USS Guadalcanal (CVE-60)

USS Guadalcanal (CVE-60) 1944
Overview
Order	1942
Keel laying	January 5, 1943
Launch	June 15, 1943
1. Period of service
Commissioning	September 25, 1943
Decommissioning	July 15, 1946
Whereabouts	canceled
Technical specifications
displacement	7800  tons l. (7925 t) (standard) 10,400 tn. l. (10,567 t) (input)
length	156.2 m
width	32.9 m
height	34.5 m (mast)
Draft	6.9 m
crew	860
drive	4 piston steam engines, 9000 hp (6.7 MW) on two propellers
speed	19 kn
Range	10,200 nm (18,890 km) at 15 kn (28 km / h)
Armament	1 × 127 mm gun 8 × 40mm twins 20 × 20 mm MK
Planes	28
motto	Can Do

The USS Guadalcanal (CVE-60) was an escort carrier of the Casablanca-class of the United States Navy . The carrier entered service with the US Navy in September 1943 and remained in service until July 1946. The greatest success of the ship was the seizure of the German submarine U 505 on June 4, 1944 off the coast of West Africa , when the Enigma cipher device on board was captured. The seizure of U 505 was the first hijacking in the history of the US Navy since 1815, when the sloop USS Peacock seized the British HMS Nautilus . With three other sunk German submarines, the Guadalcanal was the most successful submarine hunter in its class.

technology

Detailed information on the technology can be found in the article Casablanca class .

The Guadalcanal was 156.2 meters long and a maximum of 32.9 meters wide, the draft was 6.9 meters, the operational displacement was 10,400 tn. l. (10,567 t). The drive from four piston steam engines acting on two shafts with 9000 hp (6.7 MW) total power brought the ship to a top speed of 19 knots (35 km / h). The range was at 15 knots (28 km / h) cruising speed 10,200 nautical miles (18,890 km). In addition to the barrel armament consisting of a 127 mm gun, eight 40 mm twin flaks and 20 20 mm automatic cannons, the carrier had a Carrier Air Wing with around 25 to 30 aircraft, mostly a "composite squadron" (Eng. "Combined Squadron ”) consisting of fighters and torpedo bombers for anti-submarine missions .

history

Construction and commissioning

The carrier was ordered in 1942 as the auxiliary aircraft ferry "USS Astrolabe Bay (AVG-60)" from Kaiser Shipyards in Vancouver , Washington as the sixth ship in the Casablanca class. Before construction began, it was reclassified as an auxiliary aircraft carrier (ACV). The keel was laid on January 5, 1943 under the hull number 306. The launch took place on June 5, 1943, the ship was named "USS Guadalcanal " by the godmother Mrs. AI Malstrom in memory of the Battle of Guadalcanal . During the equipment work, the Guadalcanal was reclassified to the escort aircraft carrier (CVE) on July 15.

After commissioning in Astoria , Oregon on September 25, 1943 under the command of Captain Daniel V. Gallery , the carrier drove via Bremerton , where ammunition was stashed, and San Francisco to San Diego , where Composite Squadron 42 (VC-42 ) was taken on board with its aircraft. Training trips off the US west coast began at the beginning of November, and Captain Gallery himself completed the first take-off and landing on board the carrier on November 1st. Two weeks later, on November 15, the carrier left San Diego, crossed the Panama Canal at the end of November and arrived in Norfolk on the east coast on December 3 , where he was assigned to the Atlantic Fleet as a submarine carrier.

First submarine mission

Launch of a TBM Avenger from the deck of the Guadalcanal to attack German submarines

After minor repair and modernization work, the Guadalcanal became the flagship of Task Group December 21, 1944, and on January 5, accompanied by destroyers Alden , John D. Edwards , Whipple and John D. Ford , left Hampton Roads and ran into the Atlantic off. Composite Squadron 13 with 21 aircraft was on board the Guadalcanal . Immediately after leaving the port, the formation ran into heavy seas, a lookout was washed overboard and remained lost despite an intensive search. On January 10, a pilot died trying to land on board when his machine fell over the side of the ship. All flight operations were therefore suspended in the following two days.

On the afternoon of January 16, an Avenger torpedo bomber, which was on a patrol flight in the area of ​​operation northwest of the Azores , spotted three German submarines in motion. U 544 supplied U 516 with fuel while U 129 waited. After sighting the aircraft, U 129 quickly went deep, while the crews of the two other submarines tried to cut the hoses. The Avenger bomber attacked with rockets and depth charges and hit both boats. U 544 began to sink over the stern shortly afterwards, while the crew of U 516 managed to regain control and move away from the sea area. The pilot of the Avenger spotted several survivors in the water, but a destroyer arriving later did not find them.

Because almost all aircraft of the air wing were destroyed or damaged in several landing accidents and ditching at night in the following days, the association returned to Norfolk after a refueling stop in Casablanca on January 29th, where it arrived on February 17th.

Countersinking of U 515 and U 68

Due to the changed tactics of the German submarines, which remained submerged during the day and only came to the surface at night to charge the batteries, Captain Gallery decided to carry out flight operations during the night on the next mission. After he had discussed this plan with the pilots of the new on-board squadron, "Composite Squadron 58", the appropriate equipment was taken on board and the first exercises were held.

On March 7, the Guadalcanal left with the Task Group 21.12, consisting of the destroyer Forrest and the destroyer escorts Pillsbury , Pope , Flaherty and Chatelain , Norfolk towards the area of ​​operation between the Azores and Gibraltar . For about four weeks, the association operated unsuccessfully in the sea area, and on March 28, Casablanca was called to stash fuel and supplies. On March 30th, the association ran out again in the Atlantic.

U 515 sinks

On the morning of April 8, the Guadalcanal and her association received the order to walk about 40 nautical miles to the north, where a German submarine had been located by radio direction finding. Towards sunset, Captain Gallery launched four Avenger bombers, which searched the sea area around the formation. However, the radio message about the sighting of a diving boat did not reach the association, so that the commander could only initiate further measures after the return of the aircraft. Gallery decided to launch two more torpedo bombers at 10:15 p.m. despite problems with the safety cable system. At around eleven thirty at night, they spotted the U 515, which had surfaced . The first attack with depth charges was unsuccessful and the submarine dived. In the early morning of April 9, further TBM Avengers were launched to aid the search. When the Guadalcanal located two radar contacts about five nautical miles away at 2 a.m., destroyers escort Pope and Chatelain were sent into the area. A Hedgehog attack slightly damaged the submarine, but it was again able to escape. At 6:30 a.m., Captain Gallery also dispatched the Pillsbury and the Flaherty to the area, about ten minutes later an aircraft spotted the surfaced U 515 and immediately attacked with depth charges and rockets. The German commander, Lieutenant Werner Henke could be stricken boat still diving, but now all four escort destroyers were in the search area and started the submarine with depth charges to stock and Hedgehogs. At 10:30 a.m., the Pope managed to maintain a permanent sonar bearing on the submerged submarine, which was further attacked. After several hits, which caused severe damage on board, Lieutenant Henke let the submarine surface around 2:30 p.m. It broke through the water surface only about 75 meters from the Chatelain , and the crew disembarked. After a severe explosion on board, U 515 sank over the bow at 2.17 p.m. The crew of the German submarine was brought on board the Guadalcanal , where, after questioning, it turned out that the submarine had come to an area where the German submarines and the "milk cows" (supply submarines) met.

In the early morning of April 10th, an Avenger spotted another submarine in motion, which was immediately attacked by several aircraft with rockets and depth charges. The destroyers Chatelain , Pillsbury and Flaherty , hurrying into the search area , then reported the sinking of the boat, which was U 68 , about two hours later . A single survivor, the tower lookout Hans Kastrup, was rescued and also brought on board the association's flagship Casablanca .

After a refueling stop on April 17th on the Ilha do Faial , where the association took over fuel from the British tanker K190 , the Task Group returned to Norfolk on April 26th on December 21st.

Application of U 505

After Captain Gallery realized that U 515 had the opportunity to capture a German submarine, he began to work out more detailed plans for the capture of a submarine. He had boarding crews trained and boarding a submarine on board all ships of his Task Group 22.3, consisting of the Guadalcanal as flagship and the destroyer escorts Pillsbury , Pope , Flaherty , Chatelain and Jenks .

On May 14, 1944, the association left Norfolk for the mid-Atlantic. The patrol was completely uneventful, on the morning of June 4, the association, which was about 150 kilometers off the West African coast, received the order to call at Casablanca for bunkering. But a few hours later, around 11 a.m., the Chatelain's commander reported :

"Frenchy to Bluejay - I have a possible sound contact."

"Frenchy (callsign of the Chatelain) to Bluejay (callsign of the Guadalcanal) - I have a possible sonar contact."

Captain Gallery now gave the order to two more destroyer escorts to assist the Chatelain while he maneuvered his aircraft carrier out of direct combat area. At the same time he gave orders to the pilots of the circling Wildcat fighters :

"Use no big stuff if the sub surfaces - chase the crew overboard with 50 caliber fire."

"Do not use heavy weapons when the submarine appears - chase the crew overboard with machine gun fire."

The Guadalcanal next to U 505

The destroyer escort was still trying to keep a bearing on the submerged submarine when the circling Wildcat hunters descended to fire at the boat that was just below the surface to mark its position. The Chatelain turned sharply and dropped twelve depth charges, the explosions of which damaged the submarine. At 11:21 a.m. U 505 broke through the water surface only 700 meters from the Chatelain . The destroyers immediately began to cover the boat with fire from the light on-board weapons. The crew of the submarine fled the badly hit boat and jumped into the sea. Five minutes after the boat surfaced, Captain Gallery gave the order to stop the fire and send the prize squads out. First a dinghy from the Pillsbury reached the submarine and the prize command under the command of Lieutenant (jg) Albert L. David went on board to secure the submarine. After the explosives on board had been defused and the flood valve closed, the Pillsbury tried to walk alongside the submarine to secure it. However, the forward depth rudder cut through the thin hull plating of the destroyer escort and flooded several departments, so that the experiments had to be abandoned.

Captain Gallery on the aft deck of the Guadalcanal , in the background U 505 and a destroyer escort

After Captain Gallery had reported the hijacking of the submarine to his superiors, he began preparations to tow U 505 with the Guadalcanal . As the carrier's fuel supplies were almost exhausted, he wanted to call at Dakar , but the high command forbade him to do so. The tug USS Abnaki and the tanker Kennebec were diverted from an Atlantic convoy to the Guadalcanal task group to support the recovery of U 505 . In the meantime, the escort carrier took the submarine in tow, but this turned out to be difficult because the rudder of the submarine was not amidships and so the boat constantly swerved to starboard. However, it was possible to align the rudder. An engineer from the prize command also managed to charge the submarine's batteries by disengaging the diesel engines and charging the batteries with the propellers, which were now freely rotating in the tow, using the electric motors. The current was used to empty the ballast tanks with the pumps and to stabilize the submarine, which was originally very deep in the water.

The association was now running at 8 knots towards the Bermuda Islands . On June 9, U 505 was taken over by the tug Abnaki , while the ships of the Task Group took over fuel. Ten days later, the association entered the Naval Operating Base, Bermuda, where the German submarine was awaited by a group of experts from Washington. The following day, the Guadalcanal and her escorts left the Bermuda Islands for the US east coast, where they entered Norfolk on June 22nd.

Last years of service

On July 15, the Guadalcanal ran together with the destroyer escorts Pillsbury , Chatelain , Pope , Flaherty and Neunzer towards the Bermuda Islands, where they completed several exercises from July 19 to August 12. The submarine missions in the sea area were uneventful, as there were hardly any German submarines in the Atlantic. On August 27, the association returned to Norfolk, where Captain Gallery was replaced by Captain BC McCaffree as Commandant. Its first voyage took the ship to Baltimore , where the crew had three days shore leave and free time. On September 24th, the Guadalcanal returned to Norfolk, where the next anti-submarine mission was being prepared. On September 28, Task Group 22.7, which consisted of the same ships as in the previous operation, left the naval base in the direction of the sea area around Bermuda. The association stayed there until October 5th, on the journey to the new operational area near the Azores, the association got into a severe storm on October 16 and 17 with wind speeds of over 60 knots and waves almost 20 meters high. It turned out that the escort aircraft carriers were not suitable for such severe weather, the Guadalcanal rolled and stomped extremely in the troubled sea. On November 6, the association returned to Norfolk. At the end of November the crew went ashore again in Baltimore.

Until the end of November 1945, the Guadalcanal then operated on various trips as a training aircraft carrier for naval aviators who completed take-offs and landings for their carrier qualification on board.

Retirement and whereabouts

On January 25, 1946, the porter left Pensacola, where it was last stationed, and drove to Norfolk to begin preparations for decommissioning. On February 9, the last flight operations on board took place off Norfolk, then the carrier was moored at the pier. On April 5, she was towed to Convoy Escort Pier # 22, where she was in the reserve fleet with other escort aircraft carriers . On the morning of July 15, 1946, the flag on board was lowered for the last time and the ship was officially decommissioned. On July 15, 1955, her identification was changed to CVU-60, but her reserve status was retained. On May 27, 1958, the Guadalcanal was struck off the register and on April 30, 1959 sold to the Hugo Neu Corporation in New York for scrapping. In December 1959, she and her sister ship Mission Bay were towed by the Dutch deep-sea tug Elbe to Japan for scrapping.

Awards

The Guadalcanal received three Battle Stars for its use during World War II . All ships of Task Group 22.3 were awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for use during the deployment of U 505 . Lieutenant Junior Grade David of the USS Pillsbury , commander of the First Prize Command, was awarded the Medal of Honor in 1945, and the men in his command received the Silver Star . The members of the Guadalcanal's prize command , who went on board U 505 second , received the Legion of Merit . Captain Gallery received the Navy Distinguished Service Medal for applying U 505 .

Additional information

literature

• Daniel V. Gallery: Twenty Million Tons Under the Sea . Henry Regnery Company, Chicago 1956. (Reprinted: US Naval Institute Press, Annapolis 2001, ISBN 1-55750-806-2 )

Web links

Commons : USS Guadalcanal (CVE-60)  - Collection of images, videos, and audio files

• History of Guadalcanal in the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (English)
• Pictures of the Guadalcanal at navsource.org (engl.)
• History of the Guadalcanal at uboat.net (engl.)
• Stories and pictures at the "USS Guadalcanal Task Group 22.3 Association"

Individual evidence

1. ↑ uboat.net: Commissioning USS Guadalcanal , as of May 17, 2008
2. ↑ uboat.net: The USS Guadalcanal: Training for Battle , as of June 29, 2008
3. ↑ uboat.net: The USS Guadalcanal: The First ASW Patrol , as of June 29, 2008
4. ↑ uboat.net: USS Guadalcanal: The Second Cruise , as of June 29, 2008
5. ↑ ^{a b} Gallery: Twenty Million Tons Under the Sea . P. 292
6. ↑ Gallery: Twenty Million Tons Under the Sea . Pp. 294-299
7. ↑ Gallery: Twenty Million Tons Under the Sea . Pp. 300-305
8. ↑ uboat.net: USS Guadalcanal: Duty as a Training Ship , as of June 29, 2008
9. ↑ candotg.org: Awards ( Memento of the original from March 13, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. As of June 29, 2008  

This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on July 7, 2008 .