1-2 NOVEMBER 1944 USS BORIE vs. U-405 (cont.) With the two combatants stuck fast and grinding together in the 20-foot swell, the tenor of the battle shifted to that more common in the age of sail. Sailors from each side began Read More
1-2 NOVEMBER 1944 USS BORIE vs. U-405 One of the most effective defenses against German U-boats of WWII was the escort carrier hunter-killer group. These teamed destroyers with small deck aircraft carriers, whose F4F Wildcats and sundry other aircraft could Read More
17 APRIL 1943 USCGC SPENCER vs. U-175 Ocean Escort Unit A-3, a multi-national collection of the US Coast Guard cutters SPENCER (WPG-36) and DUANE (WPG-33) along with the British corvette HMS DIANTHUS, the Canadian corvettes CHILLIWACK, ROSTHERN, TRILLIUM and DAUPHIN, and Read More
9 FEBRUARY 1945 OPERATION “CAESAR” On 5 December 1944 the Type IX long-range U-boat U-864 departed Kiel, northern Germany, for Penang, Indochina (modern Malaysia). The Japanese coveted German jet aircraft technology and U-864’s mission was to transport Messerschmitt “Swallow” jet engine Read More
13-17 MAY 1944 PERSISTENCE… At 1400 on 13 May 1944, CDR George C. Wright of DESRON 21 was ordered to take USS GLEAVES (DD-423), NIELDS (DD-616) and MACOMB (DD-458) out of Oran, Algeria, to search for a submarine that had torpedoed Read More
27 JANUARY-3 FEBRUARY 1943 DAISY CHAIN RESCUE In 1941, months before Pearl Harbor, American freighters crossing the North Atlantic were being torpedoed by German U-boats as Hitler tried to starve England into submission. By May, President Franklin Roosevelt declared an “Unlimited Read More
5 NOVEMBER 1940 MV SAN DEMETRIO The Eagle Oil and Shipping Company operated in England from 1912-59 moving petroleum products between Mexico, the Caribbean, and the United Kingdom. Each of their tankers was given the Spanish name of a Christian saint. Read More
6 MAY 1944 BUCKLEY vs. U-66 (cont.) Every available sailor manned BUCKLEY’s (DE-51) rail with a tommy gun, rifle, or any manner of weapon the arms lockers could yield. Depth charges, set to explode at the surface, arched from the destroyer Read More
6 MAY 1944 BUCKLEY vs. U-66 Oberleütnant zur See Gerhard Seehausen was in desperate need of re-supply. Operating in the mid-Atlantic west of the Cape Verde Islands, his cruise so far had been constantly dogged by US aircraft from a nearby Read More
29-30 APRIL 1945 STAFFORD vs. MANCHEN Convoy KN-382 coursed its way slowly north from Key West to New York, this night reaching a position 98 miles east of Cape Henry. The long war looked to be winding down, at least in Read More