Death of a
Sub Killer
Off our Florida shore, aU.S,
blimp sights a German U-boat and
attacks; here on the 20th anniversary
of the encounter is a thrilling, little-known
chapter from World War II By SI LIBERMAN
Mwi Editor, Asbury Park Sunday Pran
Editors' Note: A Naval era has ended: the
last two of the Navy's lighter-than-air vessels
those familiar sausage-shaped blimps were de
commissioned in 196t at Lakehurst, NJ. During
the war these vessels protected our shores against
marauding submarines, sometimes at great risk,
as the following story of the K-7i testifies.
IT WAS A beautiful summer evening
hardly a cloud in the sky or a
whisper of a breeze. Visibility seemed
unlimited as the K-74, a 250-foot-long
blimp, slowly pushed skyward from its
mooring at Richmond Naval Air Sta
tion in southern Florida.
The 10-member crew had never flown together
as a unit on submarine patrol before, but each
man either had experience with other crews or
months of intensive flight training. None
dreamed that this routine mission almost within
sight of the coast would soon explode into a bat
tle unparalleled in United States Naval history.
The date was July 18, 1943. Germany's U-boats
reportedly BOO to 700 strong were still prowl
ing the sea lanes in wolf packs, riddling convoys
with torpedoes in a last-ditch effort to master the
seas. Nearly 600 merchant ships had fallen vic
tim, and the Allies were feverishly striving to
develop an ironclad defense against them.
The airship, armed with newly perfected radar
and depth bombs, was earning a reputation as an
effective sub killer; the K-74, now lazily heading
out over the Florida Straits, was part of an
Atlantic fleet of 200 airships in the Navy's Anti
submarine Defense Program. It carried four
depth bombs and a 50-caliber machine gun.
The moon was almost full, and the ocean was
calm with only a slight swell. Midnight was an
hour away, and navigator John Jandrowitz had
just clocked the wind at 10 knots an hour. Then
suddenly the idyllic peace was shattered by the
shrill ring of the general-quarters alarm.
"We've got a blip on radar off starboard," Lt
Nelson E. Grills, the 28-year-old sandy-haired
commander, announced over the intercom. .
"I see a sub!" shouted Machinist's Mate 1st
Class Isadore Steasel, the bombardier from
Brooklyn. "To the left. It's surfaced."
The moonlight had created a perfect silhouette.
It was a submarine, all right, sleek and stream
lined. Its hull looked like a fast-swimming fish,
and it was leaving a trail of foamy white wash.
"We can't be more than 30 or 35 miles east of
Key West," a crewman said: "Must be ours."
"I doubt it," the commander declared, "but
let's go back so we can get a good look at her."
Ensign Darnley Eversley, the copilot, turned
the cigar-shaped airship right and made two
circles from a distance of two miles, enabling
IUUSTUTION IT HMVEY KIDOH
the crew members to assess the submarine.
All agreed it had a rear deck gun, long and
low, separated from the conning tower. There
also appeared to be a forward gun and a twin
mount in the conning tower. But the aft gun was
the clue, for only the German 750-ton U-boat was
known to have one separate from the conning
tower. It was characteristic of the German 750,
and so was the low railing. ,
Grills checked his flight folder again. His
charts showed that a convoy of nearly a dozen
ships was to be in these waters in the morning.
"I guess we ought to get her," Grills concluded
without emotion.
Slowly and methodically, Eversley started the
blimp on its third circle, swinging into a souther
ly direction to come in behind the sub for the
bomb run. He increased his speed to 1,700 RPMs,
dropped down to 250 feet above the water, and
headed straight for the U-boat's starboard side.
A burst of gunfire came at the blimp as she drew
within 200 yards of her target.
"Starboard engine's afire," shouted Jerrold
Gidding, on aft lockout.
Machinist's Mate 3rd Class John L. Schmidt
aimed an extinguisher through the right window
at the engine, while the gunner, Garnet Eckert,
Jr., fired two short bursts then a long one.
The sub halted its fire, apparently stunned by
the blimp's gunpower and Eckert's accuracy.
When the airship pulled to the right side of the
sub, Grills leaned back and tapped Stessel : "Drop
one . . . drop two."
Stessel pressed down on the bomb releases.
"What's the matter?" Grills called as the blimp
started over the sub. The airship had not bobbed
up from the loss of weight as it always does when
depth bombs or heavy gear are dropped.
"Releases are stuck," Stessel answered.
"And we were right on her!" Grills groaned.
"We couldn't have missed."
Eckert had fired his first belt of 60 shells and
was completing his second when he was
suddenly tossed off target! The blimp was on a
steep, uncontrolled climb.
Ensign Eversley snapped back the throttles to
break the climb but seemed powerless. The air
ship, still over the submarine, was standing on its
tail and still climbing.
His only thought was to get away from the
sub as far away as possible. He continued pull
ing the throttles, trying desperately to level off.
The submarine's gunfire resumed, and some
shells ripped through the plastic front windows
of the gondola. Schmidt reported that the fire in
the right engine was out, but now the left one
had been hit.
"We're going to ditch," Grills warned, pressing
the crash button. Fuel tanks were dropped to
lessen the danger of an explosion.
(Continued on page 8)
family Weekly, July li.lttl 1
"Starboard engine
afire!" the aft
lookout reported
two short bursts if. J,
ana men a long
one at the sub.
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