Finally... Fifteen days after going to sea, “Detected by CANVOY!” - shouted UD.
I almost dropped my morning coffee overboard. I look over there and there's somewhere about 20-70 degrees to starboard off the bow, eight, not... Ten, no... Fourteen ships.
There were two destroyers ahead and also two destroyers behind the convoy. And the entire center was occupied by cargo ships. There sailed two tankers, two large cargo ships, and all the rest small and medium cargo ships.
- “Let's attack the tankers first, then all the others.” - Said I.
- “Why not the big ones? They're more valuable.” - UD asked.
- “Yes, but they are far away. Our torpedoes won't reach them. If we try to get close to them, there is a high chance of us being detected...” - I answered him, finally adding, “Those bastards have started installing hydrophones on almost every cargo ship.”
We sailed for another ten minutes trying to outrun them. They were doing 20 knots. But the UD made it and we dived. First, the Ood determined the range and angle of attack, and he knew the speed. He did calculations for each torpedo for 5 minutes, then he was ready to attack, waiting for my command. In the meantime I did the calculations too, calculated how long it would take for the torpedo to hit the target.
We had a tactic, the UD would fire torpedoes, then we would dive to maximum depth and sail back at shallow speed. During that time, one or all of the torpedoes should hit the target. Next thing you know, panic sets in in the convoy. The destroyers start looking for and throwing depth bombs at the supposed locations they think we should be there. But, no. After a couple of hours or more, it all stops and everyone goes back to where they belong. Then we surface. After reloading torpedoes and outrunning the convoy, we attack again.
And so of the five available torpedoes hit the target only three, two torpedoes sank the ships, and the third was wounded, but remained in the line of the convoy... Wish it had sunk.