Actions
On the morning of 7 May, U-320 — a modified Type VIIC/41 boat under O/L H Emmerich — was two days into her first operational patrol and running submerged, when she was detected by an RAF Catalina under Flt/Lt KM Murray of 210 Squadron, Coastal Command. Murray attacked immediately with a pattern of depth charges. U-320 was damaged but not destroyed; Murray sighted oil, and sonobuoys dropped by the Catalina detected hammering. Murray was unable to continue the attack and by mid-afternoon, at his Prudent Limit of Endurance (PLE), was forced to abandon the hunt. Emmerich meanwhile headed for Norway, abandoning his crippled boat the following day. Emmerich and all his crew survived. U-320 was the last U-boat to be sunk in action during the Battle of the Atlantic.
Also on 7 May, U-1023 — a modified Type VIIC/41 under K/L H Schroeteler — sighted a group of Norwegian minesweepers off Portland Bill. In his first successful attack since the patrol started, in March, he struck. His torpedoes hit NYMS 382, which sank with the loss of 22 men.
At around the same time, U-2336 — a Type XXIII under O/L E Klusmeier seven days into her first operational patrol — sighted a British convoy in the Firth of Forth. Firing his two torpedoes, Klusmeier hit freighters Sneland and Avondale Park, which both sank. Nine men were lost altogether. Both U-boats escaped.
These actions took place in the evening of 7 May 1945, just hours before the German surrender.
Read more about this topic: Actions Of 7/8 May 1945
Famous quotes containing the word actions:
“What is the use of aesthetics if they can neither teach how to produce beauty nor how to appreciate it in good taste? It exists because it behooves rational human beings to provide reasons for their actions and assessments. Even if aesthetics are not the mathematics of beauty, they are the proof of the calculation.”
—Franz Grillparzer (1791–1872)
“The mob is man voluntarily descending to the nature of the beast. Its fit hour of activity is night. Its actions are insane like its whole constitution. It persecutes a principle; it would whip a right; it would tar and feather justice, by inflicting fire and outrage upon the houses and persons of those who have these. It resembles the prank of boys, who run with fire-engines to put out the ruddy aurora streaming to the stars.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“The course of my long life hath reached at last
In fragile bark o’er a tempestuous sea
The common harbor, where must rendered be
Account for all the actions of the past.”
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882)