I was not aboard the CGC Duane in 1943, but was born one month later after this sea battle, and did serve aboard her for 2 1/2 years in the mid-1960s....
Official Caption: "THE COAST GUARD IS THE CONVOY'S BODY GUARD: It's guns manned and its decks laden with depth charges, a Coast Guard combat cutter helps to safeguard a long line of merchant ships (on the Horizon carrying supplies for the Battle of Germany. These Coast Guard fighters played a major role in breaking the Nazi submarine menace in 1942 and 1943. Now they continue to keep the ship lanes to Europe free of enemy intruders."
Date: Not listed (1943)
Photo No.: 1624-34
Photographer: Bob Gates?
Description: A view of the Spencer taken from the USS Duane, CG.
Official Caption: "RIDE 'EM CONVOY: Guarded by Coast Guard cutters, destroyer escorts and frigates, another parade of troop transports and supply ships runs into stormy weather as it drives toward an Allied supply base somewhere in the Seven Seas. Coast Guard craft reach out into all seven as they keep unceasing watch over the vital charges."
Date: No listed.
Photo No.: 3321
Photographer: Unknown
Official Caption: ""COAST GUARD CUTTER SINKS SUB: Target of the Nazi U-Boat -- These ships in the convoy being shielded by the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter SPENCER steam past the warship just before the latter detects the underseas [sic] raider and swings into action. The U-Boat, endeavoring to break into the center of the convoy, was sunk."
Date: 17 April 1943 (Note on the back of the photo notes: "Not to be released for publication or announced to the public before 10:00 A.M. Eastern War-Time, June 2nd.")
Photo No.: 1523
Photographer: Unknown
Description: The U-175 was actually targeting the tanker S.S. G. Harrison Smith. The Germans had already entered the targeting information on their torpedo data computer when the Spencer first attacked. Spencer's timely and effective attack thereby saved the tanker and her crew.
Official Caption: "COAST GUARD CUTTER SINKS SUB: After blasting a U-Boat from beneath the surface of the Atlantic, then battering it with deck guns until it was ready to sink, Commander Harold S. Berdine, right, commanding officer of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter SPENCER, takes time out to talk over the action with Captain Paul Heineman, USN, escort commander."
Date: 17 April 1943 (Note on the back of the photo notes: "Not to be released for publication or announced to the public before 10:00 A.M. Eastern War-Time, June 2nd.")
Photo No.: 1524
Photographer: Jack January
Description: CAPT Heineman was the commanding officer of Escort Group A-3 that protected the convoy and he flew his flag from Spencer.
Official Caption: "COAST GUARD CUTTER SINKS SUB: Sailors aboard the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter SPENCER watch a K-Gun go into action following detection of a submarine below [the] surface. This is the opening round of a battle in which the sub is blown to the surface, where it is engaged by Coast Guardsmen protecting a large Atlantic convoy."
Date: 17 April 1943
Photo No.: 1515
Photographer: Jack January
Official Caption: "COAST GUARD CUTTER SINKS SUB: Coast Guardsmen on the deck of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter SPENCER watch the explosion of a depth charge which blasted a Nazi U-Boat's hope of breaking into the center of a large convoy. The depth charge tossed from the 327-foot cutter blew the submarine to the surface, where it was engaged by Coast Guardsmen. Ships of the convoy may be seen in the background."
Date: 17 April 1943
Photo No.: 1517
Photographer: Jack January
Official Caption: "COAST GUARD CUTTER SINKS SUB: The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter SPENCER opens fire on the Nazi U-Boat, lying dead ahead in relatively calm seas. The submarine was blown to the surface by the Coast Guard combat cutter's depth charges." Date: 17 April 1943 (Note on the back of the photo notes: "Not to be released for publication or announced to the public before 10:00 A.M. Eastern War-Time, June 2nd.") Photo No.: 1630 Photographer: Jack January
Official Caption: "COAST GUARD CUTTER SINKS SUB: Heaved up from below by the force of a depth charge, the Nazi U-Boat breaks surface as the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter SPENCER, guns ablaze, bears down on it, full speed ahead."
Date: 17 April 1943 (Note on the back of the photo notes: "Not to be released for publication or announced to the public before 10:00 A.M. Eastern War-Time, June 2nd.")
Photo No.: 1513
Photographer: Jack January
Official Caption: Not available Date: 17 April 1943 Photo No.: Not available Photographer: ? Description: Scanned from a print made from a copy negative (original is in the National Archives).
Official Caption: "OFF TO RESCUE THEIR BEATEN FOES: A pulling boat leaves the side of a Coast Guard combat cutter to rescue Nazi seamen struggling in the mid-Atlantic after their U-Boat had been blasted to the bottom by the cutter's depth charges. Two Coast Guard cutters brought 41 German survivors to a Scottish port."
Date: 17 April 1943
Photo No.: 1516
Photographer: Jack January
Description: The men in this pulling boat were in fact a trained boarding team led by LCDR John B. Oren (standing in the stern and wearing the OD helmet) and LT Ross Bullard (directly to Oren's left). With the assistance of the Royal Navy they had practiced boarding a submarine at sea in order to capture an Enigma coding machine and related intelligence material. They were forced to take a pulling lifeboat when the Spencer's motor lifeboat was damaged by friendly fire.
Official Caption: "NAZI SUBMARINE SUNK BY THE FAMED CUTTER SPENCER: Effect of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter SPENCER'S fire are visible in this closeup shot of the U-Boat, taken as the battle raged. The Nazi standing by the stanchion amidships disappeared a moment after this picture was taken by a Coast Guard photographer. The U-Boat had been trying to sneak into the center of the convoy."
Date: 17 April 1943
Photo No.: 1512
Photographer: Jack January?
Description: The "Nazi" mentioned in the above caption was probably in fact a member of the Coast Guard boarding team--one of the first Americans to board an enemy man-of-war underway at sea since the War of 1812.
Official Caption: Not available
Date: 17 April 1943
Photo No.: Not available
Photographer: Jack January?
Description: Scanned from a print made from a copy negative (original is in the National Archives).
Official Caption: "COAST GUARD CUTTER SINKS SUB: Coast Guardsmen from the cutter SPENCER picking up survivors from the Nazi U-Boat just before it made its final dive. Meanwhile the convoy steamed on."
Date: 17 April 1943
Photo No.: 1514
Photographer: Jack January?
Official Caption: "COAST GUARD CUTTER SINKS SUB: Last sight of the doomed German U-Boat that the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter SPENCER'S crew see is the bow disappearing below the North Atlantic. The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter DUANE is shown at the right. The DUANE screened her sister ship, the SPENCER, from possible attack by another U-Boat during the battle."
Date: 17 April 1943 (Note on the back of the photo notes: "Not to be released for publication or announced to the public before 10:00 A.M. Eastern War-Time, June 2nd.")
Photo No.: 1549
Photographer: Jack January
Official Caption: "COAST GUARD CUTTER SINKS SUB: More than a score of Nazis, who a short time before had been ready to deny life to others, struggle in the water to preserve their own lives following sinking of their U-Boat by the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter SPENCER. They were picked up by the SPENCER, one of whose gunners is shown in the right foreground, and the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter DUANE, shown in the distance. The Nazi submarine was sunk as it tried to break into the center of a convoy shepherded by the Coast Guard cutters."
Date: 17 April 1943 (Note on the back of the photo notes: "Not to be released for publication or announced to the public before 10:00 A.M. Eastern War-Time, June 2nd.")
Photo No.: 1597
Photographer: Jack January
Official Caption: "HE COULD AFFORD TO SACRIFICE HIS LIFE -- CAN YOU AFFORD TO BUY ANOTHER WAR BOND?: His hands clenched in death's agony, this young Coast Guardsman falls mortally wounded at his battle station. Tender, swift hands of his shipmates are helpless. This boy died that his Coast Guard combat cutter might win a battle on the long road to final victory. His sacrifice will not have been in vain, if our freedom is preserved. Support the Sixth War Bond Drive by investing today in that final victory."
Date: 17 April 1943
Photo No.: 1931
Photographer: Jack January
much more>>
In fact, the Coastie on the left assisting the surviving German sailor came to our 1997 Duane reunion in 1997! He was only 17 at the time of battle.
The German sailors were treated so kindly by the Coasties they didn't want to disembark in Scotland three days later!
The German sailors were treated so kindly by the Coasties they didn't want to disembark in Scotland three days later!
As you can see this young German sailor was no more a Nazi than our sailors today are NWO’ers. Both mistakenly believe they are dying for their fatherland.
Allied Convoy HX-233
Coast Guard Combat Victory on (and under) the North Atlantic
On 17 April 1943, the U.S.S. Spencer, C.G., one of the Coast Guard's largest cutters of the time, was escorting Convoy HX-233 across the North Atlantic to the United Kingdom. While steaming ahead of the convoy the cutter's sonarman detected the submerged U-175 as the submarine maneuvered to attack a large tanker within the convoy. Spencer immediately dropped depth charges on the target. The charges bracketed the U-boat perfectly and exploded all around the submarine's hull, damaging it severely and forcing the Germans to surface.
The Spencer, her sister cutter Duane, and many of the merchant ships in the convoy then opened fire on the U-175 as soon as the U-boat's conning tower broke the ocean's surface. The German crew then attempted to abandon their U-boat despite the heavy fire--the Allies could not know that the U-boatmen had no intention of manning their deck guns. The U-boat's commanding officer was killed in the initial hail of gunfire but ultimately 41 Germans abandoned ship and were rescued safely.
There were two professional combat photographers on board the cutters, Jack January aboard Spencer and Bob Gates aboard Duane, and they captured the action on film, giving posterity a close-up view of combat against one of Hitler's U-boats during the height of the Battle of the Atlantic.
Our thanks to the veterans of Spencer, Duane, U-175 and Win Haskell for their assistance in identifying many of the individuals in the following photographs. Mr. Haskell, who served as a crewman on board the SS G. Harrison Smith, wrote a detailed history of U-175 and Convoy HX-233.
Official Caption: "THE COAST GUARD IS THE CONVOY'S BODY GUARD: It's guns manned and its decks laden with depth charges, a Coast Guard combat cutter helps to safeguard a long line of merchant ships (on the Horizon carrying supplies for the Battle of Germany. These Coast Guard fighters played a major role in breaking the Nazi submarine menace in 1942 and 1943. Now they continue to keep the ship lanes to Europe free of enemy intruders."
Date: Not listed (1943)
Photo No.: 1624-34
Photographer: Bob Gates?
Description: A view of the Spencer taken from the USS Duane, CG.
Official Caption: "RIDE 'EM CONVOY: Guarded by Coast Guard cutters, destroyer escorts and frigates, another parade of troop transports and supply ships runs into stormy weather as it drives toward an Allied supply base somewhere in the Seven Seas. Coast Guard craft reach out into all seven as they keep unceasing watch over the vital charges."
Date: No listed.
Photo No.: 3321
Photographer: Unknown
Official Caption: ""COAST GUARD CUTTER SINKS SUB: Target of the Nazi U-Boat -- These ships in the convoy being shielded by the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter SPENCER steam past the warship just before the latter detects the underseas [sic] raider and swings into action. The U-Boat, endeavoring to break into the center of the convoy, was sunk."
Date: 17 April 1943 (Note on the back of the photo notes: "Not to be released for publication or announced to the public before 10:00 A.M. Eastern War-Time, June 2nd.")
Photo No.: 1523
Photographer: Unknown
Description: The U-175 was actually targeting the tanker S.S. G. Harrison Smith. The Germans had already entered the targeting information on their torpedo data computer when the Spencer first attacked. Spencer's timely and effective attack thereby saved the tanker and her crew.
Official Caption: "COAST GUARD CUTTER SINKS SUB: After blasting a U-Boat from beneath the surface of the Atlantic, then battering it with deck guns until it was ready to sink, Commander Harold S. Berdine, right, commanding officer of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter SPENCER, takes time out to talk over the action with Captain Paul Heineman, USN, escort commander."
Date: 17 April 1943 (Note on the back of the photo notes: "Not to be released for publication or announced to the public before 10:00 A.M. Eastern War-Time, June 2nd.")
Photo No.: 1524
Photographer: Jack January
Description: CAPT Heineman was the commanding officer of Escort Group A-3 that protected the convoy and he flew his flag from Spencer.
Official Caption: "COAST GUARD CUTTER SINKS SUB: Sailors aboard the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter SPENCER watch a K-Gun go into action following detection of a submarine below [the] surface. This is the opening round of a battle in which the sub is blown to the surface, where it is engaged by Coast Guardsmen protecting a large Atlantic convoy."
Date: 17 April 1943
Photo No.: 1515
Photographer: Jack January
Official Caption: "COAST GUARD CUTTER SINKS SUB: Coast Guardsmen on the deck of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter SPENCER watch the explosion of a depth charge which blasted a Nazi U-Boat's hope of breaking into the center of a large convoy. The depth charge tossed from the 327-foot cutter blew the submarine to the surface, where it was engaged by Coast Guardsmen. Ships of the convoy may be seen in the background."
Date: 17 April 1943
Photo No.: 1517
Photographer: Jack January
Official Caption: "COAST GUARD CUTTER SINKS SUB: The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter SPENCER opens fire on the Nazi U-Boat, lying dead ahead in relatively calm seas. The submarine was blown to the surface by the Coast Guard combat cutter's depth charges." Date: 17 April 1943 (Note on the back of the photo notes: "Not to be released for publication or announced to the public before 10:00 A.M. Eastern War-Time, June 2nd.") Photo No.: 1630 Photographer: Jack January
Official Caption: "COAST GUARD CUTTER SINKS SUB: Heaved up from below by the force of a depth charge, the Nazi U-Boat breaks surface as the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter SPENCER, guns ablaze, bears down on it, full speed ahead."
Date: 17 April 1943 (Note on the back of the photo notes: "Not to be released for publication or announced to the public before 10:00 A.M. Eastern War-Time, June 2nd.")
Photo No.: 1513
Photographer: Jack January
Official Caption: Not available Date: 17 April 1943 Photo No.: Not available Photographer: ? Description: Scanned from a print made from a copy negative (original is in the National Archives).
Official Caption: "OFF TO RESCUE THEIR BEATEN FOES: A pulling boat leaves the side of a Coast Guard combat cutter to rescue Nazi seamen struggling in the mid-Atlantic after their U-Boat had been blasted to the bottom by the cutter's depth charges. Two Coast Guard cutters brought 41 German survivors to a Scottish port."
Date: 17 April 1943
Photo No.: 1516
Photographer: Jack January
Description: The men in this pulling boat were in fact a trained boarding team led by LCDR John B. Oren (standing in the stern and wearing the OD helmet) and LT Ross Bullard (directly to Oren's left). With the assistance of the Royal Navy they had practiced boarding a submarine at sea in order to capture an Enigma coding machine and related intelligence material. They were forced to take a pulling lifeboat when the Spencer's motor lifeboat was damaged by friendly fire.
Official Caption: "NAZI SUBMARINE SUNK BY THE FAMED CUTTER SPENCER: Effect of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter SPENCER'S fire are visible in this closeup shot of the U-Boat, taken as the battle raged. The Nazi standing by the stanchion amidships disappeared a moment after this picture was taken by a Coast Guard photographer. The U-Boat had been trying to sneak into the center of the convoy."
Date: 17 April 1943
Photo No.: 1512
Photographer: Jack January?
Description: The "Nazi" mentioned in the above caption was probably in fact a member of the Coast Guard boarding team--one of the first Americans to board an enemy man-of-war underway at sea since the War of 1812.
Official Caption: Not available
Date: 17 April 1943
Photo No.: Not available
Photographer: Jack January?
Description: Scanned from a print made from a copy negative (original is in the National Archives).
Official Caption: "COAST GUARD CUTTER SINKS SUB: Coast Guardsmen from the cutter SPENCER picking up survivors from the Nazi U-Boat just before it made its final dive. Meanwhile the convoy steamed on."
Date: 17 April 1943
Photo No.: 1514
Photographer: Jack January?
Official Caption: "COAST GUARD CUTTER SINKS SUB: Last sight of the doomed German U-Boat that the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter SPENCER'S crew see is the bow disappearing below the North Atlantic. The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter DUANE is shown at the right. The DUANE screened her sister ship, the SPENCER, from possible attack by another U-Boat during the battle."
Date: 17 April 1943 (Note on the back of the photo notes: "Not to be released for publication or announced to the public before 10:00 A.M. Eastern War-Time, June 2nd.")
Photo No.: 1549
Photographer: Jack January
Official Caption: "COAST GUARD CUTTER SINKS SUB: More than a score of Nazis, who a short time before had been ready to deny life to others, struggle in the water to preserve their own lives following sinking of their U-Boat by the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter SPENCER. They were picked up by the SPENCER, one of whose gunners is shown in the right foreground, and the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter DUANE, shown in the distance. The Nazi submarine was sunk as it tried to break into the center of a convoy shepherded by the Coast Guard cutters."
Date: 17 April 1943 (Note on the back of the photo notes: "Not to be released for publication or announced to the public before 10:00 A.M. Eastern War-Time, June 2nd.")
Photo No.: 1597
Photographer: Jack January
Official Caption: "HE COULD AFFORD TO SACRIFICE HIS LIFE -- CAN YOU AFFORD TO BUY ANOTHER WAR BOND?: His hands clenched in death's agony, this young Coast Guardsman falls mortally wounded at his battle station. Tender, swift hands of his shipmates are helpless. This boy died that his Coast Guard combat cutter might win a battle on the long road to final victory. His sacrifice will not have been in vain, if our freedom is preserved. Support the Sixth War Bond Drive by investing today in that final victory."
Date: 17 April 1943
Photo No.: 1931
Photographer: Jack January
much more>> 
