In the years of European warfare between 1939 and December 7, 1941, the German U-Boat menace became a deadly noose around the Island nation of Great Britain. So thoroughly was the German blockade prosecuted that Prime Minister Winston Churchill proclaimed it his "greatest worry". German submarines roamed nearly unmolested, silently stalking convoys of urgently needed supplies making their way to England, and sending tons of shipping to the ocean floor with deadly torpedoes.

Germany and Italy declared war on the United States on December 11, 1941, only days after the attack at Pearl Harbor prompted the U.S. Congress to declare war on Japan. Immediately after that German declaration, the United States Congress granted President Roosevelt a declaration of war against Germany and Italy, confronting our nation with a two-front war.

While the early battles in the Pacific dominated the news, and while within a year the American landings in North Africa signaled the opening of that second offensive front, little is often recalled of the battle at home. But World War II was NOT entirely a war fought on foreign shores. There were of course, the battles fought on American soil at Pearl Harbor, Guam, and even in the Territory of Alaska. But often forgotten is the fact that some of the war's most costly battles were also fought along the eastern seaboard of the United States.

The first American offensive action against a German submarine occurred as early as April 10, 1941. On that date the U.S.S. Niblack (DD-424) was conducting reconnaissance off the coast of Iceland when the destroyer located three life boats containing survivors from a recently torpedoed Dutch freighter. While attempting a rescue, a German submarine was detected, and appeared to be moving in to attack. The American commander ordered a depth charge attack, his pre-emptive actions driving off the enemy sub in what was probably the first clash between American and German forces (excluding the Eagle Squadron pilots who flew during the Battle of Britain) in World War II.

Again, on September 4, 1941, an American destroyer and a German U-Boat engaged each other near Iceland. The U.S.S. Greer successfully evaded two German torpedoes and dropped 19 depth charges, becoming the first American ship to offensively attack German forces in a war that had not yet begun. Following the U.S.S. Greer incident, President Roosevelt ordered all U.S. Naval vessels to attack any ship that threatened American shipping or the shipping of a foreign nation under escort by American ships.

The headline announcing the German attack on the U.S.S. Kearny (DD-432) was more than another detail of war on the American home front. For the United States, World War II had not yet even begun.

On October 16, 1942, the Kearny was one of five American destroyers that raced to the site of German U-Boat attacks on a convoy near Iceland. On the following day Commander Anthony L. Danis daringly maneuvered his ship to protect the convoy, suffering a direct torpedo hit on the starboard side that killed eleven American sailors and wounded twenty-two. Danis, his Engineering Officer Lieutenant Robert Esslinger, and Chief Machinist's Mate Aucie McDaniel earned the Navy Cross for their actions to get their wounded vessel safely to port.

Two weeks later the U.S.S. Salinas (AO-19), an oiler based out of Argentia, Newfoundland, was returning to the United States when it was struck by two German torpedoes. Though no Americans were killed in the attack, one sailor was wounded and the ship was badly damaged in the October 30, 1941, incident that earned the ship's Commanding Officer and four members of his crew the Navy Cross.

The following day while the Salinas was limping for port, the U.S.S. Reuben James (DD-245) was escorting a convoy from Halifax, Nova Scotia, when it was attacked by the German U-552 and sunk. Only 44 men of the 159 members of the crew survived, nearly a quarter of the survivors suffering wounds. The Reuben James was the first American ship lost in combat in World War II, and the United States was STILL not even at war.

The prelude to war should have served as ample warning as to what lay in store once war was actually declared. Less than a week after war was declared, Adolph Hitler launched Operation Paukenschlag, a direct attack on shipping off the American eastern seaboard. Five German U-Boats departed for American waters between December 18 - 24, 1941, arriving to begin operations by mid-January. On January 11 the U-123 sank the SS Cyclops less than 300 miles east of Cape Cod. Over the following weeks the Paukenschlag U-Boats scored near-daily victories along the American coast. Twenty-five American ships were lost in 26 days.

Death of a Lady

Reports of the casualties were crushing to the American public, already reeling from the daily bad news coming from the Pacific War. But the bad news on this this other front carried with it a unique undercurrent to feed American fears. The ships sinking, planes falling, and soldiers dying in the face of the Japanese offensive were far away. The casualties being suffered to Hitler's U-Boats were close to home; so close, that the fires of burning and sinking American ships could be seen along the coast at night. An American fisherman who made his living from the sea was now also vulnerable to the enemy when he ventured out to his daily job.

The reality of the danger to civilians became poignantly clear on January 19. Three days earlier the Canadian Steamship "Lady Hawkins" had departed Halifax for Bermuda, stopping at Boston en route to pick up additional passengers. The course was a normal route for the luxury liner that carried primarily civilian tourists, crew and passengers numbering some 300 on this trip. Among them were 40 young men from St. Joseph, Missouri, who had boarded for passage to promised construction jobs awaiting their arrival in Bermuda.

With the threat of German U-Boats increasing, the captain hugged the American coast line as far as Cape Hatteras before making his eastward turn towards Bermuda. Shortly after midnight on January 19, the "Lady Hawkins" was briefly illuminated by a bright search light from U-66, and, moments later shuddered under the impact of two torpedoes. Though the ship was only 130 miles from land, most of those aboard her were doomed. Six life boats were destroyed by the torpedoes, and only 76 survivors managed to crowd into the only remaining life boat, which rated a maximum capacity of 63 persons.

For five days the survivors languished at sea, surviving on a ration of one biscuit, one-quarter of a cup of water, and two teaspoons of condensed milk. Five died during the ordeal before the S.S. Coamo spotted the life boat and took the 71 survivors, including a two-year-old girl, aboard on January 24. Only thirteen of the 40 young men from St. Joseph survived, prompting the local newspaper to write, "May the U-Boat that struck by stealth, bringing death to more than a score of St. Joseph citizens, meet with such a fate."

The death of the "Lady Hawkins" and the loss of more than 200 civilians only heightened the fear at home in the United States. To make matters worse, the same day that the story of the Canadian ship's fate reached the press, a Coast Guard ship arrived at Chincoteague, Virginia, bearing eleven survivors of the American merchant ship "Francis E. Powell". (Seventeen other survivors were also picked up by the tanker "W. C. Fairbanks" and returned to shore in Delaware). The Powell had been en route from Port Arthur, Texas, to Providence, Rhode Island, when it was attacked and sunk on January 27 by U-130. The news gave credibility to the rumors that at least two German submarines were operating in the Gulf of Mexico.

Time magazine subsequently reported that "U.S. and Allied ships were being sunk at a disastrous rate, probably equal to the rate at which new ones were being commissioned. Submarines had to be sunk faster than Adolf Hitler could turn them out, complete with trained crews....Off the southeastern coast, a U-Boat slipped in shore and sank two barges and a tug with gunfire. She stood so close by that the barge crews could hear the commands of the officers on her deck.

World War II had indeed reached the American Home Land!