The Battle of the Atlantic

[dhermann1]

I was just chatting with a retired former coworker, who was reminiscing about living near the Jersey Shore during WWII. He mentioned the many ships that were torpedoed within miles of the US coastline, mainly because good patriotic Americans living on the coast refused to turn off their lights at night, creating nice visible slihouettes for the U boats. He said that when you swam in the ocean you would come out covered in floating oil from the sunk tankers, and there were often floating pieces debris from the sunken ships.
Any other stories from the coastlines? There is a monument in New York's Battery Park to the approximatelt 50,000 seamen who lost their loves in the Battle of the Atlantic. We forget, but this was taking place right at our front door, within miles of our shore.

 

[Atticus Finch]

Hi,

I was born and raised in Beaufort, N.C., which is a small coastal town just below Cape Lookout. I wasn't born until 1955, but I grew up listening to the older locals tell stories of what happened off our coastline in both world wars. Here's a few of my experiences and memories.

Beaufort is a fishing town. When I was a kid in the fifties and sixties, it was not unusual for trawlers to catch WWII debris in their nets. Parts of torpedos, shell casings, helmets, mines---I've seen all of these things brought to shore by commercial fishermen.

Until the mid '80s, there were large concrete gun mounts complete with underground passages and pillboxes on the south side of Cope Lookout. They were placed there during the war to provide coastal defense against subs. When I was young, kids would play war games on these mounts. We would go down into the spooky underground passages, which were already half-filled with beach sand, and pretend we were manning the guns. These mounts have now washed into the Atlantic.

Fort Macon is a Civil War fort just across Bogue Sound from Beaufort. Durring WWII, it was garrisoned by a regiment of U.S. Army Coastal Defense Troops from Pennsylvania. One day, a group of them unearthed a large civil war cannonball and tried to use it as a andiron in the barracks fireplace. It exploded killing one of the soldiers. He thus became the last Yankee soldier to be killed by a Confederate shell.

Several British seamen, who died when their ship was torpedoed, are buried in a small cemetery in Ocracoke, N.C.. A few years ago, North Carolina deeded this cemetery to England so that these guys could rest forever in British soil. The Union Jack now flies everyday over this tiny part of England.

Beaufort was "blacked out" during the war. When my parents bought our house in 1963, I found the blackout shades stored in one of the upstairs closets. The last time I looked, they were still stored in that closet.

My father spent the war in the Air Corps. But my mom spent it in Beaufort. She has told me of seeing tall plumes of smoke on the horizon from the burning tankers offshore---sometimes several in one day. She also told me that when a torpedo found its mark the houses in Beaufort would shake, and that this most often happend at night. She would lay in bed thinking of the hell that going on just a few miles from her.

Atticus

 

[Smithy]

A few years ago, North Carolina deeded this cemetery to England so that these guys could rest forever in British soil. The Union Jack now flies everyday over this tiny part of England.

That's absolutely brilliant, and a lovely gesture by North Carolina.

 

[Twitch]

The "lights on" came from the top. While it may FDR had nothing to fear but fear itself, U-Boats posed a tangible threat and took advantage of the back lit scenarios to shilouette many a freighter for sinking.

Also as the anti-sub equipment improved there are, as consequence, quite a few U-Boats nearby off the US coast.

 

[JRB]

I heard about the "higher ups" not listening to the British recommendations regarding the lights out policy. It took them a while for it to sink in. I read stories by the U-boats cruising along the NJ coast close enough to hear the music coming from the Steel Pier in Atlantic City.
The Battle of the Atlantic's memory is being revived/preserved at Fort Miles, DE, which is a part of Cape Henlopen State Park. They're restoring some of the bunkers and barracks that was part of the largest Coastal Defense project built in the U.S. during WWII. Visit their web site at: www.fortmiles.org/261CAC/ Jack

 

[Atticus Finch]

Hi Folks,

Here's a great book on the subject. It actually mentions a couple of people I used to know.

http://www.homerhickam.com/books/tj.shtml

Atticus

 

[JRB]

The cemetary plot has pictures and a short story in this book.
V for Victory: America's Home Front During World War II (Paperback)
by Stan Cohen (Author) Jack

 

[dhermann1]

Answering my own question: I was in a show last year in a theater that was built as the base movie theater at Ft Tilden, in Queens, NY. Ft Tilden is 317 acres of beach, near the entrance of NY Harbow. When the Naval Treaty of 1922 (?) restricted the number of battleships each country could have, they took the 16 inch guns from one of the uncompleted ships and spread them up and down the east coast as coastal batteries. Ft Tilden had 2 of them in Battery Harris East and Battery Harris West. They lived in huge concrete bunkers in the sand. When WWII came along (or was it after? I'm not sure) the guns were melted down, but the bunkers are still there. Much fun to climb to the top and see the vast view of New York Harbor.
http://forgotten-ny.com/YOU'D%20NEVER%20BELIEVE/forttilden/fttilden.html

 

[TraderRic]

dh1, I used to play on the coastal batteries on the Jersey side at sandy hook. From what you describe it sounds like the same type of concrete bunkers.