How the Coast Guard sank a German U-boat off the North Carolina coast

After the Japanese plane provider raid on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, adopted by Germany’s and Italy’s declarations of battle on the USA on the eleventh, the three Axis navies adopted totally different methods: Italy, seldom venturing out of the Mediterranean Sea, was primarily the British Royal Navy’s downside; Japan’s formidable fleet sought a buffer zone of islands and a decisive showdown with the U.S. Navy; and Germany’s Kriegsmarine was a match for neither the Royal Navy, nor the quickly rising U.S. Navy, aside from its submarine service.

Primarily based on its expertise in World Conflict I, German Adm. Karl Doenitz’s new era of submarines, working in well-coordinated “wolf packs,” challenged Britain’s maritime energy as soon as extra. With America’s cargo ships added to their goal menu, combat-experienced U-boat captains had been dispatched to the Atlantic coast in Operation Paukenschlag, choosing off U.S. ships with such ease that for the primary half of 1942 that the Individuals dubbed the waters between northeastern Virginia and Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, as “Torpedo Junction.”

Throughout that point, U-boat captains grew to become so assured that on Feb. 28, 1942, U-578 torpedoed the destroyer Jacob Jones off Cape Might, New Jersey; solely 11 of its 114-man crew survived.

Not till virtually two months later, on the evening of April 13, did one other destroyer, Roper, precise revenge in a protracted struggle off Cape Hatteras. The German U-85 went down with all 46 arms aboard — the primary German U-boat sunk by a U.S. Navy ship since America entered the battle.

Regardless of that success, the increasing Battle of the Atlantic was nonetheless not going effectively for the U.S. Navy. As of Might 8, 1942, the Germans had sunk 87 Allied merchantmen alongside the East Coast and the destroyer Jacob Jones, with simply three U-boats misplaced.

The subsequent encounter would contain a department of American service that was, and infrequently nonetheless is, the butt of Navy jokes: the U.S. Coast Guard. On this event, that picture was about to vary.

With a lot of the U.S. Navy’s newest warships dedicated to combating the Japanese, the Coast Guard supplemented the Atlantic fleet’s arsenal with a “Bucket Brigade” comprised of all of the assets it had, together with the Icarus, a 1932-vintage 165-foot-long, diesel-powered “B” class cutter.

Its captain, Lt. Cmdr. Maurice David Jester, was born in Chincoteague, Virginia, on Might 13, 1889. He enlisted within the Coast Guard in 1917 as a surfman stationed at Rehoboth Seaside, Delaware. Through the Nineteen Twenties and early Thirties, he enforced Prohibition, searching rum-runners alongside the japanese coast, and rose to chief boatswain’s mate in 1935. From then via to 1939, he served off California and Oregon. After the Pearl Harbor assault, he was recalled east, the place he was commissioned a lieutenant and, in January 1942, obtained his first command, Icarus.

On Might 8, Icarus left Staten Island, New York, for Key West, Florida. The next day, the vessel was zig-zagging its approach off Cape Lookout, North Carolina, when the officer-on-deck known as Jester to the bridge and reported their sonar man had picked up a “mushy” contact 2,000 yards off the bow in 120 toes of water. Calling all arms to battle stations, 10 minutes later Jester was positioning Icarus to assault within the basic course of the unidentified blip when an explosion erupted 200 yards off the left aspect — the bogie was enemy, all proper, and it had overwhelmed him to the draw.

Utilizing his long-acquired data of the area to infer the enemy’s underwater actions, Jester fired 5 depth fees from his Y-guns in a diamond sample and famous massive bubbles developing. He adopted that up six minutes later with one other depth cost assault, adopted by two extra in a “V” sample, which produced extra, larger bubbles.

In Cape Lookout’s waters, submarine U-352 and its crew had been certainly in hassle.

Though 31 years outdated, its captain, Hellmut Rathke had solely been commanding a U-boat since Aug. 27, 1941, and as a colleague, submarine ace Erich Topp, commented in a postwar interview, “Rathke was lower than the best choice to command a U-boat.”

In the midst of two patrols in American waters he had up to now sunk exactly nothing.

Little question Icarus supplied the prospect of sinking one thing, however as U-85′s destiny confirmed, the Individuals had been studying and had been to not be underestimated.

Rathke struck first, launching two torpedoes on the approaching the cutter, however one missed and the opposite exploded. Considering it had struck the goal, Rathke surfaced to survey his sufferer, solely to see Icarus nonetheless approaching with single 3-inch cannon and 20mm weapons blazing — his torpedos had detonated in opposition to the sandy backside of Cape Lookout. Rathke ordered his boat to submerge however discovered himself with restricted room to maneuver or dive amid a deluge of depth fees.

With U-352 too badly broken to flee, Rathke noticed no remaining various however to order abandon ship. Because it surfaced, the sub broached, permitting the crew no exit besides by way of the approaching tower. Icarus’ crew initially thought them swarming to their 88mm gun and fired their very own weapons at them till Jester, observing they weren’t making a floor struggle of it, ordered “stop hearth” whereas U-352 went down for the final time.

As Icarus disengaged, Jester radioed the sixth Naval District in Charleston, South Carolina, with the opening summary, “Contacted submarine, destroyed identical.”

Fifteen of U-352′s crew had been useless, leaving 33, together with Rathke, within the water. Uncertain of what to do, Jester signaled Navy headquarters in Norfolk, Virginia, which suggested him to simply let the Germans drown. Jester, nonetheless, sought a second opinion from the sixth Naval District, which instructed him to return and rescue them. Consequently, 40 to 45 minutes after the struggle started, Icarus rescued 33 of U-352′s crew, whose arrival within the Charleston Navy Yard marked the primary time international prisoners of battle set foot on mainland American soil since 1815.

Awarded the Navy Cross — the primary of six earned by members of the U.S. Coast Guard — Jester reserved some severe remarks for his males: “All stations had been manned correctly, and with out confusion. Their conduct all through was manifested with enthusiasm, alertness and devotion to obligation.”

Earlier than they parted firm, U-352′s submariners made a degree of thanking Jester and his males for the therapy they’d obtained and even after the battle Rathke despatched a private letter of due to his former adversary.

Icarus and its sister ships of the Coast Guard would contribute way more to the Allied victory within the years to come back.

Jester retired in 1944 and died of coronary heart illness on Aug. 31, 1957. He, his spouse and his son, Clarence Baynard Jester — who served within the U.S. Navy throughout World Conflict II — are buried at Arlington Nationwide Cemetery.

U-352 lies the place it sank in 110 toes as a man-made reef and historic web site, popularly visited by scuba divers.