> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.slowburn.nz/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # The Hunters: German U-Boats at War, 1939-43 - Patrol 16 (December 1942) - URL: https://www.slowburn.nz/the-hunters-german-u-boats-at-war-1939-43-patrol-16-december-1942/ - Published: 2026-10-14T23:12:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-15T11:33:48.000Z - Author: Walter - Tags: The Hunters, Gregory Smith, GMT Games 1/12/1942 As I approved my commander to request a wolfpack assignment, I was interrupted to be told that that was exactly what the plan was. We would be assigned a wolfpack in the Atlantic sector. We sailed from St. Nazaire. In the Bay of Biscay a Catalina appeared, the silhouette of a flying boat is unmistakable. We got the boat under before she spotted us. Once the coast was clear, we resumed our journey and the rest of the outbound trip was uneventful. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/77/49/77497e94-57f0-4097-b157-16e7e3df5c21/content/images/2026/10/0.png) PBY Catalina trying to get the jump on U-77 in the Bay of Biscay In the first Atlantic sector the pack assembled and a convoy was found in daylight, consisting of the *Embassage* (5,000 tons), *Arlington Court* (5,000 tons), *Thomas McKean* (7,200 tons) and *Star of Luxor* (5,300 tons), which we shadowed successfully until night. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/77/49/77497e94-57f0-4097-b157-16e7e3df5c21/content/images/2026/10/1-1.png) Convoy spotting I closed to medium range, submerged, as was our custom. The escorts looked thin, drawn off after the rest of the wolfpack. *Embassage* and *Arlington Court* were the best of what was on offer and I opted for two torpedoes each. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/77/49/77497e94-57f0-4097-b157-16e7e3df5c21/content/images/2026/10/2-1.png) Torpedoes in the water on Embassage and Arlington Court Both weapons aimed at *Embassage* struck. One of those aimed at *Arlington Court* ran wide. For a moment we feared duds on all of them. Then *Embassage* went up in flames and broke apart. The shot that had been running true for *Arlington Court* failed. The lone escort was all over the sea. He did not look as if he knew what he was doing. He gained a fix on us all the same. We jinked to starboard as he held straight. It was not enough. His charges found us and put Diesel Engine No. 1 out of commission. With a fix established I took her deep. He held us in his sights.. We pulled to starboard and he went the other way, the next pattern missed completely, detonating well aft of us. He circled back. I took her deeper still, and as our nerves were getting frayed, he lost us. We pulled clear to reload and assess the diesel. The damage was beyond repair at sea, and losing the remaining engine would strand us. In light of this risk, I opted against a second engagement of the convoy. We would stay on station for independent-sailing merchants only. Even the passage home would be a risk at reduced speed. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/77/49/77497e94-57f0-4097-b157-16e7e3df5c21/content/images/2026/10/21.png) Diesel Engine #1 out of commission The decision paid off at once. In the second sector a single stack appeared on the horizon, the large freighter *Shahristan*, 6,900 tons. I closed on the surface for the gun, ready to use torpedoes at once if the gun was not enough. Two volleys, every round on target. She was crippled but still afloat. We loosed the lone aft torpedo which ran wide. We came back round and fired two forward. One ran wide but the last one struck, detonated and put her under. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/77/49/77497e94-57f0-4097-b157-16e7e3df5c21/content/images/2026/10/3-1.png) Meeting the hapless Shahristan at sea The third sector was empty. In the fourth we received reports from the pack of another convoy which we were well in range of. I was tempted. We held to the decision and began the slow, perilous journey home. The inbound transit was quiet. In the Bay of Biscay a Sunderland showed on the horizon in the last kilometres. By now the crew waste no time and we were under well before she could do any harm. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/77/49/77497e94-57f0-4097-b157-16e7e3df5c21/content/images/2026/10/4.png) Regular run in with Allied Maritime patrol aircraft in the Bay of Biscay We reached St. Nazaire at last. Our lives are as good a Christmas present as anyone could have hoped for. The damage is regrettable. A wolfpack and a heavy convoy presence had held real promise, and we failed to deliver on it. Still, 11,900 tons, and we came home alive. The beating the hull took while we tried to shake that inexperienced escort will keep us in the yards until March 1943. Marineassistenzarzt Edmund Mayer received his U-boat Badge for three patrols with us. The new year will continue as before, with Atlantic patrols and wolfpacks where they can be formed. The air threat keeps growing with sheer numbers of aircraft, and anti-submarine measures that now look close to their pinnacle. It is beginning to feel as if the U-boat campaign is becoming a losing proposition. --- ### *Context* *December brought about a sharp drop from November's peak, aided by winter weather as much as by escorts. The U-boats did not go away. Through January and February they massed again in the mid-Atlantic gap, and the wolfpack battles continued. ON 166 in February was one of the bloodier of them, even if many of the patrol lines failed to find any convoys at all.* *Two things changed in terms of the fight as the new year came around. At Casablanca in January, the Allies named the U-boat the first enemy to be beaten, ahead of any further offensive. No invasion of Europe could take place until supply lines from the Americas were secure. Very long range Liberators, escort carriers and dedicated support groups were finally being fed into the gap, though not yet in numbers that could close it. On the German side, the fleet at sea was larger than ever. On 30 January, Dönitz replaced Raeder as commander-in-chief of the Kriegsmarine as a whole, and kept direct control of the U-boat arm. B-Dienst also regained a useful reading of Allied convoy ciphers in February, which made evasion more difficult.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/77/49/77497e94-57f0-4097-b157-16e7e3df5c21/content/images/2026/10/casablanca.png) Henri Giraud, Franklin Roosevelt, Charles de Gaulle and Winston Churchill at Casablanca *The exchange rate between u-boats and merchants was already worsening. More boats were required for each sinking, and losses were climbing toward the crisis that would break in March.* *At Casablanca, Roosevelt and Churchill settled the "Germany first" sequence and the aim of unconditional surrender. On the Eastern Front, the German Sixth Army surrendered at Stalingrad in early February, following General Paulus' promotion to Field Marshal, and against Hitler's direct orders. In the Pacific, the Japanese evacuated Guadalcanal after months of bloody fighting* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/77/49/77497e94-57f0-4097-b157-16e7e3df5c21/content/images/2026/10/Disfatta.jpg) Axis troops in column following the surrender at Stalingrad --- ### *Commentary* *I feel like I made some good decisions in terms of attack profiles and target selection where we were able to, and I held off on exceeding test depth to limit hull damage and minimize time in the yards, but once the escort had his fix on us it seemed to be the sensible option. Although it didn't immediately pay off, I was ultimately happy with my decision due to how drawn out this single engagement ended up being, and it could have just as easily kept on going with us getting pummeled time after time.* *Once we took damage to the Diesel and were slowed to a limp, my decision to minimise risk completely felt like a bit of a cop-out and somewhat game-y, knowing that we only have to survive another 2 patrols at most, and that we're already on track of a solid victory. The likelihood of losing the second Diesel would have been extremely low and we could have probably made another engagement or two, but given our hull damage, risk-minimisation felt appropriate.*