Patrol 1September 1 1939 U-46 departs from Wilhelmshaven. Shes assigned to patrol a sea area NW of Ireland. The area has presumably high traffic density, as most if not all naval convoys and merchantmen from USA, Canada and Caribbean area sail through it to Ireland, Scotland and Liverpool. Now that the war has started, there will be even more traffic than normally, and sooner or later this route is likely to be used even more as the Southern coast of Ireland gets dangerous.
September 3 Great Britain, France and a host of other nations declare war on Germany. U-46 is already well on her way to action... On September 4, BdU sends some orders:
The weather soon got very bad. It'll help to get around Orkneys and the British warships patrols around it, but it prevents the U-46 from achieving much.
September 5 North of Orkney Islands, some distance contacts are hears in the hydrophone but some of them are clearly warships and thus not of our interest. The bad weather and near-zero visibility make chasing the merchantmen useless.
September 8 U-46 reaches the patrol area. The weather is still bad, and the
Kaleun decides to not chase the 2 heard contacts.
September 10 Weather clears and the hunt begins!
The search method is this: U-46 sails (roughly) North and South along a 50 kilometer line. Most of the time is spent under water
listening, at a low speed of 2 knots. Every even hour the
Kaleun checks the hydrophone himself. The submarine spends only minimum time on the surface, replenishing batteries and fresh air. Once a contact is heard, it is tracked for some time to estimate its traveling direction and speed. The submarine then surfaces and attempts a leading intercept, using full speed. Every 20 minutes the U-46 then submerges again to listen to the contact and to get a new bearing.
The primary weapon to be used against lone, unarmed merchantmen and other vessels is the 88mm deck gun(210 shells) and 20mm Oerlikon anti-aircraft cannon, as they cannot outrun the submarine nor are they of any threat. Closer to land they may call help, so staying on the surface and playing with the pray does have its cons, though...
U-46 is a type VIIB boat so there are only 14 torpedoes: 10 in the bow, 2 in the stern and 2 externally storaged torpedoes, one for bow and the other for stern tube. The torpedoes will be saved to be used against capital warships, armed merchants, convoys and for bad weather(ie. against juicy targets). There should be enough fuel to patrol at least about
60 days...
In the afternoon, the first enemy merchantman is found, tracked, intercepted and destroyed using the deck gun:
September 11 A ship is intercepted and visually identified as a neutral ship at 0500 hours. Its exact nationality remains unknown, but the
Kaleun doubts that any British ships would sail with their lights on, flag illuminated, and at about 2 knots.
A new sound contact is immediately found and intercepted. The small freighter sinks at 1200 hours!
19.40, another contact!
20,16, visual contact!
20.50, shes going down! This time we used only a couple of shells again. If possible, its often a good idea to wait a while after hitting, to let the holes do their job...
23.00: Contact again! But a huge storm rises while U-46 is pursuing... Cant see a thin there! The
Kaleun decides to abort the chase and save the fuel for another time.
Author
Topic: U-boat Captain's War Diary - A Silent Hunter III AAR (Read 28866 times)