My father, Nicholas DiSano, served in the US Navy Armed Guard during WWII. His duties were to protect merchant marine supply ships heading to Europe as a gunner. Small groups of US Navy gunners were assigned to these ships but once the ship returned to the USA the men were often reassigned to another ship heading to sea. I know of only one crossing he did on the American Robin. That crossing left
the Brooklyn navy yard in May of 1943...sailed to Casablanca, Morocco then back to Virginia in July of 1943. The ship was carrying Army equipment and gasoline. The captain of the ship was H.L. Wolfsberg. I do know that the ship, on that particular crossing, was in a convoy of 28 ships, 7 destroyers and one aircraft carrier. On the return trip the convoy was 16 ships and ten destroyers. During the crossing there were numerous submarine contacts resulting in depth charges being dropped, emergency evasive turns, etc. One submarine was sunk in one of the encounters...no ships were lost during this particular crossing. I am assuming that your great uncle was one of the merchant marines on the American Robin? I hope this information helps somewhat.
Regards,
Dennis iSano
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