A lone Catalina flying boat of the US 53rd Patrol Squadron returning from a patrol spotted the German submarine U-156 east of Barbados









On this day 8th March 1943.

A lone Catalina flying boat of the US 53rd Patrol Squadron returning from a patrol spotted the German submarine U-156 east of Barbados. The submarine was on the surface with her crew sunbathing and fishing on deck, and with hatches open.

The lookouts failed to spot the aircraft as it delivered its attack at sea level. Three bombs straddled the submarine which could soon be seen to be sinking fast. A rubber dinghy was dropped but when rescuers arrived no trace could be found of survivors.

The U-boat campaign in WWII caused significant damage to the allies, but not without a cost to the Germany Navy: Nearly 800 U-boats were lost during the war with 28,000 German submarine sailors killed, for an estimated casualty rate of 75%.

The Battle of the Atlantic was also costly to the Allies. No fewer than 2,603 merchant ships had been sunk, totalling over 13. 5 million tons, as well as 175 Allied Naval vessels. . . . On the Allied side 30,248 merchant seamen died, as well as thousands of men from the Royal Navy and RAF.

It was the one campaign of the Second World War that lasted from the first day to the last.


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