Heart of Louisiana: U-166

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) – Eighty years in the past, coastal Louisiana was on the entrance strains of preventing in World Conflict Two, however most Louisianans didn’t comprehend it. Hidden among the many historical past of all the main battles with Nazi Germany is a sequence of U-boat assaults on American ships alongside the gulf coast of Louisiana.

Buried underneath a mile of water close to the coast of Louisiana is the wreckage of a World Conflict Two battle between a German submarine and American ships.

Barely six months after Germany declares warfare on the US, two dozen German U-boats prowled the Gulf of Mexico, scoring hit after hit.

C. J. Christ runs a army museum in Houma, which incorporates a show on the U-boat assaults within the Gulf. A buddy first advised him a couple of sunken U-boat in 1967.

“He mentioned, Christ, don’t you realize that there’s a German submarine on the market in 60 toes of water? I mentioned ‘no I didn’t’,” mentioned Christ.

That began a four-decade-long seek for the lacking U-boat, the U-166.

“We by no means did discover the U-boat the place they mentioned it was as a result of it was 140 miles from the place they mentioned it was,” mentioned Christ.

Ships touring to and from the Mississippi River have been focused by the Germans.

“They sank 58 of our ships and broken 18 extra,” mentioned Christ.

When the U-boats arrived, there have been no naval escorts and no coastal blackouts. Historian Martin Morgan mentioned allied ships have been simple prey.

“That is a part of the rationale why they name it a contented time as a result of it’s extraordinarily simple for them to seek out a ship crusing by itself a whole lot of miles from shore out in the midst of the open Gulf of Mexico,” mentioned Morgan.

The one issues blacked out by the US army have been press stories on the carnage happening offshore.

“It was as a result of we didn’t need the spies to search out out and report phrase again to German naval headquarters that the U-boats have been doing a really superb job,” mentioned Morgan.

In July of 1942, the American tanker Benjamin Brewster was torpedoed proper off the coast of Grand Isle. Twenty-five of its crewmen have been killed, and among the survivors rowed their lifeboat onto this seashore.

“The ship that was sunk off Grand iIsle for example, 2 ½ miles off the seashore, you couldn’t preserve {that a} secret. Beside it burned for 9 days,” mentioned Christ.

Three weeks later, the U-166 attacked and sank the passenger steamer Robert E. Lee, 45 miles east of the mouth of the Mississippi River. The Robert E. Lee was being escorted by the navy patrol craft PC-566.

“18.14 they noticed the periscope of the u-166,” mentioned Christ. “They begin blowing their horn to attempt to warn the Robert E. Lee. It was too late, then the following factor they noticed was a torpedo headed for the Robert E. Lee. The torpedo went into the engine room, 75 toes from the top of the ship, and it sank inside 8 to fifteen minutes.”

“PC 566 then strikes towards and goals at that periscope transferring at flank pace towards that periscope,” mentioned Morgan. “The periscope turns round seems to be straight on the PC after which retracts beneath the floor. That space of disturbed water was nonetheless seen when the PC 566 drove proper over it. They may nonetheless see a faint define of the U-boat slightly below the floor of the water.”

After making two passes, dropping 5 depth prices every time, Captain Herbert Claudius turned his patrol boat to rescue passengers from the sinking ship.

“He was satisfied in his personal thoughts he had sunk the submarine as a result of as soon as he left the scene he heard no noise in any respect,” mentioned Christ.

However Captain Claudius was reprimanded by the navy for botching the assault. His depth prices have been set too deep. The stays of the U-166 and the Robert E. Lee have been found in 2001 throughout an oil pipeline survey. And a brand new examination of the U-boat’s wreckage suggests a fortunate shot.

“Possibly a type of depth prices landed on the deck of the U-boat. The opposite ones sank previous it,” Morgan mentioned.

Morgan says a depth cost could have been sitting on the ahead deck close to the sub’s torpedoes.

“What occurred on that U-boat went like that,” mentioned Morgan, snapping his fingers. “That depth cost went off it set off one, possibly two torpedoes every thing was over instantly. These males have been obliterated earlier than they even knew what was occurring.”

In December of 2014, greater than 30 years after the loss of life of Captain Claudius, the navy corrected a long-standing error.

“The navy secretary and in addition the chief of naval operations determined to embellish the captain posthumously via his son,” mentioned Christ.

And that forged new consideration on an nearly forgotten battleground the place gulf coast states discovered themselves on the entrance line of warfare.

For extra on U-boats and the hidden warfare within the Gulf of Mexico, click on HERE.

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