the girls are rather interested in guys with the U-boat clasp, or so I was told.

15.3.1941
We left the pen 7:00 pm. Our patrol area lies somewhat 50 km north of Kiel. We are expected to find some practise targets both for Torpedo and Gun drills. The weather is find, no wind, calm seas, good visibility.



On our way out we cross the path of some smaller fishing boats, the harbour patrols and some freighters. Everything seems so normal. I take my walk through the boat and try to get an impression of the crew. Some of them are U-boat veterans, some fresh recruits. The veterans are somewhat sceptic about my assignment as captain it seems, especially the Navigator. The watch officers and the chief engineer are completely indifferent towards me. I take it as a good sign, the will get to know me in time.
Our Radio Officer is a young fellow, still wet behind the ears. He's eager to show what he's worth and has a opinion about everything. Especially about my personal record collection. He always frowns as soon as I ask to play some french chansons and always wants to change to some proper german march-music. I went tired of it and ordered to just turn on the radio.



I always thought the Minesweeper was small, but this boat is tiny. My personal compartment measures 2 square metres maximum. Separated from the crew only by a thin curtain. Directly opposite of the radio-station and my Radio officer.



We arrived our target area at appr. 02:00 am the next day. The targets were stationary and therefore easy to hit. Nevertheless it was a good drill to get familiar with all the orders, charts and routines. We spent a lot of 88mm ammunition. Not that I think we will be using them in the Atlantic. But the crew needs all the training possible. Diving seems still a bit slow. But there will be plenty of time for exercise once we're on our way into the battle.



I ordered the return to Kiel after we sank a medium freighter dummy and two small cannon targets. I went to sleep for some 5 hours. We arrived in the harbour with the rising sun.

[Thaine]

Patrol I:
14.April 1941 - 1st day on patrol

We left Kiel at 07:00 am. The weather is fine. No precipitation, good visibility and calm winds.

Our area of operations is the North Atlantic, so we are to go via the Kiel Kanal first to reach the North Sea. From there we either have to go via the English Channel, or all the way around Scotland and Ireland to reach our designated grid. I asked my navigator to look into both options. He had this annoyed face once again, the one that clearly shows that he thinks he knows everything better. Only because it's my first patrol on a U-boat and he already has several.



"I know the English Channel very well, Herr Obersteuermann. I have been operating there on the surface during the whole war. So I bloody well manage to pass it submerged as well, wouldn't you think? It saves us a lot of time and diesel."

The passage through the channel went smooth. Moral is high and everybody is in a cheerful mood. The watch enjoyed to to spy after girl having a swim in the channel, there wasn't to many of them, and waving to children on the shores that wished us a good journey. I'll leave it to them. We are still in save waters.



We reached Brunsbüttel and the Elbe-estuary in the evening. I was checking the maps and saw my chance to show my navigator his position on the boat. "You wanted to speak to me, Herr Kaleun?". Once again the tiresome, annoyed expression on his face. "Yes, indeed. Let's have a look at our journey today. Do you really think that's were we travelled today?" He was searching for words. "I'm sorry, sir. But these are the results of my measurements and calculations. I just marked down what I got." He was clearly not comfortable with this. The crew was pretending to not listen, but of course they were. "You need to improve your skills with this. That is not good enough. And I don't want to hear any complaints about my commands until you improve your skills, is that understood?"



I don't feel comfortable with my navigator for now. So there's probably the need to have a look at what he does all the time. We reached the open sea at approximately 21:00. The last escorts and outer guards fade away behind us. On our port side we spot the faint light of the Cuxhaven lighthouse. We are on our course towards the English Channel.

[Broadsword]

Good stuff Looking forward to seeing how this goes.

[Thaine]

Patrol I:
15.April 1941 - 2nd day on patrol

The weather was still fine. No precipitation, good visibility and calm winds.

The crew woke me at about 08:30 am. I had set my alarm clock to 06:00, but it didn't go off. That was a bit embarrassing. I don't want to look like the lazy captain who sleeps all day, while the crews is going trough their watch times. Then again, I'm the captain and not bound the the watch times. There will be enough sleepless nights as soon as we go hunting.
We were far enough from shore so I ordered a course of 260 towards the channel. The crew reported a friendly aircraft at 12:00 am. I was rushing from my lunch to the bridge. The aircraft was gone once I reached the bridge. The crew watched me with odd expressions when I returned to my meal. They haven't experienced what I experienced in the channel. The constant roar of Merlin engines and the danger they impose. It's haunting me.
We finally reached deep waters at 07:00pm and I ordered some dive drills. We went for a depth of 50 meters to see how the boat behaves. The metal was screeching and cracking under the pressure. A sound I hadn't heard until now.

[Thaine]

Patrol I:
16.April 1941 - 3rd day on patrol

Weather: Rain with moderate visibility, light fog. West near gale force 7.

I woke up at 06:00 am. The boat was rocking heavily. I tried my best to keep my morning coffee in it's cup. Now and then you could hear things falling around and the crew was stumbling from one side to the other like if they were drunk. But I know this isn't as bad as it can get, there might be some nasty surprises in the midst of the Atlantic. I spent some time on the bridge. Now and then waves would break over it in addition to the constant sea spray. The watch crew had to tie themselves with harnesses to the bridge to not be washed away.



I went to my compartment and started studying some of my old Maths-textbooks. I-WO and my Navigator joined in during a break and looked at me in disbelief. "Maths books? Are you serious, sir? This is what you brought on board for this patrol." "There might be some useful information for the hunt in it, gentlemen." I replied. "Don't you underestimate it's value." I explained some trigonometric concepts and tried to explain the 4-bearing method to them. I don't know if they understood it though. We will need to test this with one of the next contacts.

"Have you always been that interested in Maths, sir? I was chasing after girls and playing football, when I was in school." I-WO commented. "Yes. I had a very good Maths-teacher. Her name was Edeltraud Schneider. Fräulein Schneider was really able to keep the attention of the class. A very talented teacher."



We reached the entry to the English Channel close to midnight, I expect only little sleep tonight.

[Bunny]

Damn - it stops at a cliffhangar! Great stuff Thaine - exciting

[Broadsword]

As I've said before, I played SH3 to death over the years, and enjoyed SH4, but never really got into SH5 (partickerly as I couldn't seem to get a stable install). However, reading this has inspired me to try again, and lo and behold the Wolves of Steel mod seems to work fine for me. Having watched the LW dispatch a couple of Polish minelayers I've just pushed on into Danzig by and achieved my first kill with full real navigation and manual TDC. Watching that torpedo send the hapless little merchantman to the bottom brought the old thrill back, so I just wanted to say "Bloody Hell Thaine, as if I didn't have enough to do already, and know you've got me hooked on Silent Hunter again you idiot! Think before you post next time."

[Thaine]

Shut up and sink ships.

[EDIT]
And write a report.

[Thaine]

Patrol I:
17.April 1941 - 4th day on patrol

Weather: Dry and good visibility. West near gale force 7.

The watch spotted smoke on the horizon at 00:50. It turned out to be four escorts ships to the on port-side. The darkness made it difficult to identify the flags but I was rather certain they were British. I ordered full ahead on a westerly course to get them behind us. The darkness and rough sea did a good job concealing us and went were able to slip past them unnoticed.

We spotted two ships on bearing 026 at 02:30, both on a southern course. A slim silhouette with two masts and a single superstructure with a tall but narrow chimney in between. I identified it as a medium European freighter with approximately 4000-5000 BRT. I instructed my I WO, "Mast height 28 meters, top speed 11kts. Note that down, we're going to attack." He went into a smile as if he just opened a Christmas present, and promptly started to instruct the crew. That one is an eager one, if I shape him to my liking he might become very useful.

The boat jumped into action, men running through the narrow corridor to their battle stations, the roar of the diesel engines, a beautiful sight to behold. In addition, the weather was improving, force 5 and dropping. The only disadvantage was that we had the moon in our back. This makes our silhouette better visible against the glimmering sea. I spotted two escorts on the far side of the freighters, those ships might be more valuable than assumed. Unfortunately, they were also faster then hoped for. I turned the boat to starboard on a collision course with the ships, submerged to periscope depth and prepared for a salvo shot from tube 1 and 4. I estimated AOB and speed based on a rushed and simplified attack plot and finally released the torpedoes at a range of 2000 metres.

The boat fell into silence as fast as it had jumped into action for the hunt. Only the soft ticking of the stop watch remained. One minute, two minutes, three minutes. This wasn't looking good. "Time for torpedoes is up, Herr Kaleun." the I-WO announced. It was clear that we missed the shots. He tried to appease me: "They are probably steering wrong, or the detonator failed." I noticed that our navigator gave him a stern look. Still the sceptic, aren't you? "Bad Luck, we do better next time. Get closer and make a sure hit. Surface the boat, course 160, flank speed ahead." were my orders. We need to get in front of them if we should try to hit them again.

I went to the bridge and spotted the escorts circling around to our side. Did they notice the torpedoes? I was just hoping that we would be able to escape before they came into range. Suddenly the search light flashed up. "Alarm, get in. Dive, dive, dive!" The watch rushed down the ladder. Just before I closed the hatch I heard their gun shells zipping over us. We went down to 40 metres and rigged for silent running, nervous looks were exchanged in anticipation of what might come. The high pitch ping of the ASDIC ripped through the silence after a short while. Every single ping hurts, but there's not much more that we can do then sit it out. And suddenly a low growl as from a distant thunderstorm reaches our boat. "They are dropping their eggs to far off aft. They have no clue where we are." I whispered to the crew with a reassuring smile. Some smiled back, but many were still looking nervous. "Lets just continue like that for a while. All men not needed should get some rest."

45 Minutes later, it was 04:45 now, we went to periscope depth and checked if we were clear to surface. The ships were gone. We resumed our westerly course full speed. After some twenty minutes we spotted contacts in the east. But I decided to pass the narrow passage between England and France as long as it was still dark. Tiredness fell upon me as soon as the ship returned to routine. So I went to my bunk for some hours of sleep.

I dreamed of Fräulein Schneider, she was punishing me and giving me extra hours for not calculating the solution correctly and missing the shots. I was ripped from the dream by ring of the alarm bell. "Aircraft spotted, Dive fast!". I metallic crack and hammering shock the boat just seconds before we reached safety under the waves. I demanded my reports "What's the damage?", sleep still in my eyes. The chief engineer replied in a calm demeanour: "Seems like they hit the conning tower, periscope and UZO are damaged but I can't tell how bad it is until we surface again." I turned out to be only minor damage and easy repairable.

The day continued with further aircraft being spotted. But neither of them attacked us. I ordered to stay submerged for long periods. It was safer under the surface and like that the crew could get some rest.

"Herr Kaleun, we hear a fast running merchant aft at long range. Closing." Damn it, and I was just about to meet Fräulein Schneider again in my dreams. This might be a good opportunity to test the four-bearing method. "Let's see what we get, shall we. Stop the boat." We waited in the depth for 40 minutes, periodically taking readings from the hydrophone. THRUMB-thrumb-thrumb-thrumb-THRUMB-thrumb-thrumb.... I exchanged looks with my hydrophone operator. "4 blades- approximately 10-15kms away. What do you think." "I agree, Herr Kaleun, almost no change in bearing. He's heading directly towards us."

The angle of his course to ours was to shallow and the 4 bearing method proved to be unreliable in this situation. But it just confirmed that the freighter was heading directly towards us. Good for us, bad for him.



We rose up to periscope depth and I shortly after spotted the ships far of to our east. It seemed to be the same freighters from tonight, but this time without escorts. I turned the ship south for the attack while still staying submerged. During our approach I took regular measurements of bearing and range. Time to get our attack routines in order. I prepared an attack plot, this time more thoroughly, and estimated speed twice using the "Auswanderungsverfahren-B". I estimated the course to be approximately 250 degrees and the speed between 4 and 6 knots.
"Estimated AOB 14 degrees, general course 255 and speed 4 knots, sometimes up to 6 knots" announced my Navigator. He had taken notes down in the control room. What a smart ass, I never asked for his opinion. But he confirmed my measurements. I decided to ignore it.

We closed in to about 1300 metres. I would have liked to get even closer, but the impact angle was getting worse from second to second. I made a final range measurement, readjusted the AOB with calculations from my attack-disk and fired two torpedoes. This time I was confident.



One and a half minute later one torpedo detonated below the aft mast, which got ripped from the ship. It was about 15:00. The freighter went up in flames immediately. Cheers of joy went through the boat. Huge clouds of black smoke rolled over the sea and I could spot a single life-boat making it's way from the sinking wreck. The other freighter stopped, but I decided to not attack. Soon the cavalry would arrive. And I wouldn't attack a ship that is about save sailors. Sink the ship, don't kill the crew.



We continued submerged and at about 16:00 we heard some destroyers arrive at the scene. The air was getting thick in the boat, but still I ordered to stay submerged until dusk. We surfaced at 18:00 and continued our journey west. Every man got half a bottle beer to celebrate our first kill.