| Title | 72 Years Late, Captain Claudius gets Recognition | |
| Date | Thursday December 18 2014, @05:21PM | |
| Author | janrinok | |
| Topic | ||
| from the better-late-than-never dept. | ||
National Geographic reports:
When Herbert G. Claudius's family would ask him if he'd ever sunk an enemy submarine during his decades in the U.S. Navy, Claudius would say that he thought he did once. He'd seen oil and debris after a fierce battle he'd led against a German U-boat in the Gulf of Mexico in 1942.
The Navy didn't agree, and since a passenger ship, the Robert E Lee, had been sunk by the submarine (U-166) just 25 miles (40 kilometers) from the U.S. mainland, they removed Claudius from command and sent him back to anti-sub-warfare school.
The sub, and the Lee remained lost until found by sonar in 2001 by oil exploration crews. They were located at 5000 feet down, about 10 times the sub's crush depth.
This past summer, the wrecks were finally visited by researchers using a deep sea Remotely Operated Vehicle. The discovery was briefly covered by CNN. The ROV's cameras clearly showed depth charge damage on the forward hull. (See pictures on NatGeo link and video at CNN link).
Finally on Tuesday, Claudius was posthumously vindicated at the Pentagon, as the U.S. Secretary of the Navy announced that his ship had indeed fired the depth charges that sank German U-boat U-166. He was awarded a Legion of Merit with a Combat "V", which recognizes heroism in battle.
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printed from SoylentNews, 72 Years Late, Captain Claudius gets Recognition on 2024-05-12 17:25:52