U.S.S. THOMAS (DE-102)
     
                                                                              c/o Fleet Post Office
                                                                                New York, N. Y.  
                                                                                6 July 1944  
     
  Refer to DE-102/A16-3/(Fd)  
  File No Serial 021  
     
 
From: The Commanding Officer.
To:  The Commander in Chief, U. S. Fleet.
   
Via:  (1) Commander Task Group 22.10
  (2) Commandr in Chief, U. S. Atlantic Fleet.
   
Subject: Action Report of Sinking of German Submarine (U-233), on 5 July 1944.
   
Enclosures: (A) ASW-1 (Revised) Form.
  (B) Track Chart (To Cominch only-with Advance copy).
  (C) Damage to THOMAS, Resulting from Ramming.
 
     
  I.  
     
          1.        TASK ORGANIZATION  
     
                  a.       Commander Task Group 22.10, Captain R. C. Young, U.S.N. (In U.S.S. Card (CVE11)).  
                  b.      Commander Escort Division 48, Commander George A. Parkinson, U.S.N.R. (In U.S.S. THOMAS (DE-102)).  
                  U.S.S. Card (CVE11), Captain R. C. Young, U.S.N.  
 

                U.S.S. THOMAS (DE-102) (F), Lt. Comdr.David M. Kellog, U.S.N.R.

  
                  U.S.S. BOSTWICK (DE-103), Lt. Comdr. Clifton G. Hall, U.S.N.R.  
                  U.S.S. BREEMAN (DE-104), Lt. Comdr. Edward N. W. Hunter, U.S.N.R.  
                  U.S.S. BRONSTEIN (DE-189), Lt. Comdr. Sheldon H. Kinney, U.S.N.  
                  U.S.S. BAKER (DE-190), Lt. Comdr. Norman C. Hoffman, U.S.N.R.  
     
          2.        MISSION  
     
                  To operate offensively against enemy submarines.  
     
 
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6 July 1944
DE102/A16-3/(Fd)
  Serial 021  
     
  Subject:      Action Report of Sinking of German Submarine (U-233), on 5 July 1944  
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          3.        DOCTRINE  
     
                  In accordance with U.S.F. 10A as concerned screening operations.  In accordance with F.T.P. 223 as concerned A.S.W. operations.  
     
          4.        TIME  
     
                  All times mentioned herein are zone plus 1 hour and 20 minutes.  
     
          5.        TACTICAL SITUATION  
     
                  At 1910 5 July 1944, Task Group on base course 0660T. speed 12 knots, zigzagging in accordance with plan 12, Zigzag Diagrams 1940.  THOMAS, BOSTWICK and BREEMAN stationed as inner screen about CARD.  BRONSTEIN and BAKER were stationed 090 and 270 relative, respectively, from CARD, distance 20,000 yards.  Sound conditions were Sonar medium 40/11C.  
     
  II.        NARRATIVE  
     
 
1910  Intercepted TBS transmission from BAKER to C.T.G. 2210.  Baker had sound contact dead ahead, range 1500 yards.
1913 C.T.G. 22.10 requested ComCortDiv 48 to designate vessel to assist BAKER, and suggested THOMAS.  ComCortDiv 48 directed THOMAS to assist BAKER.
  Set course 3300 T., speed 18 knots.
  Set all depth charges on Medium
1916 Increased speed to 20.5 knots.
  Baker bearing 3280 ., distance 24,000 yards.
  Lat. 42040’ N., Long. 58050’W.
  BAKER reported on TBS that she had received strong hydrophone effects and had fired full pattern of depth charges on initial contact.
1918 Prepared Mark 10 projector for firing.
  Streamed FOXAR gear.
  BAKER reported she had regained contact and fired second full pattern of depth charges.
 
     
 
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6 July 1944
DE102/A16-3/(Fd)
  Serial 021  
     
  Subject:      Action Report of Sinking of German Submarine (U-233), on 5 July 1944  
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1927 Submarine bow broke water at a sharp angle, bearing 3220T., range 12,000 yards.  BAKER immediately opened fire on the sub.
  Submarine fully surfaced and steadied on course 2000T.  Speed 6 knots.  THOMAS changed course to 3100T. to intercept.
  Observed several hits by BAKER, resulting in smoke and flame in vicinity of conning tower.
1935 Opened fire with forward 3”/50 gun number two.  Initial range 8,000 yards.
1936 Ceased firing at request of BAKER who was closing sub.  Sub obscured by smoke.
  THOMAS and BAKER both thought it sinking.
1936:30 Smoke cleared and sub observed to have changed course to left, to approximately 1300T., making high speed and using her diesels.
  BAKER closed target and straddled sub with depth charges on shallow setting, thrown from side throwers.
1940 Changed course to 0100T. and decided to ram. Set all depth charges on safe and housed sonar gear.
  Observed automatic weapon flashes from after part of sub’s conning tower and splashes well clear on our port bow.
1943 Changed course to 0250T.
1944 Opened fire with forward 3”/50 guns one and two, using SL radar ranges and visual bearings.  Initial range, 4,500 yards. All our forward 20mm’s. Opened fire at 1800 yards range.
  Using rapid fire, total ammunition expended until guns had to cease firing when they would no longer bear, was 29 rounds of 3”/50 cal., A.P., and 640 rounds 20 mm, mixed HET and HEI, at ratio of two to one.
  Estimated percentage hits 20% 3”/50, and 65% 20mm.
1945 Slowed to 15 knots.
1946 Backed emergency full.
 
     
 
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6 July 1944
DE102/A16-3/(Fd)
  Serial 021  
     
  Subject:      Action Report of Sinking of German Submarine (U-233), on 5 July 1944  
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1946:30 Rammed sub’s starboard side approximately 20 to 30 feet abaft the conning tower.
  Sub rolled approximately 700 to port.
  Some men observed to scramble out of hatches and jump overboard.
1947 Stopped all engines.  The sub’s observed to rise high out of the water, then sinking stern first beneath the THOMAS at an angle of about 600.
  Sub’s speed at time of ramming estimated to be 12 knots.
  THOMAS and BAKER assisted by BREEMAN who had arrived on scene, lay to picking up survivors from the water.
  BREEMAN recovered three survivors and transferred them to THOMAS.  Total prisoners onboard THOMAS including BREEMAN’S – 20 men, (three commissioned officers including the Captain, four Petty or Warrant Officers, and thirteen enlisted men).
  Report on survivor prisoners and captured war equipment covered by Annex A under separate cover, (not to all).
 
     
  III.         ANALYSIS AND COMMENT  
     
          1.        Commanding Officer of the U.S.S. BAKER, Lt. Comdr. Norman C. Hoffman, U.S.N.R. deserves great credit for the accurate manner in which he delivered the two depth charge attacks which forces the submarine to surface, and for the effective manner in which he took the sub under fire after she surfaced.  
     
          2.        The able assistance and advice of Commander George A. Parkinson, U.S.N.R., ComCortDiv 48, contributed in no small way to the final kill of the U-boat.  
     
          3.        From all appearances, the submarine was of the 740 ton class.  She was all black with no identifying numerals or insignia.  Their armament appeared to consist of one 3 or 4 inch gun on the main deck abaft the conning tower and three mounts of automatic weapons, located on the step or bandstand at the after end of conning tower.  Of these three mounts, the one on the centerline appeared  
     
 
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6 July 1944
DE102/A16-3/(Fd)
  Serial 021  
     
  Subject:      Action Report of Sinking of German Submarine (U-233), on 5 July 1944  
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  to be of a heavier caliber.  These guns appeared to be twin mounts.  If the motion pictures which were taken of the action and ramming by THOMAS turn out well, these details will no doubt stand out clearly.  
     
          4.        As THOMAS approached close aboard to ram, it was observed that the conning tower was smashed, twisted and holed by many shells.  The grating forward of the conning tower was smashed in such a way as to indicate that one 3” shell had hit there also.  
     
          5.        Other than a large Diesel Oil slick and the survivors in the water, no other evidence remained on the surface, after the submarine sank.  
     
          6.        Just prior to the ramming a man was observed to train one of the guns on the THOMAS’ bridge.  The impact of collision threw this man over the port side or down the conning tower hatch.  
     
          7.        It was considered not practical for the THOMAS during her approach to alter course sufficiently to bring her entire battery to bear on target, and still continue to approach in a manner which would permit expeditious ramming.  
     
          8.        Gun one was able to get off but four shells due to the flare in the ship’s bow blanking off the range.  
     
          9.        The only material failure during the action, other than that incurred by the ramming, was that #2 gun momentarily jammed in train during firing.  This vessel has had similar trouble with this gun before, and during the last availability at Navy Yard, New York, the Yard was requested to lift it and correct the trouble, which they refused to do, claiming that it was not necessary.  
     
     
                                                                                                           
                                                                                                               D. M. KELLOG  
     
     
  DISTRIBUTION:  
  (See next page)  
     
     

 

 
 

   
U.S.S. THOMAS (DE-102)
     
                                                             ANNEX A,      to U.S.S. THOMAS (DE102)
                                                                                       Ltr. DE102/A16-3/(Fd), Serial 021,  
                                                                                       Of 6 July, 1944  
     
  Refer to  
  File No  
     
          1.        The following named prisoners of war including the three transferred from the U.S.S. BREEMAN (DE104), were picked up by this vessel.  
     
 
1.      Kapitan – Leutnant Hans STEEN
2.      Leutnant (Navigator) Albert BETZIN, 25
3.      Leutnant ZurSee, Karl GARTNER, 23
4.      Kurt SIMON, 23, Unter-Offizier
5.      Reuter FRITZ, 20, Obergereiter
6.      Heinrich HUBEL, Stabsbootsnann
7.      Walter WICKUM, 19, Gefreiter
8.      S. ROCK, 22, Masch. Mt.
9.      Walther SOMMER, 20, Gefreiter
10.  Oberfashnrich ZurSee, Merich LENAR, 20
11.  H. HEINBERG, 21, Obergefreiter
12.  G. REISE, 22, Gefreiter
13.  Karl REISNER, 24, Bootsmaat
14.  Karl TERP, 23, Mash Ober Mt.
15.  Christian INIZNEBURGNER, 21, Ober Gefreiter
16.  Ernst HANSELE, 19, Ober Gefreiter
17.  Herman SCHNEIDER, 19, Masch Gefreiter
18.  Werner GORBING, 24, Unter-Offizier
19.  Gunter MUDYA, 21, Ober Gefreiter
20.  Ludwig ENGELMANN, 24, ?
 
     
          2.        As the men were brought on board they were immediately segregated into three groups – Officers, Petty Officers and Enlisted men, each man being searched, stripped, placed under a hot shower, and issued a complete kit of survivors clothing.  At no time were the men allowed to converse amongst themselves.  All prisoners were given hot soup, coffee, cigarettes and alcoholic stimulative where necessary.  Only two survivors appeared to be injured.  The Captain a stretcher case appeared to be the most serious, having several bad lacerations and shrapnel wounds in the legs.  The other injured man was a Petty Officer and had a badly injured hand.  Both men were given prompt medical attention and treatment by the Division Medical Officer who was on board.  The Captain while under the influence of morphine volunteered in English his name as listed above (which checked with his dog tag), and that the subs number was 233, and that he had been to Boston, Charleston and Halifax before Pearl Harbor, and had lived in Boston for three years, 1933-34-35.  He said he had a friend in Boston whose name was Emil Bremen.  He said he was Captain of the submarine for five years  
     
 
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                                                             ANNEX A,      to U.S.S. THOMAS (DE102)
                                                                                       Ltr. DE102/A16-3/(Fd), Serial 021,  
                                                                                       Of 6 July, 1944  
     
  One of the Petty Officers (one with injured hand) stated he had a brother who was in the German Infantry, but was now in a prison camp in (Neymour ?) Oklahoma.  He said his home was in Konigsburg, Germany and that his wife was there until the Americans bombed it and that he no longer had a home.  
     
          3.        One of the enlisted prisoners who spoke English volunteered the information to a THOMAS crew member, that he had been on the submarine for three and a half years and that she was on her 5th war cruise.  
     
          4.        Lieut. Gartner spoke English very fluently but did not disclose any information.  He appeared to be extremely security conscious.  
     
          5.        In searching the prisoners as they came on board, two coding wheels, apparently from an electric coding machine, were found on the person of one of the enlisted men, believed to be Ludwig Englemann. (Not certain as to name.)  
     
          6.        After all survivors who could be found were recovered, this vessel was directed alongside the CARD whereupon all prisoners and their personal gear were transferred by breeches buoy.  
     
          7.        The Coding Wheels were transferred directly to the CARD’s Executive Officer.  Personal effects and miscellaneous notes, diaries and etc., taken from the prisoners were also transferred to the CARD.  The mens clothing and notes and the escape lungs remain on the THOMAS and will be transferred to the CARD or Naval Intelligence on arrival in port.  
     
          8.        As mentioned in basic letter, moving pictures of the action were taken and sent to the CARD for development as well as stills of prisoners as they came on board.  
     
     
                                                                                           
 
                                                                                               D. M. KELLOG
  
 
                                                                                           Lieut.Comdr., U.S.N.R.
  
 
                                                                                                   Commanding
  
     
     
 
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