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Torpedo Junction: U-Boat War Off America's East Coast, 1942 (Bluejacket Books) Paperback – April 1, 1996

by Homer H Hickam Jr. (Author)

4.6 204 ratings

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In 1942 German U-boats turned the shipping lanes off Cape Hatteras into a sea of death. Cruising up and down the U.S. eastern seaboard, they sank 259 ships, littering the waters with cargo and bodies. As astonished civilians witnessed explosions from American beaches, fighting men dubbed the area Torpedo Junction. And while the U.S. Navy failed to react, a handful of Coast Guard sailors scrambled to the front lines. Outgunned and out-maneuvered, they heroically battled the deadliest fleet of submarines ever launched. Never was Germany closer to winning the war. In a moving ship-by-ship account of terror and rescue at sea, Homer Hickam chronicles a little-known saga of courage, ingenuity, and triumph in the early years of World War II. From nerve-racking sea duels to the dramatic ordeals of sailors and victims on both sides of the battle, Hickam dramatically captures a war we had to win--because this one hit terrifyingly close to home.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"The best account to date of America's early war against the U-Boat." Journal of Military History

"Homer Hickam is a gifted storyteller...the reader is transported back to those crucial battles at sea to live and die with those seamen." Times-Herald, Newport News, Va.

"A dramatic end detailed account." West Coast Review of Books --Journal of Military History

About the Author

Homer H. Hickam, Jr., was born and raised in Coalwood, West Virginia. The author of Torpedo Junction, a Military History Book of the Month Club selection, as well as numerous articles for such publications as Smithsonian Air and Space and American History Illustrated, he is a NASA payload training manager for the International Space Program and lives in Huntsville, Alabama.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Torpedo Junction

U-Boat War Off America's East Coast, 1942By Homer H. Hickam

Naval Institute Press

Copyright © 1996 Homer H. Hickam
All right reserved.
ISBN: 9781557503626
Paukenschlag

If lines were to be drawn on a map from Cape Race, Newfoundland, down the east coast of the North American continent and into the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean, they would coincide with perhaps the most congested sea lanes in the world. When the United States entered World War II, the industrial cities of the eastern seaboard were particularly vulnerable to the disruption of these lanes. Fuel was required to keep those cities from freezing during the winter, and most of that fuel was provided by ships hauling it from Curaçao and Aruba in the Netherlands West Indies, from Venezuelan oil fields, and from the Gulf of Mexico ports of Corpus Christi, Houston, and Port Arthur, Texas. The United States military was also vulnerable. The oil reserves of the United States were simply not large enough to meet the sustained, high demands of world conflict. To cut her supply lines along the Atlantic coast and to the south would be, in effect, to defeat the United States, to freeze much of her population, and force her out of the war. In January 1942, five German Type IX U-boats set forth to accomplish all that.

Although Admiral Karl Doenitz, commander of the German U-boat fleet, was surprised by Pearl Harbor and the entry of the United States into the war, he quickly improvised a plan for an attack across the Atlantic. Sensing a great opportunity, he proposed sending twelve U-boats to American waters, six of which were to be the new Type IXs, which had greater fuel and armaments than the standard Type VIIs. Doenitz called this operation Paukenschlag, the word meaning "drumroll." The admiral's bold plan, however, was turned down. The Mediterranean and Norwegian fronts, he was told, were of first priority for his U-boats, and not some risky adventure across the Atlantic. Doenitz was disappointed but not surprised by the denial. It was simply a continuation of the bureaucratic battle he had fought for what he considered to be the proper operation of his U-boats since the beginning of the war.

Admiral Doenitz was an intense, studious man who had spent much of the years after World War I planning a huge force of submarines that would lay waste to convoys in the Atlantic. But on the day Britain declared hostilities against Germany, the Kriegsmarine had in its inventory only twenty-two U-boats large enough to operate in the open ocean.  Ordered to blockade the British Isles and pin down the Royal Navy, Doenitz knew that all he could actually do while waiting for a promised increase in the numbers of his U-boats was to inflict a few wounds here and there using "hit and run" tactics. Still, his fiercely loyal commanders were able to spring several surprises on the Royal Navy, the most spectacular being the sinking of the battleship Royal Oak inside the British fleet anchorage at Scapa Flow. This success, perhaps more than any other, was the one that established the U-boat myth of reckless daring and made a hero of the U-47's commander, Günther Prien. Doenitz did not mind the adulation given to one of his commanders. If it helped in his struggle to wage U-boat warfare and get more U-boats built, he minded nothing.

The first of what U-boat sailors would come to refer to as their "Happy Time" would be in the summer of 1940. The British had gone to the convoy system to defend their merchant ships as they brought vital supplies from the United States and Canada. This system had worked well during World War I and, it was assumed, would be just as effective in World War II, especially with the new ASDIC "pinging" equipment that would allow defending destroyers to locate intruding submarines. Doenitz, however, had studied the convoy system and thought that he had found a way to defeat it. His tactic was to send his U-boats out singly but with orders to immediately radio command headquarters the moment a convoy was sighted. When this was done, other U-boats would be routed into the area and ordered to wait until night, surface, and attack. Doenitz reasoned that ASDIC would not be able to locate the U-boats on the surface and that night would allow them to get in close without being spotted by lookouts. To the dismay of the Royal Navy, this simple tactic worked spectacularly. In June, 284,000 tons of shipping were sunk, followed by 196,000 in July, 268,000 in August, 295,000 in September, and a stunning 352,000 tons sent to the bottom of the ocean in October.  This was the time of the U-boat aces, of Prien and Endrass and Kretschmer and Schepke. Still, despite all their swashbuckling successes, the U-boat commanders were never lone wolves. Doenitz had them all very much in control, requiring them to check in with him daily so that he could route them efficiently and effectively.

The "Happy Time" did not last long. For one thing, Doenitz still did not have very many U-boats available. For another, the British started to install radar on their ships and gradually learned to fight at night. Using carefully coordinated air and ship operations, the Royal Navy was soon able to reestablish control over the convoy routes and, by January 1941, had reduced U-boat sinkings to 127,000 tons for that month.  Doenitz's response was to call for a fleet of bigger and faster submarines. He could knock the British out of the war, he was certain of it, if only his recommendations were followed. The German government considered his proposals but decided against them. More submarines, primarily the old Type VIIs, would be produced, but the focus of the war would remain on the ground and in the air.

Doenitz knew that tenacity counted as much in bureaucratic battles as anything. After the initial denial of his proposed American attack, he reviewed the ninety-one U-boats then operational. Thirty-three were in the dockyards for repairs and maintenance and twenty en route to or from operations. Thirty-three more were on battle station, twenty-three in the Mediterranean, six off Gibraltar, and four off Norway. He could not touch any of these. But there were five U-boats, fortunately the long-range Type IXs, that had no assignment and were ready to sail. Could these be used? Doenitz badgered his superiors again for Paukenschlag. He was granted his request but only on the condition that the U-boats be immediately recalled if required for the Norwegian campaign. Doenitz eagerly agreed and called in the commanders of the five Unterseeboote, briefed them, and wished them luck. He had no idea of the reception they would receive in American waters, but the commanders--the veterans Hardegen (U-123), Kals (U-130), Zapp (U-66), Bleichrodt (U-109), and Folkers (U-125)--were supremely confident. Between December 16th and 25th, the five U-boats left their French ports to cross the Atlantic. To ensure surprise, Doenitz ordered them to keep out of sight between Newfoundland and the American east coast unless a worthwhile target--ships of over 10,000 tons--presented itself. The operational area was to be the coast between the St. Lawrence and Cape Hatteras.

Despite Doenitz's caution, the United States was aware that the U-boats were probably coming. The moment they left occupied France, British agents warned London, which, in turn, passed on the information to Washington. Since the coast guard had come under the Department of the Navy's command early in 1941, the responsibility for the defense of the Atlantic coast had been given to 62-year-old Rear Admiral Adolphus Andrews, known to his friends as "Dolly." When this huge undertaking was given him, Admiral Andrews had already been on the active list for forty-one years, with a varied career that had made him one of the best-known flag officers in the navy. An '01 graduate of the Naval Academy, Andrews had, among many other assignments, been the commander of the presidential yacht Mayflower, the naval aide to President Coolidge, and the American representative to the Geneva Conference of 1927. A Texan, he liked to do everything on a grand scale. His large staff reflected his enthusiasm. They included Captain Thomas R. Kurtz (chief of staff), Captain S. B. Bunting (assistant chief of staff), Captain John T. G. Stapler (operations), Captains Harry E. Shoemaker and Stephan B. Robinson (convoy and routing), Captain Ralph Hungerford (antisubmarine warfare), Captain Henry M. Mullinnix (air), and Lieutenant Commander Harry H. Hess (submarine tracking). Before the war began, Admiral Andrews set up his headquarters in New York City, in the old Federal Building on 90 Church Street, and packed it with a communications center and plotting room from which he planned to manage American coastal defense. All he had to manage, however, were twenty ships, some of them no more than barges and the largest a 165-foot coast guard cutter, plus 103 obsolete aircraft, most of them down for repairs. This pitiful force was supposed to guard the First, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Naval Districts--over 1,500 miles of rugged coastline from the Canadian border to South Carolina!

Admiral Andrews hoped that the commander in chief of the U.S. Fleet, Admiral Ernest J. King, would eventually agree to his request for assistance from the rest of the navy. An entire fleet of battleships, cruisers, destroyers, aircraft carriers, and submarines operated out of Hampton Roads and Norfolk, Virginia. Admiral Andrews believed that those forces should be used in coastal defense, but King and his fleet admirals wanted to ensure that their ships were ready to do battle with the German surface fleet (at that time completely bottled up by the British) or be available to steam to the Pacific to fight the Japanese. In a complaint to King, Admiral Andrews pointed out that of the ships he had available, "...there is not a vessel...that an enemy submarine could not outdistance when operating on the surface. In most cases, the guns of these vessels would be outranged by those of the submarines." King told him to do what he could with what he had, so Andrews assigned his tiny floating force to patrols around important harbors and convinced the army to send planes from Mitchell Field and Langley Field on two daily sweeps over the ocean. He was aware that the army pilots had virtually no chance of spotting anything and, even if they did, would probably not be able to distinguish a German U-boat from an American submarine, but it was a beginning in what he hoped would be a continuing close cooperation between his command and the army air forces. The one concession made by Admiral King was to order fleet minelayers to mine the approaches to New York, Boston, and Portland harbors as well as the approaches to the Chesapeake Bay. Otherwise, Admiral Andrews was on his own.

According to the North Atlantic Naval Coastal Frontier War Diary, the first indication of the coming disaster began on 31 December 1941 with a dispatch from the First Naval District that a periscope had been spotted by fishing boats between Cushing and Ram Islands in Portland Channel. A week later, an army plane spotted a fleet of unidentified "destroyers and cruisers" 50 miles east of Cape May headed for the coast. No further word was received, and the fleet was written off as "probably fishermen." The next day, however, a "large, black submarine with a long conning tower and gun forward" was seen on the surface moving slowly northeast. It submerged when it was spotted by the plane. Admiral Andrews took this report seriously and asked for stepped-up surveillance. On the same day, 7 January 1942, the admiral received an intelligence report that "there are strong indications that 16 German submarines are proceeding to the area off the southeast coast of Newfoundland. The object of this operation is not understood." On the night of 11 January, the Cyclops, a large freighter, was sunk, apparently by torpedoes or mines about 300 miles off Cape Cod. Admiral Andrews rushed off to meet with Admiral King to again request assistance. King flatly turned him down. The navy would keep up routine patrols as always, but the bulk of the fleet would be kept ready for surface action. Frustrated, Andrews sent the army's First Bomber Command a memorandum that stated, "Submarines may be expected off our coast at any time. At least four are known to be about 300 miles east of Nantucket Light on 12 January, and are probably proceeding westward." On 14 January, Andrews's worst fears were confirmed with the report of a torpedo attack on the freighter Norness just 60 miles southeast of Montauk Point.

The U-boats had arrived.

Continues...
Excerpted from Torpedo Junctionby Homer H. Hickam Copyright © 1996 by Homer H. Hickam. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Naval Institute Press; First Edition (April 1, 1996)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 368 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1557503621
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1557503626
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.21 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.75 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #997,236 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2,108 in Naval Military History
- #8,908 in World War II History (Books)

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Homer Hickam

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Homer Hickam is the best-selling author of the "Coalwood" series of memoirs, the "Josh Thurlow" series of World War II fiction, and many other novels and non-fiction books. His many literary awards include the Clarence Cason Award for Non-Fiction, and the Appalachian Heritage Writer's Award for his memoirs and fiction. His memoir Rocket Boys was adapted into the film titled October Sky. Mr. Hickam, a Vietnam combat veteran, has also been a coal miner, scuba instructor, NASA engineer, paleontologist (two T.rexes to his credit!), and now a best-selling author. It's that latter accomplishment he likes the best. For more information on Mr. Hickam and his various careers and books and cats and everything else, please go to http://www.homerhickam.com.

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Thomas Erickson

Great action packed history of U boat attacks East Coast US and Gulf of Mexico early 1942 WW2, August 28, 2011

Reviewed in the United States on September 16, 2011

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Met Homer Hickam Jr at the Aug 2011 Mars Society Convention at Grape Vine Texas. He was a quest speaker. Learned Mr Hickman is a retired NASA engineer that grew up making small rockets as a boy in a small coal mining town in WVA. He was also a decorated US Army officer in Vietnam as well as a celebrated author.

Torpedo Junction takes place on the seas of the East Coast of the US and the Gulf of Mexico during early 1942 WW2. Torpedo Junction is a great action packed history of the German U Boats and their crews that attacked shipping during the early 1942 WW2 era.
The book is a page burner with no boring parts. Each page was action packed and I read the 411 page book in 1 and 1/4 days. There are some great B/W pictures too, as well as charts of the Battle of Torpedo Junction where ships were sunk. There is also a great Appendix, notes and bibliography. Readers are given the opportunity of months of more reading if they prefer that was used in the creation of this book. LOTS of research done. Homer also was a certified diver and dove some of the wrecks to verify the actual torpedo holes in hulls or deck gun damage done.

This is a great book for the naval historian. We learn of the political problems Rear Admiral Andrews went through to try to get any support ships and planes to help stop the incredible massive tonnage sunk by the German U Boats. Seems Admiral King in charge of the entire US NAVY was very stubborn about not giving Rear Admiral Andrews any ships at first. Reluctantly Andrews gets 3 WW1 old destroyers on temporary loan. Admiral King had his own ideas about needing ships to combat the Japaneses in the Pacific and preferred the British Navy to handle the U boat problem. He had little use for Churchill or the British Navy. Churchill sends Andrews 12 old Trawlers to help in ASW....almost useless. But the little ships and crew show their valor to try to fight the U boats and some of the trawlers are easily blasted away. Oil company executives finally hound President Roosevelt to do something to stop their many oil tankers from being sunk. Seems Admiral King only listened to President Roosevelt. Eventually Rear Admiral Andrews gets more destroyers, Coast Guard ships, army planes and blimps to start protected convoys of ships but not until hundreds of thousands of tonnage of ships are sunk and many lives needlessly lost.

The books shows many of the U Boat captains and various stories about them and their crews as well as stories about Coast Guard Cutters and their crews, destroyers, B 29 planes, PBY rescue planes,and much much more. Some of the compassion of the U boat commanders to the survivors in the life boats are shown. Some even gave the survivors food and water and more and MOST waited for the survivors to get in their lifeboats before finishing their attacks on the ships. However there were some commanders that sometimes just blasted away with their torpedoes and deck guns to sink the ships as soon as possible regardless of survivors.

The U boats sunk a total of 259 ships. Many off NJ, NY ,NC FL and even in the mouth of the Mississippi river! Miami Beach gowers in Miami Fl watched tankers being torpedoed and German U boats. The captain of a U boat could even see the Miami Beach gowers on the beach romantically making out and automobiles and department store lights. They were that close. Also German spies/ saboteurs landed in the US from U Boats. They were caught and most executed.

Torpedo Junction is a fantastic account of early 1942 WW2 U boat action around the US East Coast and Gulf of Mexico. Also lessons for government leaders to learn and not make again. Anyone interested in early WW2 U Boat, Coast Guard cutters, destroyers, British trawlers, minesweepers, B29 planes, blimps and more will enjoy this book. Also historians trying to find out why it took so long for the US to develop protective convoy measures will find this book fascinating. Great non stop navel WW2 action from beginning to end. I loved this book! 5 stars plus!

I look forward to reading his other books. Homer H Hickam Jr a great action packed author. I ordered Rocket Boys and Dinosaur Hunter and a few others. I'll review them and post.

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Amazon Customer

Heartfelt True Historian

Reviewed in the United States on January 14, 2017

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I really enjoyed reading the history that involved our country. It was something I did not know happened. Homer Hickam does a wonderful job of telling the details. He's not boring at all. If I would have had him for a history teacher when I was in school I would have learned a lot more. I love to read his books. I just found out about him 3 years ago and being from West Virginia my self was what interested me. It's plain to see that he did a lot of research for this book. He writes like his heart is in it. I notice how he prints their name when a lot of authors would just say 10 died. With Mr. Hickam they each have a name and a purpose. I plan on passing this book around to other readers that I am friends with.

2 people found this helpful

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Mark Demos

An Amazing, Eye-Opening Tale, That Changes Everything (Most Of Us) Thought We Knew About W. W. 2 !!

Reviewed in the United States on April 1, 2019

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Born in 1959, I always believed that World War II was fought (mostly) in the far off lands of Asia, Europe, and Africa, and that nothing had ever happened during that time to bring the war anywhere close to our American shores. How wrong I was !!

This amazing book set me straight on just how close it actually did come, and how long it took this country to finally fight back the German U-Boat menace that paraded up and down our shores, brazenly taking out Allied shipping for FAR too long a time !!

If you know nothing about the battles of World War II fought just off our shores, chances are you will find this story as grippingly (and chillingly) hypnotic as I did! But even if you do, you may still want to read this book for the interesting and enlightening information that Homer Hickam adds to this epic, and at times HORRIFYING story of how World War II was REALLY brought home to America !!

2 people found this helpful

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Frederick D Moore

Informative

Reviewed in the United States on July 6, 2023

Verified Purchase

Excellent book. Easy read.

Reviewed in the United States on March 2, 2022

Verified Purchase

the attention to detail is astounding, the research must have been enormous...a spyglass look at a War we almost lost, along with thousands of souls...page turner for anyone who likes historical/military books

One person found this helpful

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Sagnamon Taylor

Interesting, unique material. Bad quality print, adoration for German killers

Reviewed in the United States on November 27, 2016

Verified Purchase

Avoid the paper back edition: see attached - random pages are unreadable due to smudged printing.
The material presented is omitted from most history books, so it is somewhat must-read.
-The book pictures German U Boats as a WWII super weapon, Americans never really found an equal response to. The logs at the end of the book show that less then a dozen U Boats operating at any time by US coast sunk hundreds of ships and killed thousands of merchant marines form virtually all countries.
-Unfortunately bulk of the book are stories from German ship logs about "bagging" the merchant ships and human-interest stories about the U Boat captains and Admiral Donitz. Even the names of these war criminals should be erased. Although there is a story line about US Coast Guard cutter, it is really pathetic compared to description of gallant Nazi U Boat captains, that even manage to mine the entrance to Chesapeake bay.

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Robert short

Ww2 book

Reviewed in Canada on July 9, 2021

Verified Purchase

Good book , in god condition

Lorin

Interesting read.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 25, 2019

Verified Purchase

Having read Torpedoes in the Gulf , I had to read this book too. Tell's the inside story of the brave Alied Servicemen / and all Merchant Seamen serving during this period., and from the civilians too And from obviously the German's who began as the war as hunter and ended up being the hunted.

Mr. A. M. O'donnell

Thoroughly enjoyed it.

Reviewed in Australia on June 20, 2016

Verified Purchase

Well researched and well written, it was a pleasure to read. It was a good look at a part of the Atlantic Battle that I knew little about.

I also liked that the author took the time to detail the Royal Navy's contribution as well.

Recommended.

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