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[Grakelin]

Any interest in this?

If so, sign on here to claim a crewman (I will refer to them as being you, though as far as I know you can't change their name).

[Grakelin]

Just failed my main campaign, too, taking on an enemy convoy in the North Atlantic above the UK. I had thought it was just a merchant ship and a warship (guess I wasn't paying attention).

I had already lost two torpedoes sinking a British/Canadian (their white variant of the flag looks the same, I don't know my history) coastal freighter in the sector I was supposed to be patrolling. I had three left (it was early 1940, and I still had the IIB ship). The convoy was too good to pass up, though!

So I finally caught up with the convoy. The warship opened fire, and I sank to periscope depth rather than try to take it head on. For some reason, I decided that letting the Weapons Engineer fire for me was a good idea. He missed. Or rather, the warship DODGED the torpedo by taking a three point turn. I was up against a very skilled crew!

I went to manual and decided to have a torpedo take them in the side (this was after I'd already dodged some depth charges). They saw this ploy immediately and swerved so they were now coming directly at me. Unfortunately for them, my torpedo was set to make a sharp curve. It wasn't quite the angle I was hoping for, but it would do!

But it went right underneath the British ship. My crew of 28 (including me) sighed in despair. Until the torpedo smashed into the propellor and blew the warship to pieces. We all cheered and I immediately ordered a surface so we could stalk the merchant with our final torpedo. We almost killed ourselves by surfacing directly into the burning husk of the warship on the way up, but U-6 got out with only some minor scratches.

There was a second warship. It fired a cannon round into our hull, flooding the diesel engines. We immediately took to the depths once more. The warship took chase. The crew fixed the electric engine rather quickly and off we were. It was a brilliant chase. At one point we even did a neat maneuver where we surfaced for eight seconds, repaired the diesel engine, and plunged into the depths again before the warship could fire its cannons. Eventually, the SO gave us the message that the warship was moving away. It was time to surface and get our bearings.

The top of the submarine smashed into the bottom of the warship. I had just enough time to notice (by which I mean the attack periscope was shorn off) and order a plunge to 20 feet before it started dropping depth charges on us. U-6 did pirouettes from those explosions, and the SO (as well as some spare guy in the bow quarters) was killed for his lies. I tried my best to get us back up, but it was to no avail. The U-6 sank to 85 metres (I assume that is where the ocean floor was) and we all drowned.

[vagel7]

Cool, i could never get into Silent Hunter myself.

[Spartan 117]

I'll take a crew member.

[Grakelin]

Alright, I'm starting the career! The first patrol will be in August of 1939, meaning no war, and nothing interesting will likely happen. If it does, I will be sure to post some screenies. Spartan will be my first mate. Off to victoly!

The first patrol did not take very long. And I got a promotion to Oberleutenant. The U-1 has successfully completed its 'training voyage' to Shetland and back.

[Grakelin]

August 26, 1939

We have been ordered to head to the Northern United Kingdom and wait for further orders. There is much fanfare towards the U-1's departure. I hope we won't disappoint!

My Chief Engineer, Spartan Eichler, is quite skilled, and probably knows more about our U-boat than I do. I am confident in his abilities.

21:02

The Radio Operator just picked up word that Our Fuhrer has guaranteed neutrality to several nations, including Belgium and Denmark. Apparently, we are to go to war with Poland. I suppose our orders will be to scout for potential interference from the Allied Powers.

September 1, 7:02

We have entered Sector AN18. Beginning the patrol.

18:31

Germany has gone to war with Poland. We are not to engage the English at this time, except in self defense, though we should sink any Polish ships we stumble across. Right, Polish ships up here near Orkney.

September 3, 2:01

We have been ordered to commence hostilities against Great Britain. I was just getting ready to take us home, too. We won't be returning to Kiel without a prize.

[Seamas]

You sound like a very capable commander, Oberlieutenant Grakelin.  I'll sign on.

(Going to be out from now until Tues, though, so lets say I'm delirious with a terrible illness for now.  Or in the brig.)

[Grakelin]

September 4, 11:10

Finally spotted a ship after several days of patrol. The hunt is on.

[warhammer651]

signing on as the guy in charge of torpedoes who does a better job when drunk.

[Creamcorn]

I don't know what this is. I'm signing up. Make me a red shirt.

[Grakelin]

21:02

The hunt almost certainly failed. We must have have miscalculated. We will find a new ship yet.

September 5, 1:55

One of the watchmen claims to have spotted a ship, moving at approximately 9 knots, somewhere to the East, heading Northwest towards Orkney. We have plotted an intercept corse and are on our way.

7:08

My calculations were a bit off again, mostly due to my lack of knowledge of their precise angle of movement. This time, we came upon them about half an hour earlier than expected. We're within 4 kilometres now.

Spoiler: Target Ship Now in Binocular Range (click to show/hide)

Not seen in this image is the condition of the ocean (or much of anything else, it's sort of a boring screenshot). The waves are very high up here, and the bridge crew is getting very wet and cold.

7:17

They must have spotted us, because while we were marking their speed and angle they decided to double up from 6 to 12 knots.

10:52

Our quarry has evaded us again. The men are beginning to grumble.

September 6, 13:34

Stumbled upon an Ore Carrier. That fucker is mine.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: A short time later, a better picture (click to show/hide)

In the second image, the British Flag is very clear (on my computer, at least, not in the actual screencap).

14:07
This guy is definitely zig zagging. That's okay. Probably just spooked about another ship sending out its SSS messages. It's still letting me close in.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

14:11

Firing Torpedo Bay 1. Warsch Hammerspielt, be ready to load in from the reserves!

14:12

No way that's going to hit. Maybe I miscalculated the speed of the ship. Hmmm.

Fire Two!

14:13

A DIRECT HIT!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

14:14

Not sure if that is going to sink it. I missed the engine deck somewhat. We're re-orienting the ship to strike again if need be.

14:17

FIRE THREE

It missed. Load the reserves, I won't lose this vessel to my lack of aim calculations!

14:27

They appear to be listing. The use of our reserve torpedoes might not be called for after all.

Spoiler: As of 14:29 (click to show/hide)

14:44

We have been tailing the enemy ship and watching it bob ever closer under, but I'm not willing to take the chance of them floating the cargo away (or whatever). We still have some extra torpedoes, and we're heading back to Kiel after this anyways. Let's fire another one.

Spoiler: 14:44 is a hit, 15:09 is the boat sinking (click to show/hide)

15:12
Apparently, the ocean floor is closer to the surface than that ship was long. Maybe it will tear open another ship! We're returning to base, this patrol has been, for most accounts, a success.


Upon returning home...
Spartan Eichler and Creme Cornsch have both received U-Boat War Badges for their service.

Creme Cornsch works under Eichler as an engine mechanic, incidentally.

[warhammer651]

Warsch Hammerspielt's log, Sept 6.

Drink Log
Ships sunk 1

Beverage: 1:1 ratio of vodka and medical alcohol

Effects: slight wooziness at first, followed by a feeling of walking on the ceiling. Number of duds (0) decreased from last time (3). Precision maintained at standard levels. Accuracy fell to 50% (faulty targeting solutions).

Notes: Goddamn this one made my head spin. I got drunk, but it wasn't the good kind of drunk. Albrecht in U-33 swears by this stuff, but I can't see why.

Personal log

an okay patrol. Captain seems a decent enough guy, and several of the enlisted men are still under the impression that games of chance involve luck. Several of them have also given me... unique recipes. The Contraband I've confiscated so far is standard quality (that is: fit to wipe Stalin's arse), though I did get some decent ones this time.

[Grakelin]

We had a 50% accuracy, actually.

[warhammer651]

fix'd

You don't mind if we post journals and stuff, right?

[Grakelin]

I highly encourage it!