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 the Polish destroyer BURZA, was underway this day escorting Convoy HX-233 from Nova Scotia to England.  The two 327-foot, 2200-ton “Treasury”-class cutters of A-3 were some of the Guard’s newest and had been pressed into escort service since the opening of the war.  Having left St. Johns April 12^th, for five days the 57 merchantmen of Convoy HX-233 pitched through the rough North Atlantic to the longitude of Reykjavik.  The stormy Winter of 1942-43 had been a successful one for Hitler’s U-boats and SPENCER’s men had vowed not to shave until they had bagged “a hearse.”  By now CDR Harold Berdine, USCG, and his crew were looking pretty scruffy.  Then at noon on this day SPENCER recorded a contact inside the escort screen.

SPENCER charged this unseen contact, cris-crossing the spot with two trains of depth charges.  She then threaded her way between the columns of the convoy, maintaining contact and vectoring DUANE to the spot.  Meanwhile 38 fathoms below, the crew of U-175 had their hands full.  The depth charges had burst light bulbs, battered men and equipment, and ruptured pipes throughout the boat.  The crew worked feverishly to stem the flooding as the skipper maneuvered to escape his pursuers.  The continuing “pings” of the cutters reminded them of the immediacy of further attack.  And failing to stem the flooding after 48 minutes, U-175 had no choice but to surface.

The sub broached about a mile from SPENCER and was immediately spotted.  SPENCER, DUANE, and the Naval Armed Guard of nearby freighters fired every gun they had!  Germans who braved the deck to return a few shells were cut down in minutes.  The U-boat’s conning tower was mauled by 5-inch shells, and her hull was enveloped with splashes.  One return shell did hit SPENCER, fatally wounding USCG Radioman Julius Petrella, but rudder damage condemned the stricken sub to impotent circles.  SPENCER bore in to ram but turned away when the enemy was seen scrambling for their life rafts.

SPENCER had drilled for just such an occasion–a boarding party was immediately launched!  As the cutters picked up 41 enemy sailors, Berdine’s men entered the sub.  But they could not stop the flooding.  One giant wave washed completely over her, her stern rose, and it became obvious she was doomed.  The Allies would have to wait another 14 months for the successful capture of a U-boat, when the USS GUADALCANAL (CVE-60) escort group captured U-505 and the codebooks and ciphers she held.

Watch for more “Today in Naval History”  23 APR 26

CAPT James Bloom, Ret.

Morison, Samuel Eliot.  History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, Vol 1 The Battle of the Atlantic.  Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Co., 1947, pp. 344-45.

Noble, Dennis L. and Truman R. Strobridge.  “Spencer vs. the Nazis.”  Sea Classics, Vol 48 (10), October 2015, pp. 10-21.

Scheina, Robert L.  U.S. Coast Guard Cutters & Craft 1946-1990.  Annapolis, MD: USNI Press, 1990, p. 28.

Walton, William.  “Scratch One Hearse!:  Spencer vs. U-175.”  Sea Classics, Vol 35 (3), March 2002, pp. 50-56.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:  During WWII the US Coast Guard was a branch of the Treasury Department, having been created originally to stem smuggling.  The “Treasury”-class cutters were named for former Secretaries of the Treasury.  SPENCER was named for John C. Spencer who served President John Tyler between 1843-44.  DUANE was named for the Honorable William J. Duane, one of several Treasury Secretaries in the Andrew Jackson administration.  On 1 April 1967 the Coast Guard was transferred to the newly created Department of Transportation.  Then, after 9/11, the Coast Guard became part of the Department of Homeland Security.

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