Conclusion of the Battle of the Atlantic
Contributor: C. Peter Chen
ww2dbaseAfter Allied successes in countering German submarine attacks against shipping, the Allies effectively declared victory in the Battle of the Atlantic in Jun 1943, although the German Navy would make attempts to regain the upper hand, its efforts would be made in vain. In 1944, Type XXI and XXIII submarines entered production, which were capable of running 17 knots submerged, but by the end of the war major German submarine bases in Western Europe successively fell one by one as the Allies successfully gained a foothold in France and expanded their territory. As the Allies pushed into Germany in 1945, over 200 submarines were scuttled to prevent capture, while a few fled aboard. Although the German Navy ceased to be a significant threat by this time, actions in the Atlantic War continued through the final days of the European War; the final engagement was sinking of Allied minesweeper NYMS 382 and freighters Sneland and Avondale Park by German submarines mere hours before the German surrender.
ww2dbase"The Battle of the Atlantic was the dominating factor all through the war", said Winston Churchill, recognizing the importance in this campaign over the sea that, through its victory, allowed Britain to become the staging point for the invasion onto continental Europe that marked the beginning of the end of the European War. "Never for one moment could we forget that everything happening elsewhere, on land, at sea, or in the air, depended ultimately on its outcome, and amid all other cares we viewed its changing fortunes day by day with hope or apprehension." The victory was achieved at a huge cost, however. Between 1939 and 1945, 3,500 Allied merchant ships (totalling 14.5 million gross tons) and 175 Allied warships were sunk and some 72,200 Allied sailors and merchant seamen were killed. Germany lost 783 submarines and 30,000 sailors in this campaign.
ww2dbaseAfter the war, 154 German submarines were captured by the Allies. 121 of them were scuttled during the late-1945 to early-1946 Operation Deadlight off Lisahally, Northern Ireland or Loch Ryan, Scotland in the United Kingdom. Some of remaining were kept in service, and two later became museum ships.
ww2dbaseSource: Wikipedia
Last Major Update: Jul 2005
Conclusion of the Battle of the Atlantic Interactive Map
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Conclusion of the Battle of the Atlantic Timeline
| 26 May 1943 | The United States Navy’s Patrol Squadron VP-84 scored another success with the Mark 24 FIDO acoustic homing torpedo south of Iceland when Lt Robert Millard dropped one Mark 24 torpedo from his PBY-5A Catalina against German submarine U-467. The U-Boat was lost with all 46 hands. |
| 31 May 1943 | Auxiliary Aircraft Carrier USS Bogue and her escorts departed Argentia, Newfoundland on a purely offensive anti-submarine patrol. This was Bogue's first Hunter-Killer sortie without concurrent convoy escort duty. |
| 4 Jun 1943 | Aircraft from USS Bogue attacked and damaged German submarines U-228, U-603, and U-641 in the Central Atlantic. |
| 8 Jun 1943 | Aircraft from USS Bogue attacked and damaged German submarine U-758 in the Central Atlantic. |
| 12 Jun 1943 | Aircraft from USS Bogue attacked and sank the German submarine U-118 in the Central Atlantic. |
| 24 Jun 1943 | PBY Catalina aircraft flying with Patrol Squadron VP-84 located German submarine U-194 in the mid-Atlantic and launched one Mark 24 FIDO acoustic homing torpedo. U-194 was lost with all 54 hands. |
| 12 Jul 1943 | USS Bogue and her escorts departed Norfolk, Virginia on a Hunter-Killer mission along the convoy routes to Africa. |
| 14 Jul 1943 | TBF-1 Avenger aircraft flown by Lt(jg) John Ballantine flying from USS Santee in the Atlantic south of the Azores attacked the surfaced German submarine U-160 using Mark 24 FIDO acoustic homing torpedoes. U-160 was lost with all 57 hands. |
| 15 Jul 1943 | Different groups of TBF-1 Avenger aircraft and F4F Wildcats flying from USS Santee in the mid-Atlantic made two separate attacks on surfaced German submarines using Mark 24 FIDO acoustic homing torpedoes each with underwater explosions reported. Only U-509 was reported lost in this area on this date. |
| 23 Jul 1943 | One of Bogue’s escorts, destroyer USS George E. Badger, made a sound contact on a submarine and attacked. Debris and an oil slick were reported and U-613 was lost with all 48 hands. Later that same day, aircraft from escort carrier USS Bogue interrupted a rendezvous between German submarines U-527 and U-648 in the eastern Atlantic. U-527 was sunk but U-648 escaped. |
| 24 Jul 1943 | Destroyer USS Clemson transferred 5 of the 13 survivors from German submarine U-527 to escort carrier USS Bogue, including the submarine’s commanding officer, Kapitänleutnant Herbert Uhlig. Two of the prisoners were immediately admitted to sickbay for observation. |
| 27 Jul 1943 | Task Group 21.14 (TG 21.14) was formed at Norfolk, Virginia as an anti-submarine Hunter-Killer group centered around escort carrier USS Card with the TBF Avengers and F4F Wildcats of Composite Squadron VC-1 embarked and with escorts of Clemson-class destroyers USS Barry, Goff, and Borie. TG 21.14 departed Norfolk bound for the Central Atlantic that same day. |
| 30 Jul 1943 | TBF-1 Avenger aircraft from USS Santee in the Atlantic southwest of the Azores attacked the surfaced German submarine U-43 using Mark 24 FIDO acoustic homing torpedoes. U-43 was lost with all 55 hands. |
| 7 Aug 1943 | In a coordinated attack by six TBF-1 Avenger torpedo bombers and four F4F-4 Wildcat fighters with Composite Squadron VC-1 flying from USS Card, German supply submarine U-117 was sunk with Mark 24 FIDO acoustic homing torpedoes. U-117 had been supplying U-66 in the mid-Atlantic when both were caught on the surface by Lt(jg) A.H. Sallenger in his Avenger. U-117 was sunk and U-66 was likely damaged. |
| 8 Aug 1943 | In poor weather with heavy swell south of Greenland, German submarine U-262 (Kapitänleutnant Rudolf Heinz Franke) was awaiting refueling from U-664 whilst U-760 was being supplied. At 1010 hours, a TBF Avenger aircraft and F4F Wildcat aircraft from escort carrier USS Card located the submarines and attacked. The Wildcat strafed the decks of U-262 while the Avenger approached with depth charges. The gunners aboard U-262 hit both attackers. The Wildcat crashed, killing Ensign John F. Sprague. The Avenger’s bomb bay was hit, jamming the release mechanism. The Avenger pilot, Lt(jg) Asbury H. Sallenger pulled away, and was hit again in the starboard wing. The crew manually released two depth charges (damaging U-262 with a near-miss) and jettisoned a Mark 24 FIDO torpedo, and Sallenger made a water landing. Sallenger and the gunner survived, but the radio operator went down with the aircraft. The two survivors were spotted by another aircraft from USS Card and were picked up by destroyer USS Barry in the afternoon. TBF Avenger pilots Lt(jg) C.R. Stapler and Lt(jg) “Zeke” Cormier dropped additional Mark 24 FIDO torpedoes on a moving oil slick that was likely from the damaged U-262, but results were unobserved. U-262, though damaged, made her way back to base. In a separate attack, companion German submarine U-664 launched three torpedoes at USS Card under the cover of darkness. There were no explosions and USS Card reports make no mention of this, indicating Card was unaware of the attack. Planes from Card would sink U-664 the next day. |
| 9 Aug 1943 | TBF-1 Avengers and F4F-4 Wildcats from escort carrier USS Card attacked German submarine U-664 in the mid-Atlantic using 500-pound bombs, depth charges, and machine gun fire. The submarine was crippled and began to sink. Seven or eight of her crew were killed (sources differ) and 44 abandon ship. Once darkness fell, seven hours after the attack, one of Card’s escorts, destroyer USS Borie, picked up all 44 survivors. During the recovery operation, Borie’s log reported five different torpedo wakes passing close aboard the ship. The U-664 survivors would be transferred to USS Card the following day. |
| 11 Aug 1943 | TBF-1 Avenger aircraft and F4F-4 Wildcats flying from USS Card in the mid-Atlantic attacked the surfaced German submarine U-525 using two depth charges and one Mark 24 FIDO acoustic homing torpedo. U-525 was lost with all 54 hands. |
| 27 Aug 1943 | TBF-1 Avenger aircraft flying from USS Card in the mid-Atlantic launched two separate attacks on two separate German submarines using Mark 24 FIDO acoustic homing torpedoes. U-508 was damaged but escaped and U-847 was sunk with all 62 hands. |
| 5 Sep 1943 | Composite Squadron VC-19 came aboard escort carrier USS Bogue with their FM-1 Wildcats and TBF-1c Avengers. Bogue and her escorts put to sea on an offensive Hunter-Killer anti-submarine mission along the Atlantic convoy routes between North America and Africa. |
| 2 Oct 1943 | The Task Group centered around escort carrier USS Bogue received an intelligence decrypt bulletin indicating a possible gathering of German submarines for refueling about 300 miles north of the Azores (ironically, it would be Composite Squadron VC-9 now aboard USS Card, acting on the same intelligence bulletin, that would interrupt this fueling rendezvous two days later and sink two submarines, including the tanker submarine). |
| 4 Oct 1943 | A TBF Avenger patrol aircraft with Composite Squadron VC-9 from Hunter-Killer escort carrier USS Card discovered German submarines U-264, U-422, and U-455 refueling from “Milchkau” U-460 on the surface of the Atlantic 440 miles north of the Azores. Attacking with aerial depth charges and one Mark 24 FIDO acoustic homing torpedo, U-422 was sunk immediately while the other three submarines submerged. As more aircraft and escort ships arrived in the area, a hunt for the other submarines ensued resulting in U-460 being sunk by aerial depth charges about seven miles away. U-264 and U-455 got away but U-264 was damaged. By breaking up this gathering of submarines, Convoy UGS-19 and its 102 merchant ships was able to safely pass through this area and complete its crossing from the United States to North Africa. |
| 12 Oct 1943 | Lt(jg) Letson “Sam” Balliett piloting a TBF Avenger flying from USS Card attacked a refueling operation between German submarines U-488 (“Milchkau”) and U-402 in the mid-Atlantic using one Mark 24 FIDO acoustic homing torpedo. Although this attack claimed one sinking, both submarines escaped with only minimal or no damage. Later, another TBF Avenger from Card flown by Lt(jg) Doty attacked and damaged U-731. |
| 13 Oct 1943 | TBF Avengers flying from USS Card attacked and sank German Type VIIC submarine U-402 in the mid-Atlantic using the Mark 24 FIDO acoustic homing torpedo. |
| 30 Oct 1943 | TBF-1 Avenger from escort carrier USS Card flown by Lt(jg) Fryatt sighted a German submarine on the surface in the mid-Atlantic. He reported that he “attacked as submarine submerged and sank it.” No German submarine was lost on this date in this area and there is no report of a similar attack (but within two days, two different U-Boats were lost almost on this spot so the attack could have been against one of these who had no chance to file a report about it). |
| 31 Oct 1943 | TBF-1 Avenger aircraft flying from USS Card in the mid-Atlantic flown by Lt(jg) W.S. Fowler and Lt(jg) Letson “Sam” Balliett launched a coordinated attack on German submarine U-584 using Mark 24 FIDO acoustic homing torpedoes. U-584 was lost with all 53 hands. U-91 was also attacked at the same rendezvous point but escaped unharmed. |
| 1 Nov 1943 | After aircraft from USS Card broke up a rendezvous of German submarines in the mid-Atlantic the day before and sank two, Card detached one of her escorts, USS Borie, to hunt for the remaining submarine(s) by night. Borie reported attacking and sinking one submarine shortly after midnight but U-256 is only damaged. Then just before dawn, Borie shelled, depth charged, and rammed submarine U-405. U-405 sank with all 49 hands. |
| 2 Nov 1943 | USS Card escort USS Borie suffered 27 dead in the ramming of U-256 the day before and was damaged so badly that she could not be towed. Borie was scuttled by gunfire and torpedoes from USS Barry as well as three aerial bombs from a TBF Avenger from Card. |
| 10 Nov 1943 | The day after arriving at Norfolk, Virginia, escort carrier USS Card received a delegation of dignitaries including seven flag officers: Admiral Royal Ingersoll (Commander in Chief Atlantic Fleet), Vice Admiral Patrick Bellinger (Commander for Air, Atlantic Fleet), Vice Admiral Alexander Sharp (Commander of Service Forces, Atlantic Fleet), Rear Admiral Walter Kilpatrick (Chief of Staff to Commander Atlantic Fleet), Rear Admiral David LeBretan (Commandant 5th Naval District), Rear Admiral Gerald Bogan (Commander Fleet Air, Norfolk), and Rear Admiral Calvin Durgin (Commander Fleet Air, Quonset). In a mere 40 minutes aboard the ship, the following award presentations were made: Captain Arnold Isbell (Commanding Officer USS Card and Commander Task Group 21.14) received the Navy Distinguished Service Medal; Lieutenant Commanders Herbert Hill (Commanding Officer USS Barry), Hinton Smith (Commanding Officer USS Goff), and Howard Avery (Commanding Officer Composite Squadron VC-9) received the Legion of Merit; Lieutenant Charles Hutchins (Commanding Officer USS Borie) received the Navy Cross; and a Presidential Unit Citation was awarded to USS Card, USS Barry, USS Borie, USS Goff, Composite Squadron VC-1, Composite Squadron VC-9, and all men who served in these elements during the Task Group 21.14 operations. LtCdr Avery would also receive the Navy Cross and the Distinguished Flying Cross for later actions while commanding VC-9 from USS Card. Further, Squadron VC-9, all ships of the task group, and all men therein during this sortie were authorized to wear Battle Star E211 on their European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Ribbon. |
| 14 Nov 1943 | Escort carrier USS Bogue and her escorts put to sea on an offensive Hunter-Killer anti-submarine mission along the Atlantic convoy routes between North America and Africa. |
| 29 Nov 1943 | East of the Azores, aircraft from escort carrier USS Bogue observed German submarine U-764 on the surface. Both planes and destroyers from Bogue’s screen aggressively attacked over a sustained period but inflict no damage. [Note: Other sources describe this attack as sinking U-86 but this is less likely.] |
| 30 Nov 1943 | East of the Azores, two pilots flying from escort carrier USS Bogue observed German submarine U-238 on the surface and attacked. The U-Boat put up considerable anti-aircraft fire and the submarine escaped with two killed and five wounded by machine gun fire and minimal damage to the boat. |
| 12 Dec 1943 | TBF Avengers from USS Bogue attacked the surfaced German submarine U-172 in the eastern Atlantic using Mark 24 FIDO acoustic homing torpedoes. U-172 evaded the attack but a 27-hour running battle followed. |
| 16 Dec 1943 | The 46 prisoners from U-172 (survivors) sunk three days before were transferred from escort ships to escort carrier USS Bogue including the submarine’s commanding officer, Oberleutnant zur See Hermann Hoffmann, among the youngest submarine commanders in the German Navy at 22. |
| 20 Dec 1943 | TBF Avengers from USS Bogue attacked the surfaced German submarine U-850 in the eastern Atlantic with Mark 24 FIDO acoustic homing torpedoes. The U-850 was lost with all 66 hands. |
| 23 Dec 1943 | During North Atlantic weather so bad that escort carrier USS Card and her escorts had to run with the wind and Card could launch no aircraft for anti-submarine patrols, the group steamed directly through German submarine wolfpack Borkum. Card and screening destroyer USS Decatur were attacked unsuccessfully by U-415. Screening destroyer USS Schenck attacked and probably damaged U-645. |
| 24 Dec 1943 | While escort carrier USS Card and her escorts were shadowing an Allied convoy bound for Gibraltar from Liverpool through bad weather, one of the convoy’s escorts, destroyer HMS Hurricane, was struck by a German GNAT acoustic homing torpedo launched from submarine U-415. 30-feet of Hurricane’s stern was blown off and the ship was scuttled by torpedo the following day. Three were killed and nine were wounded. Card and her screen continued to battle the wolfpack of German U-boats. Destroyer USS Schenck sank German submarine U-645. USS Leary was torpedoed and sunk by U-275, also with a GNAT. 97 of Leary’s crew were killed and 59 were picked up by Schenk. |
| 28 Dec 1943 | British cruisers HMS Glasgow and HMS Enterprise intercepted a force of German destroyers off France; the German ships were responding to the Allied sinking of German merchant ships. By 1600 hours, German destroyers T25, T26, and Z27 were sunk. |
| 3 Jan 1944 | In the Atlantic Ocean, the destroyer USS Somers intercepted the German blockade-runner, Weserland, and opened fire with her 5-in guns at 7,000 yards; continuing to fire until the German vessel stopped, exploded scuttling charges, and sank with the loss of five lives and her precious cargo of rubber from Japan. 133 survivors were rescued. |
| 16 Jan 1944 | Aircraft from USS Guadalcanal's anti-submarine hunter-killer group sank German Type IXC/40 submarine U-544 in the U-Boat refueling zone northwest of the Azores. There were no survivors. |
| 31 Jan 1944 | The Royal Navy's Second Escort Group (Captain F. J. Walker) sank the German submarine U-592. |
| 13 Feb 1944 | Acting on intelligence intercepts, the Hunter-Killer group centered around escort carrier USS Card concentrated their search efforts to an area in the mid-Atlantic 750 miles west of the Canary Islands where a northbound Japanese submarine was supposed to be meeting with two German submarines. With day and night extended air searches, as well as searches by the surface ships, fresh oil slicks were noted but no submarines were located. |
| 26 Feb 1944 | Composite Squadron VC-95 came aboard escort carrier USS Bogue with their FM-1 Wildcats and TBF-1c Avengers. Bogue and her escorts put to sea on an offensive Hunter-Killer anti-submarine mission along the Atlantic convoy routes between North America and Africa. |
| 10 Mar 1944 | HMS Asphodel (New Zealand Lieutenant M. A. Halliday) was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-575 whilst escorting convoy SL-150. |
| 13 Mar 1944 | The 4,695-ton unescorted Greek steam merchant ship Peleus was hit by two torpedoes from German submarine U-852 (Kapitänleutnant Heinz-Wilhelm Eck) and sank rapidly about 500 miles north of Ascension Island. The submarine tried to destroy all evidences of the sinking by shooting at debris and rafts from the ship. During this action some survivors were killed and only four men were alive when the submarine left the area. One of them later died, but the three remaining would survive. On November 1945. Eck and two of his officers were later executed in Hamburg, Germany for their role in the killing of the Greek seamen. |
| 13 Mar 1944 | U-575, a German Type VII-C submarine, was sunk in the north Atlantic north of the Azores by depth charges and gunfire from the Canadian frigate HMCS Prince Rupert, the US destroyer USS Hobson, the US destroyer escort USS Haverfield, a British Wellington aircraft of No. 172 Squadron RAF, and two Fortress aircraft of Squadron 206 RAF and Squadron 220 RAF, and an Avenger aircraft of VC-95 squadron aboard the US escort carrier USS Bogue. 18 crew lost their lives; 37 were rescued. |
| 8 Apr 1944 | The 8,261-ton steam merchant Nebraska, a refrigerated cargo vessel owned by Royal Mail Lines of London, was torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-843 (Kapitänleutnant Oskar Herwartz) when on passage from Taranto, Italy to Buenos Aires, Brazil. |
| 8 Apr 1944 | German submarine U-962 was sunk on the in north Atlantic north-west of Cape Finisterre by depth charges from the British "Black Swan" sloops HMS Crane (U 23) and HMS Cygnet (U 38). All 50 hands were lost. |
| 9 Apr 1944 | Depth charges from USS Guadalcanal's anti-submarine hunter-killer group escorts Pope, Pillsbury, Chatelain, and Flaherty brought German Type IXC submarine U-515 to the surface 650 miles off Casablanca where Guadalcanal's aircraft sank it with rockets. There were 44 survivors, including the U-Boat commander Korvettenkapitän Werner Henke. |
| 10 Apr 1944 | Rockets and aerial depth charges from USS Guadalcanal's anti-submarine hunter-killer group TBM Avenger aircraft sank German Type IXC submarine U-68 650 miles off Casablanca. There was one survivor. |
| 20 Apr 1944 | After over a month drifting at sea, three survivors of Greek steam merchant ship Peleus, sunk by German submarine U-852 on 13 Mar 1944, was picked up by Portuguese steam merchant Alexandre Silva in the South Atlantic. They were taken to Lobito, Angola. |
| 13 May 1944 | US destroyer escort USS Francis M. Robinson of Task Group 22.2 sank Japanese submarine RO-501, formerly German submarine U-1224, off the Cape Verde islands, killing the entire crew of 52 including Lieutenant Commander Norita Sadatoshi. RO-501 had a cargo of mercury, lead, steel, aluminum drawings, optical glass, IXC-type submarine blueprints, and Me 163A Komet jet fighter blue prints on board. USS Francis M. Robinson would later receive the Presidential Unit Citation for this action. |
| 13 May 1944 | One of the escort ships in USS Bogue’s task group, destroyer escort USS Francis M. Robinson, made sonar contact with a submerged submarine and attacked with Hedgehogs and depth charges with magnetic fuzes resulting in large underwater explosions. The Japanese submarine RO-501 was lost with all hands, although this was unclear to the US Navy for several weeks. [RO-501 was the former German U-1224 that had been transferred to the Japanese Navy 3 months earlier in Kiel, Germany. RO-501 was sailing to Japan with a cargo of mercury, lead, steel, uncut optical glass, aluminum, and blueprints for Type IXC submarines and Messerschmitt Me-163 "Komet" rocket interceptors.] |
| 12 Jun 1944 | Canadian Destroyer HMCS Haida under Commander H. C. DeWolf sank the German submarine U-971. |
| 22 Jun 1944 | The German schnellboot S-32 sank after a mine hit in the English Channel near Dungeness, southern England, United Kingdom. |
| 24 Jun 1944 | Acting on intelligence intercepts, Hunter-Killer carrier USS Bogue attempted to intercept the meeting between German submarine U-530 and Japanese submarine I-52 in the mid-Atlantic as I-52 was transiting to Germany with 21,000kg of precious metals and other intelligence cargo. A TBM Avenger from Bogue located I-52 on the surface but not U-530. Launching Mark 24 FIDO acoustic homing torpedoes against the submarine, I-52 was sunk with all 109 aboard. |
| 2 Jul 1944 | Acting on intelligence intercepts, escort carrier USS Wake Island attempted to intercept a German submarine making her way home from an unsuccessful patrol in the Gulf of Guinea. At 2145 hours local time, the TBM-1C Avenger aircraft flown by Ensign Frederick Moore sighted the surfaced U-543 off the coast of Africa between the Canary and the Cape Verde Islands. U-543 fired on the airplane and landed three hits from her 20mm guns. Ensign Moore attacked with two depth charges and one Mark 24 FIDO acoustic homing torpedo, sinking the submarine with all 58 hands. |
| 5 Jul 1944 | After several days on station southeast of Newfoundland without being able to launch aircraft due to persistent fog, escort carrier USS Card and her escorts engaged the submerged German submarine U-233. Destroyer escorts USS Baker and Thomas attacked with depth charges that forced U-233 to the surface. As the crew began abandoning ship, U-233 started her diesels and began making her way out of the engagement. Thomas rammed the U-Boat just abaft the conning tower and U-233 sank quickly by the stern. 30 were rescued from the water and 31 were lost. The USS Card Task Group then began a withdrawal toward Boston. |
| 6 Jul 1944 | After the escort carrier USS Card’s task group engaged and sank German submarine U-233, escort ships USS Baker and Thomas transferred 30 German prisoners to Card, including U-233’s badly wounded commanding officer Kapitänleutnant Hans Steen. Kapitänleutnant Steen later died of his wounds and was buried at sea with full military honors. |
| 17 Jul 1944 | Off Narvik, Norway, a Liberator aircraft of No. 86 Squadron RAF sank German submarine U-347 (all 49 aboard were killed) and a Catalina aircraft of No. 210 Squadron RAF sank German submarine U-361 (all 52 aboard were killed). Off Bergen, No. 333 Squadron RAF (Norwegian pilots) damaged German submarine U-994 off Norway, wounding 5 men. U-994 would be able to sail to Bergen, Norway for repairs later on the same day. |
| 25 Jul 1944 | Composite Squadron VC-42 came aboard escort carrier USS Bogue with their FM-2 Wildcats and TBM-1c Avengers. Bogue and her escorts put to sea on an offensive Hunter-Killer anti-submarine mission along the Atlantic convoy routes in the North Atlantic. |
| 28 Jul 1944 | Escort carrier USS Card departed San Juan, Puerto Rico after repairs to her engines. Acting on intelligence intercepts, Card and her task unit began pursuing a German submarine reported leaving the Caribbean to cross the Atlantic. |
| 31 Jul 1944 | TBM Avengers from escort carrier USS Card dropped sonobuoys on an oil slick in the mid-Atlantic and detected propeller cavitation noises. Two Mark 24 FIDO homing torpedoes were dropped with one confirmed underwater explosion. No confirmation of a submarine was obtained. |
| 2 Aug 1944 | German submarine U-804 sank American destroyer escort USS Fiske with torpedoes in the central Atlantic. |
| 6 Aug 1944 | TBM Avengers from escort carrier USS Card detected submarine noises from sonobuoys in the mid-Atlantic and launched two Mark 24 FIDO homing torpedoes with one confirmed underwater explosion. No confirmation of a submarine was obtained. |
| 20 Aug 1944 | 300 miles south of Newfoundland, aircraft flying from escort carrier USS Bogue spotted the German submarine U-1229 running on the surface in broad daylight. In a coordinated attack by 5 Avengers and 2 Wildcats using depth charges, FFAR rockets, and strafing, the submarine was sunk. 18 were killed and 41 were rescued. Among the survivors was Oskar Mantel, an intelligence officer who was to be landed in the Gulf of Maine had U-1229 not been sunk. This contact gave the US Navy their first detailed photographs of a German submarine equipped with a schnorkel device. |
| 28 Sep 1944 | While bound from Bordeaux, France for Penang, Malaya, German submarine U-219 was attacked on the surface in the Central Atlantic by TBM Avenger and FM-2 Wildcat aircraft from Composite Squadron VC-6 off carrier USS Tripoli. The air attack consisted of strafing, rockets, depth charges and Mark 24 FIDO acoustic homing torpedoes but U-219 escaped, but not before fighting back and destroying one Avenger. |
| 21 Oct 1944 | Composite Squadron VC-95 came aboard escort carrier USS Bogue with their FM-2 Wildcats, TBM-3 Avengers, and TBM-1D Avengers. Bogue and her escorts put to sea bound for Bermuda for anti-submarine exercises. |
| 25 Oct 1944 | After 30 days hunting for submarines in the mid-Atlantic without success, Task Group 22.2 centered around escort carrier USS Card arrived at Casablanca, French Morocco for two days' rest and replenishment. |
| 4 Dec 1944 | Escort carrier USS Bogue with VC-95 embarked and her task group departed New York on an offensive ant-submarine patrol in the shipping approaches to the northeastern United States. |
| 27 Jan 1945 | As Allied convoy HX-332 was off Cardigan Bay in the Irish Sea it formed two columns to enter the St. George's Channel. Two ships manoeuvring into their columns were hit when U-825 (Oberleutnant zur See Gerhard Stoelker) fired a spread of torpedoes. The motor tanker Solør, a Norwegian 8,262-ton tanker with 11,000 tons of fuel oil and 16 gliders as deck cargo and the American Liberty ship Ruben Dario were both hit by a single torpedo. The torpedo that hit the Solør badly damaged her stern killing 4 of the crew and she started to take on water, the tanker was abandoned an hour later. The British rescue tug Zamalek picked up the survivors. The ship was beached at Oxwich Bay on the Welsh coast where half the oil was unloaded and the gliders saved. Solør broke in two and declared a total loss; most of the ship was removed for scrap. The Ruben Dario was hit on the starboard side at the No. 2 hold and destroyed the bulkhead causing flooding. The engines were secured and after emergency repairs the ship restarted at 9 knots, arriving the following day at Liverpool, England, United Kingdom where more repairs were carried out and she returned to service. Only one crew member was injured in the attack, he had been off watch and sitting on the No. 2 hatch which was blown off by the blast. The cargo of grain and gliders was not damaged. |
| 17 Feb 1945 | HMS Bluebell (Lieutenant G. H. Walker) was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-711 in the Kola Inlet off Murmansk, Russia. |
| 20 Feb 1945 | HMS Vervain (Lieutenant Commander R. A. Howell) was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-1276 off the coast of Ireland. |
| 12 Mar 1945 | German submarine U-296 (Kapitänleutnant Karl-Heinz Rasch) sent no messages after leaving Bergen, Norway to operate in the Firth of Clyde area in Scotland, United Kingdom and was posted as missing after she failed to return from patrol. The U-296 was possibly lost in the British deep anti-submarine minefields T1 and T2 laid on its route to the operational area. All 42 aboard were lost. |
| 12 Mar 1945 | The 1,743-ton steam passenger ship Paris, seized by the Germans and used as troop transport for the Kriegsmarine since 21 Aug 1940 and then a minesweeper mother ship since 3 Jun 1941, was hit by two torpedoes from the Shetland-based motor torpedo boat MTB-711 (with Norwegian crew) and sank in seconds off Kvaløytå light, Haugesund, Norway. 86 were killed, some of whom were Norwegian, 70 were rescued. |
| 12 Mar 1945 | The 1,845-ton German steamship Rolandseck, used as a troop transport, was bombed by British aircraft and sank near Skagen on the east coast of the Skagen Odde peninsula in the far north of Denmark. |
| 12 Mar 1945 | German Type VII-C submarine U-260 was scuttled by her crew at 2230 hours after being mined at 80 metres depth, off the coast of County Cork, southern Ireland. The entire crew were interned in Ireland. The Irish recovered papers and code books from the commanding officer Oberleutnant zur See Klaus Becker together with his personal logbook. |
| 13 Mar 1945 | The 2,878-ton Canadian steamship Taber Park, on a voyage from the Tyne to London in England, United Kingdom with convoy FS-1753 with coal, was sunk by mine or by a German Seehund midget submarine, off Aldeburgh, Suffolk coast. Twenty-four of her crew and four gunners were lost; the captain and three others were saved. |
| 26 Mar 1945 | The 362-ton Dutch motor merchant Pacific was torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-399 four miles south west of the Lizard peninsula, Cornwall, south west England, United Kingdom while on route to Penryn, Wales, United Kingdom from Maryport, England. She was carrying 350 tons of coal. Five of the ten crewmen on board were killed. |
| 29 Mar 1945 | The 1,370-ton Canadian River-class frigate HMCS Teme (K 458) was torpedoed and fatally damaged by German submarine U-315 just off Land's End, England, United Kingdom. The frigate lost 60 feet of her stern and was towed to Falmouth, Cornwall, England and was declared a total loss. |
| 8 Apr 1945 | German submarines U-2514 (Kapitänleutnant Rolf-Birger Wahlen) and U-2509 (Korvettenkapitän Rudolf Schendel), both of 31st Flotilla (a training unit) of the German Navy, were sunk at the Blohm und Voß shipyard in Hamburg, Germany by bombs from British Lancaster and Handley Page Halifax aircraft. |
| 8 Apr 1945 | German submarine U-1001 (Kapitänleutnant Ernst-Ulrich Blaudow) was sunk in the Atlantic south-west of Land's End, England, United Kingdom by depth charges from the British frigates HMS Fitzroy (K 553) and HMS Byron (k 508). All 46 crew were lost. |
| 8 Apr 1945 | German submarine U-774 (Kapitänleutnant Werner Sausmikat) was sunk in the North Atlantic south-west of Ireland by depth charges from the British frigates HMS Calder (K 349) and HMS Bentinck (K 314). All 44 crew were lost. |
| 20 Apr 1945 | Escort carrier USS Bogue and her task group rendezvoused with the task group centered around escort carrier USS Core and also with two other squadrons of destroyers and destroyer escorts, all under the command of Captain Dufek in Bogue. Together they formed what was later called the Second Barrier Force tasked with forming a 120-mile long anti-submarine barrier in the mid-Atlantic as part of Operation Teardrop. |
| 23 Apr 1945 | Commanding officer of Composite Squadron VC-19, LtCdr William South, flying a TBM Avenger from escort carrier USS Bogue in the mid-Atlantic reported a surfacing German submarine, the U-546. More airplanes and all 14 destroyer escorts in the barrier line, including USS Frederick C. Davis, were sent to hunt for the U-Boat. |
| 24 Apr 1945 | One of the ships in USS Bogue’s mid-Atlantic scouting line of destroyer escorts, USS Frederick C. Davis, was torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-546 with a GNAT acoustic torpedo. 126 men were lost and 66 were rescued. Surrounded by destroyer escorts, U-546 was attacked, forced to the surface, and sunk by gunfire. 26 were lost and 33 were rescued, including the submarine's commander Kapitänleutnant Paul Just. |
| 8 May 1945 | With the surrender of Germany and the ending of hostilities, USS Bogue’s Second Barrier Force was dissolved and most of the ships, including Bogue, made for New York. |
| 12 Feb 1946 | U-3514 became the last captured German submarine to be scuttled during Operation Deadlight at 1004 hours. |
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30 May 2005 08:34:43 PM
My cousand was a 17 year old Marine .Claud Bengaman stonestreete JR.He was killed on a island when he turned 21 Could I have moor imformation and how can I get it. Mrs. Willa Johnson