Existing comment:
The Capture of U-505
Two days before the Normandy Invasion, Captain Dan Gallery's hunter-killer group claims a well-deserved prize: a German U-boat. Depicted here is the destroyer escort PILLSBURG as she stands by while a boarding party prepares to rig a tow line to U-505, which lies with its stern awash off the coast of West Africa. Steaming in the distance is the escort carrier GUADALCANAL upon which Captain Gallery is embarked as Command of Task Group 22.3.
Captain Gallery, ISN, Naval Academy Class of 1921, planned for this improbable opportunity. A boarding party had been organized aboard each ship and rehearsed for a role few ever expected to materialize.
Two days before the allied invasion of Normandy, the destroyer CHATELAINE reported a sonar contact off the coast of northern Africa. Within minutes, she had maneuvered into firing position using target information from a wildcat fighter plane from GUADALCANAL. The use of depth charges forced the U-505 to surface. Straffing [sic] with anti-personnel shells kept the sub's crew from manning their deck guns and forced them into the water where they were promptly rescued by CHATELAINE. |