08:12 Februari 26, 1940

We’ve returned to Kiel safely and unharmed again and are pretty happy about the way this patrol has turned out.

Returned to Kiel.
This time round however our submarine didn’t get away as unscratched as before. Mainly due to the submarine net incident in Loch Ewe our hull, though repaired as good as possible by the crew, was at a slightly concerning 56% so it’s safe to say that we should be very glad we didn’t have to do any deep sea crash diving as that would probably have turned into a disaster for the boat and it’s crew.

Promotions and rewards.
In total this 47.852 tons counting patrol has earned us 2 Iron Crosses Second Class, 1 Iron Cross First Class and BDU has allowed me to promote 4 sailors.

I’ve promoted Heinrich Gabelmann for his efforts to stay on lookout, even in the harsh conditions we’ve faced during this patrol. Eberhard Wirtgen and Max Wittmann, two of our torpedo men, have also earned their promotions very much. Their reloading times of the tubes were superb throughout the entire patrol. Finally Joachim Locke has been promoted for his services on the command deck.

I rewarded Herbert Lindner the Iron Cross First Class and both machinists August Kruger and Wolf Steinmeier received the Iron Cross Second Class for their outstanding engine management and maintenance.

Peter Weller has proved to be a asset to our repair team during this patrol and to enable him to put his technical insight to better use aboard the ship we’ve sent him on a specialists course which will make him a certified repairman when he returns.

For me personally this trip was pretty good too. Keeping the crew working together as a team in the very bad conditions we’ve endured was reason enough for BDU to promote me to the rank of Kapitänleutnant and they have awarded me the Knights Cross.

The engine upgrades have finally come in so we could have been fitted with two brand new supercharged engines inside our hull. But since we have been waiting for so long we’ve been given the chance to swap the entire boat for a VIIC type ship.

As a bonus we’ve still got the supercharged engines and received the new type of batteries aboard which require lesser recharging time than the usual ones. The only downside is that the ship will probably take a few months to complete.

~ by Biek on January 6, 2007.