FALSE FLAGS: DISGUISED GERMAN RAIDERS OF WORLD WAR II PDF, EPUB, EBOOK

Stephen Robinson | 368 pages | 15 Aug 2016 | Exisle Publishing | 9781925335156 | English | Woolombi, Australia Military Strategy & Tactics Books | Quarto Knows

The war broke out a month later when Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. The war began on July 28, lasting four years, three months and fourteen days. The fighting ended on Nov. It would take another six months before the war would officially end with a negotiated peace treaty five years after the assassination of the archduke. The war has been called several different names. In conversation and writing, it is referenced with several other names. During the four years of combat, 65 million soldiers fought in the battles. Eight million of the soldiers were killed worldwide. Another 21 million were injured and seven million were maimed with missing limbs. The only participating in the war for seven months, but had daunting statistics for casualties and injuries. During that seven-month period, , soldiers died and , were injured. Chemical weaponry was used for the first time in . Airplanes were used to fight in the war with 70 different types used by all nations. The planes allowed explosives to be dropped to the ground. A machine gun could fire rounds a minute which was considered the equivalent firing of range of more than rifles. Then the face of naval warfare changed with the introduction of . Suddenly ships carrying valuable cargos could be sunk by an enemy that could not be seen. With the limited resources available to him, his desired navy never materialized; instead he had to rely on a small number of batdeships, cruisers, and to fight against what was the largest and most powerful navy in the world, Great Britain's Royal Navy. Limited access to the world's oceans was another problem for Germany, one that was made more difficult by Britain's ability to put dozens of ships on blockade duty. Unable to challenge the supremacy of the Royal Navy, Raeder. An unknown error has occurred. Please click the button below to reload the page. If the problem persists, please try again in a little while. No cover image. Read preview. Synopsis They were the deadliest ships of World War II-nine German commerce raiders disguised as peaceful cargo ships, flying the flags of neutral and allied nations. In reality these heavily armed warships roamed the world's oceans at will, like twentieth-century pirates. They struck unsuspecting freighters and tankers out of the darkness of night or from behind a curtain of fog and mist. For almost three years they led the Royal Navy on a deadly chase from sea to sea and sank or captured more than a million tons of allied shipping. Masquerading as unarmed merchantmen, the raiders carried an awesome array of weapons cleverly hidden behind false structures and concealed inside empty packing crates on their decks. They fed off their unsuspecting targets, pumping fuel from their prey into their own tanks and taking food from captured pantries to feed their own crews and the thousands of prisoners that they picked up along the way. These secret ships also acted as supply ships for U-boats, helping their fellow hunters remain at large for longer periods. German V-2 Rocket in World War II

During the American Civil War, Confederate commerce raiders sank so many Union merchant ships that the American Merchant Marine never fully recovered from its losses. During the First World War, Imperial Germany put several raiders to sea in an effort to disrupt the shipping routes on which Great Britain relied. The first of these were primarily warships. Costly to operate and difficult to hide from the Royal Navy, they met with limited success. Most were either sunk or botded up and made impotent by British warships. These were followed by raiders disguised as cargo vessels. Their success rate was much greater than their predecessors, and most returned home safely after their cruises. Then the face of naval warfare changed with the introduction of submarines. Suddenly ships carrying valuable cargos could be sunk by an enemy that could not be seen. With the limited resources available to him, his desired navy never materialized; instead he had to rely on a small number of batdeships, cruisers, and destroyers to fight against what was the largest and most powerful navy in the world, Great Britain's Royal Navy. Limited access to the world's oceans was another problem for Germany, one that was made more difficult by Britain's ability to put dozens of ships on blockade duty. Unable to challenge the supremacy of the Royal Navy, Raeder. An unknown error has occurred. Please click the button below to reload the page. If the problem persists, please try again in a little while. No cover image. Read preview. Product Description. Product Details. Reviews "This is a fascinating book. Review this Product. Write your message below to post a review: Rating:. Ask a Question About this Product More Ask a question. Look for similar items by category. People also searched for. False Flag Books. German Raiders Books. The Economic Impact of World War II

At sea for months--or even years--those raider sailors lucky enough to survive were hailed as heroes when they returned home. This is an interesting review of activities of nine German WW2 auxiliary cruisers that wreak havoc on Allied commercial routes together with their submersible brethren from the very beginning of While Muggenthaler's "German Raiders of World War II" still feels better written, Duffy's book has the virtues of being more readily available and being somewhat informed about the impact of World War DUFFY is a writer specializing in military history. Account Options Anmelden. Meine Mediathek Hilfe Erweiterte Buchsuche. Greenwood Publishing Group Amazon. James P. Duffy , Gordon G. Bureaucracy is not a profession. Piracy off the Somali coast has been a threat to international shipping since the second phase of the Somali Civil War in the early 21 century. Since , many international organizations, including the International Maritime Organization and the World Food Programme , have expressed concern over the rise in acts of piracy. Ninety percent of the World Food Programme's shipments arrive by sea, and ships have required a military escort. These factors and the lucrative success of many hijacking operations have drawn a number of young men toward gangs of pirates, whose wealth and strength often make them part of the local social and economic elite. Abdi Farah Juha who lives in Garoowe miles from the sea told the BBC, " They have money; they have power and they are getting stronger by the day. On April 7, the U. With these advisories well in effect, on April 8, , four Somali pirates boarded the Maersk Alabama when it was located nautical miles km; mi southeast of the Somalia port city of Eyl. With a crew of 20, the ship was en route to Mombasa , Kenya. Maersk Line Limited, part of the Moller-Maersk Group, the largest shipping company in the world is one of the United States Department of Defense 's primary shipping contractors, although the vessel was not under military contract at the time. The ship was carrying 17, metric tons of cargo, of which 5, metric tons were relief supplies bound for Somalia, Uganda, and Kenya. The 28 foot lifeboat where Captain Richard Phillips and the four Somali pirates were held up as seen from a U. According to Chief Engineer Mike Perry, the engineers sank the pirate speedboat shortly after the boarding by continuously swinging the rudder of the Maersk Alabama thus scuttling the smaller boat. As the pirates were boarding the ship, the crew members locked themselves in the engine room while the captain and two other crewmembers remained on the bridge. Frustrated, the pirates decided to leave the ship, and took Phillips with them to a lifeboat as their bargaining chip. The crew attempted to exchange this captured pirate, whom they had kept tied up for twelve hours, for Captain Phillips. The captured pirate was released but the pirates refused to release Phillips. After running out of fuel in the ship's man overboard boat, they transferred and left in the ship's covered lifeboat, taking Phillips with them. The lifeboat carried ten days of food rations, water and basic survival supplies. Maersk Alabama then departed from the area with an armed escort, towards its original destination in Mombasa, Kenya, with the vessel's Chief Mate , Shane Murphy in charge. An man marine security team was on board. The FBI secured the ship as a crime scene. On April 10, , Phillips attempted to escape from the lifeboat but was recaptured after the captors fired shots. The pirates then threw a phone-and a two-way radio dropped to them by the U. Navy- into the ocean, fearing the Americans were somehow using the equipment to give instructions to the captain. How low the USN has degenerated! A giant file cabinet at sea. Its not a WAR ship filled with warriors who can board ships and shoot guns with accuracy to handle pirates on-the-spot. How hard is it to blow away everything and everyone in the lifeboat as soon as the hostage has left it? Finally, someone figures out maybe its time to ambush the ambushers. The armed merchant ship. What an original concept! The Q-Ship Big Horn, which you probably thought was just an innocent fleet oiler, actually was modified to hunt and kill German U-Boats. By way of New Wars comes a captivating item about a Malaysian container ship that has been converted into a naval auxiliary for escort work off the lawless coast of Somalia - just like the famous Q-Ships fielded by the U. Just as when Navy trade show speakers finish their remarks and then greet audience members afterward - but one of those audience members turns out to be a Navy Times reporter - so too did the Q-Ships pretend to be merchant vessels to entice attacks, then open up with their guns and depth charges. Malaysia's conversion of the container ship Bunga Mas Lima is apparently a response to the hijacking last year of two Malaysian ships, the Bunga Melati Dua and Bunga Melati 5. This Marine Log story doesn't specify what new kind of capabilities or weapons the Bunga Mas Lima has added as part of its conversion, nor does this post at the Malaysian Defense blog. But we couldn't help imagining how sweet it would be if the sides of some of the ship's containers folded down to reveal a battery of Mk 38 Bushmaster chainguns , for use on any pirate skiffs unwise enough to try a hijacking. The problem, as New Wars' Mike Burleson points out, is that despite the schoolboy-adventure romance surrounding Q-Ships, they didn't have that successful a track record against German U-Boats. We'll be watching to see how Malaysia's does. American Q-ships were defective in they were not made sink-proof by adequate watertight compartments filled with floatation materials. Read the detailed account below. Related Resources: List of Q- Ships with links to their histories. The message further stated that the condition might become serious if the heavy weather continued; for that reason, permission was requested to proceed to Bermuda for repairs. First action was taken by Cinclant [Commander-in-Chief, US Atlantic Fleet], who immediately ordered two tugs to proceed to the scene and render assistance. Later in the day, however, the Irene Forsyte reported that no assistance was needed, that she was proceeding to Bermuda, The tugs were recalled. On October 14, ; Cominch [Commander-in-Chief, United States Fleet] directed the Commander Eastern Sea Frontier to decommission the Irene Forsyte upon her return from Bermuda; to take other steps which would lead to the conclusion of all antisubmarine patrols by Eastern Sea Frontier vessels disguised as merchant vessels. This decision had been brought to a head by the failure of Eastern Sea Frontier "Queen ships" to accomplish their intended missions. The conclusion of "Queen ship" missions in the waters of the Eastern Sea Frontier offers an appropriate occasion for reviewing the essential details as to their various developments and operations from the beginning of the war to the decommissioning of Irene Forsyte IX When the U-boats [German submarines] were at their worst in World War I, the British Admiralty approved and authorized the conversion of merchant vessels to heavily armed raiders which would have her guns disguised or concealed in such a way that the merchant vessels might serve as decoys which would encourage U-boats to attack them. Then, provided the disguised merchant vessel had been given sufficient buoyancy, so that one or two torpedoes would be unable to sink her, the disguise was to be thrown off, the guns brought to bear, the U-boat sunk. The entire effectiveness of the enterprise depended on the successful use of surprise, and once the U-boats were aware of the ruse, the chances of success were so greatly reduced that only a few ingenious Commanding Officers were able to conduct Q-ship campaigns throughout the remainder of World War I with any distinction. Sinkings began on January 14th, and shipping losses mounted rapidly. On January 20, , Cominch sent for information to Commander Eastern Sea Frontier a coded dispatch which was paraphrased as follows: "Immediate consideration is requested as to the manning and fitting-out of Queen repeat Queen ships to be operated as an antisubmarine measure. For this reason it was pointed out that a tanker would best answer the purpose of inviting attack after having been fitted out as a Q-ship. It was further suggested that another type of Q-ship might be a vessel "of such a relatively insignificant appearance that upon sighting it a submarine would not submerge. This letter containing details as to procedure, was forwarded by Cominch to the Chief of Naval Operations on February 15, , and CESF [Commander Easter Sea Frontier] was informed that the proposals had been "noted with interest" and were "under consideration. Prior to the inception of "Project LQ," Cominch had arranged for the selection of three other vessels considered suitable for the intended purpose: a Boston trawler and two small cargo vessels of the three-island type. The beam trawler, diesel powered, had formerly operated with the fishing fleet out of Boston under the name, MS Wave. She was originally acquired. Her length was feet, beam 26 feet, maximum speed, 10 knots. Her armament included one four-inch-fifty gun, two. She was also equipped with WEA echo ranging and listening equipment. Her complement was 5 officers and 42 enlisted men. The two cargo vessels had been built at Newport News, Virginia, in and were of standard type: 3, gross tons, feet in length, 46 foot beam. For their new assignment, they were taken over for naval use by Mr. Huntington Morse and Mr. Heimbold of the U. Maritime Commission. During their conversion in the Navy Yard at Portsmouth, N. The complement of each ship was six officers and enlisted men. The status of USS Eagle AM remained unchanged in the department's records, since she had originally been acquired for conversion to AM and had been so designated in the records of the Department. Thereafter, all pertinent information containing these vessels was kept in a secret file in the custody of the Vice Chief of Naval Operations. Some complicated problems of protocol were solved while the ships were still being converted. He then requested immediate transfer of the following sums to the following accounts:. Eagle Fishing Company, L. Such an arrangement permitted the purchase of supplies for the individual ships involved without the customary naval requisition procedure. After many other minor details had been ironed out, the next step was the arrangement for operational directives which might be foolproof. Legwen, USN, and Lieut. Harry L. They received a preliminary Operation Order to cover a brief period of shakedown, which would start about Match 24, Since they would be departing from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, they were to report to Commander Submarine Division when ready for sea; then proceed independently on widely separated courses for shakedown in areas where enemy activity had not been reported. USS Atik and USS Asterion were to navigate so that one should be approximately miles to the southward of the other after five days at sea. These ships were to leave the Navy Yard, Portsmouth, in such manner that they would appear to all observers as armed vessels regularly commissioned in the Navy; then at the first opportunity, guns and depth charge throwers were to be concealed, identifying numbers removed from the bows, commission pennants hauled down, and other steps taken to have USS Atik and USS Asterion present the appearance of merchantmen; USS Eagle the appearance of a beam trawler fishing out of Boston. From the viewpoint of security, the most serious difficulty in carrying out this plan was that there had been scores of civilian workers in the Portsmouth shipyard which had known about the conversion peculiarities of structure on these vessels, and the subject of these "Q-ships" was subsequently reported by one wife of an officer aboard USS Atik to have been common knowledge in several Portsmouth boarding houses. On completing shakedown, these ships were to report to Commander Eastern Sea Frontier by dispatch, and at that time the second Operation Plan would be made effective by dispatch from Commander Eastern Sea Frontier. This second Operation Plan, also issued under date of March 11, , applied only to the Atik and the Asterion. Therein they were directed to operate independently in the waters off the United States Atlantic Coast, roughly miles off the coast. Special instructions pointed out that the identity of these vessels must remain secret until action was joined; that action should be joined only when en enemy submarine was at sufficiently close quarters to insure its destruction by superior gunfire, followed by depth charge attacks if it succeeded in submerging before destruction. It was further pointed out that enemy submarines had been attacking during darkness; that they were rarely seen until after the vessel was struck by a torpedo. As for possible circumstances under which friendly ships or aircraft might challenge the Atik and the Asterion , they were instructed to use as identification their former names and calls, which would indicate that they were SS Carolyn and SS Evelyn , owned by the A. Bull Steamship Company; that if enemy ships should challenge, reply should be made in accordance with International Procedure, using the calls and identifications as follows:. As for eventual return to port, instructions were given that notice should be sent to Commander Eastern Sea Frontier, who would inform Mr. Huntington Morse or Mr. Helmbold of the Maritime Commission at Washington, that one of these men should inform the senior Maritime Commission representative at the port of entry; that a Maritime Commission representative at the port would receive lists of requirements from the Commanding Officer after arrival and would designate an agent to furnish them; that the Commanding Officer should ascertain the total cost and should deliver a check for the amount From March 11th to March 23, , final arrangements were made for the first sailing of these vessels on shakedown, They sailed at on March 23rd, and the next day one of the officers in the Navy Department wrote, "It's gone with the wind now and hoping for a windfall. Unfortunately, the windfall cane all too soon. All bands were listed as "missing. It is known that the Atik had been cruising in the general area about miles east of Norfolk; that the Asterion had been cruising some miles to the south of this area. Nothing further. The Duty Officer in the Control Room had not been informed as to the secret nature of the SS Carolyn , and consequently his only action was to forward the dispatch to Cominch. The answer was that they had not been notified. The Duty Officer was informed that they should be, immediately. The Army bomber returned without having sighted anything, The tug and the encountered such heavy weather that the tug was recalled on March 25th; the Noa searched the area until fuel shortage compelled her to return to New York on March 30th. Other flights by Army and Navy planes were unsuccessful until March 30th, when two Army planes and one PBY-5A [four-engine Navy patrol bomber] out of Norfolk reported that they had sighted wreckage roughly ten miles south of the original reported position. The Asterion , which had intercepted the distress messages from the Atik , proceeded directly to the area but was unable to find any trace of her sister vessel. Thomas, Virgin Islands. On her arrival there, she was boarded and interrogation revealed that her crew had sighted no wreckage and had picked up no survivors. Twelve days later, Commander Eastern Sea Frontier reported all known details to Cominch on the "suspected sinking of the SS Carolyn ," and concluded: ". It is therefore recommended that it no further information is received by April 27, they be considered lost and that next of kin be notified. The next piece of information came from Berlin on April 9, , in the form of a broadcast recorded by the Associated Press in New York. It was printed in the New York Times on the following day, April 10, When the submarines came into range, false structures on the Q-boats were collapsed, revealing an array of guns. So far as United States Q-ships were concerned in World War II, this was the first and the last action with U-boats which produced any positive results. It appears from this unfortunate beginning that the Germans were well aware of Q-ship possibilities; that the element of surprise which had made this type of vessel effective against submarines in World War I had been so completely lost that the Q-ship had become something of an anachronism. Nevertheless, the plan was continued, and the general details of those later developments deserve a place in the history of the Eastern Sea Frontier. The incidents of importance in that cruise were many, and they included several sound contacts with U-boats, the sighting of torpedoed merchant vessels and life boats, the rescue of survivors. Furthermore, several contacts with friendly surface craft and aircraft led to awkward situations which required tact and ingenuity on the part of the Commanding Officer. Nevertheless, the first cruise was concluded without any action against enemy submarines. A copy of the formal report of this first cruise, together with "Recommendations for reduction in merchant ship losses and operation of Q-ships" is included in the Appendix to this month's war diary. It is of interest to note that officers in Headquarters, ESF, were so completely unaware of the nature of this ship's mission that they recorded her various dispatches in the Enemy Action Diary for April 4th, April 10th and April 14th, under her commercial name, SS Evelyn. It was thus indicated that the best possibilities of success would be for the vessel to proceed as an independently routed merchant ship or as a straggler from a convoy. The cruise was uneventful. The third cruise of USS Asterion began on June 7, , and because of increased submarine activities in the Gulf of Mexico, the vessel proceeded from New York down the coast, passing through the Straits of Florida on June 11th and past Dry Tortugas on June 14th; thence through Yucatan Channel; then after reversing course proceeded to the Mississippi River Delta, thence on a westerly course toward Galveston. On the return leg of the voyage, the vessel cruised northward of the Bahamas and then proceeded to the Windward Passage area; thence to New York, arriving August 18, The only incident of importance during this cruise was that a sick man was removed from the ship by a tug off Chesapeake Light Buoy vessel on August 15th,. The fifth cruise of USS Asterion began late in August and was similar in plan to that of the fourth cruise. The vessel sailed to Key West, refueled and sailed from there on September 12, , returning to New York, The sixth cruise, equally uneventful, began on November 18, and again the run was made to Key West in accordance with orders from CESF. While in Key West, on November 30th, arrangements were made and carried out for exercises and operations with a "tame" submarine. Bearing repairs, of serious nature, resulted in the delay of sailing from Trinidad from December 12th until December 26th, when USS Asterion departed Trinidad en route for New York, arriving January 10, For the next few months, USS Asterion was given an elaborate overhaul. Inspection after her sixth cruise raised considerable doubt as to her ability to remain afloat if hit by a single torpedo because she had three large holds. A representative of the Navy Yard, New York, conferred with the bureau of Ships, Damage Section, who confirmed the opinion that she could not successfully withstand one torpedo hit, and that such a hit would result not only in her eventual sinking but also in such a quick list that her battery would be ineffective. Undoubtedly this weakness had been demonstrated several months earlier and was responsible for the rapid sinking of the sister vessel, USS Atik. A conference was held in the office of the Vice Chief of Naval Operations and it was decided to increase flotation by building five transverse bulkheads. The work took much longer and cost much more than had been estimated. Not until September 27th was the overhaul completed-- more than eight months after the end of the Asterion 's latest cruise. The overhaul had included re-subdivision by longitudinal and athwart ship bulkheads, the filling of her holds with 16, empty steel flotation drums. Thus it seemed probable that she had an excellent chance of remaining afloat after a U-boat had made a successful attack on her, As for equipment, she had been strengthened until she carried six K-guns, 48 barrels arranged in pairs 24 on each side to fire a pattern feet in length and feet in width, four caliber machine guns, two millimeter machine guns, and three four-inch guns. On October 14, , Cominch informed Commander Eastern Sea Frontier that USS Asterion would discontinue her previous duties; that she would be inspected by a Board of Inspection and Survey to determine "suitability for useful service" in some other capacity. Her first cruise, carried out in accordance with CESF Operation Order of March 11, , was intended to permit her to operate independently as a Q-ship in the general vicinity of the beam trawler fishing fleet out of Boston, Massachusetts. It was assumed that the true identity and mission of the vessel would become known to the fishing fleet, but it was intended that this knowledge should not be further disseminated. For this reason, prompt reports were to be made to the Commandant First Naval District for appropriate action of any evidence of disloyalty or "loose talk" in the fishing fleet. But it was found that the original equipment of USS Eagle and her weak armament were unsatisfactory for her purpose. As a result, arrangements were made for a three-week overhaul and conversion before she began her first cruise. This first cruise began May 26, , and although no events of importance occurred, USS Captor continued to operate in this area during the next twelve months. Conversion was begun in March at the Bethlehem 56th Street Brooklyn Yard and was continued at the Navy Yard Boston, where the work was finally completed on July 22, Equipment included five 4-inch. Gainard, formerly master of the SS City of Flint , which became the center of an international incident at the beginning of the war, and was later sunk by a U-boat. This training period was followed by a shakedown cruise which was completed on August 26, , at which date USS Big Horn put in again at the Navy Yard, Boston, for further alterations and repairs, At that time, the total complement of the vessel was 13 officers and enlisted men. The trip was made to Guantanamo without incident, and thereafter the Big Horn was semi-attached to NOB [Naval Operating Base] Trinidad, with orders to operate from that base over the Bauxite route to and from ports where that commodity was loaded. Many ships in this area had been sunk in recent weeks. Ships proceeding from Trinidad were convoyed to a designated point from which they fanned out to take various routes to their ultimate destination. It was directed that the Big Horn should proceed to that point and drop down on independent routes to and from a Bauxite port. That same afternoon, three U-boats attacked the convoy, and at Queen in N, W, the British steamer SS Castle Harbor was hit on the starboard side by a torpedo and sank in less than two minutes. At almost the same time the United States steamer Winona , coal laden, was struck forward on the starboard side. Later she limped into Trinidad. Soon afterwards, lookouts on the Big Horn sighted a U-boat moving at periscope depth on the port beam, but in such a position that no action could be taken without damaging the United States troopship Mexico or the Egyptian ship Raz El Farog. At , lookouts on the Big Horn again sighted a periscope and conning tower, on the port side, and her four-inch gun was trained in that direction just as a sub chaser crossed through the line-of-fire and dropped five depth charges. Thereafter, the cruise in these waters was continued without incident for several days and the Big Horn returned to NOB Trinidad about October 29th. A second cruise in company with a convoy from Trinidad was begun by USS Big Horn on November 1, , to a point nearly due north of Paramaribo, where the vessel left the convoy and proceeded on varying courses without incident until return to Trinidad on November 8, As a result of submarine warnings the convoy course was changed so that the approach to Curacao was made from the south and west. Because of engine difficulties, USS Big Horn dropped out of the convoy at on November 12, , in company with a Venezuelan tanker, and arrived at a point about one and one-half miles off Wilhemstad harbor, where the Curacao-Aruba subsidiary convoys were joining the main convoy. At , a great volume of smoke was sighted as it rose from the stern of USS Erie , about 1, yards on the starboard bow of the Big Horn , in N, W. It developed that the Erie had been torpedoed on the starboard side aft. The crew of the Big Horn was called to General Quarters, increased speed to 11 knots and proceeded for the scene of action, but repeated orders from Wilhemstad forced the Big Horn to alter course at and proceed to Wilhemstad. It was noted that the Erie swung into the wind; that efforts were made without avail to subdue the fire. The gunboat was finally beached, officers and crew abandoning ship. Other vessels joined convoy at Guantanamo until on leaving that meeting point there were 45 ships and 5 escorts in company. During the next few weeks, the Big Horn entered the Todd Shipyard at Hoboken, where mousetrap and hedgehog equipment were installed. Their proposal began by reviewing the fact that antisubmarine measures within ESF had been so successful that no vessels had been sunk in Frontier waters since July ; but that more and more enemy submarines were operating in different areas of the Atlantic. It was therefore proposed that a task unit be formed for hunting U-boats in the central Atlantic ; that three PC's [submarine chasers] proceed as escort for USS Big Horn , which would thus act as " bait ," as fuel and supply ship, and as support in antisubmarine combat. On April 3, , CESF informed Cinclant that the Big Horn and the three PC's would proceed to sea with convoy UGS-7A on April 13th, and that prior to arrival in the vicinity of the Azores the group would drop astern of the convoy and proceed as straggler-with-escorts, although the escorts would remain far enough astern so that they would not be visible to an enemy submarine sighting the Big Horn. Corroboration of this plan was made by Cominch in a letter to Cinclant dated April 7, The Task Group was designated Convoy UGS-7A sailed on the morning of April 14, , and the special Task Group joined up off New York and continued in company until on April 21, when the Group left the convoy and dropped astern twenty-five miles. The cruise was uneventful during the next two weeks. Early that morning, a surfaced vessel had been sighted on the horizon, and PC sent in pursuit. At , PC reported a submarine on the surface, distant about 6 miles. At , the Big Horn got a sound contact and delivered a hedgehog attack just after sighting a periscope on the starboard bow at , followed by a heavy swirl as the U-boat dove. At a second attack was delivered and the contact was lost. At the contact was regained at yards and at , speed 5 knots, the Big Horn delivered a third attack. About five of the hedgehog projectiles exploded after they struck the water, and the Big Horn continued in to drop depth charges. Considerable light oil came to the surface and continued to spread for two hours. At on May 4th an oil patch was visible over an area of to yards. By daylight that morning, all traces of the oil slick were gone. As none of the vessels in the Group were able to establish contact during the next 44 hours, it was presumed that one submarine had been destroyed; that the other U-boat which had been sighted by the PC had moved cut of the area. Continuing on a homeward course, the Commanding Officer of the Big Horn attempted to use the Cominch daily submarine estimates as guides for fruitful changes of course, but after several attempts had failed to produce results, the Task Group Commander recorded in his log, on May 13, , "This makes three submarines we have attempted to intercept on our return trip, all of which we theoretically should have met. This experience again accents the hopelessness of trying to find submarines. The proper procedure, as originally planned, is to remain in the vicinity of convoys, to which the submarines will come. On the next trip, it is planned to stay within about 15 miles, or less, of the convoy. This overhaul was completed in July The final cruise of the Big Horn in the capacity of a Q-ship was also her longest, Again she served as the flagship of a small Task Group which included only two other vessels: PC and PC In the organization of the Atlantic Fleet, this unit was designated Task Group Commander L. On July 29th, the Big Horn straggled from the convoy and streamed her Mark 29 gear. For the next few days she trailed the convoy, distant about fifty miles. On August 4th, course was changed to enable the Task Group to intercept enemy submarines reported by Cominch to be operating in the vicinity of N, W. On August 6th, a submarine was sighted in N, W and attacked by PC with mousetraps which failed to explode. Thereafter the contact was not regained. An expanding box search was carried out during the next few days without results then the group moved northward of the Azores. Planes from the "baby flat-top" [escort aircraft carrier] USS Card [CVE] were sighted several times during this period and it was subsequently learned that some of these planes had made definite kills of enemy U-boats during that period. The Big Horn was not so fortunate, in spite of frequent changes of course to intercept submarines reported by Cominch. The cruise continued in the general area and as far south as the latitude of Dakar, during the last weeks of August and throughout September. During the last week of September, a new search area was tried far to the north of the Azores, but again without success; then the homeward leg of the cruise was executed without event. On October 14th, Cominch directed that USS Big Horn should be retained in active service but that no alterations or extensive repairs should be made without specific authorization of Cominch. One more uneventful cruise was made by the Big Horn in company with PC and PC , following training exercises in the New London area with a tame sub from October 29th through November 10th. On November 11th, the Task Group returned to New York to refuel and provision; on November 15th, the Task Group departed in company and proceeded on an eastward course until they had reached the hunting ground north of the Azores by November 27th. The search tactics were carried out for the next three weeks without success, and then the Task Group set course for the United States, arriving in Cape Cod Bay on December 31, In summarizing this cruise, the Commanding. Officer of the Big Horn wrote, " It may be noted that during the period from 27 November to 1 December, this Task Group was in the midst of a group of from 10 to 15 U-boats. Nine contacts, sightings or attacks on U-boats took place in our immediate vicinity, so that it is most unlikely that we were not seen by some U-boats. Evidently the U-boats are wary of attacking an independent tanker. If the Q-ship program has contributed to this wariness, as is suggested in several prisoner-of-war statements, many independent merchant ships may thereby have escaped attack, and the Q-ship program has thus been of value. Apparently Cominch did not agree with such a conclusion, for subsequent orders were that the Big Horn should join the Asterion in the new assignment to North Atlantic Weather Patrol Duty in the North Atlantic, under the supervision at the Coast Guard and manned by Coast Guard officers and crew. Because her antisubmarine equipment still remained intact, this permitted her to take offensive action whenever such opportunities presented themselves. The fifth vessel to be converted as a Q-ship was the three-masted schooner USS Irene Forsyte mentioned at the beginning of this chapter. The original proposal for using such a vessel as a Q-ship was made by Lieutenant Commander R. The plan was submitted to Cominch by Commander Eastern Sea Frontier in a letter dated October 9, , and was approved. Antle in Parrsboro, Nova Scotia. Conversion was made at the Thames Shipyard at New London, and as soon as the hull had been overhauled and repaired the vessel was lavishly equipped with a considerable variety of antisubmarine gear.

Panzer Commander Hermann Balck, by Stephen Robinson (Exisle Publishing)

American Q-ships were defective in they were not made sink-proof by adequate watertight compartments filled with floatation materials. Read the detailed account below. Related Resources: List of Q-Ships with links to their histories. The message further stated that the condition might become serious if the heavy weather continued; for that reason, permission was requested to proceed to Bermuda for repairs. First action was taken by Cinclant [Commander-in-Chief, US Atlantic Fleet], who immediately ordered two tugs to proceed to the scene and render assistance. Later in the day, however, the Irene Forsyte reported that no assistance was needed, that she was proceeding to Bermuda, The tugs were recalled. On October 14, ; Cominch [Commander-in-Chief, United States Fleet] directed the Commander Eastern Sea Frontier to decommission the Irene Forsyte upon her return from Bermuda; to take other steps which would lead to the conclusion of all antisubmarine patrols by Eastern Sea Frontier vessels disguised as merchant vessels. This decision had been brought to a head by the failure of Eastern Sea Frontier "Queen ships" to accomplish their intended missions. The conclusion of "Queen ship" missions in the waters of the Eastern Sea Frontier offers an appropriate occasion for reviewing the essential details as to their various developments and operations from the beginning of the war to the decommissioning of Irene Forsyte IX When the U-boats [German submarines] were at their worst in World War I, the British Admiralty approved and authorized the conversion of merchant vessels to heavily armed raiders which would have her guns disguised or concealed in such a way that the merchant vessels might serve as decoys which would encourage U-boats to attack them. Then, provided the disguised merchant vessel had been given sufficient buoyancy, so that one or two torpedoes would be unable to sink her, the disguise was to be thrown off, the guns brought to bear, the U-boat sunk. The entire effectiveness of the enterprise depended on the successful use of surprise, and once the U-boats were aware of the ruse, the chances of success were so greatly reduced that only a few ingenious Commanding Officers were able to conduct Q-ship campaigns throughout the remainder of World War I with any distinction. Sinkings began on January 14th, and shipping losses mounted rapidly. On January 20, , Cominch sent for information to Commander Eastern Sea Frontier a coded dispatch which was paraphrased as follows: "Immediate consideration is requested as to the manning and fitting-out of Queen repeat Queen ships to be operated as an antisubmarine measure. For this reason it was pointed out that a tanker would best answer the purpose of inviting attack after having been fitted out as a Q-ship. It was further suggested that another type of Q- ship might be a vessel "of such a relatively insignificant appearance that upon sighting it a submarine would not submerge. This letter containing details as to procedure, was forwarded by Cominch to the Chief of Naval Operations on February 15, , and CESF [Commander Easter Sea Frontier] was informed that the proposals had been "noted with interest" and were "under consideration. Prior to the inception of "Project LQ," Cominch had arranged for the selection of three other vessels considered suitable for the intended purpose: a Boston trawler and two small cargo vessels of the three-island type. The beam trawler, diesel powered, had formerly operated with the fishing fleet out of Boston under the name, MS Wave. She was originally acquired. Her length was feet, beam 26 feet, maximum speed, 10 knots. Her armament included one four-inch-fifty gun, two. She was also equipped with WEA echo ranging and listening equipment. Her complement was 5 officers and 42 enlisted men. The two cargo vessels had been built at Newport News, Virginia, in and were of standard type: 3, gross tons, feet in length, 46 foot beam. For their new assignment, they were taken over for naval use by Mr. Huntington Morse and Mr. Heimbold of the U. Maritime Commission. During their conversion in the Navy Yard at Portsmouth, N. The complement of each ship was six officers and enlisted men. The status of USS Eagle AM remained unchanged in the department's records, since she had originally been acquired for conversion to AM and had been so designated in the records of the Department. Thereafter, all pertinent information containing these vessels was kept in a secret file in the custody of the Vice Chief of Naval Operations. Some complicated problems of protocol were solved while the ships were still being converted. He then requested immediate transfer of the following sums to the following accounts:. Eagle Fishing Company, L. Such an arrangement permitted the purchase of supplies for the individual ships involved without the customary naval requisition procedure. After many other minor details had been ironed out, the next step was the arrangement for operational directives which might be foolproof. Legwen, USN, and Lieut. Harry L. They received a preliminary Operation Order to cover a brief period of shakedown, which would start about Match 24, Since they would be departing from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, they were to report to Commander Submarine Division when ready for sea; then proceed independently on widely separated courses for shakedown in areas where enemy activity had not been reported. USS Atik and USS Asterion were to navigate so that one should be approximately miles to the southward of the other after five days at sea. These ships were to leave the Navy Yard, Portsmouth, in such manner that they would appear to all observers as armed vessels regularly commissioned in the Navy; then at the first opportunity, guns and depth charge throwers were to be concealed, identifying numbers removed from the bows, commission pennants hauled down, and other steps taken to have USS Atik and USS Asterion present the appearance of merchantmen; USS Eagle the appearance of a beam trawler fishing out of Boston. From the viewpoint of security, the most serious difficulty in carrying out this plan was that there had been scores of civilian workers in the Portsmouth shipyard which had known about the conversion peculiarities of structure on these vessels, and the subject of these "Q-ships" was subsequently reported by one wife of an officer aboard USS Atik to have been common knowledge in several Portsmouth boarding houses. On completing shakedown, these ships were to report to Commander Eastern Sea Frontier by dispatch, and at that time the second Operation Plan would be made effective by dispatch from Commander Eastern Sea Frontier. This second Operation Plan, also issued under date of March 11, , applied only to the Atik and the Asterion. Therein they were directed to operate independently in the waters off the United States Atlantic Coast, roughly miles off the coast. Special instructions pointed out that the identity of these vessels must remain secret until action was joined; that action should be joined only when en enemy submarine was at sufficiently close quarters to insure its destruction by superior gunfire, followed by depth charge attacks if it succeeded in submerging before destruction. It was further pointed out that enemy submarines had been attacking during darkness; that they were rarely seen until after the vessel was struck by a torpedo. As for possible circumstances under which friendly ships or aircraft might challenge the Atik and the Asterion , they were instructed to use as identification their former names and calls, which would indicate that they were SS Carolyn and SS Evelyn , owned by the A. Bull Steamship Company; that if enemy ships should challenge, reply should be made in accordance with International Procedure, using the calls and identifications as follows:. As for eventual return to port, instructions were given that notice should be sent to Commander Eastern Sea Frontier, who would inform Mr. Huntington Morse or Mr. Helmbold of the Maritime Commission at Washington, that one of these men should inform the senior Maritime Commission representative at the port of entry; that a Maritime Commission representative at the port would receive lists of requirements from the Commanding Officer after arrival and would designate an agent to furnish them; that the Commanding Officer should ascertain the total cost and should deliver a check for the amount From March 11th to March 23, , final arrangements were made for the first sailing of these vessels on shakedown, They sailed at on March 23rd, and the next day one of the officers in the Navy Department wrote, "It's gone with the wind now and hoping for a windfall. Unfortunately, the windfall cane all too soon. All bands were listed as "missing. It is known that the Atik had been cruising in the general area about miles east of Norfolk; that the Asterion had been cruising some miles to the south of this area. Nothing further. The Duty Officer in the Control Room had not been informed as to the secret nature of the SS Carolyn , and consequently his only action was to forward the dispatch to Cominch. The answer was that they had not been notified. The Duty Officer was informed that they should be, immediately. The Army bomber returned without having sighted anything, The tug and the destroyer encountered such heavy weather that the tug was recalled on March 25th; the Noa searched the area until fuel shortage compelled her to return to New York on March 30th. Other flights by Army and Navy planes were unsuccessful until March 30th, when two Army planes and one PBY-5A [four-engine Navy patrol bomber] out of Norfolk reported that they had sighted wreckage roughly ten miles south of the original reported position. The Asterion , which had intercepted the distress messages from the Atik , proceeded directly to the area but was unable to find any trace of her sister vessel. Thomas, Virgin Islands. On her arrival there, she was boarded and interrogation revealed that her crew had sighted no wreckage and had picked up no survivors. Twelve days later, Commander Eastern Sea Frontier reported all known details to Cominch on the "suspected sinking of the SS Carolyn ," and concluded: ". It is therefore recommended that it no further information is received by April 27, they be considered lost and that next of kin be notified. The next piece of information came from Berlin on April 9, , in the form of a broadcast recorded by the Associated Press in New York. It was printed in the New York Times on the following day, April 10, When the submarines came into range, false structures on the Q-boats were collapsed, revealing an array of guns. So far as United States Q-ships were concerned in World War II, this was the first and the last action with U-boats which produced any positive results. It appears from this unfortunate beginning that the Germans were well aware of Q-ship possibilities; that the element of surprise which had made this type of vessel effective against submarines in World War I had been so completely lost that the Q-ship had become something of an anachronism. Nevertheless, the plan was continued, and the general details of those later developments deserve a place in the history of the Eastern Sea Frontier. The incidents of importance in that cruise were many, and they included several sound contacts with U-boats, the sighting of torpedoed merchant vessels and life boats, the rescue of survivors. Furthermore, several contacts with friendly surface craft and aircraft led to awkward situations which required tact and ingenuity on the part of the Commanding Officer. Nevertheless, the first cruise was concluded without any action against enemy submarines. A copy of the formal report of this first cruise, together with "Recommendations for reduction in merchant ship losses and operation of Q-ships" is included in the Appendix to this month's war diary. It is of interest to note that officers in Headquarters, ESF, were so completely unaware of the nature of this ship's mission that they recorded her various dispatches in the Enemy Action Diary for April 4th, April 10th and April 14th, under her commercial name, SS Evelyn. It was thus indicated that the best possibilities of success would be for the vessel to proceed as an independently routed merchant ship or as a straggler from a convoy. The cruise was uneventful. The third cruise of USS Asterion began on June 7, , and because of increased submarine activities in the Gulf of Mexico, the vessel proceeded from New York down the coast, passing through the Straits of Florida on June 11th and past Dry Tortugas on June 14th; thence through Yucatan Channel; then after reversing course proceeded to the Mississippi River Delta, thence on a westerly course toward Galveston. On the return leg of the voyage, the vessel cruised northward of the Bahamas and then proceeded to the Windward Passage area; thence to New York, arriving August 18, The only incident of importance during this cruise was that a sick man was removed from the ship by a tug off Chesapeake Light Buoy vessel on August 15th,. The fifth cruise of USS Asterion began late in August and was similar in plan to that of the fourth cruise. The vessel sailed to Key West, refueled and sailed from there on September 12, , returning to New York, The sixth cruise, equally uneventful, began on November 18, and again the run was made to Key West in accordance with orders from CESF. While in Key West, on November 30th, arrangements were made and carried out for exercises and operations with a "tame" submarine. Bearing repairs, of serious nature, resulted in the delay of sailing from Trinidad from December 12th until December 26th, when USS Asterion departed Trinidad en route for New York, arriving January 10, For the next few months, USS Asterion was given an elaborate overhaul. Inspection after her sixth cruise raised considerable doubt as to her ability to remain afloat if hit by a single torpedo because she had three large holds. A representative of the Navy Yard, New York, conferred with the bureau of Ships, Damage Section, who confirmed the opinion that she could not successfully withstand one torpedo hit, and that such a hit would result not only in her eventual sinking but also in such a quick list that her battery would be ineffective. Undoubtedly this weakness had been demonstrated several months earlier and was responsible for the rapid sinking of the sister vessel, USS Atik. A conference was held in the office of the Vice Chief of Naval Operations and it was decided to increase flotation by building five transverse bulkheads. The work took much longer and cost much more than had been estimated. Not until September 27th was the overhaul completed--more than eight months after the end of the Asterion 's latest cruise. The overhaul had included re-subdivision by longitudinal and athwart ship bulkheads, the filling of her holds with 16, empty steel flotation drums. Thus it seemed probable that she had an excellent chance of remaining afloat after a U-boat had made a successful attack on her, As for equipment, she had been strengthened until she carried six K-guns, 48 hedgehog barrels arranged in pairs 24 on each side to fire a pattern feet in length and feet in width, four caliber machine guns, two millimeter machine guns, and three four-inch guns. On October 14, , Cominch informed Commander Eastern Sea Frontier that USS Asterion would discontinue her previous duties; that she would be inspected by a Board of Inspection and Survey to determine "suitability for useful service" in some other capacity. Her first cruise, carried out in accordance with CESF Operation Order of March 11, , was intended to permit her to operate independently as a Q-ship in the general vicinity of the beam trawler fishing fleet out of Boston, Massachusetts. It was assumed that the true identity and mission of the vessel would become known to the fishing fleet, but it was intended that this knowledge should not be further disseminated. For this reason, prompt reports were to be made to the Commandant First Naval District for appropriate action of any evidence of disloyalty or "loose talk" in the fishing fleet. But it was found that the original equipment of USS Eagle and her weak armament were unsatisfactory for her purpose. As a result, arrangements were made for a three-week overhaul and conversion before she began her first cruise. This first cruise began May 26, , and although no events of importance occurred, USS Captor continued to operate in this area during the next twelve months. Conversion was begun in March at the Bethlehem 56th Street Brooklyn Yard and was continued at the Navy Yard Boston, where the work was finally completed on July 22, Equipment included five 4-inch. Gainard, formerly master of the SS City of Flint , which became the center of an international incident at the beginning of the war, and was later sunk by a U-boat. This training period was followed by a shakedown cruise which was completed on August 26, , at which date USS Big Horn put in again at the Navy Yard, Boston, for further alterations and repairs, At that time, the total complement of the vessel was 13 officers and enlisted men. The trip was made to Guantanamo without incident, and thereafter the Big Horn was semi-attached to NOB [Naval Operating Base] Trinidad, with orders to operate from that base over the Bauxite route to and from ports where that commodity was loaded. Many ships in this area had been sunk in recent weeks. Ships proceeding from Trinidad were convoyed to a designated point from which they fanned out to take various routes to their ultimate destination. It was directed that the Big Horn should proceed to that point and drop down on independent routes to and from a Bauxite port. That same afternoon, three U-boats attacked the convoy, and at Queen in N, W, the British steamer SS Castle Harbor was hit on the starboard side by a torpedo and sank in less than two minutes. At almost the same time the United States steamer Winona , coal laden, was struck forward on the starboard side. Later she limped into Trinidad. Soon afterwards, lookouts on the Big Horn sighted a U-boat moving at periscope depth on the port beam, but in such a position that no action could be taken without damaging the United States troopship Mexico or the Egyptian ship Raz El Farog. At , lookouts on the Big Horn again sighted a periscope and conning tower, on the port side, and her four-inch gun was trained in that direction just as a sub chaser crossed through the line-of-fire and dropped five depth charges. Thereafter, the cruise in these waters was continued without incident for several days and the Big Horn returned to NOB Trinidad about October 29th. A second cruise in company with a convoy from Trinidad was begun by USS Big Horn on November 1, , to a point nearly due north of Paramaribo, where the vessel left the convoy and proceeded on varying courses without incident until return to Trinidad on November 8, As a result of submarine warnings the convoy course was changed so that the approach to Curacao was made from the south and west. Because of engine difficulties, USS Big Horn dropped out of the convoy at on November 12, , in company with a Venezuelan tanker, and arrived at a point about one and one-half miles off Wilhemstad harbor, where the Curacao-Aruba subsidiary convoys were joining the main convoy. At , a great volume of smoke was sighted as it rose from the stern of USS Erie , about 1, yards on the starboard bow of the Big Horn , in N, W. It developed that the Erie had been torpedoed on the starboard side aft. The crew of the Big Horn was called to General Quarters, increased speed to 11 knots and proceeded for the scene of action, but repeated orders from Wilhemstad forced the Big Horn to alter course at and proceed to Wilhemstad. It was noted that the Erie swung into the wind; that efforts were made without avail to subdue the fire. The gunboat was finally beached, officers and crew abandoning ship. Other vessels joined convoy at Guantanamo until on leaving that meeting point there were 45 ships and 5 escorts in company. During the next few weeks, the Big Horn entered the Todd Shipyard at Hoboken, where mousetrap and hedgehog equipment were installed. Their proposal began by reviewing the fact that antisubmarine measures within ESF had been so successful that no vessels had been sunk in Frontier waters since July ; but that more and more enemy submarines were operating in different areas of the Atlantic. It was therefore proposed that a task unit be formed for hunting U-boats in the central Atlantic ; that three PC's [submarine chasers] proceed as escort for USS Big Horn , which would thus act as " bait ," as fuel and supply ship, and as support in antisubmarine combat. On April 3, , CESF informed Cinclant that the Big Horn and the three PC's would proceed to sea with convoy UGS-7A on April 13th, and that prior to arrival in the vicinity of the Azores the group would drop astern of the convoy and proceed as straggler-with-escorts, although the escorts would remain far enough astern so that they would not be visible to an enemy submarine sighting the Big Horn. Corroboration of this plan was made by Cominch in a letter to Cinclant dated April 7, The Task Group was designated Convoy UGS-7A sailed on the morning of April 14, , and the special Task Group joined up off New York and continued in company until on April 21, when the Group left the convoy and dropped astern twenty-five miles. The cruise was uneventful during the next two weeks. Early that morning, a surfaced vessel had been sighted on the horizon, and PC sent in pursuit. At , PC reported a submarine on the surface, distant about 6 miles. At , the Big Horn got a sound contact and delivered a hedgehog attack just after sighting a periscope on the starboard bow at , followed by a heavy swirl as the U-boat dove. At a second attack was delivered and the contact was lost. At the contact was regained at yards and at , speed 5 knots, the Big Horn delivered a third attack. About five of the hedgehog projectiles exploded after they struck the water, and the Big Horn continued in to drop depth charges. Considerable light oil came to the surface and continued to spread for two hours. At on May 4th an oil patch was visible over an area of to yards. By daylight that morning, all traces of the oil slick were gone. As none of the vessels in the Group were able to establish contact during the next 44 hours, it was presumed that one submarine had been destroyed; that the other U-boat which had been sighted by the PC had moved cut of the area. Continuing on a homeward course, the Commanding Officer of the Big Horn attempted to use the Cominch daily submarine estimates as guides for fruitful changes of course, but after several attempts had failed to produce results, the Task Group Commander recorded in his log, on May 13, , "This makes three submarines we have attempted to intercept on our return trip, all of which we theoretically should have met. This experience again accents the hopelessness of trying to find submarines. The proper procedure, as originally planned, is to remain in the vicinity of convoys, to which the submarines will come. On the next trip, it is planned to stay within about 15 miles, or less, of the convoy. This overhaul was completed in July The final cruise of the Big Horn in the capacity of a Q-ship was also her longest, Again she served as the flagship of a small Task Group which included only two other vessels: PC and PC In the organization of the Atlantic Fleet, this unit was designated Task Group Commander L. On July 29th, the Big Horn straggled from the convoy and streamed her Mark 29 gear. For the next few days she trailed the convoy, distant about fifty miles. On August 4th, course was changed to enable the Task Group to intercept enemy submarines reported by Cominch to be operating in the vicinity of N, W. On August 6th, a submarine was sighted in N, W and attacked by PC with mousetraps which failed to explode. Thereafter the contact was not regained. An expanding box search was carried out during the next few days without results then the group moved northward of the Azores. Planes from the "baby flat-top" [escort aircraft carrier] USS Card [CVE] were sighted several times during this period and it was subsequently learned that some of these planes had made definite kills of enemy U-boats during that period. The Big Horn was not so fortunate, in spite of frequent changes of course to intercept submarines reported by Cominch. The cruise continued in the general area and as far south as the latitude of Dakar, during the last weeks of August and throughout September. During the last week of September, a new search area was tried far to the north of the Azores, but again without success; then the homeward leg of the cruise was executed without event. On October 14th, Cominch directed that USS Big Horn should be retained in active service but that no alterations or extensive repairs should be made without specific authorization of Cominch. One more uneventful cruise was made by the Big Horn in company with PC and PC , following training exercises in the New London area with a tame sub from October 29th through November 10th. On November 11th, the Task Group returned to New York to refuel and provision; on November 15th, the Task Group departed in company and proceeded on an eastward course until they had reached the hunting ground north of the Azores by November 27th. The search tactics were carried out for the next three weeks without success, and then the Task Group set course for the United States, arriving in Cape Cod Bay on December 31, In summarizing this cruise, the Commanding. Officer of the Big Horn wrote, " It may be noted that during the period from 27 November to 1 December, this Task Group was in the midst of a group of from 10 to 15 U-boats. Nine contacts, sightings or attacks on U-boats took place in our immediate vicinity, so that it is most unlikely that we were not seen by some U- boats. Evidently the U-boats are wary of attacking an independent tanker. If the Q-ship program has contributed to this wariness, as is suggested in several prisoner-of-war statements, many independent merchant ships may thereby have escaped attack, and the Q-ship program has thus been of value. Apparently Cominch did not agree with such a conclusion, for subsequent orders were that the Big Horn should join the Asterion in the new assignment to North Atlantic Weather Patrol Duty in the North Atlantic, under the supervision at the Coast Guard and manned by Coast Guard officers and crew. Because her antisubmarine equipment still remained intact, this permitted her to take offensive action whenever such opportunities presented themselves. The fifth vessel to be converted as a Q-ship was the three-masted schooner USS Irene Forsyte mentioned at the beginning of this chapter. The original proposal for using such a vessel as a Q-ship was made by Lieutenant Commander R. The plan was submitted to Cominch by Commander Eastern Sea Frontier in a letter dated October 9, , and was approved. Antle in Parrsboro, Nova Scotia. Conversion was made at the Thames Shipyard at New London, and as soon as the hull had been overhauled and repaired the vessel was lavishly equipped with a considerable variety of antisubmarine gear. The original plan was for using the vessel off the "Trinidad corner" where U-boats had congregated and where several schooners had been attacked. On March 16th, however, CESF proposed to Cominch that the vessel might be of more value if she were assigned patrol areas in waters adjacent to the Azores. On April 5, , Cominch replied that "in view of the considerable length of time before the subject vessel will be completed it is not possible to state definitely where she will be employed when ready. It is the present plan, however, that she will operate in the South Atlantic. On August 11th, Commander Eastern Sea Frontier informed Cinclant that the Irene Forsyte would be completed some time between August , ; that she would require about two weeks for shakedown; that at the end of that time CESF would order her to report to Cinclant for assignment. The Commanding Officer of the Irene Forsyte did report to Cinclant for duty on September 24, , and was then instructed to sail on or about September 26th for Recife along the Maury Track. On the first leg of this cruise, the Irene Forsyte ran into heavy weather which opened up her seams and caused such serious leakage that there was temporary fear that the vessel would founder before she could put in at Bermuda. Immediately questions were raised as to why the vessel had been permitted to go to sea in such obviously unseaworthy condition. The upshot of the matter was the appointment of a Board of Investigation to ascertain responsibility for materiel failure of the vessel. In commenting on the report of the Naval Inspector General, Cominch wrote as follows:. In addition, much valuable material that can ultimately be used has been frozen for the better part of one year. The facts and circumstances responsible therefor are set forth in detail in the enclosures. However, it appears to be a fact that some of the officers concerned took advantage of the broad authority that was granted in the interests of secrecy to obtain equipment that did not contribute to the military value of the vessel. Furthermore, the failure to ascertain, prior to or during conversion, that the vessel was unseaworthy is an indication of professional incompetence on the part of the officers concerned. The Commander, Eastern Sea Frontiers and the Commandant, Third Naval District after such further investigation as they may deem necessary, will take appropriate corrective and disciplinary action. Disposal of the vessel has been provided for in other correspondence. Beyer, Kenneth M. Blair, Clay. New York: Random House, Gannon, Michael. New York: Harper and Row, Grenfell, E. McElroy, John W. Morison, Samuel Eliot. The , September May Sanderson, James Dean. Giants in War. New York: D. Van Nostrand Co. Smith, Richard W. The Q- Ship - Cause and Effect. Naval Institute Proceedings 79, no. Of course, if the USMIL bureaucracy refuses to do its job, the kill-the-raghead club at Blackwater Xwhatever-they-call-themselves will do it all fore a fee. Career Germany. Bremer Vulkan. Requisitioned by Kriegsmarine , Auxiliary cruiser , Sunk, 23 November , in the South Atlantic. General characteristics [1]. Merchant raider. The Nazis idealized blonde hair and blue eyes, features typical of Northern Europeans. They called them "Aryans" and believed that the world would be better off with Aryans in charge. The Gestapo was the Nazi secret police. If you said or did the wrong thing in , the Gestapo would show up at your door The Einsatzgruppen was the Nazi death squad. It traveled around Europe, murdering "undesirable" elements like Jews. The autobahnen aka the autobahn is a system of highways built by the Nazis. Construction began in , and it was Hitler who dug the ceremonial first bit of dirt. The Luftwaffe was the Nazi Air Force, which was terrifying in its might and relentlessness. The Luftwaffe laid waste to many European cities throughout the war. The Sturmabteilungen storm detachment was the storm trooper squad in the Nazi army. Also called the "SA," these troops were instrumental in helping secure Hitler's rise to power. The Volkssturm "People's Army" was an emergency force that included very young and very old Germans, called to arms in a futile effort to stop invading Allied forces. The Volkssturm didn't do much to stop the Allies, but it added to the cold and brutal legacy of Nazism. The Nazis adopted the slogan "blut and boden," which means "blood and soil. When Nazis gathered, they bemoaned their daseinskampf, the struggle for existence, particularly against perceived enemies like Jews, Communists or anyone else who didn't adhere to Hitler's crazed philosophies. The Wehrmacht was the German army. The word means "defense force," but of course, during World War II, the Wehrmacht was used for many offensive operations. Far too many of those hideous plans were carried out in real life. The V-1 and V-2 were types of vergeltungswaffen, or weapons of retaliation. They were missiles that the Nazis launched against places like London. The untermenschen were the "undesirable" humans of the world -- that is, anyone who didn't fit the Nazi definition of perfection. The Nazis set out to cleanse the world of untermenschen. The konzentrationslager was the system of concentration camps that the Nazis used for the murder of millions of humans. People were shoved into the konzentrationslager and then starved or gassed to death. Your clue here is the "wagen" portion of "panzerkampfwagen. You did not want to be a part of the selektion selection process at a Nazi concentration camp. Being selected meant that you were chosen to be executed. In Nazi Germany, you didn't persuade people to join the cause. Instead, you set out to "liquidieren" or liquidate your opponents -- that is, you killed them. Had they succeeded, today's world would be very different. As the Nazi war machine began crushing Europe, it utilized blitzkrieg tactics. The blitzkrieg included fast-moving armored columns that often crumpled even well-fortified positions. The SS Schutzstaffel was the elite branch of the German army. The deutschlandsender was the Nazi radio broadcasting station. The powerful radio station was a key component of the Nazi propaganda machine. And that's exactly what Hitler was committed to doing. It referred to a senior group leader in the notorious SS or SA. Nationalsozialist was the full term for Nazis. Nazis were National Socialists hell-bent on warping the rest of the world to suit their evil aims. The totenkopf was better known as the "death's head," and it featured a human skull. It was supposedly a symbol of loyalty that extended past death. And you know, it was meant to intimidate anyone who saw it. As the Nazis solidified power, they used the concept of euthanasiebefehl euthanasia order to determine which Germans lived or died. So for example, if your child was very sick and unlikely to get better, he or she might be euthanized to spare German society the burden of caring for them. The SiPo harassed and intimidated people into following Nazi philosophies. Hitler was all about the power trip. He gave himself the title of Fuhrer as he ascended to the top of the Nazi party. In German, Fuhrer means "leader. The Nazis, of course, held Aryans in the highest esteem. People who worked for the goals of the Nazi party were sometimes called "ehrenarier," which meant you were an honorary Aryan and safe from the Holocaust. The term refers to book burnings. How much do you know about dinosaurs? What is an octane rating? And how do you use a proper noun? Lucky for you, HowStuffWorks Play is here to help. Our award-winning website offers reliable, easy-to-understand explanations about how the world works. From fun quizzes that bring joy to your day, to compelling photography and fascinating lists, HowStuffWorks Play offers something for everyone. Because learning is fun, so stick with us!

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