Helmut Grimm, Patrol 2

Wilhelmshaven, Germany: When I arrived at BDU for my next patrol assignment, I was informed that Warrant Officer Jurgen Schultze transferred to another U-Boat, and I received a replace Warrant Officer via transfer, one August Zierau. Having received my grid assignment of AN-81 (a promising little nugget off the coast of St. Peters on the east coast of England in the North Sea, I had my U-24 fitting with the electric T II G7e’s before heading out to sea from Wilhelmshaven on 9/19/39 at 19:52.

The route to AN-81 was essentially straight across the map and down after coming out of the base. The grid assignment is deep within Allied air cover, which comes out to about halfway of grid AN-82 during 1939 as modeled in the game. Once reaching this halfway spot in AN-82, I begin a series of dives in the early morning to run at ahead slow (3 knots underwater speed) and surfaces in the late evening to run at ahead 1/3 (5 knots surface speed). This was to minimize the detection and attack from Allied aircraft.

This could have been a dicey endeavor had I been spotted by a surface warship as the depth in this route was 19-22 meters, no room to dive and avoid a crushing depth charge. The cycle of diving and surfacing with the rising and setting sun was the cautious route to take.

On D4 @ 06:58 we crossed into grid AN-81 to complete the first standard mission objective. The next morning we completed the second standard mission objective and were free to prosecute targets as I saw fit, having 80% diesel fuel reserves and a full complement of torpedoes at my disposal.

On D5 @ 14:40 I set up on a coastal merchant in grid AN-73 and fire off one torpedo from tube one set at a 3 meter depth with an impact pistol. The fish ran true and sunk the enemy vessel with the following entry in the Captain’s Log:

14:42: SS Marjory (Coastal Merchant), 2797 tons. Cargo: Grain. Crew: 29. Crew lost: 6

At a fine dinner of hard tack and vinegar, I track and setup on a C2 cargo ship with the same settings as the first attack and let go a missile from the second tube. This fish also hit home and sunk the enemy vessel with the following entry in the Captain’s Log:
18:18: SS Westward Ho (C2 Cargo), 5079 tons. Cargo: Wine/Spirits. Crew: 61. Crew lost: 18

And just before midnight we put down another costal merchant with the same parameters, this time with the torpedo coming out of tube three. Another strike for the T II G7e’s with the following entry in the Captain’s Log:
23:08: SS Fenella (Coastal Merchant), 2798 tons. Cargo: Timber. Crew: 28. Crew lost: 21

On D6 @ 03:10 we set our third coastal merchant to the bottom of the swimming pool with the tried-and-true 3 meter impact pistol fish with the following entry in the Captain’s Log:
03:10: SS Ada Gorthon (Coastal Merchant), 2799 tons. Cargo: Phosphates. Crew: 28. Crew lost: 5

The last prosecuted contact came that morning I fired off my final torpedo at a C2 cargo ship that ran true and struck center mass of the vessel, only to haplessly fall to the bottom having been a dud. Four kills out of five torpedoes is actually great new for early-war U-Boats, so I am not complaining.

At 20:30 I fire off the obligatory patrol report and receive the response at 21:10 to return to base. We make the trip back with a few more cycles of diving and surfacing, and dock at Wilhelmshaven on day nine of the patrol, at 08:46 on 9/27/39 with the following results:

Patrol results
Crew losses: 0
Ships sunk: 4
Aircraft destroyed: 0
Patrol tonnage: 13473 tons

I had 15 U-Boat War Badges to pass out and I assigned the qualification of repair to a Warrant Officer. BDU awarded me with U-Boat Front Clasp for my shadow box and 752.67 renown.