USS Wilhoite (DE-397) - Commended For Towing Barr To Safety

Commended For Towing Barr To Safety

Upon finishing fueling at Casablanca, Wilhoite departed that Moroccan port, her commanding officer, Lt. Roth, having earned a second Letter of Commendation for his ship's performance in towing Barr to safety, and sailed to New York with GUS-41. After her arrival there, the ship received repairs at the New York Navy Yard before she sailed on 24 June for battle practices in Casco Bay, Maine. She later acted as a target in training exercises for submarines operating out of New London, Connecticut, before she once more touched at New York and shifted south to Norfolk, Virginia, where, on 21 July, she joined a hunter-killer task group based around the escort carrier Bogue.

Four days after her assignment to Bogue's group, TG 22.3, Wilhoite sortied with that carrier and the rest of her screen, Haverfield, Swenning, Willis, and Janssen, bound for Bermuda. While exercising in that area on antisubmarine warfare (ASW) exercises and night battle practice, Bogue and her consorts honed their respective and collective skills in those areas for the rest of July and into the following month.

At 0630 on 3 August, however, a message arrived that abruptly cut short the training. TG 22.3 was to proceed to the vicinity of 46°15' N, 21°15' W for offensive operations against a westbound enemy submarine. At 1646 on the next day, Wilhoite picked up a sound contact and attacked at 1702; listeners picked up seven detonations but could ascertain no positive results. At 1405 on the 7th, the destroyer escort laid two "hedgehog" projectile patterns and one standard depth charge pattern on a target later evaluated as a school of fish.

Undaunted, the Bogue group pressed on with the hunt. Their vigilance and training ultimately paid off. At 0043 on 19 August, night-flying aircraft from Bogue attacked a submarine running on the surface. Wilhoite was the first ship to hear the transmission and relayed it to Bogue. Six minutes later, Haverfield, Janssen, and Swenning headed for the scene, detached to take part in the hunt while Wilhoite and Willis remained with Bogue as her screen. Meanwhile, the carrier launched planes, maintaining the start of a continuous air patrol over the area.

Unfortunately, the trio of destroyer escorts returned empty handed at 1225 on the 20th. However, no sooner had they returned, when carrier aircraft reported attacking a submarine that had just surfaced. Wilhoite, Janssen, Haverfield, and Willis headed for the scene, a spot some 60 miles (97 km) distant, hearing a report at 1443 that the submarine (which had apparently submerged but had been damaged and brought to the surface) had again surfaced and was under attack.