Enjoy your time ashore, captains, well earned.
I will carry on the fight in your absence. The plan to upgrade my boat worked a treat, completing three ATO missions and swapping to the new VIIC/41 U-998 in December 1940. We then shifted bases to La Rochelle, about one day's cruise south. Did two Southern Routes patrols, which were frustrating as usual, just a parade of neutrals. In two patrols we sank but one British freighter in our assigned grid. It is now March, 1941. At the end of the last patrol we came across a T2 tanker in BD grid clipping along at 14 knots, flying Argentinian flags. Suspecting a deception I shot two torpedoes and she blew sky high. In the debrief it was said that it was an American ship flying a false flag and there was no reprimand, even though the US is not at war yet. But blockade-runners are fair game I guess, even if you don't board and sniff out the deception. Can't board tankers anyway. For 14,000 tons I'd take the rep hit anyway, whatever it is.
