Nonconformist: Remarkably accurate report
Captain2: It's the Red Ensign, of course, but Silent Hunter doesn't allow for higher resolutions than 1024x768. Makes it hard to tell what's what.
In the Pale Moonlight - A Silent Hunter III AAR
PART SIX
Captain’s Logs
0200 April 23rd 1940
U-45 surfaced at 1900 hours - eight and a half hours after we were first spotted by the destroyer. We managed to get the hatch to the conning tower open with considerable effort, allowing the Chief and myself to inspect the damage. All of the tower equipment are virtually destroyed - probably by a direct hit from a depth charge. We were lucky to survive such a blast.
This damage was in retaliation for our taking down 11’000 tonnes of British shipping, quite a blow from a single attack on a small convoy. We will conduct what repairs we can as we travel back to the North Sea, and return to Wilhelmshaven on Nonconformist’s recommendation. It was quite the baptism of fire for our new recruits, but they all performed admirably, and will be fine members of
U-45.
We lost four men in the attack - one petty officer and three seamen. They were in the forward crew quarters when the destroyer nearly sent us permanently to the bottom. All were killed instantly - mostly by debris when the pumps ruptured. They’ve all been with
U-45 since the war began, true veterans of the ship. They shall be missed in the coming battles, particularly Heinrich - he would have been destined for Officer School after a few more patrols…
KIA
Heinrich Gabelmann -
Bootsmann
Rudolf Radke -
Matrosengefreiter
Hans Bernhard Winterm -
Matrosengefreiter
Eberhard Wirtgen -
Matrosengefreiter