Posted on 09/25/2003 12:00:07 AM PDT by SAMWolf
My Dads brother nearly bought the farm just off the entrance to the ST Lawrence in 1945.
His frigate..HMCS Stettler obtained a sonar contact..heading toward it at full speed.
Stettler was dragging a chain noisemaker contraption behind it...lucky for Freedy..it saved Stettler from certain destruction.
Discovered the U.Boat Commander on the net..and have his testimony of his shot at Stettler.
It was either sit inbetween the temperature gradients.. ride out a depth charge attck..then slink off..or take a bow on shot..an run.
Helmut Schmoeckel Commander of U 802 decided to fire a bow on shot with an acoustic torpedo.
Freddy commented that the explosion occured right in the chain locker,,and the geyser was huge.
Schmoeckel was a good U Boat commander...he survived the war..surrendering his new sub with its snorkel off Scapa Flow.
From what I have read on the German acoustic torpedo.it was powerfull..and seldom missed..unless you had noisemakers in the water.
Hemut served aboard another U Boat previous to his full command...he has a personal testimony on audio file at U.Boat.net...other commentary in some books.
Some of the cagyier U Boat commanders decided against resupply at sea with Milch Cows..opting for caches on coastlines..and raiding.
In one account Helmut just huged the coastline past Greenland..then dashed accross the high arctic to get home.
There are a few war yarns of German U Boat crews visiting Bars in Montreal and in Quebec during the war..hard to say..but we are talking about the French here..so anything is possible : )
Freddy's ship was in the ST Lawrence with a sister class ship..HMCS Magog ..which U 1223 chewed up with an acoustic.
The torpedo detonated behind the ship in the chains..and still blew the stern off.
Admiral Hipper
Admiral Donitz seemed afraid of Hitler..towed the party line..German navy just sat around till R.A.F. bombed them.
He was afraid of losing the fleet so he didin't use it.
Hiyo
Junyo
Nisshin
Shokaku
Shokaku W of Marianas damaged Jun.19/44 by torpedoes fired by US sub Cavalla blew up due to fuel vapors
Last "Banzai" onboard sinking ZUIKAKU (25/10/44)
The Bofors 40mm gun originated as a German Krupp design in 1918. The WW 2 40mm was manufactured by the Bofors Company in Sweden which, quite literally hand built and fitted each weapon. Mass production techniques were not used by Bofors. When the United States bought the rights to manufacture the 40mm, we did employ mass production techniques which allowed us to produce the 40mm by the thousands. The British produced the Mark 1 single barrel and the Mark II double barrel. The United States produced single, double and quad mounts of the 40mm and supplied them to all our allies.
The 40mm was the Navy's standard intermediate range anti-aircraft weapon throughout WW 2, the Mk IV quad mount being extremely effective. The 40mm was used post-war until fast-moving jet aircraft became commonplace.
Crew on the USS Hornet (CV12) firing their quad-40mm gun. The loaded "ready racks" are clearly visible. The gun crews are feeding the guns so quickly their hands are slightly blurred.
Quadruple 40mm in action
Seriously, I did it because it was my duty, as God gave me to see my duty. After that, I did it for the good women of my people, and the future of my people's children, and for the honor of my people who did their duty before me.
Sentimental old cuss!!! Next I'll be telling my grandchildren what I did in the war!!! Actually, I worked like he!! and had a few narrow escapes, end of story!!! Still life in me, but I must have used up most of my good luck by now, now I count on His Grace. Luck you can never count on, but the Lord is always.
You said "We owe you more than we can ever repay." What I did was a gift to God, and to my people. A gift freely given is not to be repaid. You are one of us, one outfit trying to turn the tide.
Me too. ;)
If no thanks are in order then I offer gratitude.
Thats a unique art print of the IJN carriers : )
A few crew members form USS Isherwood shared their experiences from duty stations on 40 mm and adjacent director tubs.
crowded...noisey..hard on the eyes..and legs as the vibration waves ponded thru their bodies.
eating the cordite grit from 5" 38's to the particles kicked up form the Bofors.
A diffucult place to be when a Kamikaze was boring in....DD-520 took a kamikaze in mount #3..the 40 mm crew ..director crew..and 5" mount were incinerated in av gas...grizzly reality for the survivors who saw their freinds go this way.
They commented to me..that off Okinawa..many in the tubs could see their sister cans in adjacent radar picket station or various screen configs slug it out with the Japanese...seeing cans explode sending ships superstructure up over 100ft.
some refused to sleep inside the ship..opting for a mat and a place on deck somewhere.
Am amazed at the mental fortitude of the young U.S. naval personel ....Okinawa must have pressed many to their limit of copeing.
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