BLOODHOUNDS VS WOLF PACKS
In the Atlantic naval aviators sank 65 German submarines, more than half the total credited to the entire United States Navy. It is indisputable that carrier aviation swung the pendulum to victory in the Battle of the Atlantic. In 1942 U-Boats were sinking one in every 233 ships that were providing war materials to our allies. When the U.S. carriers started their operations in 1943 this ratio dropped sharply and continued until by 1944 only one of every 1,000 Allied ships were sunk. In their counter offensive the wolf packs tried new tricks and remained submerged during the day and made their attacks at night. In January and February of 1944 these tactics proved successful. Then Captain Ramsey and the crews of CVE 21 developed new maneuvers and began flying at night and from that point on the shadow of disaster deepened over the German submarines.
Most of the photographs of air and surface action taken by the CVE 21 Task Force were listed as "classified" by the Navy until well after WW2. A few were released in early 1946 to be printed in a scrap book for the crew members. The Association was able to obtain this original photograph of an air attack by depth charges on a German submarine.
The
CVE 21 task force was the first aircraft to undertake rocket attacks on
submarines, Reproduction of those restricted photographs were of such poor
quality that they would not contribute to the Website. However, the CVE 21 task
force was given credit for the sinking of 12 German submarines in less than the
8 months just prior to CVE 21 being sank by one or more of these German
submarines. The hunter/killer activities created by this task force was then
adopted as "standard operating procedures by the Navy" for the
remainder of WW2.
The two pictures were copied from the Navy scrap book provided to many of the crew members of both CVE 21 and CVE 106, back in 1946.The picture below is of the submarine credited with the sinking of CVE 21.
