Diary of a U-Boat Commander

hopes of destroying the remainder, when at 6.55 the mist on the northern

e had a

n instant one was blown up, and another crawled west in a sinking

Battle Fleet we turned to east, and for twenty minut

in the after torpedo control tower, I only realized one hit had taken place, which was when a shel

, I looked down into a mass of twisted machinery, amongs

der cover of our smoke scre

tion of the enemy reported them as turning to the sout

isions of battle fleets to steer indepe

nderwent the first of

erate gallantry pressed home the attack again and again. So close did they come th

wn the bright beam of our powerful searchlights. It was an avenue of death for them, but to the

o vomit forth flotilla after flot

ht forward, which will keep us in dock

the eastward of the British, and so we came honourably home to Wilhelmshaven, feel

Kiel, and shall be s

nkf

everyone here very anxious to hear

s hold the drawing-room floor, with their startling tales from the Western Front, of how they ne

tell that there is a war on as far as

of good coffee and

k on board

and we go through the canal to th

gunnery practices from the

about

told me this morning that a letter has come from the Admiralty to say that I am t

this High Seas Fleet life. But the U-boat war! Ah! that goes well. We shall bring those s

ng of 1917, and I, Karl Schenk, will have helped directly in this! Great thought--but calm! I am not there yet, there is still this confounded medical board. I almost wish I had not drunk so much last

utes, but then my physique is magnificent, thanks to the physical training I h

the little mot

ge, or rat

male's intellect, I really believe I am of more importance than the Fatherland--how absurd. Whilst at Frankfurt I saw a good deal of Rosa; she seems better looking each time I meet her; doubtless she is still developing to full

se women are much the same everywhere, and I could see that having entered the U-boat service made a difference with Rosa, though her logic should have told her that I

re is pleasant enough; the damned Belgians are sometimes sulky, bu

de at preposterous prices, and shamefully enough the German shopkeepers are most guilty.

nce 1914, and, in fact, wherever one looks there is evidence of the genius of the German race f

to show that we are at war, though Heaven knows there was precious little war in the High Seas Fleet; perhaps that was why the "blood and iron" régime was in full order ashore. Here, in Bruges, at a

ladies, and I find it is necessary to have a "smoking."[2] I went to the best tailor to buy one, and found that I must have one made at