Why the Atlantic Gap was so deadly early in WWII
One of the most important battlefields of WWII was under the sea and brine of the Atlantic. Without a decisive victory, the Americans could not resupply the British with gear….
How Germany brought the fighting of World War II to Antarctica
With the exception of u-boats, the German navy doesn’t get a lot of attention for its role during World War II, but the Kriegsmarine brought the war to the most…
There’s a German U-boat at the bottom of Lake Michigan
Crewman aboard a ship owned by A and T Recovery on Lake Michigan dropped cameras into the deep to confirm what sonar was telling them – there was a German U-boat resting on the bottom of the Great Lake. Luckily, the year was 1992, a full 73 years …
Today in military history: First US citizen killed in WWI
On March 28, 1915, Leon Thrasher became the first American citizen to be killed in the First World War. Thrasher, a 31 year-old mining engineer, was aboard the British steamship…
The insanely lucky sub that changed naval warfare in one fight
U-boats were still in their infancy in 1914, and most naval officers looked down on the fleet. At best, they were considered defensive weapons that could help hold an enemy fleet away from the coasts. But then, on Sept. 22, 1914,
This was the ‘unluckiest’ U-boat of World War II
U-505 was a near absolute failure as a killer, failing to sink a single ship for multiple combat tours in a row, suffering the only suicide of a commanding officer in the German undersea service until the final days of the war, and becoming the firs…
How a truck driver helped solve one of WWII’s most enduring mysteries
The USS Eagle 56 was only five miles off the coast of Maine when it exploded.
The World War I-era patrol boat split in half, then slipped beneath the surface of the North Atlantic. The Eagle 56 had been carrying a crew of 62.…
The time a US Navy blimp turned into a flying ghost ship
For as long as there have been men sailing the high seas, there have been tales of ghost ships. From legends of the Flying Dutchman appearing near ports during inclement weather to the very real tale of the Mary Celeste, which was found adrift in th…
These Coasties killed a German sub and saved their convoy
The U.S. Coast Guard has an under-recognized place in World War II history, fighting German spies before the U.S. entered the war and immediately taking on convoy escort duties, weather patrols, and anti-submarine missions after America dec…
The ridiculous way British sailors were ordered to stop U-boats in WW1
In the opening days of WW1, Unterseeboots, better known simply as U-boats, proved to be a potent and constant threat to Allied ships, with one U-boat identified as SM U-9 infamously killing nearly 1,500 British sailors in less than an hour by sinkin…