Atlantic Patrol
Gunnels first war patrol (19 October – 7 December 1942) covered a passage from the United States to the United Kingdom, during which she participated in Operation "Torch", the Allied invasion of North Africa. One of six submarines assigned to Admiral Henry K. Hewitt's Western Naval Task Force, Gunnel did reconnaissance off Fedhala 6 November 1942, 2 days before the invasion, and on D-day (8 November) made infrared signals to guide the approaching fleet to the beachheads. Missions well accomplished, the submarine departed for Rosneath, Scotland, 7 December to terminate her first patrol. En route home, the drive gears of her HOR engines failed, forcing her to complete the final 1,000 nautical miles (1,900 km) on her auxiliary diesel, leading to a major overhaul at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine.
Read more about this topic: USS Gunnel (SS-253)
Famous quotes containing the word atlantic:
“Obscurest night involv’d the sky,
Th’ Atlantic billows roar’d,
When such a destin’d wretch as I,
Wash’d headlong from on board,
Of friends, of hope, of all bereft,
His floating home for ever left.”
—William Cowper (1731–1800)