In less than seven months U-boat attacks would destroy 22 percent of the tanker fleet and sink 233 ships in the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. After training with the 4th U-boat Flotilla U-166 was.
The closest of these to St Croix was U-159 but this does not fit your story.
German u boats in gulf of mexico ww2. During a five-month period in the late spring and summer of 1942 the German U-boat Force mounted a deadly offensive in the Gulf of Mexico as part of its worldwide campaign to. In 1942 German U-Boats were waging a costly hidden war in the Gulf of Mexico only a few miles off the coast of Louisiana. Lost among the histories of major World War Two battles with Nazi Germany are a series of attacks on American ships along the Gulf coast of.
U Boats in the Gulf of Mexico. Torpedoed Tankers and the Oil Supply during WWII. On May 5 1942 the German submarine U-507 sank two tankers the Munger T.
Ball and the Cudahy in the Gulf of Mexico west of the Florida Everglades. These U-boats reportedly sank 41 ships in the month of May 1942 alone. At least one of those German invaders never left the Gulf.
U-166 now sits almost a. Unknown to many in the early days of US. Involvement in World War II German U-boats clouded Gulf waters with an ominous presence.
With over 70 naval and merchant ships falling victim to Germanys Gulf fleet there was cause for real concern – and for the safety of. 23 of 23. During WWII the Gulf of Mexico was home to a frightening covert menace.
Numerous German U-boats that patrolled the southeast Texas coast. Over 20 U-boats sank more than 70 ships in the Gulf of Mexico between 1942 and 1943. The Germans called it Operation Drumbeat or the Second.
German submarine U-166 was a Type IXC U-boat of Nazi Germanys Kriegsmarine during World War II. The submarine was laid down on 6 December 1940 at the Seebeckwerft at Wesermünde as yard number 705 launched on 1 November 1941 and commissioned on 23 March 1942 under the command of Oberleutnant zur See Hans-Günther Kuhlmann. After training with the 4th U-boat Flotilla U-166 was.
This undated photo provided by the National World War II Museum shows Oberleutnant zur See Hans-Gunther Kuhlmann commander of the German U-boat U. 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 to 1945. German U-boats and Italian submarines 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. Sunk on 30 July 1942 in the Gulf of Mexico south-east of New Orleans in position 2840N 8830W by depth charges from the US patrol craft USS PC-566. 52 dead all hands lost.
See the 4 ships hit by U-166 - View the 2 war patrols. The secret submarine base alluded to in the above quote was reportedly a World War II Japanese submarine refuelling and resupply depot hidden in the estuaries on the Pacific side of Mexico in the state of Chiapas so far south it was only about 60 miles north of the Guatemalan border. In fact naval historians tell us that Germanys concentrated war effort in the Gulf of Mexico in 1942 and early 1943 represent one of the most celebrated sea campaigns of all time.
At least two U-boat Captains earned Germanys Distinguished Iron Cross for their efforts and the campaign is credited with effectively disrupting US. Oil and gas. At the onset of World War II the German high command wasted no time in sending U-boats to harass shipping along the Atlantic Coast and in the Gulf of Mexico.
In the early months of the War only five ships were sunk in the Gulf waters. But in May 1942 enemy submarines sank 41 ships totaling almost 220000 gross tons. Over half were tankers.
From then until early August German U-boats dominated the waters off the East Coast sinking fuel tankers and cargo ships with impunity and often within sight of shore. In less than seven months U-boat attacks would destroy 22 percent of the tanker fleet and sink 233 ships in the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. The U-boats killed 5000.
German U-boats that once prowled the Gulf of Mexico have left a legacy of mystery tragedy and intrigue - and 56 sunken ships that still rest on. A culmination of articles written for the local paper World War II in the Gulf of Mexico is an omnibus of CJ. Christs research into the German u-boat menace in the Gulf of Mexico during World War IIRead the book that contributed to the US.
Navys vindication of Captain Herbert Claudius finally crediting him with the sinking of the U-166 in 2014. A German U-boat torpedoed the ship they were sailing on in the Gulf of Mexico in 1942. On May 19 1942 Ray Downs and his family were aboard the freighter Heredia about 40.
Ships hit by U-boats off the US East Coast and Gulf The losses off the US East Coast were overwhelmingly in 1942 during Operation Drumbeat and its successor operations but the U-boats visited the area throughout the war. This map currently includes ships lost. Two World War II shipwrecks lie two miles apart in the Gulf of Mexico One is a German U-boat that sank an American steamer Nazis sank about 50 American ships in the Gulf during the war.
The German U-boat 166 was a submarine in use during World War II which was sunk in the Gulf of Mexico on July 30 1942. At the time a number of German U-boats patrolled the area off the southeast Texas coast. Over time sunken vessels such as this have been found and they serve as a vivid reminder of how close our enemy truly was.
Only 10 German U-boats were lost in the Caribbean during WWII plus 2 in the Gulf of Mexico. The closest of these to St Croix was U-159 but this does not fit your story. U-159 was sunk 28 Jul 1943 300 miles SW of St Croix by aerial depth charges dropped from US Navy.
U-boats prowled Gulf in the deadly summer of 1942. This column first ran in the Caller-Times on Sept. 30 2009 Last week they found a ship sunk near Sabine Pass.
The Coast Guard thinks it.