Some 80 years ago this week, in the North Atlantic west of the Canary Islands, the German Type IXC/40 U-boat, U-185 (Kptlt. August Maus), with 31 waterlogged survivors of the lost U-604 aboard, met her end at the hand of depth charges dropped from Willie 9, a TBF Avenger aircraft of VC-13 from the deck of the Bouge-class escort carrier USS Core (CVE-13).
The event was chronicled by Core’s airwing.
The explosion caused by Lt. Williams’ two exploding depth charges dropped on a German submarine, U-185. The bow of the submarine protrudes from the bottom of the explosion. Incident #4082. Released August 24, 1943. Official U.S. Navy photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. 80-G-77195
German submarine, U-185, sinking after the combined attack of several aircraft from USS Core (CVE 13), principally from two depth charges from an Avenger piloted by Lieutenant R.P. Williams, USNR. Incident #4082. Released August 24, 1943. Official U.S. Navy photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. 80-G-77196
In all, U-185 went down with 29 dead (including 14 men from U-604) while 22 survivors were rescued and eventually became POWs.
German survivors from the German submarine, U-185, in the water after being sunk by aircraft from USS Core (CVE-13), piloted by Lieutenant R.P. Williams, USNR, August 24, 1943 They were in the water for six hours before being picked up by destroyer. Incident #4082. Official U.S. Navy photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. 80-G-77198
Submarine survivors of U 185 and U 604 resting on the flight deck of USS Core (CVE 13). Released August 24, 1943. Official U.S. Navy photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. 80-G-77202
From Core’s war diary, a very matter-of-fact entry for that Tuesday morning:
Core had a particularly effective “hunter-killer patrol” in the late summer of 1943.
Per DANFS:
Core’s second hunter-killer patrol, from 16 August to 2 September 1943 netted her planes U-86 on 24 August in 27-09′ N., 37-03′ W., and U-185 the same day in 27-00′ N., 37-06′ W. Putting to sea again 5 October in TG 21.15, Core’s planes sank U-378 on 20 October in 47-40′ N,, 28-27′ W. She returned to Norfolk 19 November.
USS Core (CVE-13) underway in the Atlantic, probably on 10 October 1943. The wing of the plane from which the photograph was taken is in the foreground. Note also that the planes of her air group are painted white and gull grey to make it difficult for U-boats to see against the sky. Core would continue to serve after the war as an aircraft transport, taking helicopters to Vietnam. She was scrapped in 1971. NH 106565
As for the good Kapitänleutnant August Wilhelm Hugo Maus, he had claimed some 70,000 GRT in tonnage while he was active and earned a Knights Cross while in American custody. Speaking of which, he and five other U-boat officers were able to escape from the lightly guarded POW camp at Papago Park, Arizona on 12 February 1944 but was soon after recaptured in Tucson. Maus later helped dig a tunnel that allowed 25 POWs to escape on the night of 23-24 December 1944, but he elected to remain behind due to an injury. He was eventually repatriated and died in Hamburg in 1986, aged 81.
The splasher of Maus’s boat, LT Robert Pershing Williams, then a 26-year-old Naval pilot hailing from Snoqualmie, Washington who formerly had flown an SBD dive bomber with Bombing Two from USS Lexington (earning a Navy Cross) during the Battle of Coral Sea, flew against U-185 with Morris C. Grinstead, Aviation Radioman, First Class, U.S.N., 21, of Letts, Iowa and turret gunner Melvin H. Paden, Aviation Machinist’s Mate, Second Class, U.S.N., 19, Route 4, Box 17, Salinas, California. The action earned Williams a second Navy Cross.
Acclaimed cartoonist, Wood Cowan used his story to help sell War Bonds.
Williams outlived Maus, and passed in 1997, aged 79.