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USS Corry (DD-463)
U-boat Action Photos / Reports / First-hand Accounts
  


German submarines, called untersee (undersea) boats or U-boats for short, wreaked havoc on shipping in the North Atlantic, sending many Allied vessels to the bottom, especially in the earlier years of the war. However, from mid-1943 onward, Hitler was losing a significant number of his U-boats every month. The United States Navy developed hunter-killer teams consisting of baby aircraft carriers and destroyers.  One of the USS Corry’s principal jobs as a destroyer was to attack and sink U-boats. 

On March 17, 1944, during hunter-killer patrol with the aircraft carrier USS Block Island (CVE-21), off northwest Africa near the Cape Verde Islands, USS Corry and USS Bronstein (DE-189) pursued the German submarine U-801. When the USS Corry's depth charges forced the U-801 to the surface the sub was fired on and sunk by USS Corry. This sinking was the result of a two-day pursuit that began with a strafing of U-801 by Block Island aircraft, an excellent example of the hunter-killer teams in action against Hitler's U-boats. Forty-seven U-801 survivors were taken as prisoners of war.

Both American and German accounts of the battle and official action reports can be seen below.  

 

[National Archives photo]
 
   

USS Corry (right) closing in and firing on U-801
[National Archives photo]


   

USS Corry (right) closing in and firing on U-801              
[National Archives photo]


    


One last look at the U-801 -- March 17, 1944.
Conning tower badly damaged by shellfire.
(Circular marks added for measurement)   
[National Archives photo]
   

Prisoners of War -- U-801 Officers (L to R):
Oberfeldwebel Ernst Freudig;
Leutnant Fritz Buschmann, First Watch Officer;
Leutnant Günther Kempkes, Second Watch Officer;
Stabsobermaschinist Karl Ernst Paustian
[National Archives photo]
    

U-801 Petty Officers    [National Archives photo]
Identified:
Bootsmaat Horst Gerlach - front row, first from the left
Maschinenmaat Erich Wagner - back row, first from the right
   

U-801 enlisted personnel prisoners of war
[National Archives photo]
   

Wounded U-801 POW Maschinenmaat Karl Heinz Schultz
[National Archives photo]
   
 
U-801 crew on Commissioning Day -- 24 March 1943  
[photo: J. Adam]
   
 
U-801 lookouts. Horst Gerlach on left with beard.   [photo: J. Adam]
   

 
U-801 captain Hans Joachim Brans
Killed in Action March 17, 1944

[photo: J. Adam]

Prior to his U-Boat service, Brans was personally decorated by Hitler and Goering while with the Luftwaffe.

     
     U-801 crewmember
    Bootsmaat Karl Paush
    Killed in Action March 17, 1944  

   
[photo: J. Adam] 





U-801 officers on the bridge








Painting of U-801 from U-801 survivor Erich Wagner - Germany
Read Wagner's first-hand account of the battle below. 



 

FIRST-HAND ACCOUNTS OF THE BATTLE FROM BOTH SIDES
 


USS Corry Chief Radio Technician
Francis "Mac" McKernon


CLICK HERE TO READ McKERNON'S
FIRST-HAND ACCOUNT OF THE
SINKING OF THE U-801

 

U-801 Survivor Maschinenmaat
Erich Wagner    
[photo: J. Adam]

CLICK HERE TO READ ERICH WAGNER'S
FIRST-HAND ACCOUNT OF THE
SINKING OF THE U-801

 

USS Corry CIC Officer
Ensign Mort Rubin


CLICK HERE TO READ MORT RUBIN'S
FIRST-HAND ACCOUNT OF THE
SINKING OF THE U-801

USS Corry Boatswain's Mate 1/c
Tom "Red" Groot,  No. 3  5-inch Gun Captain


CLICK HERE TO READ TOM GROOT'S
FIRST-HAND ACCOUNT OF THE
SINKING OF THE U-801
 

BATTLE REPORTS

SUMMARY OF U-801 ACTION

CLICK HERE TO READ USS CORRY
COMMANDING OFFICER'S AND
GUNNERY OFFICER'S BATTLE
REPORT OF SINKING OF U-801

[source: National Archives]


USS BLOCK ISLAND Task Group 21.16 Tracking Charts
of U
-801 pursuit by aircraft and USS Corry and USS Bronstein

CLICK HERE TO VIEW TRACKING CHARTS

[source: National Archives]

 


DETAILED BATTLE REPORTS OF U-801 ACTION
WITH GERMAN PRISONERS' NAMES


CLICK HERE TO READ USS CORRY
DETAILED REPORTS ON U-801

[source: National Archives]

 



 CLICK HERE to read citation by the Secretary of the Navy
 for exceptionally meritorious conduct against U-801 by
 Lieutenant Commander George Dewey Hoffman,
 Commanding Officer, USS Corry


USS Corry picking up two U-boat survivors (arrows)
from U-801.   17 March 1944

[National Archives photo]
  
Drawing given to USS Block Island (CVE-21) crewmember
Isadore Herbst by U-801 POW aboard Block Island.   

Photo: Mike Herbst


Translation of "Zum Andenken an den 17.3.44" --
"To the memory of the 17th of March 1944"

 


U-1059 -- MORE U-BOAT ACTION FOR USS CORRY
 

Just two days after the sinking of the U-801, on 19 March 1944, aircraft from the carrier USS Block Island sank the German submarine U-1059. USS Corry was immediately dispatched to the scene and rescued eight survivors in the water. Two German torpedoes were spotted floating in the water, one of which was destroyed by Corry gunfire. The other was hoisted aboard the Corry and brought to Boston for dissection by Allied war laboratories. The Corry also took seven of U-1059's badly wounded survivors to Boston.   (Reports and photos below) 

 

USS Corry (distant) approaching U-1059 survivor area.   19 March 1944
Smoke flare dropped by USS Block Island aircraft to mark area.

[National Archives photo] 

USS Corry approaching U-1059 survivor area.   19 March 1944
Smoke flares are seen in foreground. 

[National Archives photo]

THE CAPTURED NAZI TORPEDO BROUGHT ABOARD USS CORRY


Front of mid body of G7a torpedo recovered by USS Corry at the scene of U-1059 sinking. Warhead section is attached here.





 
 
Aft view of mid body of G7a torpedo.

  
   
 
G7a torpedo steering and depth mechanism
was attached to the tube seen in the aft view of the torpedo mid body.
 G7a torpedo steering mechanism,
 was attached to part in photo at left.
 
[National Archives photos] 
 

DETAILED REPORTS OF U-1059 ACTION
WITH GERMAN PRISONERS' NAMES

CLICK HERE TO READ USS CORRY
MARCH 1944 BATTLE REPORTS ON U-1059

[source: National Archives]

FIRST-HAND ACCOUNTS OF
USS CORRY'S INVOLVEMENT WITH U-1059


USS Corry Chief Radio Technician
Francis "Mac" McKernon

CLICK HERE TO READ MCKERNON'S
STORIES ABOUT U-1059

USS Corry Boatswain's Mate 1/c
Tom "Red" Groot 

CLICK HERE TO READ TOM GROOT'S STORIES ABOUT
U-1059 AND OTHER TASK FORCE ACTION


MORE ACTION DETAILS
   

CLICK HERE FOR FURTHER READING ABOUT USS CORRY'S INVOLVEMENT WITH HUNTER-KILLER TEAMS AND A DETAILED ACCOUNT OF USS BLOCK ISLAND TASK FORCE ANTI-SUBMARINE ACTION VS. GERMAN U-BOATS IN FEBRUARY AND MARCH OF 1944

  

 

 
THANK YOU
 
Many thanks to Johann Adam, great-nephew of U-801 crewmember Karl Paush, (KIA 17 March 1944)
for providing U-801 photos and information from Germany.
 

For even more detailed information and photos on U-801 and U-1059, please visit the
excellent U-boat Archive website by Jerry Mason, Capt. USN (ret.)

http://www.uboatarchive.net/U-801.htm

http://www.uboatarchive.net/U-1059.htm

Special thanks to Jerry for providing additional National Archives u-boat photos and info.



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