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. 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, the USS Corry's depth charges forced the German submarine U-801 to the surface where the sub was fired on and sunk by USS Corry and USS Bronstein (DE-189). 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.

 
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.
 

FIRST-HAND ACCOUNTS OF THE BATTLE FROM BOTH SIDES
 

[source: National Archives]

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 rescued eight survivors and took seven of them who were badly-wounded to Boston. The Corry also recovered one of two German torpedoes from the scene of the sinking and brought it to Boston for dissection by Allied war laboratories. The second torpedo was destroyed in the water by Corry gunfire. (Reports below)

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

[source: National Archives]

CLICK HERE TO READ 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