Block Island (CVE 106) - Naval Cruise Book

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

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 17 text:

The rudder jtlllllllt'll to port 201 and lllc vessel was out ol' control. Escort destroyers welll to llank spccd. ri-va-rscul their courses and In-auli-il toward the carrier. XII power was lost and connnunicalions willi scrccn- ing destroyers failed. Xl 202i a pcriscopc was sighlcd from the Bllllilx ISLAND bridge. Because of power failure. gulls could not bc brought to bear on the target in time. although efforts lo train manually wcrc made. Witll the BLOCK ISLAND dead in the water and sinking fast. orders were given to prcluzrc to abandon ship. The executive ollicer ordered all men in the hangar deck crews to go topside and this undoubtedly is responsible for the small number of casualties. At 2023 the carrier was hit again by another torpedo which blew a thirty foot hole in the aft end of the hangar deck. There was an opening of about 18 inches completely across the Hight deck and down the side to the hangar deck. All salvage steps that could be taken were of no avail. Not only was there danger of the ship breaking in two but there was an ever present threat of another torpedo hit. The ship was abandoned at 2038. It had settled about 20 feet by the stern. Oflicers and crew left the ship on the starboard side. which was the windward side. Captain Hughes and the last of the personnel abandoned ship at 2145 after a man. pinned in the wreckage, had died while being extricated. A heavy explosion. probably of the remaining depth charges. occurred at 2208 and brought to an end the CVE 21. In this disaster, six men were lost, only a few injured. Wlithin an hour the crew, which had left their ship in an orderly manner. were kept close together on rafts. The stronger swimmers aided the injured and placed them with the weaker men in rafts. There was no disorder or confusion among these well trained naval men and many of them displayed high heroism the full story of which will never be known. That not one man was lost in this evolution although some were in the water over two hours until well after darkness had set in and during underwater explo- sions. demonstrates the discipline and character of all hands. Most of the personnel were picked up by the USS AHERXQS and USS PAINE. The USS ELMORE took the USS BARR in tow after it had been damaged bv the submarine which was fighting like a trapped animal. The AHERNS and the PAINE, after all men were rescued. stood clear of the area for the night while the ELMORE and the BARR stood by. In the morning the ships made a rendezvous and searched the area for any possible additional survivors. It is believed that 29 May at 2127 the submarine which had made the attack was exploded and sunk by hedgehogs from the USS ELMORE. After probably causing the demise of eleven submarines, the crew of the USS BLOCK ISLAND came into Casablanca 1 ,Iune at 1230. Although they had lost their ship, the crew was not without high honor. L u 34 Z 1-find, H 411911 401 FBI SURYIVORS AT CASABLANCA U.S.S. AHERNS ARRIVES AT CASABLANCA CAPTAIN HUGHES AND HIS OFFICERS WITH SURVIVOPS AT CASABLANCA