General Discussions
This is the place to discuss general issues related to the U-boat war or the war at sea in WWII.
Re: u-864
Posted by:
Antonio Veiga
()
Date: December 03, 2001 12:20AM
<HTML>Hi Winst
"For its eleventh patrol Venturer was back off the Norwegian coast, once the engine had been repaired.The patrol off Fejeosen commenced on 4 February and almost inmediatly Venturer ran into heavy weather which persisted until the patrol area was reached.Once again there were fishing boats in the region, although this was a missed blessing so long as there were no disguised anti-submarine vessel amongst them.Then in the morning of 9 February an U-boat was heard; this was a new, Type IXD2, U-cruiser.The boat had only been in service for two months after having been launched from the yard of A.G. Weser in Bremen on 12 August 1943.
As mentioned previously, snorkel boats spent some time before they were ready to
proceed as front boats, so it was with U-864.Most of the earlier U-cruisers had been sent on long patrols, inevitably to the Indian Ocean, but as U-864 was not available until six months after D-Day it did not follow the usual trail.
For the initial cruise the boat (U-864) left Kiel on 5 Deccember 1944 and arrived
at the small base at Horten, just outside Oslo, four days later to carry out snorkel trials.Christmas was spent at the Norwegian base but on the 27th U-864 set sail
for Kristiansand creeping along the rocky coastline. arriving the next day.A further
passage cruise was made the next day, hugging the Norwegian coast up to Farsund, where a further snorkeling trial was carried out.On New Year´s day the U-cruiser left for Bergen, which was to be its base, it arrived four days later.
A whole month was spent at Bergen with the 11th Flotilla before U-864 commenced its first war patrol on 6 February.Once again the commander´s bad luck continued and because of a defect the boat turned back.Thus is was the submerged U-cruiser came within the already proved submarine Venturer´s orbit on the morning of 9 February.
Very faint HE was heard in Venturer at 0932; then it faded.Forty minutes later it was heard again and increased volume.The hands were already at action stations.
Forty minutes later, after a prolonged search over the bearing, the officer-of-the-watch sighted "a thin mast"- subsequent plotting back shows that the range on that first sighting of the enemy´s periscope must have been about 5,000 yards
and this sighting was as creditable to the observer as it was discreditable to the U-boat who must have been using its periscope more carelessly.
On sighting the periscope, course was altered to the north to intercept.At 1115 the captain sighted the periscope and proceed to attack.He recorded: "Target was apparently running some noisy machinery like an air compressor- there was definitely no snorkel in use"
Two minutes later the target crossed to starboard.In view of tidal set to nothward, and position of target his course might have been anything from 120 degrees to 170 degrees and, in view of doubt about its speed and range as well, it was thought advisable not to fire hastily but to take station on it and catch up to fire when better estimation course and speed were possible.Five minutes later both
periscopes were again sighted, one showing about 8 feet and the other showing about 3 feet.It was apparent that Venturer was very broad on the bow and that the
target would have to alter course more to starboard to make good the course to Bergen.By 1151 range was about 2,000 yards.Venturer was begining to stablish its course as about 135 degrees, speed 3,5 knots and the submarine was gaining bearing on its starboard quarter.The U-boat appeared to be zig-zagging about a mean course of 120 degrees.
At 1210 the target altered course to the starboard leg of the zig.Venturer altered under full helm to 140 degrees to fire by asdic.At 1212 four torpedoes were fired
by asdic, set to run at 40 feet.The captain said: "In view of long firing interval and position on enemy´s quarter aimed the first torpedo at the estimated position of the stem and spread the other in half lengths to one half length astern"
Two-and-a-quarter minutes later there was a loud sharp explosion followed by breaking up noises and then the same time later a fainter sharp explosion followed by two more at 16 and 17 seconds intervals, which were believed to be torpedoes striking the land behind the target.At this time the U-boat had only been 35 miles short of Bergen.
In view of the regularity of the explosions it seemed probable that it was either the first or the last torpedo which hit the U-boat.Observation and listening showed that no interest was being taken by any of the fishing boats within hearing, so Venturer
turned back and set course for the estimated position of the explosion.
At 1240 gathering seagulls were observed on the starboard bow and six minutes later entered a patch of extensive and spreading oil which got progressively thicker
as it was penetrated until the wavelets looked yellow brown as they lifted against the light.In this patch was a long cilinder, a little bigger than a torpedo, floating with
fair buoyancy....It was thought that the container was an empty upperdeck torpedo
stowage...This possibility and the low revolutions-per-knot indicated that the target was a U-cruiser.
This is the only known attack by a submarine on a U-boat or viceversa, when both were submerged during the encounter...
As to the reason for U-864´s return to base one can only speculate as there no
were survivors.Probably, as the captain of Venturer reported, there was noisy machinery running and this was the reason."
(Extracted from the book "ASUBMARINES VERSUS U-BOATS" by Geoffrey Jones)
Best regards</HTML>
"For its eleventh patrol Venturer was back off the Norwegian coast, once the engine had been repaired.The patrol off Fejeosen commenced on 4 February and almost inmediatly Venturer ran into heavy weather which persisted until the patrol area was reached.Once again there were fishing boats in the region, although this was a missed blessing so long as there were no disguised anti-submarine vessel amongst them.Then in the morning of 9 February an U-boat was heard; this was a new, Type IXD2, U-cruiser.The boat had only been in service for two months after having been launched from the yard of A.G. Weser in Bremen on 12 August 1943.
As mentioned previously, snorkel boats spent some time before they were ready to
proceed as front boats, so it was with U-864.Most of the earlier U-cruisers had been sent on long patrols, inevitably to the Indian Ocean, but as U-864 was not available until six months after D-Day it did not follow the usual trail.
For the initial cruise the boat (U-864) left Kiel on 5 Deccember 1944 and arrived
at the small base at Horten, just outside Oslo, four days later to carry out snorkel trials.Christmas was spent at the Norwegian base but on the 27th U-864 set sail
for Kristiansand creeping along the rocky coastline. arriving the next day.A further
passage cruise was made the next day, hugging the Norwegian coast up to Farsund, where a further snorkeling trial was carried out.On New Year´s day the U-cruiser left for Bergen, which was to be its base, it arrived four days later.
A whole month was spent at Bergen with the 11th Flotilla before U-864 commenced its first war patrol on 6 February.Once again the commander´s bad luck continued and because of a defect the boat turned back.Thus is was the submerged U-cruiser came within the already proved submarine Venturer´s orbit on the morning of 9 February.
Very faint HE was heard in Venturer at 0932; then it faded.Forty minutes later it was heard again and increased volume.The hands were already at action stations.
Forty minutes later, after a prolonged search over the bearing, the officer-of-the-watch sighted "a thin mast"- subsequent plotting back shows that the range on that first sighting of the enemy´s periscope must have been about 5,000 yards
and this sighting was as creditable to the observer as it was discreditable to the U-boat who must have been using its periscope more carelessly.
On sighting the periscope, course was altered to the north to intercept.At 1115 the captain sighted the periscope and proceed to attack.He recorded: "Target was apparently running some noisy machinery like an air compressor- there was definitely no snorkel in use"
Two minutes later the target crossed to starboard.In view of tidal set to nothward, and position of target his course might have been anything from 120 degrees to 170 degrees and, in view of doubt about its speed and range as well, it was thought advisable not to fire hastily but to take station on it and catch up to fire when better estimation course and speed were possible.Five minutes later both
periscopes were again sighted, one showing about 8 feet and the other showing about 3 feet.It was apparent that Venturer was very broad on the bow and that the
target would have to alter course more to starboard to make good the course to Bergen.By 1151 range was about 2,000 yards.Venturer was begining to stablish its course as about 135 degrees, speed 3,5 knots and the submarine was gaining bearing on its starboard quarter.The U-boat appeared to be zig-zagging about a mean course of 120 degrees.
At 1210 the target altered course to the starboard leg of the zig.Venturer altered under full helm to 140 degrees to fire by asdic.At 1212 four torpedoes were fired
by asdic, set to run at 40 feet.The captain said: "In view of long firing interval and position on enemy´s quarter aimed the first torpedo at the estimated position of the stem and spread the other in half lengths to one half length astern"
Two-and-a-quarter minutes later there was a loud sharp explosion followed by breaking up noises and then the same time later a fainter sharp explosion followed by two more at 16 and 17 seconds intervals, which were believed to be torpedoes striking the land behind the target.At this time the U-boat had only been 35 miles short of Bergen.
In view of the regularity of the explosions it seemed probable that it was either the first or the last torpedo which hit the U-boat.Observation and listening showed that no interest was being taken by any of the fishing boats within hearing, so Venturer
turned back and set course for the estimated position of the explosion.
At 1240 gathering seagulls were observed on the starboard bow and six minutes later entered a patch of extensive and spreading oil which got progressively thicker
as it was penetrated until the wavelets looked yellow brown as they lifted against the light.In this patch was a long cilinder, a little bigger than a torpedo, floating with
fair buoyancy....It was thought that the container was an empty upperdeck torpedo
stowage...This possibility and the low revolutions-per-knot indicated that the target was a U-cruiser.
This is the only known attack by a submarine on a U-boat or viceversa, when both were submerged during the encounter...
As to the reason for U-864´s return to base one can only speculate as there no
were survivors.Probably, as the captain of Venturer reported, there was noisy machinery running and this was the reason."
(Extracted from the book "ASUBMARINES VERSUS U-BOATS" by Geoffrey Jones)
Best regards</HTML>
| Subject | Written By | Posted |
|---|---|---|
u-864
|
winst | 12/02/2001 02:06PM |
|
Re: u-864
|
james stewart | 12/02/2001 04:29PM |
|
Re: u-864
|
Antonio Veiga | 12/03/2001 12:20AM |