![]() At 0320, Abel gave the order to commence firing. The German sailors were the first on the trigger, opening fire with machine guns. The moment was coming, the two vessels closing in, each crew waiting for the other to open fire. All guns aboard Buckley were loaded as the turn put them within firing range of the submarine. Abel altered the ship’s course to put the sub in the moon and to expose the Foxer to any additional torpedoes. Only then did some of the crew topside notice the torpedo wake passing down the starboard side of the ship. U-66, realizing that the vessel headed toward her wasn’t the milch cow (supply boat) she was looking for, put a fish in the water.īuckley made a turn left, putting the U-boat dead ahead. Less than 10 minutes later, the two vessels were at a range of 4,000 yards. Buckley continued on course, steadily closing in on the U-boat, but not revealing her identity. The gamble paid off, and at 0308, U-66 fired off three red flares, believed to be a recognition signal. Holding fire, Abel took a risk and began to close in on the submarine, hoping that the boat’s crew would confuse her with the supply boat they sought. Commander Abel called the ship’s crew to General Quarters and streamed a Foxer, an acoustic decoy used to confuse the acoustic torpedoes then in use by U-boats. Unbeknownst to Seehausen, the Avenger carried no weapons, but the seasoned skipper knew the aircraft would wait for him to submerge before attacking.īuckley, closing within seven miles, made radar contact with U-66 at 0246. Below Sellers, U-66 was slowly proceeding on the surface, charging her batteries and searching for the supply U-boat. Sellars, stayed on course, following the U-boat and relaying course changes to Buckley, coaching the little destroyer escort to the spot. The avenger, piloted by Lieutenant (junior grade) Jimmie J. For 45 minutes Buckley sailed at full speed (23.5 knots) towards the U-boat, preparing to engage. Her commanding officer, Lieutenant Commander Brent Abel, ordered flank speed and a course to the target. She was badly in need of fuel and provisions for her trip home when Buckley began to stalk her.Īt 0216 (2:16 a.m.), a “night owl” Avenger picked up a radar contact 20 miles from Buckley and reported it to the ship. U-66, commanded by Oberleutnant zur See Gerhard Seehausen, was on her ninth patrol, and had been at sea since mid-January. Submarine duty was dangerous, and crews were often deployed past exhaustion. The conditions were perfect for U-boats to refuel and replenish desperately needed supplies at sea, and for a hunter killer group to seek out U-boats low on fuel and crewed by men near their breaking point. What followed was akin to a bar room brawl on the high seas.Īccording to the Action Report, the night of May 5-6 was beautiful, calm, and moonlit. In early May 1944, Buckley was conducting operations as part of Task Group 21.11 off the Cape Verde Islands when her crew received a report of disappearing radar contact and was sent to investigate. No longer bound to sail with a convoy, these groups were free to pursue quarry all the way to to Davy Jones’s Locker. One key to this success was the creation of escort carrier groups, also known as “hunter killer” groups. The development of new technologies and tactics gave the Allies the upper hand in the fight against German U-boats. NET Framework Version:7.8964 ASP.NET Version:7.In 1943, the tide had begun to turn in favor of the Allies in the Battle of the Atlantic. Page.ProcessRequestMain(Boolean includeStagesBeforeAsyncPoint, Boolean includeStagesAfterAsyncPoint) 1266 Control.RenderControl(HtmlTextWriter writer) 25 Control.RenderControl(HtmlTextWriter writer, ControlAdapter adapter) 99 Control.RenderControlInternal(HtmlTextWriter writer, ControlAdapter adapter) 27 Control.RenderChildren(HtmlTextWriter writer) 19 Control.RenderChildrenInternal(HtmlTextWriter writer, ICollection children) 256 ToDecimal(String Value) 6ĪSP.city_state_aspx.GetLocation() in D:\home\site\_w, Control parameterContainer) in D:\home\site\wwwroot\include\head1.aspx:12 ToDecimal(String Value, NumberFormatInfo NumberFormat) 254 Source File: D:\home\site\wwwroot\include\functions.aspx Line: 93 Line 94: lng = reader_ull("Longitude").ToString() Line 93: lat = reader_ull("Latitude").ToString() Line 92: zip = reader_ull("Zip").ToString() ![]() ![]() Line 91: city = reader_ull("City").ToString() Please review the stack trace for more information about the error and where it originated in the code.Įxception Details: System.InvalidCastException: Conversion from string "" to type 'Decimal' is not valid. Description: An unhandled exception occurred during the execution of the current web request. Server Error in '/' Application.Ĭonversion from string "" to type 'Decimal' is not valid. Conversion from string "" to type 'Decimal' is not valid.
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