While researching for my next book, I came across this story which caught my attention. As an exercise, I rewrote it to give it a little more detail. Hopefully, I didn't reduce the impact.
Notes: Credits for U-66 vs USS Buckley
http://www.desausa.org/sinking_of_u_66.htm
http://www.uboatarchive.net/U-66BuckleyReport.htm
http://www.ussblockisland.org/Beta/CVE21_History_p4.html
USS
BUCKLEY
Lt.
Commander Brent Abel rechecked the plot. It was 2122H and USS
Buckley (DE-51)
had been chasing after a disappearing radar contact for almost five
hours. Five days earlier, the task group (TG 21.11) had been told of
a possible submarine within 150 miles of the group. Twenty-two hours later,
a search plane from the carrier, USS
Block Island, got radar contact and made a depth charge attack with negative results.
Since then they had been conducting a "hold-down" action
against the sub. A hold-down was exactly what it was. They kept the
submarine underneath the surface where it was slower, hoping to
exhaust its batteries or force it to come up for air where it would
be dealt with by either fighter planes or destroyers. Unfortunately,
this particular submarine was playing hard to catch.
"Skipper,"
a yeoman came up with a message from the radio room, "Task Group commander reports
strong radar contact bearing 300°, range 5000 yards, closing in at
18½ knots. Block
Island's
making a hard turn to course 120° and orders us to close and attack
the contact."
Abel
acted immediately. The sub had somehow evaded them and, instead of
running, had decided to surface and launch an attack on his pursuers.
"All ahead full, left full rudder, make your course 300°."
The
commander of USS
Buckley picked
up the growler and called the radar room. "Radar, con. Do you
have contact on the submarine."
"Negative,
skipper. I have no targets."
That
figures, Abel thought. The carrier had a better radar set than he did
and he was being ordered to find something he couldn't see. Well, at
this speed, we'll be on top of him in no time.
They
found no sign of the submarine after a run of several minutes. Abel
ordered an observant search pattern and planes from the carrier lent
a hand in the search. They sailed around in a two mile square while the
search planes looked farther away. An hour later, Abel ordered a
retiring search but the sub appeared to have given them the slip
again. For the next three-and-a-half hours they come up empty.
BULLDOG
THREE
Lt.
(jg.) Jimmie Sellars shifted in his TBM1-C. He was approximately
eighty-eight miles from Block
Island and
was all by his lonesome. The next search plane was 75 miles away but
visibility was excellent this night. The moon was bright and the sea
was calm as can be.
His
orders were to search this sector for a submarine that had evaded his
task group for several days. The good visibility was an advantage for
both sides. Sellars, however, had one more advantage over his quarry.
He had radar.
The
blip appeared on his scope on a bearing of 330°. Sellars waited for
several seconds to see if it would disappear. He once had an
intermittent contact that made him think a submarine was porpoising
on the surface. It turned out to be a humpback whale that kept
jumping almost completely out of the water. It was an incredible
sight but it got him a lot of ribbing back on the carrier. This time,
the contact stayed solidly on his scope. He decided to call it in.
"Doghouse,
this is Bulldog Three. I think I saw something at half-past-three.
I'm gonna sniff around some."
BLOCK
ISLAND
"Skipper,"
the radioman called the captain on the bridge, "Bulldog Three
reports a contact at bearing 330°. He's moving off to investigate."
Hughes
checked with the carrier's squadron commander. By this time, Bulldog
Three was about sixty-six miles to the north of the task group and
only about twenty miles from Buckley.
Hughes decided to send the Buckley
steaming
toward the contact in case it turned out to be a u-boat. He
instructed the radio room to send the message to Buckley.
BUCKLEY
Doberman,
this is Doghouse. Bulldog Three got a sniff and we want you to check
it out. Move out at oh-three-fifty hours. He's about twenty minutes
from your position.
Abel
smiled at the code talk which wasn't really hard to decipher. Bulldog
had detected a contact but didn't have a visual yet. Doghouse (Block
Island)
wanted him to check it out and had given bearing (03:50 = 350°) and
distance (20 minutes = 20 miles). At flank speed he'd be there in
about 45 minutes but that's only if the contact (assuming it was a
sub, he'd heard about the whale story) stayed where he was. He had
not been given the contact's course and speed.
"X.O.,
set course to three-five-zero, all ahead flank."
U-66
Oberleutnant
(Lieutenant sg.) Gerhard Seehausen, commander of U-66
was
worried. Several days of evading acursed aircraft and destroyers had
taxed his boat and men almost to the breaking point. His chief
engineer had just informed him that their E-motors had to be repaired
or else they'd seize when they were most needed. He had ordered the
sub to the surface and moving away from the last known position of
the hunter/killer task group that had been hounding them for the past
several days.
Just
before giving the order to surface, he gathered the bridge watch who
were going to be scanning the air and the sea around the submarine
for both airplanes and ships. "Men, we need to surface to give
the engineers time to fix the E-motors. Once they start repairs, we
won't be able to dive for about three hours. If we're spotted, we
have no option but to run and fight them off on the surface. Keep
your eyes open and your necks on a swivel."
Walter
Drehwek, Seaman First Class, went up the bridge ladder for his turn
on watch. It was a bright, moonlit night and the sea was as calm as
can be. Beautiful night, he thought, except such nights as these held
dangers for a surfaced sub. The sub was also leaving a bright wake as
its passing disturbed luminescent plankton. The little creatures
turned a bright blue when alarmed and what can be more alarming to a
microscopic animal than a large submarine churning the water. It was
beautiful but also dangerous. The light could be seen for kilometers
around and there was nothing they could do about it except hope they
passed out of the mass of plankton soon.
BULLDOG
THREE
Sellars
flew straight for the blip on his scope. It wasn't long before he saw
the luminiscent wake of the contact. It was a sub alright, moving on
the surface. He stayed a ways out to avoid being seen. His plane had
been stripped down to the bare essentials so that he could fly all
night. That meant he had no weapons, not even machine guns. He got on
the horn to Block
Island, received an acknowledgement, and instructions to maintain contact
and guide Buckley
onto
the target.
BLOCK
ISLAND
Captain
Hughes immediately ordered a flight of planes fueled, armed, and up
on deck for launching. It would take some time to get them ready,
however, and Buckley
had
a head start. It was going to be a race against fast planes and a
destroyer escort on who gets to the target first.
U-66
Drehwek
scanned the horizon and lifted his binoculars up to the sky. Germans
made very good telescope lenses and these were top rate models. If
only they weren't so damned heavy.
Just
as he lifted his scanning towards the sky, he spotted it. The
airplane was a long ways off but that could change in a minute. He
called out the contact to the watch officer on the bridge.
With
a shout of "ALARM," the boat was galvanized into action.
The call to air action was shouted and additional men scrambled up
the ladder to man the anti-aircraft guns. Seehausen was quickly up on
the conning tower and checked over the plane himself. It was so far
off, it was possible the pilot might not have seen them yet.
"Hold
your fire. He hasn't turned this way yet. If he hasn't seen us,
firing on him will surely change that. In any case, he's too far
away for accurate shooting and we'd only be wasting ammunition."
The
hope that they hadn't been spotted soon died, however. The plane made
a slow turn around them as if preparing to attack. Evasive maneuvers
were quickly issued and the sub began making a series of turns and
course changes in an attempt to throw off the pilot's aim.
Inexplicably, the plane suddenly turned away and moved off.
BUCKLEY
Buckley
obtained
radar contact with the u-boat from 8 miles away. They observed the
twisting and turning of the sub not knowing that it was Sellars'
presence that was causing the strange gyrations. If it's sailing
around in the same spot, it might be a resupply sub waiting for its
customer or the customer waiting for the resupply sub. In any case,
it was a submarine and that's what Abel was after.
A
minute or so later, they received a message directly from Bulldog
Three. He had circled the sub but it had made no attempt to dive.
That was unusual but if it wanted to fight on the surface, Abel was
willing to grant its wish.
"Officer
of the Deck, sound general quarters. Course, three-four-zero and
maintain flank speed. Hold your fire until they start firing on us."
The
X.O. asked his commander what he had in mind. The whole ship was crewed
by reservists, officers included, and they had yet to engage an enemy
in a surface action.
"We're
a destroyer escort, right? A destroyer escort is a small vessel. In
the moonlight and at the right viewing angle, they might mistake us
for the resupply sub and allow us to get close. We position ourselves
so they're between us and the moon. That way, we can see them
clearly but they will have a more difficult time identifying us."
"I
want us to get as close as possible before firing. We're in a stern
chase so if we start firing too early, we can only use the two,
forward three-inch guns and four of the 20 mm guns. If we can get
closer, we can steer the ship off to one side and get the rest of the
other gun emplacements in action."
The
X.O. thought the chances of getting that close before the sub's
lookouts discovered them was very low but creeping up (at 23.5
knots!) in the dim moonlight just might work. Moonlight was great for
spotting but not for identifying.
15
minutes later, the FXR (Foxer) was streamed out. The FXR was a noise
generator strung behind a ship at the end of a length of cable. It
was designed to generate so much noise that an acoustic torpedo would
lock on to it instead of the ship's screws or engine sounds. A second
one was readied on deck just in case. Buckley
was
ready for action.
BULLDOG
THREE
Sellars
flew back toward the sub. It was still on the surface, which was
highly unusual. Normally, u-boats dived upon sighting a plane and
they usually did it within 30 to 40 seconds. It had been 35 minutes
since he'd had visual contact and he was sure the sub had seen him.
Why were they still on the surface? He decided to take a closer look.
U-66
They
had spotted the aircraft again. The previous one had not attacked and
had probably not been armed. This one could be a different plane but
it was difficult to tell. The plane banked and began flying toward
them. It was attacking! Seehausen thought fast.
"Give
it a burst from the 20-mm gun. If it's not going to attack, it might
veer away."
The
crewman on the 20-mm gun, took aim on the approaching aircraft and
fired a three second burst.
BULLDOG
THREE
"Christ!"
Sellars turned away as soon as he saw the flashes from the sub's
conning tower, the tracers passing well below him. He had no weapons
that could sink it but he might be able to do some damage. He pulled
his .45 service pistol from its holster and fired several rounds
toward the u-boat as he turned away.
BUCKLEY
"Flares,
Captain! They're shooting flares!" Buckley's
lookout mistook the tracers from the 20-mm gun for flares. He was
excited and inexperienced. Abel thought the sub had seen them
and, thinking they were the resupply sub, had fired a recognition
signal.
"Don't
answer that. We don't know what the return signal is. Let's keep them
guessing for awhile longer."
U-66
All
eyes were watching the aircraft. They had not heard the 0.45 pistol's
report or saw the little splashes that the bullets made on the sea
around them. Everyone heaved a sigh of relief as the plane turned
away. One of the aft lookouts put his binoculars back on his eyes,
followed the plane for a few seconds and brought his sight back down
to the sea. What's that? A ship!
"Vessel,
starboard quarter," the lookout shouted. Everyone whirled around
to the stated direction. A vessel was indeed behind them, about 3,800
meters distant. Drehwek heard one of the lookouts say it was a
freighter. No, Drehwek thought, it's too low in the water to be a
freighter. It's a destroyer escort and it was on a northerly course.
Shouts of "man the guns" resounded around the bridge.
Silly, thought Drehwek, the guns were already manned, had been for
several minutes. He not heard clearly. Seehausen had called up extra
crew to bring up machine guns to supplement the 20-mm and 40-mm guns.
Seehausen checked the bearing, course, and distance of the destroyer
and ordered one of the aft torpedoes be made ready to fire. When the
report of "torpedo tube five ready to fire" came up, he
gave the order to launch.
BUCKLEY
The
u-boat was off the port bow and holding course. Abel ordered a turn
to port to bring the sub dead ahead. Just as the ship settled into
her new course, the personnel aft reported a torpedo wake passing
down the starboard side. It was a close call. No one had seen the
torpedo coming. Their luck was holding out. Abel waited until the
u-boat had slipped to his starboard side and changed course again,
this time to 290°. This kept the sub in between Buckley
and
the moon as well as kept him out of the direct line for another
torpedo shot. In case they fire an acoustic torpedo, the FXR was
going to present a louder target for an acoustic torpedo. A few
minutes later, the sub opened fire with a machine gun. The battle had
begun. It was 0319H.
Buckley
opened
fire from 2,100 yards. The first salvo from the 3 inch guns scored a
direct hit on the sub's forecastle near the 105-mm deck gun, putting
it out of action temporarily. Soon every gun that could fire was
raking the u-boat from bow to stern. The sub answered back with
everything they had. It was an unequal contest. Buckley
had
two 3" guns and at least four 20-mm guns in action (four other
20-mm mounts, one dual 40-mm, and one 3" gun were unable to join
at this time because they had no direct line of sight). U-66 had one
105-mm gun (which had gone out of action early in the fight), one
dual 20-mm gun, one single 40-mm gun, and a number of machine guns.
U-66
"Get
that deck gun back in action!"
Seehausen
was directing the battle from the bridge. The first salvo from the
destroyer had blown his 105-mm deck gun crew away. His gunners were
firing desperately and cowering behind their guns, trying to keep
their exposure as little as possible. Consequently, their shots were
aimed too high and were passing over the destroyer. They scored a few
hits on the destroyer's smoke stack but not much else. The
destroyer's gun crews, however, were doing a lot better than the
u-boat's. They were scoring hits on the conning tower, the gun
platforms and the men serving them. As men were cut down, more men
came up from below the sub to replace them. The foward hatch opened
and three men rushed out to man the main deck gun. They brought it up
and loaded a round. Through all the shells whizzing and exploding
around them, they fired at the destroyer escort.
BUCKLEY
"Their
deck gun's back up and firing!" The big flash from the front of
the conning tower was unmistakable.
Abel's
reaction was instinctive. "Left full rudder!" The helmsman
spun the helm left to the stops. "Sir, my rudder is left full!"
Firing
stopped momentarily as the small ship turned hard left, the crew were
caught off guard as the sub slipped out of their sights. The turn
unmasked the midships 20-mm, 40-mm, and the aft 3" gun
emplacements but their shots ran wide as the destroyer maintained her
turn.
U-66
There
was a short respite for the u-boat gun crews. Seehausen called down
to order the second stern tube readied for firing. They had only one
more shot and they had to make it good.
The
destroyer escort was turning away and Seehausen ordered a slight
course change just as the report came back from below.
"Stern
tube six, ready to fire!" Seehausen didn't hesitate for a
second.
"Fire!"
BUCKLEY
Abel
looked at the geometry. The sub had moved to Buckley's
starboard beam and firing had resumed. This time, though, even the
midships guns were now in play. But the sub was pointing her stern at
them. That wasn't good. Just as he thought about it, one of the
lookouts shouted.
"Torpedo
off the starboard bow!"
"Right
full rudder!" This was crazy. They were turning a 1,600 ton ship
as if it was a racing car weaving around a chicane and wishing they
could turn just as tight. The torpedo swished by across their bow and
continued on past. Apparently, it wasn't an acoustic type otherwise
it would have turned with them. As he ordered the ship back in
pursuit of the sub, Abel tried to remember how many torpedoes could a
u-boat fire out of her stern tubes. He hoped the answer was two.
BULLDOG
THREE
Block
Island's
killer planes arrived at the scene but held back. Buckley
was
too close to the u-boat and was already in the thick of the fight.
They orbited a short distance away. If Buckley
lost, they would dive in and finish off the u-boat.
Sellars
orbited around the two combatants and radioed Block
Island on
everything he saw. Everyone on Block
Island were
listening to Sellars' report as if they were listening to a live
radio commentary of a baseball game. Firing had resumed after Buckley
turned
back toward the sub and Sellars reported that a small fire had
started on the sub's bridge.
U-66
The
enemy fire was murderous. Most of the destroyer's guns were aimed at
the conning tower and men were dying on it. Drehwek had a machine gun
which he fired sporadically from cover. The other, heavier guns had
been silenced. A fire started on the bridge which prevented crewmen
from climbing up to take over the guns. Mercifully, a round from one
of the destroyer's 3" guns snuffed the fire out. Drehwek was so
engrossed with staying alive and firing his short bursts that he
hadn't noticed his captain lying on the bridge, mortally wounded.
Seehausen
gasped his last instructions. The fight was lost, the destroyer was
gaining on them and running parallel to them with the range closing
every minute. He ordered scuttling charges to be set and for the crew
to abandon ship. Surrendering was not an option. He could not let the
sub be boarded and secret documents and equipment to be captured.
The
order to abandon ship was given. A crewman, Fritz Buttgereit, who was
on the bridge when the order came, immediately jumped into the sea.
He was fortunate. The destroyer was still peppering the sub with
shells and climbing up through the hatches meant almost certain
death.
Below
decks, two English prisoners, Captain Cecil Gordon Hime and Stanton
Hanna Elliott were already at the ladder with three crewmen. These
two men had been captured when U-66
had
torpedoed a British freighter, the SS
John Holt,
a month ago. They had been treated rather well by the crew and were
now going to be helped out by three of their captors. All five men
did not survive the hellfire upon exiting the bridge hatch.
BUCKLEY
The
range had dropped so close that handheld machine guns now joined the
fray. U-boat crew were cut down as they climbed out of the hatches.
By this time, Buckley
was
just 20 yards away on the port side of the sub and running parallel
to it. Intent on his prey, Abel ordered a hard right and to sound the
collision alarm. He was going to ram the sub!
A
destroyer escort's main purpose is to go after submarines. To this
end, the designers included a hardened steel bow to ram their quarry,
just like in the olden days. The Buckley
rapidly
turned to starboard and struck U-66
on
the forecastle just ahead of the conning tower. The ship's momentum
caused her to ride up onto the submarine's deck and stayed there.
With the ship literally on top of the sub, the weapon's fire from
Buckley suddenly stopped. The guns couldn't depress low enough to hit
the sub.
Suddenly,
the u-boat crew began climbing out of the hatches, taking advantage
of the lull in the shooting. Several jumped into the sea but those
who climbed out of the conning tower hatch had something else in
mind.
They'd had enough. They wanted to
surrender. Instead of raising their hands, however, the u-boat's crew
started jumping unto the destroyer's bow from the conning tower. The
sub's scuttling charges had been set and could blow at any minute.
They had to get away from the sub as quickly as possible.
BUCKLEY
Abel
and the bridge crew of the Buckley
watched
in stunned fascination as Germans began climbing up on Buckley's
bow. In the days of sailing ships with row upon row of cannon on her
decks, boarding the enemy vessel was a common occurrence, often with
the intention of capturing the boarded vessel. Abel could hardly
believe it. It was happening to his ship!
"All
hands repel boarders!"
In
the heat of battle, it's easy to miss signs or misread intentions.
The men of U-66
were
climbing aboard Buckley
to
surrender but none of the crew on the nearest gun emplacement, the
No. 1, 3-inch gun, understood a word of German. To them, the shouting
mass of men clambering aboard the destroyer's bow were an attacking
hoard of war crying pirates.
Unable
to use their large gun against the boarders, and unarmed themselves,
the men of 3-inch gun mount number one met the oncoming Germans and
engaged them in hand-to-hand combat. Every weapon that were on hand
were used, from empty 3-inch shell casings, fists, and coffee cups.
Some of the u-boat crew, however, came aboard armed with machine
guns. A firefight ensued as the destroyer's repair crew, who were
armed with rifles, engaged them and kept them pinned down on the bow.
Abel
watched the battle from the bridge and decided it was time to get the
destroyer off the sub. He ordered the engines reversed. Freed of its
heavy burden, the sub leapt forward as its engines, which were still
at ahead full, pushed it back up to 18 knots. As the remaining
boarders finally surrendered, Abel quickly ordered Buckley
back
in pursuit and resumed firing at the wrecked conning tower and deck
of the sub.
U-66
Drehwek
had thought of jumping onto the destroyer himself and surrendering
but seeing his mates knocked off the rail and fighting for their
lives on the destroyer, he changed his mind. He dropped the machine
gun he'd been firing and jumped into the sea. He watched as the
destroyer came off the sub and move away. The sub, who's engines were
still running, forged ahead with the destroyer in hot pursuit.
Drehwek knew there were still a few men inside, probably the engine
crew, especially the chief engineer, who's job it was to set the
scuttling charges.
Inside
the sub, the chief engineer tried to keep the remaining crew under
control. A few had tried climbing up the ladders, only to fall back
dead from the hail of bullets and exploding shells. He had to think
of a way to get his men off the boat. He stood behind the planesmen,
the two crew members who controlled the boat's rudder and diving
planes. He told them what he was thinking.
BUCKLEY
The
destroyer had caught up with the sub and was still subjecting it to
intense weapons fire. Abel had an idea.
"X.O.,
have the starboard depth charge launcher readied for firing. When we
get ahead of that thing, I want you to fire a couple of charges set
for shallow in front of him. We'll blast him out of the water."
As
the X.O. made off to give the orders, Abel watched the sub. The gun
crews were shooting at it with such abandon that the sub was covered
in exploding shells it was hard to see if there were any men on it.
He wondered if the sub was empty and he was firing on a derelict. He
couldn't take that chance though. If there were still enough men
inside and he broke off the fight, the sub might circle around and
tag him with a torpedo.
The
destroyer was slowly overtaking the sub. Once he was ahead of the
sub, he'd give the order to fire the depth charges. His eyes were
fixed on the sub's bow, gauging time and distance.
U-66
The
chief engineer couldn't see where the destroyer escort was and the
periscope had been badly damaged from the barrage up on deck. He
didn't have a choice, he had to see where the destroyer was before he
executed the maneuver. He went to the ladder for the aft hatch which
seemed to be marginally safer. The bridge hatch was certainly the
most dangerous.
He
kept his head below the hatch until he could position himself to lift
his head through the hatch and duck back down in one motion. All he
needed was one quick look. Steeling himself, and watched by the
remainder of the crew, he stuck his head out of the hatch and ducked
down a second later.
He
was alive! The chief engineer waited a few seconds to catch his
breath. The destroyer was slightly ahead of them and he had to act
quickly. He ran to the control room and stood behind the planesmen.
If this worked, the sub would slip behind the destroyer and give them
a minute or two to climb out and jump into the sea. He had to do it
now as the scuttling charges were nearing the end of their timers. He
put his hands on the shoulders of the two planesmen and gave the
order.
"Left
full rudder!"
BUCKLEY
The
bow of the sub was almost directly across from the destroyer's bridge
on the starboard side. In about 20 seconds he'd give the order to
fire the depth charges. It looked like he was firing on an empty sub
but...
Abel
watched in disbelief as the sub's bow suddenly turned toward him. Out
of control, he thought, but whatever the reason, the sub was turning
toward his ship.
"Right
full rudder! Stop starboard engine!" He had to swing his stern
away otherwise the sub might hit his starboard screw and damage it.
Too late.
The
sub's bow struck the Buckley's
side and opened a five foot gash in the after engine room about two
feet above the waterline. The hole also partially exposed the ship's laundry room. The sub's bow slid under the ship and sheared off the
starboard screw and caused the sub to roll over to a 60° angle.
U-66
As
soon as the sub's decks bucked underneath him, the chief engineer
knew he had turned too early. He had not planned on ramming the
destroyer. Men, were thrown about and when the sub rolled to
starboard, almost everyone fell toward that side of the sub. One man,
however, was holding on to the bridge ladder and quickly climbed up.
He had to give his boatmates a chance to escape. He reached the 20-mm
gun and was turning it around to bear on the destroyer when shells
from the destroyer's 40-mm gun cut him to pieces. No one else climbed
up the ladders.
One
of the crewmen on the destroyer's deck found himself looking straight
down into the sub's conning tower. Thinking quickly, he began
grabbing grenades and throwing them down as soon as he had pulled the
pins. One grenade fell through the hatch and rolled on the deck
toward the starboard side near where the planesmen were sitting. The
chief engineer had just regained his feet and was about to give the
order to abandon ship when the grenade exploded. Shrapnel flew around
the sub's interior, instantly killing the chief engineer and one of
the planesmen. The other planesman was knocked unconscious and fell
on the diving controls causing the forward diving planes to extend
and tilt down. The sub, still making about 15 knots, slid out from
under the ship and passed astern. The destroyer's guns resumed their
relentless barrage and the No. 3 three-inch gun scored three more
hits on the sub's conning tower as the u-boat's deck went underwater.
All the hatches were still open.
The
sub gradually disappeared from view and the guns fired their last few
shells fell into the water around the bubbles on the surface. The
entire fight had lasted but 16 minutes.
Abel
and several other crew members heard a heavy explosion underwater
followed by several, smaller explosions. He ordered the engine's
stopped and the sound gear activated. By the time they were on line,
the sub's diesel engines had stopped when they had starved of air as
the sub dived. The boat had quickly filled with water through the
open hatches and the only sound was water gurgling into the sub as
U-66
dived
to her final resting place more than 16,000 feet to the bottom of the
Atlantic.
With
only her port screw operating, Buckley
searched
the area and picked up 31 survivors from the sea. With the five men
captured from the boarding of Buckley, that made 36 survivors out of
60 crew.
Abel
called Doghouse on the radio and reported that the u-boat had been
sunk and that they were looking for survivors. Captain Hughes asked
for a damage and casualty report.
"Well," Abel began, "the starboard shaft seems to have been sheared off when the sub
rammed us. There's a hole about five feet wide from the engine room
to the laundry room but it's a little above the waterline so it's not
something to worry about. I don't have a report on the condition of
the bow but nothing's leaking so I guess that's okay. There are
several holes on the superstructure from small caliber guns. There's
a hole on the smoke stack but I can't tell yet what caliber gun did
it. As to casualties, one man complained he bruised his fist punching
a German in the face as the enemy was climbing aboard. That's all,
sir."
My
God, thought Hughes. That must be the most lopsided naval surface
battle in history. Abel and his crew on Buckley
had
done well. No time to celebrate though. There's another
u-boat out there, the resupply sub. She'd would be looking for her
customer and we're going to give her a surprise.
At
twelve noon later that day, the milk cow, as the resupply sub was
informally called, was sunk by another destroyer escort, the USS
Elmore,
with hedgehogs and depth charges. Unlike U-66,
the sub was sunk while it was underwater and all hands were lost.
