The briefing for the last trial was in Werner's
office. None of the other officers were present, just the admiral and Werner. The admiral came straight to
the point.
"Captain, this is the last trial for
your boat. If this trial is successful, I will be taking the results of all the
tests to Admiral Donitz to get his approval to present it to the Fuhrer. This
project, thus far, has been quite successful and I believe that the Fuhrer will
be hard pressed to find a reason to disapprove it.
"You are to take U-1215 out and
submerge as soon as possible and sail to the edge of the continental shelf
approximately 180 kilometers away. You will then follow the shelf two hundred
kilometers southeast, turn around and sail northwest two hundred kilometers.
You will repeat this continually for three weeks. At the end of those three
weeks, you will return to base. This trial is to test how the submarine
performs on long cruises and whether the crew comforts we included in the
design will improve the men's performance. Are there any questions so
far?"
"Is the Heimlich going to accompany us
on this trial, sir?" Heimlich had not had much success tracking U-1215.
She would not be able to follow them around, much less guard them.
"No, the area is being actively
patrolled by Allied aircraft. In any case, her presence will seem strange to
anyone who finds her. What is a destroyer doing all alone so far from the
bases? If the Allies capture her or any of her crew, they may find out about
U-1215 which we cannot allow."
Werner thought about it for a few moments.
Three weeks at full speed would bring them to New York and back with several
days extra to sink some ships. That was wishful thinking, of course. The admiral would never allow it. Instead,
they were going to sail up and down the Bay of Biscay, following the
continental shelf for three weeks, submerged the whole time. This area was
close enough to the mainland that Allied warships avoided it but aircraft were
another matter. Their being underwater would keep them safe from detection but
what if an enemy captain discovers them? "Admiral, what if we encounter
enemy vessels along the way?"
"That is unlikely to happen, Captain,
but in case you do encounter them, you are to avoid contact at all cost. I am
confident they cannot hear you but you are still detectable if they use active
sonar. Your boat is the only one of its kind so don't lose it. Furthermore,
both sides of this conflict do not know about you. An Allied submarine will
attack you for sure, but a u-boat may decide to attack you as well just because
he doesn't recognize you as a German submarine.
"Still, one can never be 100% sure
about anything so I have authorized you to carry a full load of torpedoes with
active warheads. If you are discovered, you may launch your weapons at them but
you will not, repeat, not initiate action against any vessel. Is that
understood?"
"Clearly, Admiral."
"And that goes for u-boats as
well."
Werner looked at his admiral in surprise.
"Sink a u-boat? Sir that would be counter-productive!"
"It would be counter-productive if
everyone knows about you before U-1215 and his brothers can become operational.
My order stands. You are to destroy anything that discovers you."
"Very well, Admiral. I shall do as you
say." Werner, didn't like it but he had his orders.
"Good, you will leave on May 7 and we
will expect you back on May 28."
Werner suddenly thought of something.
"Admiral, what if something goes wrong and we need to surface?"
The admiral looked at Werner for a few
moments before he spoke. "Captain, if you can, you may sail her on the
surface back to base. If you are unable to sail her, you may call for help on
the radio using our codes. I will send the Heimlich to
take you in tow. If, however, you are in danger of being discovered by an enemy
warship, you are to scuttle her," the admiral made a short pause,
"along with you and everyone else on board."
The admiral's final sentence caused Werner
to look up in shock. The older man just looked at him intently. He was ordering
Werner to commit suicide and to bring his men along for his last trip, if it
came to that.
The admiral stood up and told Werner to
follow him. They went out to the submarine where the admiral ordered everyone
to get off. Once the boat was cleared of men, he led Werner inside to the
captain's stateroom. He went to the bed and pulled up the reading lamp. The
fixture came off and revealed a recessed space. Inside was a button.
"This, Captain, is a scuttling button.
Normally, the engineering officer is in charge of scuttling the boat once all
the crew have abandoned ship. This button, will enable you to blow up the
submarine from here, in case you need to destroy the boat with everyone in it.
Commander Meyer is the only other officer who knows about this button and he
has orders to activate it in case you are unable to do so." The admiral
replaced the reading lamp. It went back to being an ordinary reading lamp.
Werner suppressed a shudder. He had switched that lamp on and off dozens of
times in the past weeks. He wondered if he was ever going to be able to sleep
in his own stateroom after this.
The admiral stood up and started walking
toward the control room. There, he paused and faced Werner. "Captain, the
Bay of Biscay is a very dangerous place. Allied planes patrol it regularly and
British submarines occasionally lie in wait for our u-boats to pass by before
sending a torpedo as a way of greeting. Since you will be underwater the whole
time, you won't have to worry about aircraft. A submarine, however, is another
matter. I'm confident they won't hear you but you will probably hear them
unless they happen to be lying around with their motors off. If you do detect
them, you are to change course to avoid. I know the temptation to fire on an
unsuspecting enemy is very great but if you miss and they escape, they will
return to their base and report that they encountered a silent u-boat. They may
start developing something to counter that ability. We must hide that fact from
them until we have a force of U-1215's brothers in operation."
Werner nodded his head as he and the
admiral walked toward the ladder that went up to the conning tower, but thought
that the admiral was being overly cautious. If he heard another submarine in
his path, he would have no way to know if it was friend or foe unless it was on
the surface. A ship, however, was another matter. If he encountered a ship, he
thought he could safely fire torpedoes into it. What better way to prove
U-1215's abilities?
U-boat commanders were usually given free
reign since they were so far from their bases. The decision to attack or not to
attack was often left up to them though no u-boat commander in his right mind
would pass up an opportunity to sink an enemy vessel. Still, he was given an
order and he intended to follow it...unless forced to do otherwise.
He hid behind some crates, the shadow thrown
by the overhead lights concealing him perfectly. He could hear the sound of
activity close by so he stayed still to avoid discovery. Soon, the sounds faded
and he ventured out, sticking to the shadows and hugging the walls or the sides
of crates. People seemed to have gone into one of the buildings and the pier
was empty. He ran out in the open, reached the aft gangplank, and was searching
for an opening when he heard a noise. Sensing danger, his search became frantic
when he found the aft hatch and started down. The slippery metal ladder caused
him to fall to the deck below. He was a little stunned but uninjured. He
started down a corridor to find a hiding place.
Lt. Schneider took them out this time. It
was two days short of the full moon so conning the sub out of the pen was not
difficult but it did not make it safer. They were partially submerged again,
moving out at engines ahead slow. They were to keep monitoring the depth under
the keel and dive completely as soon as the depth showed 30 meters. A very
shallow dive, thought Schneider. If I'm not careful, I could run the sub
aground and that might spell the end of this project, not to mention my life.
The moonlight was also worrying Schneider.
All four lookouts, he and one other man were watching the sky and the horizon.
If a plane spotted them, they had no weapons to defend themselves since U-1215
had no deck armaments. With only the conning tower above the surface, they
might mistake us for a whale, Schneider thought hopefully.
The dive point was approximately eight
kilometers away. Schneider ordered engines ahead one-third and set course to
243°. His fears were unfounded. Less than an hour later, U-1215
slipped beneath the waves.
About a hundred kilometers out, they
encountered their first contact. It was probably a submarine, traveling on the
surface and recharging its batteries. They didn't know if it was a submarine or
a surface vessel, Allied or Axis. Werner debated with himself about using the
periscope to identify it but it was coming toward them and they might see the periscope's feather when it rose above the surface. Werner ordered a turn to the
north to avoid it. Just for practice, the firing team plotted an attack on the
unsuspecting vessel as it moved on, unaware that it was being targeted though
it was never in any danger. Their orders ensured that. If it was a u-boat, Werner
wondered who it was. If it was a British or American submarine, it was being
daring. By being on the surface in u-boat infested waters, they could easily
become the prey.
The sonar operator kept his ear on the
contact, listening for any changes but there was none. The unknown sub or
vessel was chugging along toward the east at about 8 knots. A u-boat perhaps,
not an Allied submarine. As the range increased, the sound became fainter and
fainter until it was no longer distinguishable from the other noises of the
sea. Werner got them back on their previous course.
Life on board the new sub is much more
comfortable compared to his previous assignments, Werner thought. With the old
submarines, space was at a premium. It was almost impossible to move from
compartment to compartment without encountering someone moving in the opposite
direction. Most of the time, one had to jam himself against the side of the
passage to let someone pass. Of course, rank had its privileges. When the
captain is walking in one direction, anyone walking in the opposite direction
almost always let him pass unobstructed. During drills and actual combat, however,
anyone seen running had priority. Even the captain had to let him pass.
All this was almost unnecessary in U-1215.
The passageways were wide enough for two people to walk side-by-side but hardly
anyone did this. Everyone walked single file going in one direction and single
file in the other direction. A two lane road in a submarine! The only place
where the passage was a bit tight was in the crew's compartment. The crew slept
in bunk beds which were in cubicles—two bunk beds per cubicle, four beds in all.
Each man had a locker for his use and the bunk bed could be lifted to reveal
more space underneath for other personal effects. It was possible to sit up on
a bunk bed and a fold away table let the men do any writing if they wished.
There were three columns of cubicles, one
on each side of the sub and another in the middle. A head and a shower were at
each end of the crew's compartment. The sub actually had four heads, a luxury
in a submarine. Two were near the crew's compartment, one forward of the control
room, and another in officer's country. More than once, the crew who had served
on smaller submarines, were heard to refer to the U-1215 as "Neptune's
Hotel."
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