General Discussions
This is the place to discuss general issues related to the U-boat war or the war at sea in WWII.
RE: U 464 & Skaftfellingur
Posted by:
Ragnar J. Ragnarsson
()
Date: August 23, 2001 09:29AM
<HTML>Yngvi,
Not the entire crew, but 52 out of 54. Two were drowned while attempting to swim over to the Skaftfellingur from the sinking U 464.
U 464 was attacked and damaged by Lt(jg) Robert B. Hopgood, flying a PBY-5A (Catalina) of VP-73 based at Reykjavik, Iceland. The aircraft in question survives to this day and is presently located in The Netherlands were it is undergoing overhaul. It was the most successful ASW Catalina of the war with three U-boats sunk and a fourth severly damaged to its credit, the second highest score of any Allied ASW aircraft of the war.
An interesting sideline to Hopgood’s attack on U 464 gave birth to a since-famous U.S. Navy phrase: \"Sank sub, open club\". The Fleet Air Base and air detachment in Iceland were commanded by Captain (later Rear Admiral) Daniel V. Gallery, Jr., a tough and uncompromising naval officer. Gallery was utterly distressed with VP-73’s failure to sink U-boats. The squadron had delivered some seven attacks on U-boats over the past few weeks, all which were \"muffed\" in his opinion. He possibly felt that the poor performance of his crews was caused by too many late nights spent in the Officers Club, so he ordered the club closed until the squadron sank a U-boat. Following Hopgood’s attack all ears at Coastal Command headquarters were glued to the radio listening to Hopgood’s reports of the dramatic development taking place out at sea. The reports were all framed in very official language and coded, of course. Then at the end when the destroyer had taken the Germans off the Icelandic fishing vessel, Hopgood’s final report came in to Gallery in plain English, no code, saying: \"Sank sub, open club.\" And they sure did, they damn near blew the roof of the joint.
You can read the history of and see photos this aircraft at: [www.geocities.com]
Also, there are pictures of this aircraft at: [www.catalina.demon.nl]
Ragnar
</HTML>
Not the entire crew, but 52 out of 54. Two were drowned while attempting to swim over to the Skaftfellingur from the sinking U 464.
U 464 was attacked and damaged by Lt(jg) Robert B. Hopgood, flying a PBY-5A (Catalina) of VP-73 based at Reykjavik, Iceland. The aircraft in question survives to this day and is presently located in The Netherlands were it is undergoing overhaul. It was the most successful ASW Catalina of the war with three U-boats sunk and a fourth severly damaged to its credit, the second highest score of any Allied ASW aircraft of the war.
An interesting sideline to Hopgood’s attack on U 464 gave birth to a since-famous U.S. Navy phrase: \"Sank sub, open club\". The Fleet Air Base and air detachment in Iceland were commanded by Captain (later Rear Admiral) Daniel V. Gallery, Jr., a tough and uncompromising naval officer. Gallery was utterly distressed with VP-73’s failure to sink U-boats. The squadron had delivered some seven attacks on U-boats over the past few weeks, all which were \"muffed\" in his opinion. He possibly felt that the poor performance of his crews was caused by too many late nights spent in the Officers Club, so he ordered the club closed until the squadron sank a U-boat. Following Hopgood’s attack all ears at Coastal Command headquarters were glued to the radio listening to Hopgood’s reports of the dramatic development taking place out at sea. The reports were all framed in very official language and coded, of course. Then at the end when the destroyer had taken the Germans off the Icelandic fishing vessel, Hopgood’s final report came in to Gallery in plain English, no code, saying: \"Sank sub, open club.\" And they sure did, they damn near blew the roof of the joint.
You can read the history of and see photos this aircraft at: [www.geocities.com]
Also, there are pictures of this aircraft at: [www.catalina.demon.nl]
Ragnar
</HTML>
| Subject | Written By | Posted |
|---|---|---|
Skaftfellingur
|
Yngvi Gunnlaugsson | 08/22/2001 02:33PM |
|
RE: U 464 & Skaftfellingur
|
Ragnar J. Ragnarsson | 08/23/2001 09:29AM |