Bloodstained Sea

The Americans called it Torpedo Junction, the Germans Devil's George, but historians know it as the Battle of the Atlantic. Lasting from 1941-1944 it was the longest sustained campaign of World War II. Torpedo Junction, a stretch of ocean in the North Atlantic between Greenland and Europe, was unmercifully stalked by German U-boats looking to sink the ships that carried supplies from America to England and Russia. This supply line was essential to the Allied liberation of Europe. Had these lines been cut by a successful German campaign, the Axis powers might have won the war. (Coast Guard ships over 65 feet in length are known as cutters). The Bibb, Campbell, Duane, Alexander Hamilton, Ingham, Spencer, and Taney are representative of the Coast Guard's campaign during these four bloody years, and they were involved in the deadliest skirmishes. Until now, no one has told the complete story of the U.S. Coast Guard's involvement in this epic sea battle. These mariners defended shipping convoys, rescued thousands of men, witnessed countless deaths, and braved hellish seas and sub-zero temperatures. All the while they lived in fear of the menace that lurked below, waiting to sink them at a moment's notice. convoys, and rescuing survivors, the cutters also actively engaged and fought the Germans. One such battle started on February 20, 1943, as high seas tossed a convoy about, disrupting their formation. Twenty-one U-boats closed in on the eastward-bound convoy. The Coast Guard's Campbell located U-604 on its radar, and the U-boat crash-dived. In response, the Campbell laced the water with depth charges but missed. However, the following night, the Campbell established sonar contact again and this time their depth charges found their mark. U-604 went to the bottom with all hands. are harrowing. Almost 2,000 Americans lost their lives even as the Coast Guard rescued 3,500 soldiers from torpedo attacks - over 1,000 at Normandy alone. At the heart of their dramatic tale is an amazing fighting spirit, told through numerous first-person eyewitness accounts. The author, Michael Walling, was a Coast Guard officer, serving six years in the only branch of the American military that consists entirely of volunteers. He has interviewed hundreds of veterans for the first-person accounts. He has also mined a rich trove of historical documents and has personal access to many of the Coast Guard's elite officers, from Admiral Vivian Crea, the first woman appointed to the service's District Command, to Admiral Thomas Ley, the current Commandant.