The Project Gutenberg EBook of Diary of a U-Boat Commander, by Anonymous
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
Title: Diary of a U-Boat Commander
Author: Anonymous
Posting Date: January 28, 2011 [EBook #7947]
Release Date: April, 2005
First Posted: June 4, 2003
Language: English
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DIARY OF A U-BOAT COMMANDER ***
Produced by Eric Eldred, Marvin A. Hodges, Charles Franks,
and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
We rammed a destroyer, passing through her like a knife through cheese
The Diary of a U-boat Commander
WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND EXPLANATORY NOTES BY ETIENNE
AND
18 Illustrations on Art Paper by Frank H. Mason.
BOOKS BY ETIENNE
STRANGE TALES FROM THE FLEET
A NAVAL LIEUTENANT
1914--1918.
"In collaboration with Navallus.
Five Songs from the Grand Fleet."
...they are so black and swift I don't go near them
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
"We rammed a destroyer, passing through her like a knife through cheese"
"...they are so black and swift I don't go near them"
"Steering north-westerly ... to lay a small minefield off Newcastle"
"He had suddenly seen the bow waves of a destroyer approaching at full speed to ram"
"We were put down by a trawler at dawn"
"The torpedo had jumped clean out of the water a hundred yards short of the steamer and had then dived under her"
"A moment later there was a severe jar; we had struck the bottom"
"As the dim lights on the mole disappeared, the ceaseless fountain of star-shells, mingling with the flashing of guns, rose inland on our port beam"
"We hit her aft for the second time...."
"The track met our ram"
"In the flash I caught a glimpse of his conning tower"
"The 1,000 kilogrammes of metal crashed down"
"Good-bye! Steer west for America!"
"It is a snug anchorage, and here I intend to remain"
"A trapdoor near her bows fell down, the White Ensign was broken at the fore, and a 4-inch gun opened fire from the embrasure that was revealed on her side"
"I sighted two convoys, but there were destroyers there...."
"... when there was a blinding flash and the air seemed filled with moaning fragments"
"When I put up my periscope at 9 a.m. the horizon seemed to be ringed with patrols"
INTRODUCTION
"I would ask you a favour," said the German captain, as we sat in the cabin of a U-boat which had just been added to the long line of bedraggled captives which stretched themselves for a mile or more in Harwich Harbour, in November, 1918.
I made no reply; I had just granted him a favour by allowing him to leave the upper deck of the submarine, in order that he might await the motor launch in some sort of privacy; why should he ask for more?
Undeterred by my silence, he continued: "I have a great friend, Lieutenant-zu-See Von Schenk, who brought U.122 over last week; he has lost a diary, quite private, he left it in error; can he have it?"
I deliberated, felt a certain pity, then remembered the Belgian Prince and other things, and so, looking the German in the face, I said:
