Block Island (CVE 106) - Naval Cruise Book

 - Class of 1945

Page 15 of 72

 

Block Island (CVE 106) - Naval Cruise Book online collection, 1945 Edition, Page 15 of 72
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Block Island (CVE 106) - Naval Cruise Book online collection, 1945 Edition, Page 14
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Page 15 text:

The Navy developed what is technically known as the HF-'IJF or high frequency radio direction finders. This electronic equipment was housed in stations dotting the coastline on both sides ol' the Atlantic. on mid-ocean islands. such as Ascension Island. and on ships at sea. A typical action was the sinking of U-Boat U-06 near the Cape Verde Islands. In May 1944. U-66, operating off the west coast of Africa, wanted to refuel off Cape Verde Islands and de- cided to notify the home base of his location. His radio- graln was very brief. It was sent in less than 15 seconds. But 26 Allied DF stations of the Atlantic net obtained bearings on it. From these the position was plotted nearly 18 degrees North and 34 degrees 30 minutes West. This was passed to the Commander-imChief. who dispatched the USS BLOCK ISLAND and her escorts to the scene. This group cruised in the area for five days. sending up squadrons of search planes each hour of daylight. Finally the surfaced submarine picked up ai night by radar. was followed by a patrol plane. The USS BUCKLEY was coached to the scene by the pilot over- head, who held tl1e U-boatis attention by making passes and firing his .45 calibre automatic into the conning tower. The BUCKLEY closed in on the German, en- gaged him in a running gun duel and then rammed the U-boat. The desperate Nazis leaped from their sinking submarine to the forecastle of the little destroyer and grappled with her crew. This was the first time in over 100 years that a United States warship had been boarded in a battle at sea. The Nazis were quickly subdued and the doomed submarine was finished off by gunfire. Fifty German prisoners were taken and the FBI rode victoriously into port with the skipper's pants. The USS CORBY was guided to another submarine by the B.I. dusk patrol. At dawn the ships and planes attacked in force, impelled the wounded vessel to sur- face, and there it was blown to pieces by gunfire. Most of the crew survived and were taken captive. A Nazi sub captain who had lost his ship. tried to commit suicide. He was picked up out of the Atlantic with other members of his crew. The FBI medical officer removed the shell from his neck and he was given a new lease on life which continued in a U. S. prison camp. Frequently the planes got the submarines. One aircraft team surprised a surfaced sub-wolf at dawn, completely destroying it in the first blazing sweep of fire. One of the planes was lost. The sole survivor, a young pilot- observer, managed to launch his little yellow life raft and as he sat there awaiting rescue he encountered the Captain of the Submarine with two of its crew. He held the Germans captive until he was rescued. Twenty-four hours a day the planes from the flight deck of the FBI searched for submarines in the Atlantic. Twelve WILDCATS, and nine AVENGEBS kept up a constant vigil. 45 pilots readily ventured out in the hunt. These men were skilled and fearless flyers anxious to be in at the kill. One aviator who bragged in the Ready Room that he'd get a Hsubw on his next mission, achieved his goal but became so excited that he spun in. A passenger ensign lived to tell the story but the gallant pilot was lost. Each night at sunset an AVENGER, having a 301 gallon belly tank, would be launched for patrol duty. This plane, flying on a beam search of 50-75 miles from the moving carrier travelling at 16 knots. sought to discover wolves as they surfaced for an evening breather. One submarine was literally caught with its pants down. The crew was in swimming. Each hunting expedition lasted about three weeks. The adventurers ranged between the Equator and Latitude 300, from the Azores to within a few hundred miles of Europe. Each safari ended with recreation and rehabili- tation at Casablanca. THE NAZI SURFACES THE DEATH DIVE

Page 14 text:

BLOODHOUN OLP PACK In the Atlantic naval aviators sank 65 Germanusub- marines, more than half the total credited to the entire United States Navy. It is indisputable that carrier avia- tion swung the pendulum to victory in the Battle of the Atlantic. In 1942 U-Boats were sinking one in every 233 ships. That ratio dropped sharply in 1943 when escort carriers began to be used, and continued to drop until by 1944 only one in every 1,000 ships were sunk. In their counter-offensive the wolf packs tried a new trick-they remained submerged during the day and attacked at night. In January and February of 1944 these new tactics were successful. Then the USS BLOCK ISLAND developed new maneuvers. Our escort carriers began flying at night and, from that point on, the shadow of disaster deepened over the German sub- marines. Navy torpedo planes, flying from tl1e deck of the USS BLOCK ISLAND QCVE 21D were the first, also, to attack with airborne rockets. IHP WOII IRIIS I0 SUBNII Rfl A.lvI,M.K Ma UN, -f I r rf ,



Page 16 text:

-Q f , r E 5-4 3 l-E CVE 21 MORTALLY WOUNDED ' ROUND UP Nearly every day there was a periscope feather or other alarm and then on 23 May the flattop sailed out from Casablanca on another mission of destruction. A U-Boat, known to be headed south from the Bay of Biscay was its target. The FBI task force conducted round the clock air and surface operations. 27 May, 0225, Lt. jg Calvin E. Mansell, in a regular TBM scouting flight, made radar contact in 34O00' N., 22O40' W., on a target evaluated to be a submarine. As he started his approach the ICS went out and the plane passed over the contact before the pilot could ascertain the submarine's position. Lt. Mansell was unable to regain con- tact. Lt. J ack Littlefield was vectored to the scene of contact and relieved Lt. Mansell. Lt. Littlefield started square search and picked up blip, holding contact intermittently for one hour. The destroyer escorts were ordered to investigate contact but obtained only negative results. 29 May, 0255, Lt. John W. Magee saw the wake of a submarine, prepared to launch depth charge attack and then his flare went out. Lt. Magee once more illuminated area but sighted nothing. Several more planes were vectored out but the submarine, apparently alerted by the flare, sub- merged and the contact was lost. The task force, determined to locate the wolf, change its course and backtracked to the north at about 1958. It is probable that the CVE passed very close to the Nazi which thought itself corneredand launched a suicidal attack. At 2013 without warning of any kind a torpedo struck the USS BLOCK ISLAND QCVE-21j approximately at frame 12, near the bow, probably on the port side. Four seconds later another torpedo struck farther aft, travelling through several frames of the ship and exploded in an oil tank through the shaft alley and up through five inch ammunition magazines. E some D my BX THIQ HFPRN

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