HMS Venturer (P68)-- Part 3: The Battle Is Joined

The HMS Venturer was sent to Norway on the basis of Enigma decrypts, to seek, intercept and destroy the U-864  which was in the area.

It was carrying 65 tons of mercury as well as Junkers Jumo 004B jet engine parts (used in the Messerschmidt ME 262 jets) to Japan in a mission code-named Operation Caesar to prop up Japan's faltering war effort.

The two submarines met in February 1945.

On February 9, the U-boat's engine noise was heard by the Venturer, which spotted its periscope.  What transpired after that was an unusually long engagement for a submarine and one in which neither crew had been trained.  The Venturer's commander, Lt. J.S. Launders waited 45 minutes from that contact before going to action stations.

He was waiting for the U-864 to surface and present an easier target.  Upon realizing that they were being followed by a British submarine and that its escort ship wasn't going to come, the U-864 started zig-zagging underwater in evasive measures.  The Venturer also dove.  The cat-and-mouse continued for awhile,  with both subs occasionally raising their periscopes to check out what the other one was doing.

--GreGen