LIVING HISTORY
Specializing in Family Law / Dissolution of Marriage Actions
16
Early in 1942, German U-boats had their pick of targets along the East
Coast, even torpedoing ships in broad daylight because American
defenses were spread thin. More than 170 ships were sunk in the first
four months of 1942, compared to one U-boat sunk in U.S. waters.
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Schacht and his U-507 ventured into the mouth of the
Mississippi River in early May 1942, contending with shallow
water and turbulent currents as well as frequently dodging
patrol boats.
And a memorable attack took place within sight of hundreds
at the Jacksonville Beach Resort when U-123 under
Reinhard Hardegen torpedoed the Gulfamerica on April 21,
1942, causing a fiery explosion. He sailed the U-boat between
the burning ship and the onlookers ashore to administer the
coup de grâce with his deck guns, silhouetting the menacing
submarine against the flames. In all, U-boats sank some 46
ships around Florida and Cuba in 1942-43, but the many airfields
and improvements in sub hunting technologies turned
the tide against the Germans by late 1942.
Indeed, Poske might have done much more damage along
the Treasure Coast if he had desired. His log reflects many ships
that passed without pursuit, “tasty morsels” he called them.
And there was one — somewhere near the Jupiter Inlet —
which he mentions in his log on Feb. 22, just after his successful
attack on the Republic and before he blew up the Anderson.
The moon had set, Poske noted, so he tried to moderate the
U-boat’s speed to reduce phosphorescence that might give
him away. He fired two torpedoes, reporting that detonations
were heard when they found their mark. He estimated the
ship to be large, a 10,846 GRT steamer, and reported it had
stopped in the water after the torpedoes hit. Then something
strange happened: when Poske brought U-504 close to where
he had seen the ship, he couldn’t find it.
“Nothing more is seen of the steamer!” he wrote in his log.
“It is impossible with the good visibility conditions for that
he ran off so suddenly, instead it is certain that our up to the
neck fully loaded freighter … sank like a stone in a short time.
Wreckage is not distinguished in the complete darkness. Under
these circumstances I can report the sinking as observed.”
At the end of the war, Poske was fortunate to be one of the
few U-boat commanders still alive, as his comrades had a 25
percent chance of surviving the improved detection capabilities
of Allied bombers by 1943, when more than 250 U-boats
were sunk. He may also be fortunate that nobody looked
too closely at his war diary, because there is no record of this
phantom ship being torpedoed and sinking near Jupiter Inlet
on Feb. 22, 1942.
Alison O’Leary co-authored So Close to Home: A True Story
of an American Family’s Fight for Survival During WWII with
Michael J. Tougias (Pegasus Books, 2016). www.alisonoleary.com
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