Flying Coffee Cups

I'm no military expert, but my guess is that hand-to-hand combat doesn't often take place on the open seas. Yet that's what happened early one morning in 1944 during World War II in the eastern Atlantic Ocean.

Terry Lee Burns

My paternal grandfather, Terry Lee Burns, was serving on the U.S.S. Buckley, a destroyer escort, which was patrolling the waters west of Africa along with the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Block Island in the dark, early-morning hours of May 6. Near the Cape Verde Islands, aircraft from the Block Island noticed a German submarine nearby and alerted the crews of both American ships. The U-boat had surfaced and was awaiting contact with another German vessel, possibly for refueling.

The American aircraft and ships observed the sub, U-66, and seemed to be undetected by the Germans. The Buckley, tracking the sub by the light of a full moon, approached cautiously, hoping to be mistaken for the sub's rendezvous target. When the U-boat crew finally noticed the Buckley, it fired three signal flares, but the Buckley did not respond.

Minutes later, the action started. The sub fired torpedoes but missed the Buckley. Then the sub opened fire with machine guns, and the Buckley unleashed several of its deck guns, scoring a direct hit. The U-boat took evasive action, then fired another torpedo across the Buckley's bow. As the plane followed the action from above and continued providing information to the ships, the German sub and American ship closed in on each other. They ended up on parallel courses about 20 yards apart, firing from guns big and small.

After just a couple minutes of this, the ship turned hard right and rammed the sub. But the two vessels didn't just collide; the ship actually rode up onto the sub and remained there. The two were locked in place. The official report filed later by the commanding officer, Lt. Comdr. Brent M. Abel, USNR, explained what happened next:

"Men begin swarming out of submarine and up on BUCKLEY's forecastle. Machine gun, tommy gun, and rifle fire knocks off several. Ammunition expended at this time included several general mess coffee cups which were on hand at ready gun station. Two of the enemy were hit in the head with these."

Photo from Wikipedia

In addition to firearms and coffee cups, sailors used empty shell casings and even their bare fists to fend off the attacking Germans. Within minutes, the Buckley backed off of the sub, and the two continued to dance around each other and jockey for position. Five of the enemy that had climbed aboard were disarmed and taken prisoner. The sub and ship bumped and scraped against each other a couple more times. An American sailor dropped a hand grenade into an open hatch on the sub. One of the Buckley's guns scored a direct hit on the sub's conning tower. Finally the sub, fatally damaged, slipped underwater, followed by a "heavy deep underwater explosion," according to the commanding officer's report. The Buckley cruised through the area for the next three hours looking for survivors, picking up another 36 prisoners of war.

The entire battle lasted 16 minutes. The Americans sustained a single casualty: one sailor bruised his fist while knocking a German off the side of the ship.

The report was classified, but the commanding officer included a request that it be declassified "if deemed proper by superior authority." It must have been so deemed about a year later, as a widely circulated United Press International account of the incident appeared in newspapers all over the country in May 1945. The Waukesha (Wisc.) Daily Freeman, as just one example, published the article under the headline, "Flying Coffee Mugs Beat U-Boat Crew in Sea Fight."

Approximate location where U-66 sank (Google Maps)

One time I asked my grandfather about his service on the ship, and he said that he was a cook and he handed up ammunition. He didn't talk about it much, and I don't remember him saying anything specifically about the battle. I actually heard more about this from my grandmother, Omelia Burns. But even though it's possible he was below decks the whole time, he was among those who served, and Lt. Comdr. Abel praised the crew's teamwork during the incident:

"The commanding officer is proud of the fighting spirit, coolness in action, and through going teamwork shown by all hands. It was these characteristics, more than the individual brilliance or heroism of any one officer or man, which concluded the action successfully."

Navy Unit Commendation ribbon (Wikipedia)

After the Buckley finished scouring the battle scene for survivors, it headed back to either New York or Boston (or maybe one and then the other; sources differ). Despite its victory, it had sustained quite a bit of damage--the bow was bent from ramming the sub, and the hull was punctured in several places--so it spent some time in drydock undergoing repairs.

It resumed action in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, teaming up with the U.S.S. Reuben James to sink another U-boat in April 1945. For its service, the Buckley was awarded the Navy Unit Commendation and three battle stars. After the war, the ship was placed in the reserves, eventually being sold for scrap in 1969.

The U.S.S. Block Island (Wikipedia)

According to the Burn Pit, a blog of the American Legion, the Buckley's adventure with U-66 inspired the 1957 movie "The Enemy Below," starring Robert Mitchum.

The Block Island served for only about three more weeks after the incident with U-66. On May 29, 1944, it was sunk by three torpedoes from another German sub, U-549, near the Canary Islands. Six men were lost in the attack, while an escort ship picked up the remaining 951.

At war's end, Terry Burns returned home to Texarkana, Ark., and resumed working for the Cotton Belt Railroad. After retiring in 1974 following 49 years of service with Cotton Belt, he built a houseboat and went fishing. But that's another story.

More:

• Wikipedia entry for the U.S.S. Buckley: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Buckley_(DE-51)
• Navy Unit Commendation: http://destroyerhistory.org/de/ussbuckley_nuc/
• Post on U.S. Militaria Forum, includes photos: http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/175705-may-6-1944-uss-buckley-de-51-rams-and-sinks-u-66-crew-photos/
• Navy report of the U-66 incident: http://www.uboatarchive.net/U-66A/U-66BuckleyReport.htm
• Naval Warfare blog: http://navalwarfare.blogspot.com/2008/07/uss-buckley-de-51.html
• American Legion's Burn Pit: http://burnpit.legion.org/2014/05/uss-buckley-rammed-u-66-fights-boarding-party-then-sinks-sub
• Wikipedia entry for the U.S.S. Block Island: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Block_Island_(CVE-21)