Wartime navy captain blamed for letting Nazi U-boat get away.... now hailed as a hero...

Daily Mail (UK) ^ | 8th May 2015 | Elaine O'Flynn

[naturalman1975]

The reputation of a disgraced wartime navy captain has been restored, thanks to the discoveries of a documentary featuring the finder of the Titanic.

For more than 60 years, Captain Herbert G. Claudius was blamed for letting a Nazi U-boat ‘get away’, after it sank the Robert E. Lee passenger freighter in the Gulf of Mexico in 1942.

But an undersea expedition – aided by Dr Robert Ballard who rediscovered the Titanic 30 years ago – has revealed the first published pictures of the submarine’s wreckage, showing how bombs dropped by Cpt Claudius’ crew successfully sunk the attacker U-166.

.....

On July 30, 1942, the Robert E. Lee passenger ship carrying 407 people was sunk by a torpedo dispatched from U-166.

Captain Claudius and his men pursued the submarine after the attack and dropped depth charges, but the German u-boar never surfaced

The US team declared victory and set about rescuing passengers from the sunken ship - but days later, 140 miles, there was another sighting of the deadly Nazi submarine.

Captain Claudius was reportedly hauled in front of his bosses to be reprimanded for letting the U-boat get away, and he was ordered to return to naval college.

....

Secretary Ray Mabus praised the officer and his crew's bravery for working in 'very dangerous waters.'

'Seventy years later, we now know that [Claudius’s] report after the action was absolutely correct,” Mabus said in a report by website Star and Stripes.

“[He] did sink that U-boat, and it’s never too late to set the record straight.'

[KarlInOhio]

Just forward of the conning tower, the metal deck was distorted into an unmistakable crater. They speculate that Captain Claudius may have actually landed a depth charge directly on the deck, and it detonated as the sub dove through weapon’s activation depth. My friend said that chances are the torpedoes indeed did explode, as all of the hatches on the submarine were blown outward. The bow section broke off at the forward torpedo loading hatch.

I didn't see those two points on Nova. They had the speculation about the depth charge landing on the sub's deck, but didn't mention the cratering of the deck. The didn't mention the hatches being blown outward either, which would have required a powerful internal explosion. They just used the where the bow was broken off as proof that the torpedoes detonated inside. It would have been a stronger show if they had used that evidence.

[GOYAKLA]

I have noted that Nessie is only spotted when Hillary is, on vacation, away from TV cameras!

[SunkenCiv]

Aye-aye, Claudius:

For more than 60 years, Captain Herbert G. Claudius was blamed for letting a Nazi U-boat 'get away', after it sank the Robert E. Lee passenger freighter in the Gulf of Mexico in 1942. But an undersea expedition -- aided by Dr Robert Ballard who rediscovered the Titanic 30 years ago -- has revealed the first published pictures of the submarine's wreckage, showing how bombs dropped by Cpt Claudius' crew successfully sunk the attacker U-166... The US team declared victory and set about rescuing passengers from the sunken ship -- but days later, 140 miles, there was another sighting of the deadly Nazi submarine.

So, the later sighting was by whom? And what axe did they have to grind? Or perhaps, how high were they?

[SunkenCiv]

Wow, great post! Second ping to the list.

[dfwgator]

Nah, everybody knows that U-571 was the best sub movie ever. /s

[left that other site]

Amazing! 70 years later, WW2 is still yielding up secrets...

[DariusBane]

One thing the military is famous for is crucifying its own. Not just the US military, all of them since Grog strapped a rock to the end of a club. Grog was drummed out of the warrior circle for being “fanciful and not rooted in the traditions of his order”.

[Tallguy]

Anti-submarine warfare is not always able to accurately detect, track, target, attack & confirm. All along that string is a possibility of failure, or ‘uncertainty’ at least.

The allied & German Navies spent a lot of time & resources after the war reconciling reports of attacks on U-boats vs. losses (many of which were surmised to have been the results of attacks). Sometimes what looked like a ‘match’ turned out not to be and vice versa.

[Tallguy]

Could have been a radio intercept that led the USN to believe it was dealing with the same sub as opposed to a different boat. Decrypts weren’t always perfect I suppose.

[colorado tanker]

From what I gather the second "sighting" was not a positive ID. Another ship was torpedoed not far away and people assumed it was the same sub. You know the old saying about when we assume.

I did some checking and the good news is Captain Claudius got out of the doghouse and went on to a successful Navy career.

http://ussfloydbparks.org/claudius.html

[Doomonyou]

Remember Murphys War? 1971

[Pelham]

No, I don’t recall that one. But usually did like Peter O’Toole.

[SunkenCiv]

I’m glad.