Authors: Ed Offley
14
. Kane graduation date from Kane Oral Interview.
15
. Christmas crew gathering recounted by U-701 survivor Gerhard Schwendel to Günther Degen.
16
. U-701 movements from the U-boat’s
Kriegstagebüch
(daily war diary) from July 16, 1941, through February 9, 1942 (hereafter “U-701 KTB 1”); crew size from “Report of Interrogation of Survivors of U-701 Sunk by U.S. Army Attack Bomber No. 9-29-322, Unit 396 B.S. [Bombardment Squadron] on July 7, 1942,” published in “Post-mortems on Enemy Submarines,” Office of Naval Intelligence, ONI 250-G, 1942, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland, Records Group 38, 48 (hereafter “ONI U-701 Report”).
17
. Degen and U-701 activities in April–December 1941 from U-701 KTB 1. Description of U-552 interior based on the Type VII U-30, described in Clay Blair,
Hitler’s U-boat War
, vol. 1:
The Hunters: 1939–1942
(New York: Random House, 1996), 57–62.
18
. U-552 movements from KTB; details of
Commander Horton
from “Commander Horton,”
Uboat.net
,
http://uboat.net/allies/merchants/885.html
.
19
. Convoy HX121 details from
ConvoyWeb.org.uk
at
http://www.convoyweb.org.uk/hx/index.html
(click “HX121” in box to the left); attack on
Capulet
in U-552 KTB, with additional details in Blair,
Hitler’s U-boat War
, 1:271–272; Topp quote from Degen interview in ONI U-701 Report.
20
. U-552 tonnage from “U-552,”
Uboat.net
,
www.uboat.net/boats/u552.htm
; U-701 construction and commissioning from Kenneth Wynn,
U-boat Operations of the Second World War
, vol. 2:
Career Histories, U-511–UIT-25
(Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1998), 125; “We all grew up . . .” from Peter Cremer,
U-boat Commander
(Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1984), 30.
21
. Adaptation of crew to U-boat conditions from Cremer,
U-boat Commander
, 23; U-701 flaws from ONI U-701 Report, 5; delays in shipyard from U-701 KTB 1.
22
. U-boat training described in Grand Adm. Karl Dönitz,
Memoirs: Ten Years and Twenty Days
(New York: Da Capo Press, 1997), 13–16; U-701 training details from U-701 KTB 1 and “U-701,”
Uboat.net
,
www.uboat.net/boats/u701.htm
.
CHAPTER 2: THE GATHERING STORM
1
. Navy situation on December 31, 1941, described by Thomas B. Buell,
Master of Sea Power: A Biography of Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King
(Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1980), 40; COMINCH powers established in Executive Order 8984, December 18, 1941; “Nothing was ready” from Buell,
Master of Sea Power
, 153.
2
. General Board history and function from Buell,
Master of Sea Power
, 123–125; King career events from Buell,
Master of Sea Power
, and Samuel Eliot Morison,
The Two-Ocean War: A Short History of the United States Navy in the Second World War
(Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1963), 102–103; King commands Patrol Force from Buell,
Master of Sea Power
, 132–134.
3
. ABC-1 report kept from King in Buell,
Master of Sea Power
, 137, and Patrick Abbazia,
Mr. Roosevelt’s Navy: The Private War of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet, 1939–1942
(Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1975), 137.
4
. Creation of Support Force from “Commander Task Force Twenty-Four” in
Administrative History of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet in World War II
(Norfolk, VA: Commander-in-Chief, US Atlantic Fleet, 1946), vol. 2; three destroyer squadrons from Abbazia,
Mr. Roosevelt’s Navy
, 143; Casco Bay base and South Atlantic patrol from Buell,
Master of Sea Power
, 139; events in spring and summer of 1941 from Buell,
Master of Sea Power
, 142–144; also Abbazia,
Mr. Roosevelt’s Navy
, 199; destroyers meet Convoy HX150 from Abbazia,
Mr. Roosevelt’s Navy
, 255.
5
. The destroyer
USS Niblack
had encountered a U-boat back in April 1941 while rescuing survivors from a torpedoed merchant ship; it drove the U-boat away with depth charges. The incident received scant attention publicly;
USS Greer
incident from Abbazia,
Mr. Roosevelt’s Navy
, 142;
USS Kearny
incident from Blair,
Hitler’s U-boat War
, 369–370.
6
.
USS Reuben James
sinking from Abbazia,
Mr. Roosevelt’s Navy
, 293–299; Knox and Roosevelt reactions from Bertram Hulen, “Our Stand Clear, Officials Insist,”
New York Times
, November 2, 1941; Associated Press, “Knox Assails Acts That Pass ‘Piracy,’”
New York Times
, November 2, 1941.
7
. American leaders feared Japan attack in Far East from Ronald H. Spector,
Eagle Against the Sun: The American War with Japan
(New York: Vintage Books, 1985), 96; B-Dienst message from “German Navy Reports of Intercepted Radio Messages,” NARA RG 457, cited in Gannon,
Drumbeat
, xv; B-Dienst telegram stuns Hitler from Blair,
Hitler’s U-boat War
, 1:435; Oshima and Ribbentrop talks from “Hiroshi Oshima,” Wikipedia,
www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiroshi_Oshima
.
8
. Raeder and Dönitz urge unrestricted U-boat campaign from Blair,
Hitler’s U-boat War
, 1:360; also Abbazia,
Mr. Roosevelt’s Navy
, 230;
Führerprinzip
from Heinrich Winkler with Alexander Sager,
Germany: The Long Road West: 1933–1990
(New York: Oxford University Press, 2007), 37.
9
. Jodl repeated Hitler’s comment on Japan and the United States to his interrogators at Nuremberg in 1945 and details of the Rainbow Five leak both cited in Thomas Fleming, “The Big Leak,”
American Heritage
38, no. 8 (December 1987).
10
. Hitler meets with military commanders in Fleming, “The Big Leak”; Roosevelt radio address on December 9, 1941, from Mount Holyoke College World War II archive at
https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/WorldWar2/radio.htm
; Hitler’s December 11 Reichstag speech from “Germany’s Declaration of War Against the United States,” Institute for Historical Review,
www.ihr.org/jhr/v08/v08p389_Hitler.html
; Hitler takes over army command from Fleming, “The Big Leak.”
11
. Details of
HMS Duke of York
arrival in Norfolk from “Telegram: Prime Minister Churchill to President Roosevelt,” in “The Conference at Washington, 1941–42” (hereafter “Arcadia Proceedings”), in US State Department,
Foreign Relations of the United States
, posted at the University of Wisconsin Digital Collections at
http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/FRUS/FRUS-idx?id=FRUS.FRUS194143
; HMS Duke of York
history from “
HMS Duke of York
,” Wikipedia,
www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Duke_of_York_(17)
.
12
. FDR-Churchill first meeting and impressions from Jon Meacham,
Franklin and Winston: An Intimate Portrait of an Epic Friendship
(New York: Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2004), 4–5; evolution of relationship from Meacham,
Franklin and Winston
, 47; details of Arcadia Conference from Arcadia Proceedings, Buell,
Master of Sea Power
, 162–171, and Blair,
Hitler’s U-boat War
, 1:445–447; Japanese attacks in Far East from Polmar and Allen,
World War II
, 11–13.
13
. Churchill remarks on shipping crisis and FDR expansion of shipbuilding from Blair,
Hitler’s U-boat War
, 1:446–447; Troopship convoy to leave New York on January 15, 1942, from Arcadia Proceedings, January 11, 1942, 190–193; Churchill on “greatest importance” of prompt arrival of troops from notes by Lt. Gen. Henry H. Arnold in Arcadia Proceedings, January 4, 1942, 168.
14
. Description of BdU Headquarters in Lorient from Jak Mallmann Showell,
Hitler’s U-boat Bunkers
(Port Stroud, UK: History Press, 2002), 101; also Gannon,
Drumbeat
, xv; BdU staff felt “relief” from Hessler,
The U-boat War
, 2:1; BdU reaction to diversion of U-boats and December 10 figures from Hessler,
The U-boat War
, 1:87–92; “an opportunity” to hunt Allied shipping along the American coast from BdU KTB for December 9, 1941; Hessler on US defenses from
The U-boat War
, 2:2.
15
. Dönitz request for twelve Type IX boats from BdU KTB for December 9, 1941; BdU only allowed six large U-boats from BdU KTB for December 10, 1941; nautical miles to Newfoundland and Cape Hatteras from Hessler,
The U-boat War
, 2:2; U-boats assigned to North America and sailing dates from Blair,
Hitler’s U-boat War
, 1:727, Appendix 4.
CHAPTER 3: FIRST MOVES
1
. U-701 movements, weather conditions, and short signal message text sent on December 31, 1941, from U-701 KTB1, courtesy of Uboat Archive at
www.uboatarchive.net
, 5; threading the passage and U-701 course track from U-701 Daily KTB1, 2–4; background of Degen subordinates from ONI U-701 Report, 4; nine U-boats lost from “German U-boat Casualties in World War II,” in
United States Submarine Losses in World War II
(Washington, DC: Naval History Division, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, 1963).
2
. Schwendel description of Degen from 2011 interview with the author; Hamburger Hof incident recalled by Degen to Oberleutnant zur See Heinz Sorber from ONI Eavesdropping Report.
3
. Kane recollection of the B-18 from Kane Oral Interview; squadron activation and early history from “Unit Historical Data Sheet, 396th Bombardment Squadron (M) of 41st Bombardment Group,” 1943; also “History of the 396th Bombardment Squadron (M), Headquarters, 41st Bombardment Group (M),” Hammer Field, Fresno, California, 1942 (hereafter “396th History”); B-18 Bolo specifications from “History: B-18 Bolo Bomber,” Boeing,
www.boeing.com/boeing/history/mdc/bolo.page
; B-17 specifications from Paul Eden, ed.,
The Encyclopedia of Aircraft of WWII
(London: Aerospace Publishing, 2004), 48.
4
. Loss of Weinitschke from U-701 KTB1 entry of December 31, 1941; additional details from a February 13, 1942, letter from Degen to Weinitschke’s parents explaining the event of his loss; Schwendel comment from 2011 interview; New Year’s message from BdU in U-701 KTB1.
5
. U-boat Force size on January 1, 1942, from BdU KTB for February 1, 1942; number of U-boats in the North Atlantic from Blair,
Hitler’s U-boat War
, 1:718; U-boats should “spread” out once in their patrol areas from BdU KTB for December 10, 1941.
6
. Tension among crew from Schwendel 2011 interview; sighting of convoy from U-701 KTB1 entry for January 2, 1942; Convoy HX166 identified from analysis of convoy traffic at
ConvoyWeb.org.uk
; unsuccessful attack from U-701 KTB1; sinking of
Baron Erskine
from U-701 KTB1, Schwendel 2011 interview, and “Baron Erskine,”
Uboat.net
,
www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/1239.html
; closest land to site of sinking from
Indo.com
latitude-longitude calculator; firing of all but two torpedoes and subsequent movement from U-701 KTB1 for January 7–13, 1942; Cremer description of hurricane from Cremer,
U-boat Commander
, 38–39.