Patrol Zone Reached

21 May 1942
6:23 local time
Another cloudy day, rough seas. At least it will give us a chance to run on the surface and make up some lost time.

22 May 1942
5:48 local time
Yet another cloudy day, no traffic heard or spotted.

12:22 local time
We have finally arrived in our patrol zone. It is freezing cold and everything is damp. Spirits are still high from our convoy encounter but there is little else to smile about right now.

23 May 1942
14:02 local time
We have spent our required time in the patrol zone and are turning for home. With only a single torpedo in the aft tube and being out of any major traffic lanes I do not see any point in remaining here any longer. I plotted a course to take us further south on the return trip to try to avoid Allied air cover for as long as possible.

24 May
6:00 local time
Nothing new to report. No traffic and the usual overcast weather.

25 May 1942
5:55 local time
Rain moved in overnight and should let us have a good run on the surface since the waves aren't too bad; at least not yet. Gottfried informed me that the boat is down to 50% diesel, so I'll have to keep that in mind while we continue to cruise south. As I currently have our course we are roughly 2000km from Brest.

26 May 1942
7:51 local time
A lone Sunderland pounced on us from out of the cloud cover this morning. It was too close for comfort as a string of depth charges fly right past us and exploded off the port side. Some fragments hit the hull, but there are no signs of any damage; at least from what we can see from the inside. Looks like our turn east has brought us back into aircraft range. We'll lay low during the day for the rest of this cruise.