Torpedo Alley (North Carolina)
Encyclopedia
The Torpedo Alley, or Torpedo Junction, off North Carolina
, is one of the graveyards
of the Atlantic Ocean, named for the high number of attacks on Allied
shipping by German
U-boat
s in World War II. Almost 400 ships were sunk, mostly during the Second Happy Time
in 1942, and over 5,000 people were killed, many of whom were civilians and merchant marines. The period of attacks began in January 1942, and together were known as the "Great American Turkey Shoot", by U-boat sailors. Torpedo Alley is located in the waters between the mainland and the Outer Banks
, primarily around Cape Hatteras
.
The , was a recently built 10,600 ton British tanker
, armed with one 4 inches (101.6 mm) gun, one 12-pounder anti-aircraft gun
and six machine gun
s. While off Diamond Shoals on the night of January 23, 1942, U-66 under Richard Zapp, detected the unescorted Empire Gem and the unarmed American merchantman SS Venore. A few hours later, at about 2:40 am on January 24, U-66 attacked by firing a spread of torpedoes at the Empire Gem. One of them struck the tanker at the tanks on starboard side and the ship immediately began to burn and sink. The U-boat then fired additional torpedoes and one struck the Venore, which also sank. Both vessels sent out an SOS
and shortly after an American motor lifeboat from Ocracoke Coast Guard Station arrived to rescue survivors. Fifty-five men out of fifty-seven were killed on the Empire Gem including Royal Navy
gunners and another seventeen men were killed on the Venore. Twenty-three survivors from both ships were later rescued by American forces.
SS San Delfino
The was an 8,702 ton armed British tanker. She was attacked east of Cape Hatteras at position 35.35N, 75.06W on April 10, 1942 by the U-203
under Captain Lieutenant
Rolf Mützelburg
. At 3:47 am San Delfino was hit by a torpedo but it had no effect. A second spread missed their target but a final shot hit the ship at 5:08 am, sinking the vessel, killing twenty-eight men and sending another twenty-two into the water. The action occurred early in the morning, and the gunners aboard had not been able to see a target. It took seven torpedoes altogether to destroy the ship. The Master and twenty-one crew members were rescued later on by the naval trawler HMT Norwich City and landed at Morehead City.
SS Empire Thrush
On April 14 the armed British steamer
was attacked by the U-203, eight miles north of Diamond Shoals. At 3:15 pm a single torpedo hit the ship and it slowly sank though the master, all forty-seven crewmen and seven Royal Navy gunners escaped without harm. The United States Navy
Q-ship
witnessed the attack on the horizon but was unable to engage. Arriving two hours later the Americans rescued the British and took them to Norfolk, Virginia
.
HMT Bedfordshire
HMT Bedfordshire
was a 443 ton trawler
. On May 10, the Bedfordshire and HMT Lowman were deployed from their base at Morehead City to Ocracoke Island to search for a U-boat spotted in the area. When the vessels arrived they were discovered by Captain Lieutenant Gunther Krech
of U-558
who proceeded to shadow the vessels until later that night. Krech attacked after assuming he had been detected by the British ships - firing a spread of torpedoes at the Lowman but they all missed. The British then maneuvered and began dropping depth charges but these failed to destroy their target. At 5:40 in the morning on May 11, the U-boat fired a single torpedo at the Bedfordshire which missed but a second hit the trawler and it quickly sank with all thirty-seven hands. Two bodies were eventually recovered by the Americans who buried the dead on Ocracoke, creating the British Cemetery there.
HMT Kingston Ceylonite
The next warship sunk was the HMT Kingston Ceylonite, another trawler serving in American waters off North Carolina. On June 15, the Kingston Ceylonite was sailing off Virginia Beach in convoy KN-109 when she unknowingly entered a sea mine field laid by U-701 four days earlier. The British trawler struck one mine at position 36.52N, 75.51W and sank. Thirty-three men went down with the ship and only eighteen survived. Two other tankers and the destroyer
also hit mines that night but were saved from sinking. Some of the dead washed up on Ocracoke Island and were interred with the men of HMT Bedfordshire.
USS YP-389
The small 170-ton American trawler was destroyed during an action with U-701 in the early morning on June 19. German Captain Horst Degen decided to surface the submarine and engage with his deck gun
s in order to save torpedoes. Armor piercing rounds splashed all around the American ship for an hour and a half before she sunk. Because of a faulty firing pin
in the trawler's 3 inches (76.2 mm) dual purpose gun
, only .30-06 Springfield
machine guns and depth charges could be used to defend the ship. Of a twenty-five man complement, six American seamen were killed in battle and the eighteen remaining went adrfit. The Germans suffered no casualties though U-701 sustained slight damage.
SS William Rockefeller
was a one gun American tanker of 14,054 tons, sank sixteen miles east-northeast of Diamond Shoals on June 28 of 1942. At 6:16 pm, Horst Degen's U-701 released a torpedo which hit the William Rockefellers pump room on portside amidships while she was steaming on a non-evasive course at 9.2 knots. The torpedo tore a twenty foot hole in the ship and oil sprayed everywhere, causing a fire. The pump room flooded along with one of the ship's tanks and the cargo aboard caught on fire. Nine officers, thirty-five crewmen and six armed guards
evacuated the ship and were picked up twenty minutes later by which then depth charged the area inconclusively. U-701 surfaced the following morning around 5:20 am and delivered a coup de grâce
which sank the American ship at position 35°11N/75°07W without loss of life.
The first of three German U-boats sunk during the battle for Torpedo Alley was U-85 at midnight on April 13, 1942. While operating within sight of Bodie Island
Lighthouse
, the destroyer
detected U-85 on radar at a range of 2,700 yards away. The German submarine was surfaced at the time and she attempted to head south. When the Roper had closed to 700 yards, U-85 released a torpedo from her stern and began firing with her deck gun but the Americans evaded all of the shots. U-85 then turned to starboard and the range closed to 300 yards where the Americans opened fire with a 3 inches (76.2 mm) gun and machine guns. The sailors of USS Roper were able to hit the U-boat one time with naval gunfire before she submerged and then the Americans dropped eleven depth charges over the enemy and sank her. All forty-six German crew members were killed and twenty-nine bodies were recovered. Some of the dead were wearing civilian clothing and had wallets with United States currency and identification cards in them, suggesting that the submarine had been involved in landing German agents on the mainland. A nighttime military funeral was held for the dead Germans at Hampton
, Virginia
. The hatch of U-85 is now on display at Cape Hatteras Lighthouse and the enigma machine
resides at the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum
in Hatteras
.
U-352
.jpg)
U-352, under Captain Lieutenant Hellmut Rathke, was destroyed on May 9 by the United States Coast Guard
. At position 34.21N, 76.35W, off Cape Lookout
, the USCGC Icarus
picked up a sonar contact just before a torpedo exploded nearby. Lieutenant
Maurice D. Jester knew right away that they were under attack by a submarine and he suspected where the Germans would fire their next torpedo from. So the Americans maneuvered and dropped five depth charges and when sonar detected the U-boat again, Icarus moved accordingly and dropped two more charges, forcing the Germans out of the water. Then a short surface action occurred as the Icarus opened fire with machine guns and prepared to ram the enemy U-boat. But before the range closed, the crew of U-352 evacuated their ship and the Americans ceased fire after dropping one last depth charge as the submarine sank. Fifteen Germans were killed and thirty-three survivors were taken prisoner and transported to Charleston
, South Carolina
where they arrived the following day. Lieutenant Jester later received a Navy Cross
for his victory over the Germans.
U-701
The destruction of U-701 happened on July 7, 1942, near Cape Hatteras, and was the last sinking of a German submarine in Torpedo Alley. American Lockheed Hudson
aircraft from the United States Army
396th Bombardment Squadron attacked the surfaced U-701 with depth charges. The attack was successful and the U-boat sank with twenty-nine hands. Seventeen survivors then went adrift in lifeboats for two days and when they were rescued by American forces, only seven remained. German casualties in Torpedo Alley totaled exactly 100 dead and forty captured.
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
, is one of the graveyards
Graveyard of the Atlantic
Graveyard of the Atlantic is a nickname of two locations known for numerous shipwrecks: the treacherous waters in the Atlantic Ocean along the Outer Banks of North Carolina and the Virginia coastline south of the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay at Cape Henry; and around Sable Island, off the coast...
of the Atlantic Ocean, named for the high number of attacks on Allied
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
shipping by German
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
U-boat
U-boat
U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...
s in World War II. Almost 400 ships were sunk, mostly during the Second Happy Time
Second happy time
The Second Happy Time , also known among German submarine commanders as the "American shooting season" was the informal name for a phase in the Second Battle of the Atlantic during which Axis submarines attacked merchant shipping along the east coast of North America...
in 1942, and over 5,000 people were killed, many of whom were civilians and merchant marines. The period of attacks began in January 1942, and together were known as the "Great American Turkey Shoot", by U-boat sailors. Torpedo Alley is located in the waters between the mainland and the Outer Banks
Outer Banks
The Outer Banks is a 200-mile long string of narrow barrier islands off the coast of North Carolina, beginning in the southeastern corner of Virginia Beach on the east coast of the United States....
, primarily around Cape Hatteras
Cape Hatteras
Cape Hatteras is a cape on the coast of North Carolina. It is the point that protrudes the farthest to the southeast along the northeast-to-southwest line of the Atlantic coast of North America...
.
Allied vessels
SS Empire GemThe , was a recently built 10,600 ton British tanker
Tanker (ship)
A tanker is a ship designed to transport liquids in bulk. Major types of tankship include the oil tanker, the chemical tanker, and the liquefied natural gas carrier.-Background:...
, armed with one 4 inches (101.6 mm) gun, one 12-pounder anti-aircraft gun
Anti-aircraft warfare
NATO defines air defence as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action." They include ground and air based weapon systems, associated sensor systems, command and control arrangements and passive measures. It may be to protect naval, ground and air forces...
and six machine gun
Machine gun
A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rounds in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity magazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute....
s. While off Diamond Shoals on the night of January 23, 1942, U-66 under Richard Zapp, detected the unescorted Empire Gem and the unarmed American merchantman SS Venore. A few hours later, at about 2:40 am on January 24, U-66 attacked by firing a spread of torpedoes at the Empire Gem. One of them struck the tanker at the tanks on starboard side and the ship immediately began to burn and sink. The U-boat then fired additional torpedoes and one struck the Venore, which also sank. Both vessels sent out an SOS
SOS
SOS is the commonly used description for the international Morse code distress signal...
and shortly after an American motor lifeboat from Ocracoke Coast Guard Station arrived to rescue survivors. Fifty-five men out of fifty-seven were killed on the Empire Gem including Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
gunners and another seventeen men were killed on the Venore. Twenty-three survivors from both ships were later rescued by American forces.
SS San Delfino
The was an 8,702 ton armed British tanker. She was attacked east of Cape Hatteras at position 35.35N, 75.06W on April 10, 1942 by the U-203
German submarine U-203
German submarine U-203 was a German Type VIIC submarine U-boat built for the German Kriegsmarine for service during World War II. Built as werk 632 of Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft AG in Kiel, U-203 served in eleven patrols with the first flotilla and is credited with sinking 21 ships for 94,270...
under Captain Lieutenant
Captain Lieutenant
Captain lieutenant or captain-lieutenant is a military rank, used in a number of different navies worldwide.It is generally equivalent to the Commonwealth or US rank of lieutenant, and has the NATO rank code of OF-2, though this can vary....
Rolf Mützelburg
Rolf Mützelburg
Kapitänleutnant Rolf Mützelburg was a German U-boat commander during World War II and a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves...
. At 3:47 am San Delfino was hit by a torpedo but it had no effect. A second spread missed their target but a final shot hit the ship at 5:08 am, sinking the vessel, killing twenty-eight men and sending another twenty-two into the water. The action occurred early in the morning, and the gunners aboard had not been able to see a target. It took seven torpedoes altogether to destroy the ship. The Master and twenty-one crew members were rescued later on by the naval trawler HMT Norwich City and landed at Morehead City.
SS Empire Thrush
On April 14 the armed British steamer
Steamboat
A steamboat or steamship, sometimes called a steamer, is a ship in which the primary method of propulsion is steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels...
was attacked by the U-203, eight miles north of Diamond Shoals. At 3:15 pm a single torpedo hit the ship and it slowly sank though the master, all forty-seven crewmen and seven Royal Navy gunners escaped without harm. The United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
Q-ship
Q-ship
Q-ships, also known as Q-boats, Decoy Vessels, Special Service Ships, or Mystery Ships, were heavily armed merchant ships with concealed weaponry, designed to lure submarines into making surface attacks. This gave Q-ships the chance to open fire and sink them...
witnessed the attack on the horizon but was unable to engage. Arriving two hours later the Americans rescued the British and took them to Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....
.
HMT Bedfordshire
HMT Bedfordshire
HMT Bedfordshire was an armed anti-submarine trawler in the service of the Royal Navy during World War II. She was sunk by the Uboat U-558 on 11 May 1942 off the coast of Ocracoke Island on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, with the loss of all hands....
was a 443 ton trawler
Naval trawler
A naval trawler is a vessel built along the lines of a fishing trawler but fitted out for naval purposes. Naval trawlers were widely used during the First and Second world wars. Fishing trawlers were particularly suited for many naval requirements because they were robust boats designed to work...
. On May 10, the Bedfordshire and HMT Lowman were deployed from their base at Morehead City to Ocracoke Island to search for a U-boat spotted in the area. When the vessels arrived they were discovered by Captain Lieutenant Gunther Krech
Günther Krech
Günther Krech was a German U-boat commander in World War II and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. As commander of he sank twenty ships, totalling 101,696 tons, and damaged two ships...
of U-558
German submarine U-558
The German submarine U-558 was a Type VIIC U-boat in the service of the German Kriegsmarine during World War II. She sank 19 shipping and military vessels totalling nearly 100,000 tons before being sunk by bombers in July 1943....
who proceeded to shadow the vessels until later that night. Krech attacked after assuming he had been detected by the British ships - firing a spread of torpedoes at the Lowman but they all missed. The British then maneuvered and began dropping depth charges but these failed to destroy their target. At 5:40 in the morning on May 11, the U-boat fired a single torpedo at the Bedfordshire which missed but a second hit the trawler and it quickly sank with all thirty-seven hands. Two bodies were eventually recovered by the Americans who buried the dead on Ocracoke, creating the British Cemetery there.
HMT Kingston Ceylonite
The next warship sunk was the HMT Kingston Ceylonite, another trawler serving in American waters off North Carolina. On June 15, the Kingston Ceylonite was sailing off Virginia Beach in convoy KN-109 when she unknowingly entered a sea mine field laid by U-701 four days earlier. The British trawler struck one mine at position 36.52N, 75.51W and sank. Thirty-three men went down with the ship and only eighteen survived. Two other tankers and the destroyer
Destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...
also hit mines that night but were saved from sinking. Some of the dead washed up on Ocracoke Island and were interred with the men of HMT Bedfordshire.
USS YP-389
The small 170-ton American trawler was destroyed during an action with U-701 in the early morning on June 19. German Captain Horst Degen decided to surface the submarine and engage with his deck gun
Deck gun
A deck gun is a type of artillery cannon mounted on the deck of a ship or submarine.The deck gun was used as a defensive weapon against smaller boats or ships and in certain cases where torpedo use was limited. Typically a crew of three; gunner, loader, and layer, operated the gun, while others...
s in order to save torpedoes. Armor piercing rounds splashed all around the American ship for an hour and a half before she sunk. Because of a faulty firing pin
Firing pin
A firing pin or striker is part of the firing mechanism used in a firearm or explosive device e.g. an M14 landmine or bomb fuze. Firing pins may take many forms, though the types used in landmines, bombs, grenade fuzes or other single-use devices generally have a sharpened point...
in the trawler's 3 inches (76.2 mm) dual purpose gun
Dual purpose gun
A dual purpose gun is a naval artillery mounting designed to engage both surface and air targets.-Description:Second World War-era capital ships had four classes of artillery: the heavy main battery, intended to engage opposing battleships and cruisers ; a secondary battery for use against enemy...
, only .30-06 Springfield
.30-06 Springfield
The .30-06 Springfield cartridge or 7.62×63mm in metric notation, was introduced to the United States Army in 1906 and standardized, and was in use until the 1960s and early 1970s. It replaced the .30-03, 6 mm Lee Navy, and .30 US Army...
machine guns and depth charges could be used to defend the ship. Of a twenty-five man complement, six American seamen were killed in battle and the eighteen remaining went adrfit. The Germans suffered no casualties though U-701 sustained slight damage.
SS William Rockefeller
was a one gun American tanker of 14,054 tons, sank sixteen miles east-northeast of Diamond Shoals on June 28 of 1942. At 6:16 pm, Horst Degen's U-701 released a torpedo which hit the William Rockefellers pump room on portside amidships while she was steaming on a non-evasive course at 9.2 knots. The torpedo tore a twenty foot hole in the ship and oil sprayed everywhere, causing a fire. The pump room flooded along with one of the ship's tanks and the cargo aboard caught on fire. Nine officers, thirty-five crewmen and six armed guards
United States Navy Armed Guard
United States Navy Armed Guard units were established during World War I in an attempt to provide defensive firepower to merchant ships in convoy or merchant ships traveling alone...
evacuated the ship and were picked up twenty minutes later by which then depth charged the area inconclusively. U-701 surfaced the following morning around 5:20 am and delivered a coup de grâce
Coup de grâce
The expression coup de grâce means a death blow intended to end the suffering of a wounded creature. The phrase can refer to the killing of civilians or soldiers, friends or enemies, with or without the consent of the sufferer...
which sank the American ship at position 35°11N/75°07W without loss of life.
German U-boats
U-85The first of three German U-boats sunk during the battle for Torpedo Alley was U-85 at midnight on April 13, 1942. While operating within sight of Bodie Island
Bodie Island
Bodie Island is a long, narrow barrier peninsula that forms the northernmost portion of the Outer Banks of North Carolina. The land that is most commonly referred to as Bodie Island was at one time a true island, however the inlet separating it from the Currituck Banks peninsula in the north closed...
Lighthouse
Lighthouse
A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses or, in older times, from a fire, and used as an aid to navigation for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways....
, the destroyer
Destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...
detected U-85 on radar at a range of 2,700 yards away. The German submarine was surfaced at the time and she attempted to head south. When the Roper had closed to 700 yards, U-85 released a torpedo from her stern and began firing with her deck gun but the Americans evaded all of the shots. U-85 then turned to starboard and the range closed to 300 yards where the Americans opened fire with a 3 inches (76.2 mm) gun and machine guns. The sailors of USS Roper were able to hit the U-boat one time with naval gunfire before she submerged and then the Americans dropped eleven depth charges over the enemy and sank her. All forty-six German crew members were killed and twenty-nine bodies were recovered. Some of the dead were wearing civilian clothing and had wallets with United States currency and identification cards in them, suggesting that the submarine had been involved in landing German agents on the mainland. A nighttime military funeral was held for the dead Germans at Hampton
Hampton, Virginia
Hampton is an independent city that is not part of any county in Southeast Virginia. Its population is 137,436. As one of the seven major cities that compose the Hampton Roads metropolitan area, it is on the southeastern end of the Virginia Peninsula. Located on the Hampton Roads Beltway, it hosts...
, Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
. The hatch of U-85 is now on display at Cape Hatteras Lighthouse and the enigma machine
Enigma machine
An Enigma machine is any of a family of related electro-mechanical rotor cipher machines used for the encryption and decryption of secret messages. Enigma was invented by German engineer Arthur Scherbius at the end of World War I...
resides at the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum
Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum
The Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum is a maritime museum that focuses on the maritime history and shipwrecks of the Outer Banks of North Carolina...
in Hatteras
Hatteras, North Carolina
Hatteras is an unincorporated community in Dare County, North Carolina, United States, on the Outer Banks island of Hatteras. North Carolina Highway 12 passes through the community linking it to Frisco and Ocracoke . It is south of the famous Cape Hatteras and the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse in Buxton...
.
U-352
United States Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven U.S. uniformed services. The Coast Guard is a maritime, military, multi-mission service unique among the military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency...
. At position 34.21N, 76.35W, off Cape Lookout
Cape Lookout (North Carolina)
This article is about the Cape Lookout in North Carolina. See Cape Lookout for other places with a similar name. Cape Lookout is southern point of the Core Banks, one of the natural barrier islands on the Atlantic coast of North Carolina, USA. delimits Onslow Bay to the west from Raleigh Bay to...
, the USCGC Icarus
USCGC Icarus (WPC-110)
USCGC Icarus was a steel-hulled, diesel-powered Thetis-class patrol boat of the United States Coast Guard that patrolled the Eastern coast during World War II. In 1942, Icarus sank the U-boat U-352 off the coast of North Carolina and took its survivors into custody as prisoners of war...
picked up a sonar contact just before a torpedo exploded nearby. Lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
Maurice D. Jester knew right away that they were under attack by a submarine and he suspected where the Germans would fire their next torpedo from. So the Americans maneuvered and dropped five depth charges and when sonar detected the U-boat again, Icarus moved accordingly and dropped two more charges, forcing the Germans out of the water. Then a short surface action occurred as the Icarus opened fire with machine guns and prepared to ram the enemy U-boat. But before the range closed, the crew of U-352 evacuated their ship and the Americans ceased fire after dropping one last depth charge as the submarine sank. Fifteen Germans were killed and thirty-three survivors were taken prisoner and transported to Charleston
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
, South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
where they arrived the following day. Lieutenant Jester later received a Navy Cross
Navy Cross
The Navy Cross is the highest decoration that may be bestowed by the Department of the Navy and the second highest decoration given for valor. It is normally only awarded to members of the United States Navy, United States Marine Corps and United States Coast Guard, but can be awarded to all...
for his victory over the Germans.
U-701
Lockheed Hudson
The Lockheed Hudson was an American-built light bomber and coastal reconnaissance aircraft built initially for the Royal Air Force shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War and primarily operated by the RAF thereafter...
aircraft from the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
396th Bombardment Squadron attacked the surfaced U-701 with depth charges. The attack was successful and the U-boat sank with twenty-nine hands. Seventeen survivors then went adrift in lifeboats for two days and when they were rescued by American forces, only seven remained. German casualties in Torpedo Alley totaled exactly 100 dead and forty captured.