Misfortune, and Still In Luck

On the 26th of February, 1916 Durazzo was occupied by our troops and the same evening we had to put to sea. This may turn out to be something big. With a little luck we may be able to send something bigger to the bottom of the ocean. We started out at 5:00 PM and at 7:00 we were past the minefield already.

The sea was very calm. Now and then we saw dolphins playing their games, diving and disappearing again. We had a nice voyage and for our concept, rather speedy. Of course, for the larger boats like the Ver or VIer and the German boats even more so, our "speedy" run would be a miserable crawl. They make 10-16 miles compared to our 5.

That was the main reason our Commander sometimes got so irritated and at this very moment is discussing that subject with the Second up in the tower. "By the time we get to Durazzo they have passed through the Strait of Otranto and will be cruising the coast of Greece," says the Commander. "Hopefully we will be stationed in Durazzo soon." muses the Second. " I don't make too much of it," replies the Commander, "The harbor is much too shallow and too open. I would not recommend it for a permanent station. For an intermediate one, for the supply of water and fuel it might work. But for good? No! Imagine when the opponents would find out...and it would not take them long. We would be easy prey for them. They would be dumb if they just let us get away with it. I don't believe anything will come of it." But the Second did not want to give it up. "Ja, Ja. You have a point, but then we could sometimes go farther down." he countered.

The same question was talked about inside the boat also. And here too we had pros and cons. But everybody, from the Commander to the last man was burning for more action. At least through the Otranto Strait nothing was going on in here anymore.

We arrived near Durazzo before dawn and went to battle mode. Now that the sea was completely calm and only the tower was out of the water it almost seemed like we were sitting in a small rowboat, only we didn't have to row. When it was broad daylight and nothing visible far and wide, we came to the surface. At 9:00 we started the process of charging the battery.

Cruising here before Durazzo as if there was peace all around us, the sun in the sky promised a beautiful day for all of us. Suddenly, "Alarm! Torpedo to port!" The four men jump down from the tower above through the hatchway and the Commander closed the cover as fast as possible. A splash of water doused them nevertheless. It took us only about 20 seconds from the time of the warning to dive down to 20 meters but it would not have been fast enough had the enemy torpedo exploded. We could all feel the bump clearly. Our faces turned white like corpses.

After a time, while we were steering towards the open sea, the Commander said, "Well, that went quickly, I doubt it that any boat ever dived this fast." And, after a breather, "Their ammunition must be very bad or the brave gentleman aimed the torpedo from so far that it did not have much momentum left. So the impact was not strong enough to detonate the torpedo. Let us be thankful. Otherwise we would by now have given up our spirits already. That guy probably assumes we are goners.

"Who saw the torpedo?" inquires the Second. "I did," announces Lehar. "I only by chance looked over the water when I suddenly saw the trail and sounded the alarm." " Well done!" praised the Commander. "For that you may go on furlough when we return." "It is my turn anyway." answers Lehar. "Well, then you can just stay home a week longer." the Commander laughs back. "Thank you very kindly Commander, Sir!" says Lehar and smiles, rubbing his hands. "You sure are a sneaky one." teases the Second Torpedo-Master. "You're just envious." answers Lehar. "Do you think I'm stupid and not say that I'm up for furlough already?"

Each one of us had a huge thirst for vengeance. If we could just see him we would have loved to take him out. With the periscope the Commander danced around the tower and you could plainly see that he too wanted to return the favor. It was useless, he was long gone. For sure he believed we were done for.

On the distant horizon we could already make out the island of Sazano. We should be there before evening. Behind it lies the Bay of Valona. "There must be something to be found." says the captain. We take a course a little towards the open sea in order to have sufficient space to maneuver if we should run into something. The battery has to be charged up again too. It is always better to be farther out because we don't get surprised as easily close to the shore.

Dusk falls around us and the view of the Albanian mountains fades. More and more stars sparkle in the sky. The sea is lightly ruffled and the sound of the wake mixed with the rhythmic, subdued thumping of the muffler creates a tranquilizing melody.

We search the area around us carefully with binoculars but nothing suspicious is visible. "Stop engine. Charge battery!" the Commander calls down to us. "Be careful, the next time it may not turn out so lucky." After two hours the Engine Master reports that the battery is fully loaded and we set course toward Valona. We strain to hear every unusual sound.

"There! What is that?" The dark silhouette looks like a cruiser. I report it to the Commander. He takes a look and we dive. An iron-clad cruiser, probably the San Giorgio. We aim for him. "Larboard torpedo ready!" comes down from the tower. Now...what is wrong with the compass? The beast turns like crazy to the left and right. I tell the Second who comes over. "Was ist los? What is up now?" he asks. I repeat my report. "Commander sir, the compass does not work anymore." he calls up to the tower. The Commander was all eyes in the periscope and did not react. Once more the message was repeated, "The compass was not functioning anymore."

"To the devil! Why just now!" And then, "Down to 30 meters!" It was high time to dive if we don't want to be rammed, and soon we hear him rushing over us. "If he had suspected we were under him he would have sent his dubious greetings." noticed the Second annoyingly, adding, "Now we have to leave empty handed." But we don't let them discourage us that easily. We go to the bottom which is only 43 meters in this area.

The compass is quickly disassembled and we look for the problem, but it takes too much time. After a couple of hours had passed without finding the problem the Commander decides to return.

After we come up cautiously and find that all is clear around us we head to the north. Of course it means that we have to run on the surface and steer by the stars. Where is Polaris? There is the Big Dipper and there is the North Star. A straight line points to the north. We are making about 9 MPH now because we are running on combination power.

On the next morning we have to dive twice. "It looks like the devil is sending them to us now that we can't do anything." Thunders the Second. Like always, the Commander is wearing his impenetrable face but we know that he is boiling with rage. Three opportunities to shoot and we couldn't. Only Lehar is in a good mood because he is going on furlough. We arrive in the Bocce at 6:00 in the evening and no matter how much misfortune we had, we were still very lucky. Yes, these boats can dive fast, but for that, run slower.