The ship is under way again looking for more survivors around the area when two torpedoes were found floating in the water where the sub was bombed. There were no warheads on either one of them and there was some clothing floating there with the torpedoes. That indicated the sub was caught on the surface working topside on those torpedoes at the time the plane bombed them. Leaving the torpedo airflasks floating in the water when the sub went down, the warheads would have sunk with the sub if they were on the sub's deck. Captain wanted one of the torpedoes to bring back to the States. The whaleboat was put in the water again to retrieve one. It was brought on board with the use of a jury rig on the boat davits and secured on board. The other torpedo airflask was shot at by our Gunnery officer several times in an attempt to sink it, with no success. I was standing right in back of him, he was nervous with all of us watching him. The torpedo airflask, floating vertical in the water, was bobbing up and down in the water and out of sight at times riding in the swells. The Captain had the BAR rifle handed to the first class Gunners mate, BC Mills, to sink it. He hit it the first shot but put a couple more into it for good measure to make sure it would sink. When the first shot hit it, it started to spin like crazy from the air escaping from the bullet hole in it.  I knew about torpedoes, I had been to three months of torpedo schooling at the Norfolk Naval Operating Base in Virginia from a previous ship, the USS Reuben James. So I knew what was being shot at. Some of the men weren’t quite at ease with it, though. I think that is why the Gunnery Officer couldn’t hit it. It was just a high-pressure air cylinder and an air driven motor. What would be of interest to the USA would be the torpedo guidance system.  

A Job Well Done

With the German POW's and the torpedo secured on board from the sunken sub the USS Block Island's plane sank, the USS Corry is ordered home to Boston, MA from the area of the Cape Verde, Azores, and Canary Islands we were operating in. One of the prisoners is/was the submarine's Captain. This sub Captain was given a lot of privileges on board the ship that caused some concern with the ship’s crew and I am sure the officers had inquires with the Captain also about it. After a couple days sailing toward home, he practically had the run of the ship from that time after departing from the task force, till the time we arrived at Boston, MA. Several times in the cruise home when I was on the helm our Skipper let him take the Conn on the bridge and give orders to different people. I'll give the sub's Captain credit though, in those two days he picked up the routine of running the bridge, our Skipper stayed right with him constantly. One thing was the zigzag course the ship was using, on the way home to Boston; he had picked it up by himself. The Skipper asked him, I think it was the first time he'd asked, if he would like to take the conn. He was a little skeptical about it but said yes. Our Captain announced on the bridge, "Captain (his name) has the conn." He took over the conn and did a good job receiving information and giving orders. He also spoke good English. As it turned out, our Skipper was getting sensitive information from him about the German sub operations and information on their Naval operation. Our Captain received a letter of Commendation from the Secretary of The Navy for the information he received from questioning the German Captain while he was on board the USS Corry (DD-463). By the way, that sub Captain was the youngest U-Boat Captain in the German Naval Submarine service. [23 years old]

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The Plane Crash
An Earlier Incident

One particular day, I’m on my watch at the helm of the Corry, I hear this plane start to make a screaming sound like it was in a dive. That is a wired, high pitched whining, screaming noise from a high altitude, it's not a forgettable sound, if you have ever heard it. The sound becomes louder.  And the pilot of the plane comes on the speaker with a frantic voice, "I can't pull up. My controls are out."  He’s screaming it now. Capt. Hoffman is trying to talk to him on the radio, telling the pilot to "Eject, eject." All the pilot said was, "My controls don't work." His radio went silent after that. The entire bridge personnel is out on the starboard wing watching it. The sound is getting much louder now. I hear them out on the wing say, “He’s going to crash.”  I’m alone in the wheelhouse and I don’t know if he is going to crash into the ship or the ocean. However, I see someone point out away from the ship to starboard. That relieved my tension somewhat. The plane is making an ear splitting scream now in its dive. I stretch a look, keeping my hand on the steering wheel, out the hatch toward the direction they were pointing, to see what was happening. I did see the flash of the Plane as it hit the water with a loud splat, and then eerie silence for a few seconds. Usually a plane will stay afloat for several minutes after it hits the water but not at that speed, There was only a single glove of the pilot’s found at the site. The Captain gave me a "Hard right rudder," to make a quick turn back to the place of the crash and search for the pilot at the wreckage site. The ship was right there before the bubbles stopped coming up from where it hit the water.  There was nothing left to see but a large foamy spot in the ocean where it hit the water.  I understand one of the wings had been torn off of the plane by the speed it was making going straight down, before it hit the water about twenty / thirty yards out on the starboard beam from our ship. I felt sorry for that pilot. I guess he couldn't even eject from the plane at that speed. Can you imagine that pilot's predicament and fear he was feeling knowing he was going to slam into the water at that terrific speed?

Being on the helm I didn't actually see the whole scene that took place as the plane crashed. My friend Matt Jayich that did help in the search for the pilot – he told me what did actually take place at the crash.  He was on deck, starboard side, when the plane hit the water and saw it all. He tells me right after the plane hit the water, the depth charges that were on the plane exploded, sending black water spewing into the air. A few seconds later one of its tires shot into the air "as if it was shot from a canon."  The tire went I believe about a hundred feet into the air. However, the glove wasn’t the only thing that was picked up. The Damage Control party had put over the side one of those metal cargo nets, or boarding nets as they were sometimes called, with chains running through them, and dragged it through the wreckage site. When the nets were pulled up there were small, unidentifiable buoyant plane parts and small bits of intestines and other body parts stuck to the chains, His glove, they found hooked in the net was brought on board. It showed evidence that it had been blown off his hand because all the stitching of the glove was gone, all around it including the fingers and it was very limp, like a rag. The depth charge, set to a predetermined depth, exploded right under his seat. 

The one glove was the only item found of the pilot’s. What a tragedy. There is no way of knowing what was the cause of the plane’s control failure. Reports of the plane crash, the location, and what was found at the crash site were reported to the Block Island.

                        Some memories never vanish.
 

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The Bombing Incident
A Close Call

Another incident that happened with the planes from the USS Block Island that involved the USS Corry while with this submarine Hunter Killer Task Force.  This was one of those special dark nights; no moon and no stars were out; the black windows in the wheelhouse didn't even reflect the couple of red lights in the wheelhouse or my Binnacle light.  I was on my watch in the wheelhouse at the helm again; I don’t remember the time of night it was, well after sunset. Every thing is quiet on the bridge, which is normally so at night, and especially on dark nights. However, there are exceptions and this is one of those nights. The Captain is sitting in his swivel chair when all of a sudden the radio from one of the Carrier’s planes sounded off on the radio. That alerted every one in the wheelhouse, they all tensed up. Our radar personal had been reporting on a plane over us and the Captain knew of it. The Captain moved up to the front of his seat. The pilot is saying, “I have a radar contact – I am commencing a bombing run, I believe it to be a submarine on the surface”.  He is talking to his Home Base, the carrier Block Island when the distinct sound of a diving plane was heard directly over us. The Captain made a fast grab for the microphone and started yelling, “Pull up! Pull up! You're diving on the Corry! That screaming sound of the plane is getting louder, quick. Captain's repeating for him to pull up. There is a long silence, (about two seconds) then, "OKAY Corry, I roger that, I am pulling out of it," and something about aborting. At the same time I hear the plane pull out of the dive, low, right over the top of us. I heard the pilot say, “Whew, hey that was close, I had my finger on the bomb release button.” I thought he was trying to be humorous there. There was a lot of happy shouting on the bridge as to how close that was. Something like that makes a person appreciate life. The Captain had a few words to say to the pilot before the pilot apologized. In addition, an apology came from the Carrier, USS Block Island that was monitoring the plane’s radio as base station. It's a little hard to keep your composure in an intense situation like that, before things settled down to the night routine, keeping an eye on the binnacle and staring out the black windows of the wheelhouse.

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On Dark Dull Nights

Things happen on dark nights.  Here is a little episode that happened to me on one of those nights while on watch about 0200 in the wheelhouse. I'm on the helm, the ship is steaming along at 12 knots and the OD [Officer of the Deck] with the conn is sitting in the Skipper's chair staring out the black windows. It's warm, the ship has a long shallow roll with the slight swell in the ocean. The ship is steaming almost parallel to the swells. When, [as long as I have been steering the ship, you get the feel of the ship under you. You don't have to watch the compass constantly to stay on a set course. As the ship gently rolls from side to side, you're standing at the wheel leaning against your hands that are on the top of the wheel. The roll of the ship shifts your weight to one side or the other, then you let your shifting body weight turn the wheel with it. That is just enough course correcting to compensate for the ship roll in the ocean swell, than ride it back when the ship comes to even keel. The ship will stay right on course, that's what I was doing this night as I've often done.] I see the OD turning his head to watch me several times. I'm looking straight ahead at the black window keeping a lookout, my eyes half closed; this went on for some time. The next thing I know he's standing right along side of me looking at my compass. I caught him out the side of my eye and wouldn't move, as the ship slowly rolled I moved the wheel with the shifting of my body with the roll of the ship, then I moved my head to glance at the compass, I was exactly on course. I turned to him and said, "Is everything OK, sir?"

He just shook his head and said, "I've never before seen a man asleep at the wheel, steer the ship and keep the ship right on course." He went back to his chair shaking his head, saying no more. I just let it slide also, but he had me wondering, what was he thinking, will he put me on report or he may have second thoughts about whether I was sleeping or not. Anyway there was nothing more said or done. I never did remember him leaving his chair to come stand beside me. On the other hand, how long was he standing beside me? So we went back to staring out the black windows. You can't imagine how black a dark night is. The ship keeps a strict black out at night including running lights when out to sea in Wartime. All inboard lighting is dark red, almost infrared. (Red light does not effect the pupil of the eye. Did you know that?) When you're outside on deck at night you can't see your nose in front of your face on the dark nights I'm referring to. There are small lines rigged fore and aft on topside to guide your way around the ship’s topside from hatch to hatch. Seems like your eyes are the only part of you moving through the dark. The ship sees with radar and it identifies friendlies.

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The Radar Contact 

The USS Corry is searching in a grid several hundred miles north of the Azores which was assigned to the Corry by the Task Force we were operating with. A radar contact was picked up, and we went after it at full speed, believing it was a sub on the surface. It was some thirty miles off, and early in the morning. It was just before sunrise when the Corry arrived at the location, slowing speed, where the radar indicated the contact was. At first there was nothing there to see, little swirls of mist rising up from the calm, cool ocean waters in the gray mist of the warming morning air, the horizon is not even distinguishable. Then a call from a lookout came over the headset to the bridge, "Object in the water -- straight ahead." The Captain had posted lookouts forward on the forecastle (bow) and was approaching cautiously to the contact area, thinking there may be a submarine surfaced there. There are two of the ship’s four 5-inch guns fully manned, one forward and one aft, always in a ready condition when at sea and G.Q. would be set in less than a minute if necessary. What they saw was unexpected. Instead of a sub it was several large balloons tethered to floats the balloons had strips of metal foil suspended from them. The metal strip was the reason for the radar contact. Right away, the Captain, thinking it was a setup to lure the “enemy“ into a trap, made a quick evasive move away from the balloons and alerted sonar to step up the search in a full sweep around the ship for a sub laying in wait. After a thorough wide search of the area and no sonar contacts made, the Captain went back to the decoys and had a little shooting match, staying at a cautious distance, to shoot the balloons down and sink the floats with the 20-mm guns and .30-06-BAR rifle fire.

There could have been a German sub there that saw us coming and made an emergency dive, leaving his decoys and still had time to get away, also figuring we would stop at his decoys. That would give him more time to get further away. On the other hand, he could lie off from the decoys and fire torpedoes at any unsuspecting arrival.  Anyway, there was no contact of a sub around the area. In addition, the ship’s sonar would have picked up on a sub at the decoys on its first approach to the decoys.

                              "It is better to fool than to be fooled."

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      Red Groot BM1
      USS Corry (DD-463)