General Discussions
This is the place to discuss general issues related to the U-boat war or the war at sea in WWII.
RE: What U-boat sank the Bedfordshire?
Posted by:
Antonio Veiga
()
Date: January 16, 2001 08:49PM
<HTML>Hi Frank
\"Less than a month after this rescue, Bedfordshire and St.Loman were ordered to look for an U-Boat that have been spotted off Cape Look-out.
U-558 was a type VIIC U-Boat.She had been built by Blohm und Voss at Hamburg in 1940 and was commissioned by 27 year old KL Günther Krech on 20th February 1941.She was a very succesful boat, having sunk many allied merchant ships on her previous six patrols.Her commander have been a watch officer with Joachim Schepke in U-100, an excellent tutor.She had spent almost a month crossing the Atlantic from her French base and so far on this patrol had not sunk any ships.As darkness fell off Cape Look-out in the evening of 11th May 1942 HM Trawlers St.Loman and Bedfordshire were steaming slowly at about six knots, with their ASDIC searching for submarines.They occasionally came within sight of each other but for long periods each was alone on the calm sea.Although they had not detected the U-Boat they were seeking.U-558 had already detected them.
In the early afternoon U-558 was carrying out a practice dive to check the submerged trim of the boat and while she was dived the sound operator detected prpeller noises astern.Krech came up to periscope depth and could see two small
patrol vessels on opposite horizons.One of them turned and came towards the submarine as though she had detected something.Krech dived deeper and ordered
silent running conditions and when no attack followed Krech assumed correctly that he had not been found.When U-558 returned to periscope depth some five hours later the two vessels were still in sight and in order to get clear of them Kerch run out submerged, surfaced and then ran along the coast at high speed to prepare himself fot the night´s hunting before submerging again.A few hours later Krech was most annoyed when he could still see one of the trawlers through his periscope.He ordered an attack and soon two torpedoes were speeding towards St Loman.Keen look-outs on the trawler saw the tracks and a frantic change of helm caused them both to miss by only a few feet.Krech was now even more furious and he began to creep away while St.Loman searched unsuccessfully for the attacker.
After successfully avoiding St.Loman, when U-558 next came up to look through her periscope there was another trawler to annoy her commander.Krech decided
to make sure of sinking this one and after checking that no other ship was in sight
he moved in to only 1500 yards before firing two more shallow set torpedoes, this time at HMT Bedfordshire.Krech reported that both torpedoes hit and the vessel
disintegrated.U-558 went on to sink several merchantmen along the coast on this patrol before returning safely to Brest on 21st June.
On the morning of 14th May USCG Arnold Tolson and a colleague set out from Ocracoke coastguard station for a routine beach patrol on the Hatteras inlet.The two men had reached the beach in their jeep and were driving along the sands when Tolson observed what he thought was a swimmer in the water.He stopped
the jeep to take a closer look and found it was a body.The two men recovered it, placed it in the back of the jeep, covered it with tarpaulins and set off to return to the station.On the way they were flagged down by Elwood Austin, a local man who had been fishing off the point.He told them how he had found a body on the beach and the two coastguards took Austin back and recovered the second body before returning to their station.The Naval Haedquarters in Moorehead City were informed by telephone and they arranged for an amphibian aircraft to collect the bodies.The pilot in the aircraft recognised one body as that of an English Naval Officer, Sub.Lt. Tom Cunningham RNR of HM Trawler Bedfordshire.Over the next week or so four more bodies were recovered but could not be positively identified
as Bedfordshire crew, but they were certainly Royal Navy personnel, of that there was no doubt.The Williams family of Ocracoke requested that they be allowed to bury the men in their own small cemetery where the graves could be tended by them.This was allowed and they remain there to this day, still tended by the tight-knit local comunity of Ocracoke\"
Source: \"GRIMSBY´S FIGHTING FLEET\" by Harry C. Hutson
Best Regards
</HTML>
\"Less than a month after this rescue, Bedfordshire and St.Loman were ordered to look for an U-Boat that have been spotted off Cape Look-out.
U-558 was a type VIIC U-Boat.She had been built by Blohm und Voss at Hamburg in 1940 and was commissioned by 27 year old KL Günther Krech on 20th February 1941.She was a very succesful boat, having sunk many allied merchant ships on her previous six patrols.Her commander have been a watch officer with Joachim Schepke in U-100, an excellent tutor.She had spent almost a month crossing the Atlantic from her French base and so far on this patrol had not sunk any ships.As darkness fell off Cape Look-out in the evening of 11th May 1942 HM Trawlers St.Loman and Bedfordshire were steaming slowly at about six knots, with their ASDIC searching for submarines.They occasionally came within sight of each other but for long periods each was alone on the calm sea.Although they had not detected the U-Boat they were seeking.U-558 had already detected them.
In the early afternoon U-558 was carrying out a practice dive to check the submerged trim of the boat and while she was dived the sound operator detected prpeller noises astern.Krech came up to periscope depth and could see two small
patrol vessels on opposite horizons.One of them turned and came towards the submarine as though she had detected something.Krech dived deeper and ordered
silent running conditions and when no attack followed Krech assumed correctly that he had not been found.When U-558 returned to periscope depth some five hours later the two vessels were still in sight and in order to get clear of them Kerch run out submerged, surfaced and then ran along the coast at high speed to prepare himself fot the night´s hunting before submerging again.A few hours later Krech was most annoyed when he could still see one of the trawlers through his periscope.He ordered an attack and soon two torpedoes were speeding towards St Loman.Keen look-outs on the trawler saw the tracks and a frantic change of helm caused them both to miss by only a few feet.Krech was now even more furious and he began to creep away while St.Loman searched unsuccessfully for the attacker.
After successfully avoiding St.Loman, when U-558 next came up to look through her periscope there was another trawler to annoy her commander.Krech decided
to make sure of sinking this one and after checking that no other ship was in sight
he moved in to only 1500 yards before firing two more shallow set torpedoes, this time at HMT Bedfordshire.Krech reported that both torpedoes hit and the vessel
disintegrated.U-558 went on to sink several merchantmen along the coast on this patrol before returning safely to Brest on 21st June.
On the morning of 14th May USCG Arnold Tolson and a colleague set out from Ocracoke coastguard station for a routine beach patrol on the Hatteras inlet.The two men had reached the beach in their jeep and were driving along the sands when Tolson observed what he thought was a swimmer in the water.He stopped
the jeep to take a closer look and found it was a body.The two men recovered it, placed it in the back of the jeep, covered it with tarpaulins and set off to return to the station.On the way they were flagged down by Elwood Austin, a local man who had been fishing off the point.He told them how he had found a body on the beach and the two coastguards took Austin back and recovered the second body before returning to their station.The Naval Haedquarters in Moorehead City were informed by telephone and they arranged for an amphibian aircraft to collect the bodies.The pilot in the aircraft recognised one body as that of an English Naval Officer, Sub.Lt. Tom Cunningham RNR of HM Trawler Bedfordshire.Over the next week or so four more bodies were recovered but could not be positively identified
as Bedfordshire crew, but they were certainly Royal Navy personnel, of that there was no doubt.The Williams family of Ocracoke requested that they be allowed to bury the men in their own small cemetery where the graves could be tended by them.This was allowed and they remain there to this day, still tended by the tight-knit local comunity of Ocracoke\"
Source: \"GRIMSBY´S FIGHTING FLEET\" by Harry C. Hutson
Best Regards
</HTML>
| Subject | Written By | Posted |
|---|---|---|
What U-boat sank the Bedfordshire?
|
Frank Blazich | 01/16/2001 12:49AM |
|
RE: What U-boat sank the Bedfordshire?
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RE: What U-boat sank the Bedfordshire?
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RE: What U-boat sank the Bedfordshire?
|
Antonio Veiga | 01/16/2001 08:49PM |