USS Baker (DE-190) - Sinking of The German Submarine U-233

Sinking of The German Submarine U-233

Nearby, Thomas (DE-102), the division flagship, observed that Baker's depth charge attacks and gunnery had been effective because smoke and flame issued from the conning tower. Thomas joined the action with her forward three-inch guns at 8,000 yards, firing 29 rounds as she closed. She delivered the coup de grâce by ramming the U-boat's starboard side some 20 to 30 feet abaft the conning tower. After a 70 degree roll to port, the submarine wallowed in the swell. At 1947, her bow rose high out of the water, and she then slid back into the sea at an angle of 60°. Baker rescued 31 survivors, one of whom was the U-boat commander, Oberleutnant Hans Stein, who died the following day from shrapnel wounds. The submarine damaged by Baker and sunk by Thomas proved to be the 1,600 ton minelayer, U-233.

Putting into Boston on 7 July, TG 22.10 turned over its prisoners and provisioned, before getting under way again on the 10th to resume its "hunter killer" operations. Reaching San Juan, Puerto Rico, on 18 July, the task group rested there until the 24th. Baker then cruised as far east as the Azores before returning to New York on 25 August. After voyage repairs at the Navy Yard Annex, Bayonne, New Jersey, from 25 August to 7 September, the destroyer escort honed her ASW skills at Casco Bay before proceeding to Hampton Roads along with the rest of CortDiv 48. A tropical hurricane enlivened the passage to the Virginia Capes but fortunately caused no appreciable damage on board.