Actions of 5/6 May 1945

The last actions of the Battle of the Atlantic in American waters took place on 5/6 May 1945.

Background

During the first 5 months of 1945 the U-boat Arm (UbW) of the German navy dispatched 19 U-boat patrols to American waters, including 7 sailings constituting group "Seewolf", the last wolf pack of the Battle of the Atlantic.By 5 May just 9 were still at large, including 3 "Seewolf" boats.

First action

On 5 May "U-853", lying in wait off Point Judith, Rhode Island, sighted and fired on SS "Black Point", a collier underway for Boston, Massachusetts. Her torpedoes struck, and within 15 minutes, "Black Point" had capsized in convert|95|ft|m of water, the last US-flagged merchant ship sunk in World War II. 12 men died, while 34 crew members were rescued. One of the rescuing ships, SS "Kamen", sent a report of the torpedoing that was picked up by four American warships:
USS "Ericsson", USS "Amick" (DE-168), USS "Atherton" (DE-169), and USS "Moberly" (PF-63), which discovered "U-853" bottomed in 18 fathoms (33 m), and dropped more than a hundred depth charges through the night. The next morning, May 6, two blimps from Lakehurst, New Jersey, "K-16" and "K-58", joined the attack, locating oil slicks and marking suspected locations with smoke and dye markers. "K-16" also attacked with convert|7.2|in|mm|sing=on rocket bombs. Finally, planking, life rafts, a chart tabletop, clothing, and an officer's cap floated to the surface, indicating the destruction, with all hands, 55 officers and men.

econd action

Also on 6 May USS "Farquhar", a destroyer escort with the "Mission Bay" hunter-killer group detected "U-881", a Seewolf boat running submerged 300 miles miles south-east of Cape Race. Making a sudden attack, "Farquhar" closed and dropped 13 depth charges in a single attack which destroyed "U-881" with the loss of all hands.

Conclusion

These were the last U-boats destroyed in action in American waters; on 8 May the Germans surrendered, and the last active U-boats in American waters gave themselves up to units of the USN and RCN.

External links

* [http://www.uboat.net/boats/u853.htm U-853 at u-boat.net]

* [http://www.uboat.net/boats/u881.htm U-881 at u-boat.net]

References

* Clay Blair : Hitler’s U-Boat War Vol II (1998) ISBN 0-304-35261

* Paul Kemp : U-Boats Destroyed ( 1997) . ISBN 1 85409 515 3

* Axel Neistle : German U-Boat Losses during World War II (1998) . ISBN 1 85367 352 8