Naval History Blog - 1st Submarine

I follow the Naval History Blog, and recently they posted this story - April 11, 1900: The First Submarine of the Navy, USS Holland (SS-1). "....This article was written by Captain Frank T. Cable as The Submarine Torpedo Boat Holland: First Submarine to Become a Part of the United States Navy for the February 1943 issue of Proceedings magazine. ...."

Great article! Interesting comment from Clara Bar­ton: ".... On one of these trips we had Clara Bar­ton, founder of the Red Cross, on board as a guest. Perhaps she was the first woman to venture in a submarine. We ran the Holland for several miles on the surface, then submerged her and Miss Barton to a depth of 15 feet on a run of 2 miles. Hol­land explained to her the boat’s mecha­nism, particularly the operation and effect of the torpedo. If he looked for congratula­tions on his ingenuity, he did not get them. On the contrary, she expressed her great surprise that any American citizen should be guilty of inventing such a deadly instru­ment of war. Holland, with his usual Irish good nature, assured her that to take life was not the purpose of the boat, but rather the contrary. He believed that if all the nations of the world were equipped with submarines there would be no war. The World War proved that he erred...."  

Perhaps, that's the comment John Holland made to Clara Barton, but I doubt he was sincere when he made it!  Earlier protypes of Holland's submarine were called the Fenian Ram.  It was built with financial support from the Fenian Brotherhood (an organization that conducted terrorist raids into Canada). From the start the Fenian Ram was intended as a weapon that would sink British Shipping.

---

Today John Holland's Fenian Ram is in the Patterson Museum.  William Maloney has a great series of photographs of the Ram.  btw - He also has excellent photos of the USS Slater.

This Day, April 28, 1943

This Day, Seventy years ago

Seventy years ago on this day, Wednesday, April 28, 1943 during the Battle of the Atlantic no allied ships.  There were several German and Japanese ships sunk.

There was an epic battle in the North Atlantic involving U-Boats and British Escorts, convoy ONS-5:

"...In the course of a week, ONS 5 had been the subject of attacks by a force of over 40 U-boats. With the loss of 13 ships totalling 63,000 tons, the escorts had inflicted the loss of 6 U-boats, and serious damage on 7 more. This battle demonstrated that the convoy escorts had mastered the art of convoy protection; the weapon and expertise at their disposal meant that henceforth they would be able not only be able to protect their charges and repel attack, but they would also be able to inflict significant losses on the attacker. ONS 5 marked the turning point in the battle of the Atlantic. Following this action, the Allies inflicted a series of defeats and heavy losses on the U-boat Arm, a period known as Black May. This culminated in Dönitz withdrawing his forces from the North Atlantic arena.."

There were 148 U-Boats at Sea (Events this day - U-Boat Net). During the previous month March 1943, 107 merchant ships were lost to U-boats (627,000 gross tons). About two-thirds of the tonnage sunk by U-boats during March was in convoy (a record for the war).

---

Since the beginning ot the year, Destroyer Escorts were entering into service at an ever increasing rate.  On April 28, 1943 the USS Griswald (DE-7) was commissioned, Lieutenant Commander Charles M. Lyons in command.

This Day, Seventy years ago, April 14

This Day, Seventy years ago

Seventy years ago on this day, Wednesday, April 14, 1943 during the Battle of the Atantic three allied ships (Norwegian Destroyer Eskdale, Norwegian/German Tug Pasvik, and British Naval Trawler Adonis) were sunk.  One U-Boat (U-526) was also sunk.
 
There were 122 U-Boats at Sea (Events this day - U-Boat Net). During the previous month March 1943, 107 merchant ships were lost to U-boats (627,000 gross tons). About two-thirds of the tonnage sunk by U-boats during March was in convoy (a record for the war).

---

Since the beginning ot the year, Destroyer Escorts were entering into service at an ever increasing rate.  On April 14, 1943 the USS Hurst (DE-250) was launched.  As of 2012, that ship is still in service in the Mexican Navy as the ARM Comodoro Manuel Azueta D-111.