USS Buckley (DE-51), 1944. (Photo Credit: US Navy / Naval History and Heritage Command / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain)
Posted on 07/14/2023 9:17:13 AM PDT by Kartographer
In the early hours of May 6, General Motors TBM Avengers and Grumman F4F Wildcats with Composite Squadron Fifty-Five (VC-55), aboard the USS Block Island (CVE-21), reported sighting a U-boat roughly 390 miles west of Cape Verdes. Buckley followed up on this and began following the German vessel.
At 2:16 AM, an Avenger picked up a radar contact about 20 miles from the ship. Buckley, under the command of Lt. Cmdr. Brent Abel, ordered the destroyer escort to turn toward the contact. She sailed at full speed toward the U-boat, all the time being given updates on course changes from the overhead aircraft.
As the gap between Buckley and the U-boat closed, U-66 exhausted her supplies and sailed the surface, recharging her batteries and waiting for a supply ship to arrive. At 3:08 AM, the German vessel fired three flares, believing the approaching ship was just that. The gap between the two had narrowed down to 4,000 yards when U-66 realized the true identity of the approaching ship.
(Excerpt) Read more at warhistoryonline.com ...
Arrrrrr!
Grabs your cutlass and do some chopping!
Thanks for that post. I hadn’t heard that story before.
If I am not mistaken, there is a coffee cup used as a weapon as well!
And a thermos!
(the German vessel fired three flares, believing the approaching ship was just that)
Oops.....
“During the engagement, which lasted less than 20 minutes, she used one hundred and five 3-inch rounds, twenty-seven hundred 20 mm rounds and four hundred and eighteen 40 mm rounds. In the hand-to-hand combat, 390 rounds of various types were used.”
The original “they need more range time!” story?
Great post!
Thanks
Heh, you gotta hand it to them!
I have not heard of this incident before now. Thanks for posting this!
Great story. Thanks for sharing.
USS Buckley DE-51 also armed with 1 twin 40mm anti-aircraft gun:
Used “four hundred and eighteen 40 mm rounds” in the battle.
I’m not sure I believe this story because there was no mention of a tranny on either ship.
Why did she ram the U-Boat? She’d already hit it a number of times with her guns, so the sub wasn’t able to submerge. All she had to do was stand off and continue shelling the sub. The sub couldn’t outrun her. Seems like a poor decision on the captain’s part as the Buckley now needed considerable repairs, which took her out of service for months.
That was a good read.
Seriously, how many captains of ships could claim hand to hand capture of a prize ship in WWII? He was probably hot as heck to capture it. And I can only imagine the sailors were just as adrenaline fired up also.
Does seem unnecessary but I don’t understand it either unless he was worried that the supply ship would show up
USS Buckley DE-51, more info
http://www.researcheratlarge.com/Ships/DE51/History.html
http://www.navsource.org/archives/06/051.htm
U-66
https://www.uboat.net/boats/u66.htm
U-548
https://www.uboat.net/boats/u548.htm
I would have hoped that the Navy would have allowed the ‘Buckley’ to fly a Jolly Roger pent for their feat!
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