Great reporting captains!
11 April 1941 – U-96 -- XOs Log
We turned over our prisoners as soon as we hit port. Two were captains and so will be held for a more extensive debriefing. But they behaved themselves on our return voyage and are honorable men.
I had only two days leave, then two days overseeing minor repairs and restocking. A problem loading a torpedo damaged the door on Tube 3. We had a welder come in for a special job and then still had work to do to fix it.
Resupply otherwise was without incident. The captain disbanded one of the crew and the other we lost to the SS on charges that he was a Communist. So crew selection took a half day of interviews, but we may have lucked out with a machinist with much experience and also a family history of distinction in the Kriegsmarine. I joined the captain for the final interviews and both our new choices appear very good.
Meanwhile we promoted our second mechanic to Leutnant. Finally we will have reduced shifts on our next patrol with an extra Officer. Leutnant Schmidt likewise has excellent experience and proved able to stand the stress of our first patrols, not an easy thing to do.
Our cook has also proven up to the task, and our stocks look better after our last patrol and our salvage operations. The gold we salvaged brought some stresses of its own, but my careful accounting did not go unnoticed, and nothing was missing. Likewise the sinking of a T2 tanker carried some extra weight. The reputation of U96 will have grown a little larger after this patrol. And the confidence and skill of the crew definitely improved. Our dive times averaged 12 seconds less than on our last patrol.
Our orders are a standard patrol this time, no more spies and shallow harbors. At least not yet. One never knows what BdU will order when we are sea bound.
15 April
We are almost to our patrol zone. So far we have almost 9000 tons and the pickings have been uneventful. One the last sinking we salvaged fresh fruit and machine parts: a real boon to the crew and to our mission.
The third ship we encountered was flying a Spanish flag, so we surfaced and ordered her to stop while we performed an inspection. Her captain seemed tight lipped and wary, so we brought over additional crew to perform a thorough search. If we had found contraband we would not have hesitated to sink her. Something about her papers seemed off; but without any proof we had to release her and continue on our way.
16 April
We were only two hours in our assigned patrol when hydrophone reported multiple screws at bearing 030 and roughly 30 nm. It was 1600 hours. I ordered the intercept course and at full speed we saw smoke on the horizon in two hours. Not long after we spotted three escort destroyers at the rear of the convoy. The funnel smoke we counted gave us at least 25 ships. We plotted an end run and turned ENE. By 2000 hours and dusk, with the excellent work of our navigator and sound man, we turned SSE into the estimated convoy path and waited.
Right on schedule, we sighted a pair of escorts 30 minutes later at the edge of our vision. Flood the tanks and dive to periscope depth and adjusted our position just below the northernmost escort, then waited.
By the time the escorts were on top of us we had solutions for two large freighters. The captain ordered two eels for the distant one, then waited 40 seconds to release on the closest. The timing was meant to give us two kills at once, meanwhile we would run at 75% speed to a position west of our firing point. Perfectly executed, and only one eel failed to fire. Two ships sinking and we were on our way before the escorts could respond. Our mechanics and crew labored as quickly and quietly as possible to reload tubes 1 and 2.
When we were nearly two miles from our firing position and preparing to surface, one of the escorts from the rear of the convoy approached close enough to get an ASDIC reading. We responded by diving to 200 meters and I ordered silent running. His sonar hit brought a second ship on the hunt, and two minutes later they depth charged us.
The first two rounds were ineffective, no damage to our ship or crew. I could hear the cook praying quietly. We slowed to half speed and continued to zig zag, changing course every two minutes. The third round of charges caused a serious enough leak in the rear torpedo room that we sealed the aft bulkhead while the mechanics worked. One of our seamen reported a broken arm, but nothing worse. The ship drifted downwards to 220 meters.
An hour of this and the strain was telling on all of us. Still they would not leave us alone, and it was another hour before the hydrophone reported the hunters moving away. The flooding in the aft torpedo room was under control so we risked rising to 50 meters to turn on the pumps. We were all drenched in sweat. We increased to maximum speed and made a dash to the west. It worked, and after a half hour with no ships near us we went to periscope depth to confirm we were clear, then surfaced the boat. The fresh air flooding the ship was like heaven. All stop while our able engineers attended to the port diesel, which would not maintain full power. There was nothing more they could do, so we made our report then headed for port.
