Battle of the Caribbean
Encyclopedia
The Battle of the Caribbean refers to a naval campaign waged during World War II
that was part of the Battle of the Atlantic, from 1941–1945. German
U-boat
s and Italian
submarine
s attempted to disrupt the Allied
supply of oil and other material. They sank shipping in the Caribbean Sea
and the Gulf of Mexico
and attacked coastal targets in the Antilles
. Improved Allied anti-submarine warfare
eventually drove the Axis submarines out of the Caribbean region, resulting in an Allied victory.
Werner Hartenstein
launched a coordinated strike
against the Lago Company refinery on Dutch-owned Aruba
and Allied oil tanker
s in the area on February 16, 1942. Six tankers were sunk by the U-boats and others were damaged. The Germans also slightly damaged a large storage tank. A Venezuelan gunboat
, , assisted in rescuing the crews of several torpedoed vessels and an American A-20 Havoc light bomber
skirmished with one of the German U-boats but was unsuccessful in defeating it. As result an increased American occupation of the island began for its protection.
, some forty miles west of Puerto Rico
, on March 3, 1942. No damage or casualties resulted.
An oil refinery on Curaçao was shelled
on 19 April 1942 by under Kapitän zur See
(Captain) Ernst Kals
. The small engagement ended in a German failure. Kals ordered the bombing of several petroleum storage tanks but after only five shots, a Dutch shore battery responded which forced him to abort. Later a German U-boat attacked a merchantship off Curaçao and was engaged by Dutch anti-aircraft and naval gun batteries but again the submarine escaped harm.
that was sunk on the morning of 13 May in the Caribbean by a U-boat. She was transporting a load of random cargo from Pensacola, Florida
to Venezuela when attacked by 90 mi (78.2 nmi; 144.8 km) east of Bonaire. At 03:38, U-69—under the command of Kapitänleutnant
(Lieutenant Commander) Ulrich Graf
—fired two torpedoes from a surfaced position. Both torpedoes missed, so Graf ordered his crew to close the range to 2200 yd (2,011.7 m) and to opened fire with the deck gun at 03:47. U-69 began shelling Norlantic as she attempted to flee the scene. After several hits the American ship signaled the Germans to cease fire so they could escape the inferno in their liferafts. The Germans failed to hold their fire while two lifeboats were lowered, then at 04:11 they fired a coup de grâce
which hit Norlantics boiler room. She sank, taking six men down with her, two men were killed by the torpedo and four men killed from the shelling. Norlantics surviving crew were then adrift at sea for several days before being rescued by Allied ships.
German U-boats sank two Mexican tankers, the Potrero del Llano
on 14 May by Reinhard Suhren
's off Florida, and Faja de Oro
on 21 May by Hermann Rasch
's off Key West
. Sixteen men died in the two attacks. This prompted Mexico to declare war on Germany on 1 June.
SS Sylvan Arrow
was a freighter
of the Standard Oil and Transportation Company
during World War II
when torpedo
ed her. The attack occurred on 20 May just southwest of Grenada
in the Caribbean Sea. Attempts to tow her to port did not succeed, and she sank on 28 May, at position 12° 50' north, 67° 32' west.
The tanker SS Hagan was sunk by on 11 June about 5 mi (4.3 nmi; 8 km) north of the Cuban coast. The American ship holding thousands of barrels of molasses was hit in the engine room. The torpedo destroyed the engines and caused a boiler to explode and a moment later another torpedo hit the ship. Six men were killed and 38 survivors made it to shore. Two days later, U-157 was sunk by a United States Coast Guard
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attacked the 6511 LT (6,615.5 t) Mexican tanker SS Amaltan on 4 September at the position 23°27′N 97°30′W / 23.45°N 97.5°W / 23.45; -97.5. The Mexicans evaded three attacks of two torpedoes each before being hit by one in a final spread. Amatlan sank with 10 men and another 24 sailors survived.
On 11 September, —under Kapitänleutnant (K/L) Hans-Jürgen Auffermann—torpedoed the armed Canadian steam merchant off the coastline of Bridgetown
. The ship sank in shallow waters after a short exchange, but was raised and towed to Trinidad
in December 1942 and later towed to Mobile
, arriving on 24 January 1943. The ship was repaired and returned to service in August 1943, but was torpedoed a second time, this time by on 3 December 1944 in the Gulf of Maine
, and sank.
On 5 July 1943, 70 mi (60.8 nmi; 112.7 km) to the west of Port Salut, Haiti
, encountered the American flagged steamer Maltran which was part of Convoy GTMO-134. U-759 fired torpedoes and at least one hit the vessel. Maltran sank within 15 minutes of being hit though all of her crew survived and escaped the danger in lifeboats.
The crew was later rescued by . On 7 July, U-759 torpedoed a Dutch cargo ship the Poelau Roebiah, in Convoy TAG-70. The ship sank just east of Jamaica
, taking down two men. Sixty-eight others were rescued. After sinking the Poelau Roebiah U-759 was chased down and attacked by the U.S. Navy the following day on. A PBM Mariner flying boat
first dropped a load of explosives over the sub and then for seven hours American surface vessels depth charged the area but U-759 escaped without damage or loss of life.
U-157 was sunk on 13 June 1942 by the U.S. Coast Guard. The U-boat was surface cruising just southwest of Key West, in position 24°13′N 82°03′W, when sighted by USCGC Thetis. The German submarine submerged and attempted to flee but Thetis gained sonar contact and began a depth charge
attack. After several minutes, the action ended when debris and oil were spotted by the Coast Guard crew. Thetis sank U-157.
Seven days after escaping attacking Allied ships off Haiti on 8 July 1943, U-759 was reported sunk; post war research discovered it was not until an attack on 23 July that she was actually destroyed. An American PBM Mariner at the approximate position of 15°58′N 73°44′W bombed and sank the boat.
The freighter was under escort by the American patrol chaser 45 mi (39.1 nmi; 72.4 km) south of the Mississippi River Delta
on 30 July 1942. Suddenly, a torpedo hit Lee, and PC-566 discovered the attacking . PC-566 launched depth charges at the submarine and sank her though it was not until after the war sinking was confirmed.
On 28 August, was in operation against convoy TAW 15 off Haiti
when attacked by American and Canadian escorts. First, an American PBY swooped down and bombed the U-boat, and then RCN corvette
s and attacked. Oakville fired depth charges which forced the submarine to the surface. The corvette then rammed U-94 twice before it slowed to a stop. Hal Lawrence
led a boarding party of eleven sailors from Oakville to capture the boat. They boarded the vessel and entered through the conning tower. Only two Canadians actually went through the hatch, they were surprised by two Germans who came running towards them. After ordering halt, the Canadians fired and killed the attacking Germans when they failed to stop. The rest of the crew surrendered without incident. After just barely capturing the vessel, the Canadian sailors realized the Germans had already scuttled the boat and it was taking on water. The Canadians left U-94 and she sank with nineteen of her crew; Oakville rescued 26, including the commander, Oberleutnant Otto Ites.
was detected and sunk northeast of Trinidad
by the Royal Navy
on 3 September. Three British destroyers—HMS Vimy, and —attacked U-162 with depth charges, killed two Germans and sank the boat. Forty-nine additional sailors survived and became prisoners of war in the U.S. The crew was interrogated and provided valuable information to the U.S. Army
Intelligence about U-boats and their submarine base at Lorient. The German skipper—K/L Jürgen Wattenberg
—escaped in late 1944 before being recaptured a month or so later.
The German auxiliary cruiser was scuttled on 27 September in the Caribbean. This was after Stier sank the American liberty ship
in a short battle.
On 15 May 1943, the Cuban freighters Camaguey and Honduran Hanks were being escorted by three small Cuban Navy submarine chaser
s from Sagua La Grande
to Havana. The convoy was nearing Havana in the Gulf of Mexico when an American reconnaissance aircraft spotted a German U-boat. The aircraft dropped a smoke float over , and the Cuban submarine chaser —under Second Lieutenant
Alférez Delgado—picked up the enemy craft with sonar. CS-13 attacked with depth charges and quickly sank the U-boat which killed all of her crew.
On 23 June, the unarmed USAT Major General Henry Gibbins
was steaming alone almost 400 mi (347.6 nmi; 643.7 km) west of Key West, Florida when she was attacked by . Two torpedoes hit the coffee laden Henry Gibbins on her portside over the course of 20 minutes and she sank soon after. All of her 47 crew and 21 U.S. Army guards survived the encounter and were rescued a day later.
SS Stephen Hopkins was an armed American liberty ship which fought during World War II. On 27 September, Stephen Hopkins was returning to Dutch Guiana
from Cape Town
when attacked by the auxiliary cruiser Stier. Stephen Hopkins was ordered to stop by the Germans, the Americans refused, so they opened fire with their main battery. A lone 4 in (101.6 mm) gun and a few machine gun
s were then put in operation by the Americans and a short but violent battle was fought. Both vessels suffered casualties and by 10:00 the American ship was sunk. Stier was badly damaged as well and could no longer make steam so her commander scuttled her less than two hours after defeating the American vessel.
The American gunboat was escorting Convoy TAG-20 in the Caribbean between Trinidad and Guantanamo Bay when attacked by a German U-boat in November 1942. —under Kurt-Eduard Engelmann—surfaced and fired three torpedoes at Erie. The Americans spotted the submarine and the torpedoes, then took evasive maneuvers. Erie escaped two of them but was hit by the third and badly damaged. Her crew grounded her on the nearby Cuban shore and she burned for several hours before the flames were brought under control. American forces suffered seven killed and eleven wounded in the attack. Later, Erie was towed to Aruba's Willemstad Harbor but capsized and sank on 5 December.
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
that was part of the Battle of the Atlantic, from 1941–1945. German
Kriegsmarine
The Kriegsmarine was the name of the German Navy during the Nazi regime . It superseded the Kaiserliche Marine of World War I and the post-war Reichsmarine. The Kriegsmarine was one of three official branches of the Wehrmacht, the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany.The Kriegsmarine grew rapidly...
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 and Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
submarine
Submarine
A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...
s attempted to disrupt the 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...
supply of oil and other material. They sank shipping in the Caribbean Sea
Caribbean Sea
The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean located in the tropics of the Western hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico and Central America to the west and southwest, to the north by the Greater Antilles, and to the east by the Lesser Antilles....
and the Gulf of Mexico
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...
and attacked coastal targets in the Antilles
Antilles
The Antilles islands form the greater part of the West Indies in the Caribbean Sea. The Antilles are divided into two major groups: the "Greater Antilles" to the north and west, including the larger islands of Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola , and Puerto Rico; and the smaller "Lesser Antilles" on the...
. Improved Allied anti-submarine warfare
Anti-submarine warfare
Anti-submarine warfare is a branch of naval warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, or other submarines to find, track and deter, damage or destroy enemy submarines....
eventually drove the Axis submarines out of the Caribbean region, resulting in an Allied victory.
Attack on Aruba
Seven German and Italian submarines under the command of CommanderCommander
Commander is a naval rank which is also sometimes used as a military title depending on the individual customs of a given military service. Commander is also used as a rank or title in some organizations outside of the armed forces, particularly in police and law enforcement.-Commander as a naval...
Werner Hartenstein
Werner Hartenstein
Gustav Julius Werner Hartenstein was a Korvettenkapitän with the Kriegsmarine during World War II and commander of . He was also a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross . The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military...
launched a coordinated strike
Attack on Aruba
The Attack on Aruba was an attack on oil installations and tankers by Axis submarines during World War II. On 16 February 1942, a German U-boat attacked the small island of Aruba in the first shelling of American soil by Axis forces during the war. Other submarines patrolled the area for shipping...
against the Lago Company refinery on Dutch-owned Aruba
Aruba
Aruba is a 33 km-long island of the Lesser Antilles in the southern Caribbean Sea, located 27 km north of the coast of Venezuela and 130 km east of Guajira Peninsula...
and Allied oil tanker
Oil tanker
An oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tanker, is a merchant ship designed for the bulk transport of oil. There are two basic types of oil tankers: the crude tanker and the product tanker. Crude tankers move large quantities of unrefined crude oil from its point of extraction to refineries...
s in the area on February 16, 1942. Six tankers were sunk by the U-boats and others were damaged. The Germans also slightly damaged a large storage tank. A Venezuelan gunboat
Gunboat
A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies.-History:...
, , assisted in rescuing the crews of several torpedoed vessels and an American A-20 Havoc light bomber
Light bomber
A light bomber is a relatively small and fast class of military bomber aircraft which were primarily employed before the 1950s. Such aircraft would typically not carry more than one ton of ordnance....
skirmished with one of the German U-boats but was unsuccessful in defeating it. As result an increased American occupation of the island began for its protection.
Other operations
A German submarine shelled the American island of MonaMona, Puerto Rico
Mona is the third largest island of the archipelago of Puerto Rico, after the main island of Puerto Rico and Vieques. It is the largest of three islands located in the Mona Passage, a strait between the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, the others being Monito Island and Desecheo Island...
, some forty miles west of Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
, on March 3, 1942. No damage or casualties resulted.
An oil refinery on Curaçao was shelled
Bombardment of Curaçao
The Bombardment of Curaçao refers to a 1942 German naval bombardment of a Bullen Baai Company petroleum storage facility on the small island of Curaçao during World War II...
on 19 April 1942 by under Kapitän zur See
Captain at Sea
Captain at Sea, is a naval rank corresponding to command of a ship-of-the-line or capital ship....
(Captain) Ernst Kals
Ernst Kals
Ernst Kals was a Kapitän zur See with the Kriegsmarine during World War II. He commanded the Type IXC U-boat on five patrols, and sank twenty ships, for a total of 145,656 tons of Allied shipping, becoming the sixteenth highest scoring U-Boat ace of World War II...
. The small engagement ended in a German failure. Kals ordered the bombing of several petroleum storage tanks but after only five shots, a Dutch shore battery responded which forced him to abort. Later a German U-boat attacked a merchantship off Curaçao and was engaged by Dutch anti-aircraft and naval gun batteries but again the submarine escaped harm.
Attacks on Allied shipping
was an American-flagged, 3860 LT (3,922 t) cargo shipCargo ship
A cargo ship or freighter is any sort of ship or vessel that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's seas and oceans each year; they handle the bulk of international trade...
that was sunk on the morning of 13 May in the Caribbean by a U-boat. She was transporting a load of random cargo from Pensacola, Florida
Pensacola, Florida
Pensacola is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle and the county seat of Escambia County, Florida, United States of America. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 56,255 and as of 2009, the estimated population was 53,752...
to Venezuela when attacked by 90 mi (78.2 nmi; 144.8 km) east of Bonaire. At 03:38, U-69—under the command of Kapitänleutnant
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....
(Lieutenant Commander) Ulrich Graf
Ulrich Graf
Ulrich Graf was one of the earliest members of the circle around Adolf Hitler.Graf was an amateur wrestler and a butcher's apprentice, and became Hitler's personal bodyguard from 1920 to 1923. He was present at the Beer Hall Putsch, where, with Rudolf Hess, he cleared Hitler's way to the platform...
—fired two torpedoes from a surfaced position. Both torpedoes missed, so Graf ordered his crew to close the range to 2200 yd (2,011.7 m) and to opened fire with the deck gun at 03:47. U-69 began shelling Norlantic as she attempted to flee the scene. After several hits the American ship signaled the Germans to cease fire so they could escape the inferno in their liferafts. The Germans failed to hold their fire while two lifeboats were lowered, then at 04:11 they fired 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 hit Norlantics boiler room. She sank, taking six men down with her, two men were killed by the torpedo and four men killed from the shelling. Norlantics surviving crew were then adrift at sea for several days before being rescued by Allied ships.
German U-boats sank two Mexican tankers, the Potrero del Llano
Potrero del Llano
SS Potrero del Llano was an oil tanker built in 1912. She sailed for a number of companies, and survived service in the First World War, only to be torpedoed and sunk by a German U-boat during the Second World War while sailing under the Mexican flag off the coast of Florida...
on 14 May by Reinhard Suhren
Reinhard Suhren
Commander Reinhard "Teddy" Suhren was a German U-boat commander in World War II and younger brother of Korvettenkapitän and Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross recipient Gerd Suhren. Suhren began his U-boat career in March 1938...
's off Florida, and Faja de Oro
Faja de Oro
SS Faja de Oro was an oil tanker built in 1914. She sailed for a number of companies, and survived service in the First World War, only to be torpedoed and sunk by a German U-boat during the Second World War while sailing under the Mexican flag in the Gulf of Mexico...
on 21 May by Hermann Rasch
Hermann Rasch
Hermann Rasch was a German U-boat commander in World War II and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross...
's off Key West
Key West
Key West is an island in the Straits of Florida on the North American continent at the southernmost tip of the Florida Keys. Key West is home to the southernmost point in the Continental United States; the island is about from Cuba....
. Sixteen men died in the two attacks. This prompted Mexico to declare war on Germany on 1 June.
SS Sylvan Arrow
USS Sylvan Arrow (ID-2150)
USS Sylvan Arrow was a United States Navy tanker in commission from 1918 to 1919.-Construction, acquisition, and commissioning:...
was a freighter
Cargo ship
A cargo ship or freighter is any sort of ship or vessel that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's seas and oceans each year; they handle the bulk of international trade...
of the Standard Oil and Transportation Company
Standard Oil
Standard Oil was a predominant American integrated oil producing, transporting, refining, and marketing company. Established in 1870 as a corporation in Ohio, it was the largest oil refiner in the world and operated as a major company trust and was one of the world's first and largest multinational...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
when torpedo
Torpedo
The modern torpedo is a self-propelled missile weapon with an explosive warhead, launched above or below the water surface, propelled underwater towards a target, and designed to detonate either on contact with it or in proximity to it.The term torpedo was originally employed for...
ed her. The attack occurred on 20 May just southwest of Grenada
Grenada
Grenada is an island country and Commonwealth Realm consisting of the island of Grenada and six smaller islands at the southern end of the Grenadines in the southeastern Caribbean Sea...
in the Caribbean Sea. Attempts to tow her to port did not succeed, and she sank on 28 May, at position 12° 50' north, 67° 32' west.
The tanker SS Hagan was sunk by on 11 June about 5 mi (4.3 nmi; 8 km) north of the Cuban coast. The American ship holding thousands of barrels of molasses was hit in the engine room. The torpedo destroyed the engines and caused a boiler to explode and a moment later another torpedo hit the ship. Six men were killed and 38 survivors made it to shore. Two days later, U-157 was sunk by a United States Coast Guard
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...
cutter.
On 11 September, —under Kapitänleutnant (K/L) Hans-Jürgen Auffermann—torpedoed the armed Canadian steam merchant off the coastline of Bridgetown
Bridgetown
The city of Bridgetown , metropolitan pop 96,578 , is the capital and largest city of the nation of Barbados. Formerly, the Town of Saint Michael, the Greater Bridgetown area is located within the parish of Saint Michael...
. The ship sank in shallow waters after a short exchange, but was raised and towed to Trinidad
Trinidad
Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. With an area of it is also the fifth largest in...
in December 1942 and later towed to Mobile
Mobile, Alabama
Mobile is the third most populous city in the Southern US state of Alabama and is the county seat of Mobile County. It is located on the Mobile River and the central Gulf Coast of the United States. The population within the city limits was 195,111 during the 2010 census. It is the largest...
, arriving on 24 January 1943. The ship was repaired and returned to service in August 1943, but was torpedoed a second time, this time by on 3 December 1944 in the Gulf of Maine
Gulf of Maine
The Gulf of Maine is a large gulf of the Atlantic Ocean on the east coast of North America.It is delineated by Cape Cod at the eastern tip of Massachusetts in the southwest and Cape Sable at the southern tip of Nova Scotia in the northeast. It includes the entire coastlines of the U.S...
, and sank.
On 5 July 1943, 70 mi (60.8 nmi; 112.7 km) to the west of Port Salut, Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
, encountered the American flagged steamer Maltran which was part of Convoy GTMO-134. U-759 fired torpedoes and at least one hit the vessel. Maltran sank within 15 minutes of being hit though all of her crew survived and escaped the danger in lifeboats.
The crew was later rescued by . On 7 July, U-759 torpedoed a Dutch cargo ship the Poelau Roebiah, in Convoy TAG-70. The ship sank just east of Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
, taking down two men. Sixty-eight others were rescued. After sinking the Poelau Roebiah U-759 was chased down and attacked by the U.S. Navy the following day on. A PBM Mariner flying boat
Flying boat
A flying boat is a fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a float plane as it uses a purpose-designed fuselage which can float, granting the aircraft buoyancy. Flying boats may be stabilized by under-wing floats or by wing-like projections from the fuselage...
first dropped a load of explosives over the sub and then for seven hours American surface vessels depth charged the area but U-759 escaped without damage or loss of life.
Axis vessels
Depth charge
A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare weapon intended to destroy or cripple a target submarine by the shock of exploding near it. Most use explosives and a fuze set to go off at a preselected depth in the ocean. Depth charges can be dropped by either surface ships, patrol aircraft, or from...
attack. After several minutes, the action ended when debris and oil were spotted by the Coast Guard crew. Thetis sank U-157.
Seven days after escaping attacking Allied ships off Haiti on 8 July 1943, U-759 was reported sunk; post war research discovered it was not until an attack on 23 July that she was actually destroyed. An American PBM Mariner at the approximate position of 15°58′N 73°44′W bombed and sank the boat.
The freighter was under escort by the American patrol chaser 45 mi (39.1 nmi; 72.4 km) south of the Mississippi River Delta
Mississippi River Delta
The Mississippi River Delta is the modern area of land built up by alluvium deposited by the Mississippi River as it slows down and enters the Gulf of Mexico...
on 30 July 1942. Suddenly, a torpedo hit Lee, and PC-566 discovered the attacking . PC-566 launched depth charges at the submarine and sank her though it was not until after the war sinking was confirmed.
On 28 August, was in operation against convoy TAW 15 off Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
when attacked by American and Canadian escorts. First, an American PBY swooped down and bombed the U-boat, and then RCN corvette
Corvette
A corvette is a small, maneuverable, lightly armed warship, originally smaller than a frigate and larger than a coastal patrol craft or fast attack craft , although many recent designs resemble frigates in size and role...
s and attacked. Oakville fired depth charges which forced the submarine to the surface. The corvette then rammed U-94 twice before it slowed to a stop. Hal Lawrence
Hal Lawrence
Harold Ernest Thomas Lawrence was a Canadian naval officer and author. He was born in the Corps of Royal Engineers barracks at Chatham, England; and moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia.-Career:...
led a boarding party of eleven sailors from Oakville to capture the boat. They boarded the vessel and entered through the conning tower. Only two Canadians actually went through the hatch, they were surprised by two Germans who came running towards them. After ordering halt, the Canadians fired and killed the attacking Germans when they failed to stop. The rest of the crew surrendered without incident. After just barely capturing the vessel, the Canadian sailors realized the Germans had already scuttled the boat and it was taking on water. The Canadians left U-94 and she sank with nineteen of her crew; Oakville rescued 26, including the commander, Oberleutnant Otto Ites.
was detected and sunk northeast of Trinidad
Trinidad
Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. With an area of it is also the fifth largest in...
by the 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...
on 3 September. Three British destroyers—HMS Vimy, and —attacked U-162 with depth charges, killed two Germans and sank the boat. Forty-nine additional sailors survived and became prisoners of war in the U.S. The crew was interrogated and provided valuable information to the U.S. 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...
Intelligence about U-boats and their submarine base at Lorient. The German skipper—K/L Jürgen Wattenberg
Jürgen Wattenberg
Jürgen Wattenberg was a German naval officer and U-boat commander during the Second World War. In a successful career spanning just under a year, he sank 14 ships, a total of 82,027 gross registered tons ....
—escaped in late 1944 before being recaptured a month or so later.
The German auxiliary cruiser was scuttled on 27 September in the Caribbean. This was after Stier sank the American liberty ship
Liberty ship
Liberty ships were cargo ships built in the United States during World War II. Though British in conception, they were adapted by the U.S. as they were cheap and quick to build, and came to symbolize U.S. wartime industrial output. Based on vessels ordered by Britain to replace ships torpedoed by...
in a short battle.
On 15 May 1943, the Cuban freighters Camaguey and Honduran Hanks were being escorted by three small Cuban Navy submarine chaser
Submarine chaser
A submarine chaser is a small and fast naval vessel specially intended for anti-submarine warfare. Although similar vessels were designed and used by many nations, this designation was most famously used by ships built by the United States of America...
s from Sagua La Grande
Sagua La Grande
Sagua La Grande is a municipality and city located on the north coast of the province of Villa Clara in central Cuba, on the Sagua la Grande River. The city is close to Mogotes de Jumagua, limestone cliffs...
to Havana. The convoy was nearing Havana in the Gulf of Mexico when an American reconnaissance aircraft spotted a German U-boat. The aircraft dropped a smoke float over , and the Cuban submarine chaser —under Second Lieutenant
Second Lieutenant
Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces.- United Kingdom and Commonwealth :The rank second lieutenant was introduced throughout the British Army in 1871 to replace the rank of ensign , although it had long been used in the Royal Artillery, Royal...
Alférez Delgado—picked up the enemy craft with sonar. CS-13 attacked with depth charges and quickly sank the U-boat which killed all of her crew.
Allied vessels
was a one gun liberty ship during the war, she was sailing off eastern Cuba when sunk by on 20 May 1942. Ten men were killed when three torpedoes slammed into George Calvert and she was underwater within minutes. The surviving crew were captured by the Germans and interrogated before being freed in lifeboats. Three armed guards were killed and the survivors made it to the Cuban shore.On 23 June, the unarmed USAT Major General Henry Gibbins
USS West Elcasco (ID-3661)
USS West Elcasco was a steel-hulled cargo ship which saw service as an auxiliary with the U.S Navy in World War I and as an Army transport in World War II....
was steaming alone almost 400 mi (347.6 nmi; 643.7 km) west of Key West, Florida when she was attacked by . Two torpedoes hit the coffee laden Henry Gibbins on her portside over the course of 20 minutes and she sank soon after. All of her 47 crew and 21 U.S. Army guards survived the encounter and were rescued a day later.
SS Stephen Hopkins was an armed American liberty ship which fought during World War II. On 27 September, Stephen Hopkins was returning to Dutch Guiana
Dutch Guiana
Dutch Guiana, also known as Netherlands Guyana or Dutch Guyana , is the name given to various Dutch colonies on the northern coast of South America, created by the Dutch West India Company...
from Cape Town
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
when attacked by the auxiliary cruiser Stier. Stephen Hopkins was ordered to stop by the Germans, the Americans refused, so they opened fire with their main battery. A lone 4 in (101.6 mm) gun and a few 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 were then put in operation by the Americans and a short but violent battle was fought. Both vessels suffered casualties and by 10:00 the American ship was sunk. Stier was badly damaged as well and could no longer make steam so her commander scuttled her less than two hours after defeating the American vessel.
The American gunboat was escorting Convoy TAG-20 in the Caribbean between Trinidad and Guantanamo Bay when attacked by a German U-boat in November 1942. —under Kurt-Eduard Engelmann—surfaced and fired three torpedoes at Erie. The Americans spotted the submarine and the torpedoes, then took evasive maneuvers. Erie escaped two of them but was hit by the third and badly damaged. Her crew grounded her on the nearby Cuban shore and she burned for several hours before the flames were brought under control. American forces suffered seven killed and eleven wounded in the attack. Later, Erie was towed to Aruba's Willemstad Harbor but capsized and sank on 5 December.
External links
- http://www.uboatsbahamas.com - History of 150 Allied ships attacked by 85 German and Italian submarines in the 1 million-mile area bounded by: North of the Greater Antilles Anegada to Havana, Havana to Key West, Charleston to Bermuda, and Bermuda to Anegada, including all of the Bahamas, 1939–1945.
- Cubans sunk a German submarine in WWII