Transcription
It’s February 8, 1945, and U-864 is on a top-secret mission all the way to Japan. Inside the U-boat are the plans and technology needed to build Japanese Me 262s, V-2 rockets, and possibly even a nuclear weapon. To change the course of the war, U-864 must first reach Japan.
Standing in the control room is Korvettenkapitän Ralf-Reimar Wolfram. “Maintain heading 270.” It’s only his second war patrol. U-864 is pushing through the sea when suddenly the crew are startled by a loud bang. The engines begin to thump and chug, and the whole submarine vibrates. Wolfram shouts into the intercom and demands an update: “Report! Engine room, report!” The engineer responds with terrible news. The air compressor has malfunctioned, damaging the diesel engines. Wolfram knows that he’ll have to head back to port to fix them.
Knowing enemy submarines could be waiting anywhere, Wolfram risks raising the attack periscope. He rotates it around, looking for any signs of enemy vessels. He does a full rotation and sees nothing. The attack scope allows him to scan the waves, but it is no use for checking the sky. He tells his crew to raise the surveillance scope. With its higher angle of view, the larger surveillance scope lets Wolfram check for enemy aircraft. Wolfram is focused on the skies, and he doesn’t know that across the icy depths, the British submarine HMS Venturer is waiting to intercept.
In the British control room, the submarine’s second in command, Lieutenant Andrew Chalmers, arcs the periscope across the sea, straining his eyes to pick out anything unusual. Then, he spots it. Chalmers can’t believe his luck. It’s the bulky head of a surveillance scope. There are no Allied boats around here. Whoever he is looking at has to be the enemy. Chalmers turns to one of the sailors and sends him to wake the captain as a surge of adrenaline flows through the crew.
Stepping into the control room comes Venturer’s commander, Lieutenant James Stuart Launders. Chalmers guides his captain’s eyes towards the enemy periscope and waits anxiously for his assessment. It has to be a U-boat. He orders Venturer closer and tells the crew to ready torpedoes. Everyone knows that no submerged submarine has ever sunk another submerged submarine. But in the bow of Venturer, sailors slam the heavy torpedo doors shut before the tubes fill with water. Venturer cuts through the depths, closing in on the German U-boat.
Onboard U-864, her hydrophone operator gets a fix as the HMS Venturer's propellers cut through the sound of the U-boat's own engines. The operator warns the captain. Wolfram immediately orders evasive maneuvers. By changing course every few minutes, he should confuse the enemy and make it harder for them to hit his submarine. If he can just get back to the Norwegian coast, he should be safe. Wolfram’s training is telling him to get out of trouble as fast as possible. But he is anxious to know more about the vessel that is chasing him. He raises the attack periscope once more and starts frantically scanning the surface of the waves. The U-boat’s periscope continues to mark its position.
All the while, HMS Venturer catches up on U-864. “Estimated range, 2500 yards.” Launders takes another look through the periscope and can see, by the angle of the enemy scope, that the German submarine is zigzagging. That can only mean one thing — he has been spotted. Launders scowls as he thinks this through. Attacking a submerged enemy is no easy task. And attacking one that is zigzagging is even harder. But, if he can shadow the enemy submarine, then he can compare its speed and heading with his own. HMS Venturer turns to starboard and silently starts to gain on U-864.
Launders needs to get hold of accurate readings for a heading, speed, and the angle of zigzag. If he gets a visual reference, he can calculate a torpedo firing solution. “U-boat’s speed is about 3 knots. Hold on… hold on… U-boat just shifted course a few degrees.” By now, Launders is sure he is dealing with a young and inexperienced opponent. Maybe that gives him an opening…
Just as he hoped, the German captain has still got his attack scope raised high above the waves. It is the last piece of the puzzle, a steady visual reference which allows him to figure out the enemy submarine’s bearing. Stopwatch in hand, Wolfram times every zig and every zag. Launders times each turn to later calculate the U-boat’s zigzag angle. His pencil scratches away on the chart. The crew watch their captain as he works. They are tense with anticipation. Every minute brings them closer to the clash.
"I've got it!" He has worked out the U-boat’s zigzag speed and course. The German captain is making ten-degree course zigzags. "He just zigged, Sir!" Launders clicks the button on his stopwatch, and the second hand starts ticking across the ivory face. "Now we wait." When the U-boat zags back to starboard, it should cross right in front of him. He needs to fire a spread of torpedoes at exactly the right moment. The minutes tick by, the sweat dripping down Launders’ brow. He looks at his stopwatch. It’s time to attack. He sets his stopwatch to 15 seconds and gives the order.
“Fire tube one!” The first torpedo bursts out of the tube, surging forwards into the sea. Launders clicks his stopwatch.
Over onboard U-864, the hydrophone operator picks up the sound of the launch. "Torpedo in the water!” Wolfram takes decisive action. “Crash dive, take us down to starboard.” The U-boat descends rapidly, its nose angling down and turning hard to the side. The crew hold onto railings and handles as the floor drops beneath them. The aggressive maneuver works, and the first torpedo slices through the water. The submarine shakes as the torpedo smashes into the rocks of a nearby island.
On board Venturer, Launders looks down at his stopwatch and gives the word to fire off his next torpedo. “Fire tube two.” The second torpedo goes hurtling through the water. “Incoming!” U-864 continues diving, and just a second later, the torpedo races above their heads once more. Every torpedo launch helps the hydrophone operator to pinpoint the British submarine’s location. “Enemy submarine located!” “Calculate firing solution!" Once he has completed his evasive turn, Wolfram will have four of his own torpedoes ready to send right back towards HMS Venturer.
“Third torpedo incoming!” The crew brace themselves as the submarine continues to dive down. “Another miss!” Wolfram knows his enemy probably only has four torpedo tubes. One more dodge, and he will be free to attack.
Back on board Venturer, Launders prepares to fire his final torpedo. A bead of sweat drips down his brow. This is his last chance to score a direct hit before the enemy retaliates. “Fire tube four!” The last torpedo launches from the tube, trailing its stream of bubbles. “Incoming!” “Keep diving!” U-864 keeps pushing down into the sea. But it is no use. The final torpedo smashes into the U-boat, striking amidships and tearing the hull open to a violent onslaught of water. In seconds, the flooded mid-section becomes so heavy that the hull gives way, and the boat tears itself into three pieces. Wolfram and the crew don't even have time to process what has happened to them as U-864 is dragged down into the depths.
On Venturer, the crew listen through the hydrophones as the crashing and gurgling slowly turns to silence. They have just completed a historical first. But no one onboard wants to celebrate the deaths of 70 fellow sailors, even if they are the enemy.
U-864’s wreck settles on the bottom of the sea. Time passes, and the secret weapons it held rust and corrode. The poisonous chemicals they contained find their way into the sea, poisoning the marine environment. In 2018, more than 70 years after the U-boat crew met their watery grave, the Norwegian government started an operation to bury the U-boat in a sarcophagus of sand and rocks in an attempt to avert an environmental catastrophe. That operation still continues.
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