Special U-Boat Missions

[Von Faust*]

Stanno creando (se non già create ma devo capire bene) delle missioni di scorta da parte di U-boot basate su missioni realmente avvenute.

Le descrizioni sono estremamente precise e mi sembrano molto interessanti, effettuare una scorta è un qualcosa di totalemnte nuovo. Quì un esempio:

 

Special U-boat Missions

Part I: Escort Duties

 

 

ESCORTING U-BOAT:

U-37 (type IX), 4th patrol; outbound Wilhelmshaven, 30/03/1940, inbound Wilhelmshaven, 18/04/1940

 

ESCORTED VESSEL:

Ehrenfels class German auxiliary cruiser HSK-2 / Schiff 16 Atlantis bound from Süderpiep Bay, Schleswig-Holstein to the Indian Ocean

 

 

ESCORTED FROM:

Süderpiep channel [pos: 54°6'N, 8°20'E], 01/04/1940

 

ESCORTED TO:

Denmark Strait, ca. 100 nm WNW of Reykjavik [pos: 64°57'N, 25°22'W], 07/04/1940

 

 

NOTES ON THE ESCORT:

this one was the first attempt by the German cruiser to breakthrough in the Atlantic. Besides U-37, her escort was composed of the torpedo boats Wolf and Leopard that accompanied the German raider in the very first leg of her passage into the North Sea. About when the group was getting into the dangerous waters between the Shetland Islands and the coast of Norway, the weather deteriorated. U-37 could no longer safely keep up with the raider and fell behind. Soon after, two warships were spotted on the horizon. Atlantis was pushed at her top speed of 17.5 knots in order to outrun her pursuers. The warships finally gave up the chase and disappeared, leaving Atlantis to slow down. She continued towards the north-east, only swinging west when she had reached the Murmansk to Iceland shipping lane, setting course for Jan Mayen Island. Shortly after she met again the U-37 and re-fuelled her. The raider and the U-boat proceeded then to the Denmark Strait where, in view of the sub-zero temperatures and harsh sea conditions that were threatening the safety of the submarine, they parted company. Atlantis made it through North Atlantic on 08/04/1940, whereas U-37 sailed along the western and the southern coasts of Iceland, and headed then back to Shetland where she sunk 3 ships before returning to base.