16 July 1942

0840: Depart Spezia.  Patrol Grid CN26.  Back to the Mediterranean junction.  The men are salty.  The summer is blazing here, and we ride out of Spezia shouting war cries.  On to the hunt!

19 Jul 1942

1515: Grid CN25.  Thick fog and rain.  Faint screws heard behind us - moving to intercept. 

1644: Lost contact - giving up search. 

20 Jul 1942

0115: Entered patrol grid.  Plotting Z search pattern. 

1035: Sound contact - warship.  Plotting course.  Still rain & heavy fog. 

1145: Lost contact. 

1743: Sound contact - warship.  Plotting course. 

1852: Tramp steamer and escort.  Not worth a torpedo.  Letting them pass. 

2147: Radio Report - enemy task force CN62.  Too far - can't make the intercept in time.   

21 Jul 1942

0138: Radio BdU: Patrol complete, no contact.  BdU: U-71 assigned to new patrol grid CO51. Be more aggressive.

26 July 1942

0743: Radio report: Enemy Task Force - CN66 headed E.  This should come right across our path.  Plotting course for intercept.

27 July 1942

1300: Giving up search - they must have got through. 

1533: Radio report - small convoy CO56.  Moving to intercept.     

1611: Sound contact – merchant, slow.  Plotting course. 

1634: Visual contact - V&W destroyer and Large Cargo ship.  Weather clear.  Flanked until 6.5km away then dive.  Moving in at flank on battery to close remaining distance. 

1639: Escort suspicious - in snake search pattern. 

1702: Identify British flag on Large Cargo.  Fire T2 for engine room.  Hit.  Fire second T1 at stern.  Hit - fatal explosion, ship breaks up.  Turn against convoy and dive to 165m. 

1817: Lost escort DD - back to PD. 

1855: Task Force Spotted!  Setting course for approach at flank!  Three cruisers sighted, moving medium speed.  Flanking ahead.

1943: 10km ahead of TF, fore external moved.  Dusk.  Moving into attack position.  TF a single line – Southhampton cruiser, Fiji cruiser, Fiji cruiser.

2013: Two T2s to leading Southhampton cruiser.  One T2 to Fiji, second in line along with a T1 fast, delayed.  Southhampton hit twice, small fires, no slowing.  Fiji hit once. No obvious damage.  Turn and fire aft tube at Fiji - dud/miss.  Turn 180 to TF - aim for gap in escorts.  Pinged, but not detected.  Continuing at PD.

2033: Explosion in the distance - Southhampton's boiler?  Ship sunk - Southhampton cruiser.

2204: flanking, loading aft external. 

2205: ambushed by river destroyer escort - came up in out baffles.  Diving.

28 July 1942

0220: back into firing position.  Task force has calmed.  Fire T2 at damaged Fiji.  Quickly fire 3 t1s fast at second Fiji.  We’re directly in the path of convoy's portside escort.  Cut engines, wait.  TF sees torpedo steam trails 5 seconds before impact.  Searchlights go on...then...Impact x 4.  Second Fiji rocked by 3 successive blasts.  Massive fire.  First Fiji hit amidships. Pinged by escort - he passes.  We continue 180 to TF in silent running, PD.  Escort makes a second turn/pass, but doesn't detect us.  Continue running at PD, silent.  Two other escorts converge, ping, don't find us.  In the distance, second Fiji can be seen to capsize.  Ship Sunk - Fiji Light Cruiser! 

2043: First Fiji capsizes.  Ship Sunk - Fiji Light Cruiser!  Escorts have lost us.  Exiting area in silent run. 

3 Aug 1942

0110: ship spotted - tramp steamer.  Moving to engage with deck gun.  British flag.

0332: engaging.  Rough seas - decks awash. 

0415: Ship Sunk - tramp steamer - sporadic return fire.  Rolls over and fires go out.

4 Aug 1942

0232: Radio report - enemy convoy CN25 SSE 7 knots - moving to intercept. 

0417: sound check - warship screws – loud…Convoy?  Task Force?

0519: Lead escort sighted.  Moving into attack position at PD, flank.  Have moved into littoral waters. Depth check - 198m under keel.  High seas, overcast skies.  The bottom has been churned up, turning the sea brown.  Medium Fog.   Perfect attack weather. 

0526: Convoy spotted - Dido Cruiser, Hospital Ship, Passenger Liner - military convoy!  Convoy changing course - heading SE. 

0543: Flags identified - British.  Approaching silent through the tumbling waves. 

0553: Standing orders hold that Passenger Liners in military convoy are to be sunk.  Fire T2 at Passenger Liner engine room.  Torpedo Impact!  Secondary explosion!  Passenger Liner doomed!  Fire surges through entire ship.  I recoil from the attack periscope in excitement. 

0555: Turn 180 to convoy.  Wait for Dido to pass – target it with Aft T2 (900m) amidships.  Begin Dive to 140m.  River destroyer escort passes right in front of us.

0557: Torpedo Impact!  Explosions heard! 

0601: Sinking sounds heard 150 degrees - Dido Cruiser Sunk!  Warship at 60 and 180 degrees.

0614: Warship passing us off to starboard - moving back to remaining convoy ship (hospital ship).   

0617: Wrong - it doubled back - passing over us!  A single ping chills us. 

0620: He's back - pinging.  Passes obliquely over our stern.  The ghosts of the Passenger Liner and the Dido wail into the hydrophone at 180, far. 

0647: Warship screws fading.  Moving back to PD.  Radio BdU: Military convoy attacked, capital ships sunk.  Hospital ship flying British flags remains.  One torpedo remaining.  What are our orders?  BdU: Attack and sink military hospital vessel.  I am chilled to read these orders.  We have been sent to attack a Hospital ship.  Though military, it is clearly flying hospital flags – surely full of wounded soldiers.  I’m not sure how to handle this.  My XO glares at me, and instructs the NO to plot a course for ambush. 

0704: Surface, flanking to catch convoy.  Reloading final torpedo in stern tube. 

0810: Sound check - convoy ahead of us - far. 

0845: Aircraft spotted.  Crash dive, no DC. 

1019: Black Swan doubles back.  Dive to PD - not spotted.  Swan steams back to convoy at 20kts.   

1247: Aircraft spotted - medium range!  Ambush!  We break right hard and the spitfire drops a bomb in our wake.  Crash Dive. 

1405: Positioned in front of convoy.  Tricky shot - aft tube.  Trying to take oblique angle to evade detection by lead destroyer - he's suspicious, and is doing a snake search. 

1411: Weather has cleared.  Wind has died.  Our Asdic cover has ended…

1424: Hospital ship in sights.  Line up shot for ammo bunker - hit.  No secondary explosion.  Escape at 1/3.  Pinged immediately. Turning 120 to TF.

1430: Ping-triangulated by 2 escorts - dive at flank and set depth to 165m, turn 45 degrees to port. 

1432: Very close DC!  Through the observation scope I watched it hit the boat’s stern and roll off - the depth setting was deeper.  Boat rocked savagely by charge beneath us.  Crew thrown to the deck, gauges pop. 

1436: Hard DCs astern, probably 200m away. 

1445: Counted 4 escort destroyers all around us.  This looks bad.

1500: Ping triangulated.  DC hit! Lights flicker and a thin mist of high pressure water shoots into the command room from a valve popped loose.  XO shouts damage report: Port Electric engine, compressor, Port Diesel, Main Pump – all light damage.  Nothing deadly – I order to hold silent running – silence should protect us.

1502: Deploy decoys, run away at flank.

1524: Pinged more.  DCed more.  Decoys deployed again. 

1540: Hell being delivered behind us.  DCs, 20 at a time, saturation bombing.  Can hear one warship barely moving - probably listening.

1600: Warship screws fading at 180.  Seem to have given them the slip.  Will stay under until well after nightfall. 

1700: No sound contacts.  Moving up to 60m. 

1725: Secure from silent running. Begin repairs.  Compressor first, then electric engine, then port diesel.

1829: All repairs complete. 

2053: Back to PD.  Up periscope - dark, bright moon.  Will surface and run for the night. 

2055: Surface to find the flak guns lightly damaged.  Repaired quickly.  Radio BdU: torpedoes spent, light damaged repaired.  BdU: RTB.  Setting course for Spezia, ahead full - we've got fuel to spare.  Darkness is precious.

6 Aug 1942

0610: XO wakes me this morning.  My birthday, yesterday.  I forgot.  We all did.  What an ordeal we survived.  I keep to myself the dark knowledge that I hope is still a secret: during the attack yesterday I could not ensure our safety.  The luxury of control was taken from me when the DCs started rocking the boat.  I was running scared, and when we were hit, a cold, angry feeling washed over me.  It was the end.  But we are still here.  My crew had no birthday present for me; their bottle of Schnapps was broken in the attack.  But they express their thanks by a handshake, all of them, in line.  I’m glad to have this birthday.  Now we’re heading home. 

2255: Encounter small convoy, friendly - Soldati destroyer and tramp steamer.  We quietly pass.  

8 Aug 1942

0540: Return Spezia.  Our best patrol yet for tonnage, and yet our closest brush with death.  I hate to admit it but I’m really shaken.  I still feel like I lost her there, watching depth charges wail past in the observation scope.  I hate to say this, but I feel like we’ve had enough.  I’ve applied for our transfer back to France, but BdU requires of us one more patrol out here.  It’s survival now.  I don’t care anymore about glory.  I just need to get this crew home.  They have earned it over and again.  

Ships sunk: 7 (4 military)
Hull Integrity: 100%
Patrol tonnage: 59487 (37775 military shipping)