U-Boat Actions Off Florida Coast (Historical)

[KapitanSpinks]

Read a little article about it here at this link. Thought you guys might enjoy...

http://www.kait8.com/category/224248/syndicated-content-vertical-acuity?vaid=e96bdc23335dacf3721d9489c384f62f

:arrgh!:

[RConch]

Thanks.:salute:

[KapitanSpinks]

:yeah: No prob.

Saw that article and got a hankerin to play SHIII again. Still trying to get my boat tweaked right to run a full campaign again. Not so good with all the mods stuff. Working on it tho.

Carry on. :salute:

[sublynx]

Thanks :salute:

The article mentions the only blimp shot down in WWII, by U-134, and thus led me towards googling for more info. K-74 was the unfortunate blimp, if you guys want to read about that yourselves.

[Jimbuna]

A little different perhaps.....Blimp v U-boat:

http://www.defensemedianetwork.com/stories/naval-aviation-centennial-blimp-vs-u-boat/

[Gargamel]

In game, the 'straights' between miami and the Bahamasa are my newest favorite hunting grounds in '42. Lots of good targets, lots of bad ones, and frequent, seemingly incompetent ASW patrols. The lack of convoys is by far made up for by the frequent solo merchies.

Down side is getting there with enough fuel to stay and play for a while. 3 weeks through the mid atlantic is very boring.

I will have to take a gander at those articles then.

[Jimbuna]

There are some blimps scripted into GWX....beware!!

[Marinenachrichtendienst]

Thank u for interesting reading. :up:

[PappyCain]

I do believe my company came across a U-Boat sunk in the Gulf of Mexico while doing a pre-subsea oil & gas pipeline survey ...

:salute:

[Marinenachrichtendienst]

and PappyCain ???

"Tell me more, tell me more, like do they take any pics??"
(U-Boat nights - John Travolta) :D

[PappyCain]

Typically we run a towed side scan sonar behind the vessel, or swath under the vessel. When a target of opportunity presents itself like a vessel or U-boat, an ROV is launched to fly down and video. Frame grabbed digital images are made (stills). http://www.pastfoundation.org/U166/WreckPhotos2003.htm (http://www.pastfoundation.org/U166/WreckPhotos2003.htm)
:salute:

[PappyCain]

http://www.pastfoundation.org/U166/U-166.htm

[Bubblehead729]

Nice pics, Pappy! :rock:

[sublynx]

Excellent pictures!!! :rock:

[mookiemookie]

I never could understand how a slow cumbersome blimp would be an effective anti-U-boat weapon. I figured they'd be too slow to catch them by surprise unless they could pull of a maneuver as described in the link and swoop down out of the clouds. But you can't rely on that happening all the time.

[Sailor Steve]

I never could understand how a slow cumbersome blimp would be an effective anti-U-boat weapon. I figured they'd be too slow to catch them by surprise unless they could pull of a maneuver as described in the link and swoop down out of the clouds. But you can't rely on that happening all the time.
They were plenty fast enough to keep up with the convoy, and had enough fuel to stay on station for up to more than a day. From the air you can see down into the water far enough to spot a u-boat at periscope depth, and then tell the escorts exactly where it is. No need to swoop down, and plenty of surprise when the escorts could drive straight to the sub.

In that respect they were of more value than much faster aircraft.

[flag4]

A little different perhaps.....Blimp v U-boat:

http://www.defensemedianetwork.com/stories/naval-aviation-centennial-blimp-vs-u-boat/

'wearing Mae West lifejackets.'

how'de get that name..:hmmm:

[Jimbuna]

http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/3954/sh32009072520115335za.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/221/sh32009072520115335za.jpg/)

http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/9999/sh32009072520131556.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/40/sh32009072520131556.jpg/)

http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/7413/sh32009072520140589.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/38/sh32009072520140589.jpg/)

http://img820.imageshack.us/img820/5884/sh32009072520212382.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/820/sh32009072520212382.jpg/)

[VONHARRIS]

Typically we run a towed side scan sonar behind the vessel, or swath under the vessel. When a target of opportunity presents itself like a vessel or U-boat, an ROV is launched to fly down and video. Frame grabbed digital images are made (stills). http://www.pastfoundation.org/U166/WreckPhotos2003.htm (http://www.pastfoundation.org/U166/WreckPhotos2003.htm)
:salute:
Nice pictures.
Thank you for sharing.

[Jimbuna]

'wearing Mae West lifejackets.'

how'de get that name..:hmmm:


Mae West was a veteran of vaudeville and Broadway. She made her first movie and immediately became a national sex symbol when she was nearly 40. With her hourglass figure, saucy double-entendres, and sinful saunter on five-inch heels, she was a natural bombshell. During World War II, Allied soldiers called their inflatable life jackets "Mae West" in honor of West's famously buxom figure.


http://americanhistory.si.edu/militaryhistory/collection/object.asp?ID=14

[Sailor Steve]

'wearing Mae West lifejackets.'

how'de get that name..:hmmm:
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a325/SailorSteve/stock-photo-14815214-ww2-raf-pilot-wearing-mae-west-life-jacket.jpg

When inflated makes the wearer look like

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a325/SailorSteve/mae_west.jpg

[VONHARRIS]

I have never thought of that.

[KapitanSpinks]

Thanks for sharing that PappyCain!

[Madox58]

Here's something not many know.

"In December 1941 and the first months of 1942, the Goodyear blimp (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodyear_blimp) Resolute was operated as an anti-submarine privateer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privateer) based out of Los Angeles. As the only US craft to operate under a Letter of Marque (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter_of_Marque) since the War of 1812 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_1812), the Resolute, armed with a rifle and flown by its civilian crew, patrolled the seas for submarines."

:rock:

[Sailor Steve]

:rotfl2: :rotfl2: :rotfl2:

No, I did not know that. Awesome! :rock:

[PappyCain]

"...in 2001, when the wreck of Robert E. Lee was located, in a depth of more than 5,000 feet (1,500 m) of water, the wreck of U-166 was also located, less than two miles from where it had attacked the Robert E. Lee. Upon investigation, it was discovered that another U-boat, U-171 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_submarine_U-171), also operating in the Gulf of Mexico, had reported coming under attack from an American aircraft on 1 August 1942, with little damage. Therefore, the credit for the sinking of U-166 should have gone to PC-566. The site where U-166 lies, at has now been designated a war grave (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_grave) due to its crew of 52 being entombed there, and is protected from any future attempts to salvage (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_salvage) it."


:salute:

"A highly sought-after World War II German submarine, the U-166, was recently discovered 45 miles from the mouth of the Mississippi River through the joint efforts of the Minerals Management Service and BP and Shell Oil companies. The U-166, the only German submarine sunk in the Gulf of Mexico, rests in the crater it created when it was sent to the bottom by a depth charge in the summer of 1942, shortly after the U-166 torpedoed and sank the passenger freighter S.S. Robert E. Lee. The wreckage of the submarine was found in 5,000 feet of water. The U-boat's whereabouts had long been disputed and it was thought to lie far from its actual resting-place, said MMS officials. MMS archaeologists were part of the scientific team that was instrumental in locating and identifying the WWII U-boat. The news of the discovery solved a 59-year old mystery and ended decades of fruitless searching.

"Finding this long-lost submarine was an extraordinary event," said MMS Acting Director Tom Kitsos. "MMS requires the oil industry to file detailed plans for pipelines and platforms before they can construct them," he continued. "Part of these plans involves detailed surveys of the Gulf floor along the construction site. It was in doing this survey that the U-boat was found." Its discovery and confirmation came as a result of an MMS-required shallow-hazard and archaeological survey of the seafloor prior to construction of a proposed gas pipeline by BP and Shell Oil. The gas pipeline survey employed a high-tech, mini-submarine, remote-sensing instrument had never before been used in the Gulf of Mexico. It is unlikely that this discovery, or many others that have been made in the waters of the Outer Continental Shelf, would have occurred without the regulation and oversight of MMS. As a result of this important discovery, BP and Shell have re-routed their proposed pipeline around the site, a standard means of preserving historic sites from harm during construction.The MMS considers the effect of all its actions, including lease sales, studies and permits, on the cultural heritage of the United States. To meet this responsibility, it requires the oil and gas industry to conduct marine remote-sensing surveys that may identify shipwrecks."

[KapitanSpinks]

So who got credit for sinking U-166 to begin with? Was anyone even credited or did she just never return, fate unknown? And who did actually sink her? Also, was it a mystery who sank the Robert E. Lee until this discovery pieced the puzzle together?

EDIT to add:

Found some answers here... http://www.maritimemuseum.org/Submarinebrochure.pdf

[KapitanSpinks]

Some info for the Robert E. Lee...

http://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?14925

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvutLRqt3a4

[Jimbuna]

So who got credit for sinking U-166 to begin with? Was anyone even credited or did she just never return, fate unknown? And who did actually sink her? Also, was it a mystery who sank the Robert E. Lee until this discovery pieced the puzzle together?

EDIT to add:

Found some answers here... http://www.maritimemuseum.org/Submarinebrochure.pdf

According to the site below:

http://uboat.net/boats/u166.htm


Sunk on 30 July, 1942 Gulf of Mexico (http://uboat.net/maps/us_east_coast.htm), in position 28.5N, 89W, by depth charges from a US Navy escort vessel PC-566

[KapitanSpinks]

Their claim seems to be validated now with the wreck discovery. It was challenged by the account of a US amphibious plane which attacked a U-Boat about a 100 miles away. Turns out the plane did not actually score a kill, but inflicted minor damage on another U-Boat.

[Jimbuna]

Rgr that :up: