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Torpedo Alley: The North Carolina Outer Banks
In World Wars I and II, German U-boats hunted and destroyed ships off the
Outer Banks. This was "Torpedo Alley," where Germans enjoyed their "Great American Turkey
Shoot." From January through July 1942, German U-boats sank 397 ships filled with food, supplies, and oil in U.S.
Atlantic waters and killed 5,000 people--a majority of whom were civilians and merchant marines. The U.S. concentrated
initial naval efforts in the Pacific. Only one ship was sent to patrol the United States' southeast coast. To protect American
lives and vital supplies bound for England, Churchill sent a flotilla of anti-submarine craft to patrol Atlantic shipping
lanes. One particular ship, the H.M.S. Bedfordshire, was torpedoed by a U-boat 40 miles off Cape Lookout on May 11,
1942. All hands were lost. The bodies of four sailors washed ashore on Ocracoke. Donating their services and land for this
British Cemetery, the people of Ocracoke took care of the dead. This plot of land has been forever ceded to England and is
maintained by the Ocracoke Coast Guard. A ceremony honoring these men, with representatives of the British Royal Navy and
the U.S. Coast Guard, is held at the location each year in May.
Source: National Archives
Recommended
Reading:
Torpedo Junction: U-Boat War Off America's
East Coast 1942. Description: Slaughter at sea—just miles from U.S. soil! In 1942, German U-boats turned the shipping lanes off Cape Hatteras into a sea of death. Cruising
up and down the U.S. eastern seaboard,
they sank nearly 400 ships, littering the waters with cargo and bodies. As astonished civilians witnessed explosions from
American beaches, fighting men dubbed the area "Torpedo Junction." And while the U.S. Navy failed to react, a handful of Coast
Guard sailors scrambled to the front lines. Continued below…
Outgunned and out-maneuvered,
they heroically battled the deadliest fleet of submarines ever launched. Never
was Germany closer to winning the war. In a moving ship-by-ship account of terror and rescue at sea, Homer Hickam chronicles a little-known saga of courage,
ingenuity, and triumph in the early years of World War II. From nerve-racking sea duels to the dramatic ordeals of sailors
and victims on both sides of the battle, Hickam dramatically captures a war we had to win—because this one hit terrifyingly
close to home.
Related Reading:
NEW!
Recommended Reading: Operation Drumbeat: The Dramatic True Story
of Germany's First U-boat Attacks Along the American Coast in World War II.
From Publishers Weekly: In 1942, German U-boats sank nearly 400 Allied ships off the East coast of the U.S., threatening to sever Britain's lifeline
and cripple U.S. war industry. Gannon,
a University of Florida
history professor, reveals the appalling degree of unpreparedness and opposition to military intervention on the American
side, despite accurate warnings from British intelligence, and traces much of it to the Anglophobia of the chief of naval
operations, Admiral Ernest J. King. Continued below…
In an impressive research coup,
Gannon located the former skipper and several crew members of one of the U-boats involved in the campaign. Using interviews
with these men and former U.S. and British military personnel, and a war diary of the
U-123 , Gannon recreates two action-packed patrols and the sinking of 18 Allied ships by that submarine. The book will be
of enormous interest to sub warfare buffs. Includes numerous photos. Fans of the movie Das Boot especially won't want to miss
it.
Recommended
Reading: Graveyard of the Atlantic: Shipwrecks of the North Carolina
Coast [ILLUSTRATED] (Hardcover). Description: This is a factual
account, written in the pace of fiction, of hundreds of dramatic losses, heroic rescues, and violent adventures at the stormy
meeting place of northern and southern winds and waters—the Graveyard of the Atlantic
off the Outer Banks of North Carolina. The author describes some of the most climatic sinkings such as the USS Huron, the
SS Metropolis, and the steam packet Pulaski. He also chronicles the birth and growth of the US Life Saving Service and
some of the most exciting rescues in history. Overall this is a fine and engrossing book, written by an author intimately
connected with his topic. Includes illustrations, maps, and drawings.
Recommended
Viewing: Das Boot - The Original Uncut Version (DVD) (1982)
(293 minutes) (Release Date: June 1, 2004) (Nominated for 6 Oscars). Description: While the director’s cut of Das
Boot is a staggering 209 minutes, this Uncut Version (nearly 5 hours!) includes an additional 84 minutes! This 293-minute
version of Das Boot is the full-length TV series, originally shown in six parts but here edited into a seamless whole.
Award winning director Wolfgang Petersen and his sterling cast (including Jürgen Prochnow in his best role as the U-boat Captain)
went to great lengths to ensure that this claustrophobic depiction of life aboard the German sub U-96 while attacking British
convoys in the Atlantic
is thoroughly authentic, and totally convincing. Continued below...
Even the set itself, which is a replica of a U-boat interior, had no false walls, so all camera angles are
necessarily from within its horribly narrow, overcrowded and sweaty confines. The result is certainly the finest submarine
drama ever made, and one of the most compelling depictions of the physical, psychological and emotional effects of warfare.
This gripping tale from Academy AwardŽ nominated director Wolfgang Peterson follows the daring patrol of U-96 – one
of the famed German U-boats known as the "gray wolves." The crew aboard the U-96 is graphically portrayed
in a desperate life and death struggle coping with endless hours of claustrophobic boredom at sea which quickly gives way
to terror when confronting the enemy. Das Boot delivers an amazingly accurate account of Germany's
elite U-boat crewmen as it deliberately depicts the carnage of war. At nearly 5 hours of run time, order a pizza, grab the
popcorn, reach for that favorite drink and enjoy one of the greatest classics ever brought to the screen!
ALSO
CONSIDER: Das Boot - The Director's Cut (DVD) (1982) (209 minutes) (Release Date:
December 10, 1997). Description: This is the restored, 209-minute director's cut of Wolfgang Petersen's harrowing and claustrophobic
U-boat thriller, which was theatrically rereleased in 1997. Originally made as a five-hour miniseries, this version devotes
more time to getting to know the crew before they and their stoic captain (Jürgen Prochnow) get aboard their U-boat, U-96, and
find themselves stranded at the bottom of the sea. Continued below...
Das Boot puts you inside that submerged vessel and explores the physical and emotional tensions
of the situation with a vivid, terrifying realism that few movies can match. As Petersen tightens the screws and the submerged
ship blows bolts, the pressure builds to such unbearable levels that you may be tempted to escape for a nice walk on solid
land in the great outdoors--only you wouldn't dream of looking away from the screen.
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