Posted by Matty
on January 24, 2009, 21:58:47, in reply to "U-505 GROUP BUILD"
4.235.203.212
In researching the capture of U-505, one cannot help but learn of the several intriguing episodes occuring earlier in her history - and a hard luck career it was, too! This sub, on display in Chicago to this day; the sole vessel taken as a prize by the US Navy since the War of 1812; and one of only two during WWII to give up her entire, top-secret Enigma cypher system, had endured very bad experience, being depth charged during almost the entire year prior to her capture. The first episode was on 7/8/43, only 6 days into a new patrol, when she was set upon - by no less than 3 RN DDs - who depth-charged her for a solid day-and-a-half before she was able to make good her escape. Substantially damaged, her aborted patrol was thus a complete failure. I don't know if she retained the same captain after that, but if so the experience must have played a role in a gruesome, record-setting episode less than 4 months later when, again under depth charge attack on 10/24/43, her commander committed suicide; the only one to do so, ever.
Clearly, the tide had turned hard against the U-boats - certainly it had, in the case of U-505. But she was lucky even to be still afloat in 1943; in 1942 U-505 had already been caught on the surface by aircraft and hit twice. The first time was 4/18/42 in the mid-Atlantic, when she suffered only minor damage (whether by gunfire or bombing I didn't learn). But the next time - 11/10/42, southeast of Trinidad - she took a direct hit by (at least) one out of a pattern of four depth-bombs:
BANG! An astounding picture - of a sub lucky to be alive, damn lucky. (A depth charge was a fearsome bomb, in its own right. Off Wake island, a single USMC Wildcat blew a Japanese DD right out of the water with a direct hit by a pattern of just two depth charges, if I'm not mistaken.)
The above pic is additionally noteworthy in that it does not show any plausible remains of the extended lower wintergarten carried a year-and-a-half later, when U-505 was captured - in fact, the aft end of the conning tower appears largely intact. Thus, it seems almost certain that the extended wintergarten (which was far more characteristic of the later, Type IXD boats) was retrofitted to U-505 in repairs of this damage - sustained in exactly the same area, you'll notice.
This pic must have been taken somewhere around the time U-505 rendezvoused with U-462; the latter a "Milch Cow" supply sub, to which wounded were transferred, after the attack.
But there's more. The attacking aircraft - Lockheed Hudson (MkV) #V9253 of No. 53 Squadron RAF, only recently rebased on Trinidad - was itself downed in the attack. Again, I don't have all the details - maybe no one really does - but it seems clear the plane attacked very low, and suffered major damage - if not the decisive, fatal damage - from the above depth charges themselves!
What a story - and what an incredible history for this sub, overall!
And note the additional modeling possibilites: U-505 in her earlier (original?) fit; the Hudson # V9253; the U-462 "Milch Cow"; the aircraft (probably a Liberator or Catalina) which had attacked earlier; or any of the RN DDs (whose names I also didn't notice) which were to depth-charge her later.
I hope as many of you as possible will be inspired by this, and join us - building any or all of your subjects of interest - in our Group U-505 build.
Cheers,
-Matty
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