N A V Y    D E P A R T M E N T
  
     
  IMMEDIATE RELEASE  
  PRESS AND RADIO                                                                             FEBRUARY 3, 1944  
     
 
BRITISH AND AMERICAN DESTROYERS ACCOUNT
 
 
FOR ANOTHER U-BOAT
 
     
          Close cooperation between the British destroyer HMS CALPE and the United States destroyer USS WAINERIGHT resulted in the destruction of a German U-boat recently, in the Mediterranean.  
     
          Earlier, Allied aircraft had conducted a search for 36 hours which was credited with materially hampering the submarine's activities.  
     
          There was relative calm, after the tumult of gun battle, for at the actual sinking not a shot was fired - - and the Commanding Officer of the WAINWRIGHT abandoned his plan to ram the U-Boat, when he saw that it was in its death throes.  
     
          A white sea serpent was painted on either side of the German craft's conning tower, but beyond that, there was no identification mark visible.  
     
          Commander Walter W. Strohbehn, United States Navy, 36, 904 West Sixth Street, Davenport, Iowa, Commanding Officer of the WAINWRIGHT, reported to Admiral Ernest J. King, United States Navy, Commander in Chief, United States Fleet, that 36 hours of harassing the U-Boat received from the constant air search accounted for the submarine's slow speed and sluggish, evasive maneuvers.  Commander Strohbehn complimented the United States Army Air Forces for its part in keeping the submarine hampered.  
     
          The CALPE made a sound contact with the submarine at 8:16 a.m.  From then on the surface hunt went forward persistently, as eyes and ears were alert for the German craft.  
     
          About 2:47 p.m., the submarine surfaced, under the unremitting depth charge attacks by the British and American destroyers.  The U-Boat was engaged by gunfire, but the battle waned when it was observed that the undersea craft was about to sink.  The Commanding Officer of the American destroyer planned to ram the submarine, but abandoned this, when it was observed that the U-Boat was doomed.   
     
          The submarine sank at 3:08 p.m.  
     
          Commander Strohbehn wrote in his official report that it was "a pleasure to work with" the British warship.  He declared:  
     
          "She turned in a polished performance, always being in the proper place, always being ready and she was quick to grasp the intentions of this ship."  
     
          The Commander of the American Destroyer Squadron to which the attacking United States vessel was attached - - Captain James P. Clay, United States Navy, 43, 3062 Porter Street, Northwest, Washington, D.C. - - attributed the victory over the German craft to the fine teamwork between the British and American warships - - despite the fact that no prior joint drills had been held.  
     
     

 

     
     
 
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          The British Admiralty officially extended its congratulations for the sinking of the enemy craft.  The Commanding Officer of the CALPE was Lieutenant Commander H. Kirkwood, Royal Navy.  
     
          Vice Admiral Henry K. Hewitt, United States Navy, Commander of the United States Naval Forces in Northwest African Waters, likewise complimented those who took part in the destruction of the U-Boat.  
     
 
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