Florida International University FIU Digital Commons FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations University Graduate School 7-23-2003 An incident at sea: The historic combat between U.S. Navy Blimp K-74 and U-Boat 134 Anthony Atwood Florida International University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd Recommended Citation Atwood, Anthony, "An incident at sea: The historic combat between U.S. Navy Blimp K-74 and U-Boat 134" (2003). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 12. http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/12 This work is brought to you for free and open access by the University Graduate School at FIU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of FIU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY Miami, Florida AN INCIDENT AT SEA: THE HISTORIC COMBAT BETWEEN U.S. NAVY BLIMP K-74 AND U-BOAT 134 A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS in HISTORY by Anthony Dewey Atwood 2003 To: Dean Arthur W. Herriott College of Arts and Sciences This thesis, written by Anthony Dewey Atwood, and entitled: An Incident at Sea: The Historic Combat between U.S. Navy Blimp K-74 and U-boat 134, having been approved in respect to style and intellectual content, is referred to you for judgment. We have read this thesis and recommend that it be approved. ____________________________________ Ralph S. Clem ____________________________________ William O. Walker III ____________________________________ Darden A. Pyron, Major Professor Date of Defense: July 23, 2003 The thesis of Anthony Dewey Atwood is approved. ____________________________________ Dean Arthur W. Herriott College of Arts and Sciences ____________________________________ Dean Douglas Wartzok University Graduate School Florida International University, 2003 ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to gratefully acknowledge the kind assistance of Lothar E. Zeidler, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of the Linguistics Department at Rutgers University for his invaluable help in translating the radio transmissions of the U-134. His encouragement was important to this work. Equally important to this work have been the K-74 survivors Nelson G. Grills, Robert Herbert Bourne, John Schmidt and John F. Rice. Likewise the scholarly help of Professor Michael Gannon, Professor Gwyn Davies, Al Cope, Richard Collins, Max May, Peter W. Soverel, Tim Nininger of the National Archives, and my thesis committee-members, Professors Darden A. Pyron, William O. Walker III and Ralph Clem were vital. This work could not have been done without the help of German U-boat historians Professor Doctor Jurgen Rohwer, Horst Bredow and Franz Selinger. iii ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS AN INCIDENT AT SEA: THE HISTORIC COMBAT BETWEEN U.S. NAVY BLIMP K-74 AND U-BOAT 134 by Anthony Dewey Atwood Florida International University, 2004 Miami, Florida Professor Darden A. Pyron, Major Professor This thesis studies the historic encounter between United States Navy airship K- 74 and Nazi submarine U-134 in World War II. The Battle of the Atlantic is examined through case study of this one U-boat and its voyage. In all things except her fight with the American blimp, the patrol was perfectly typical. Looked at from start to finish, both her reports and the reports of the Allies encountered, many realities of the war can be studied. U-134 sailed to attack shipping between Florida and Cuba. She was challenged by the attack of United States Navy airship K-74 over the Florida Straits. It is the only documented instance of battle between two such combatants in history. That merits attention. Thesis finding disprove historian William Eliot Morison’s contention that the K- 74 airship bombs were not dropped and did not damage the U-boat Study of this U-boat and its antagonist broadens our understanding of the Battle of the Atlantic. It is a contribution to our knowledge of military, naval, aviation, and local history. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. INTRODUCTION AND REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE .................................. 1 II. THE ATLANTIC BATTLEFIELD ........................................................................ 6 The German Navy/U-boat Successes.................................................................. 7 German Command/Surface Fleet Defeats .......................................................... 10 Supply Ships and Raiders ................................................................................... 12 The Panay Incident ............................................................................................. 14 The Atlantic Neutrality Patrol............................................................................. 16 Ships for Bases/ABC Talks/Lend Lease............................................................. 17 The Navy Armed Guard/First Attacks................................................................ 22 The Hooligan Navy/The Civil Air Patrol............................................................ 28 Queen ships/Milk Cows/Wizard War ................................................................. 30 Enter the Blimps ................................................................................................ 36 III. THE PATROL OF THE U-134 ............................................................................. 39 U-134 ordered to sea......................................................................................... 44 Heading – outbound.......................................................................................... 46 Sighting report .................................................................................................. 47 Communications signal..................................................................................... 47 Refueling operations in mid-Atlantic................................................................ 48 Heading – to combat zone................................................................................. 51 Communications signal..................................................................................... 52 Orders to attack Florida and Cuba .................................................................... 52 Action report: combat against Seaplane ........................................................... 53 Action report: combat off the Isle of Pines....................................................... 56 IV. BATTLE AGAINST NAVY BLIMP K-74 ......................................................... 57 V. RETREAT FROM BATTLE.................................................................................. 84 Action report: combat against Key West Bomber ............................................ 84 Damage report................................................................................................... 86 Orders to Retreat............................................................................................... 88 Communication signals..................................................................................... 90 Directions for escape via Spain......................................................................... 93 Action report: combat against a Carrier............................................................ 95 U-boat Headquarters assessment ...................................................................... 102 Last action off Spain ......................................................................................... 103 Final log entry................................................................................................... 108 Conclusions....................................................................................................... 109 BIBLIOGRAPHY AND PRIMARY SOURCES.......................................................... 115 APPENDICES .............................................................................................................. 120 v CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION AND REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE The Battle of the Atlantic (September 1939-May 1945) was the defining naval contest of modern times. The German Reich sought to overthrow the existing Anglo- Franco-American global hegemony and replace it with a German world empire. Supremacy over civilization and its produce was the aim of the charismatic Adolf Hitler and under his leadership Germany nearly succeeded in this. The regime crushed Continental opposition and united most of Europe under his new world order. The German challenge to the British Empire and the nascent world-power of the United States was met and fought out on, under, and over the Atlantic Ocean. The Nazi attempt initially focused on a naval blockade of the British Isles. Britain fought to keep her sea lanes open to help from her global commonwealth and escalating United States support. With the German invasion of Russia, combat and naval operations grew exponentially. The entrance of the United States as a belligerent into the war in December 1941 made America the center of re-supply for the Allies. In addition to keeping Britain and Russia supplied to continue fighting, a second war aim of the United States emerged as the movement of vast armed forces to the overseas fronts for the eventual invasion of Europe to defeat the Axis powers. Maritime traffic across the Atlantic Ocean was the only means to make this happen. American entry into the war was precipitated by the surprise attack by Japan