Sub Killer
(Continued from jmge 7)
The submarine, still firing, made a
hard turn and headed east. It didn't
submerge.
The blimp's big rubber bag, torn
with bullet and cannon holes, was
partially deflated when the airship
hit the water. Radioman John Rice,
noting the time of 23:53,, completed
his last mayday call. Water covered
the floor of the gondola.
"Abandon ship!" Grills ordered.
Crew members quickly pulled the plugs
to inflate their yellow life preservers
and then made their way out via win
dow escapes on both sides of the par
tially submerged gondola.
"Everyone's out all right and clear
of the ship," Grills called to Eversley.
"The life raft went down with the
stern. Better get out 'of here because
that sub may be looking for us. I'm
going back to the ship to make sure
the radar is destroyed and the flight
code book sunk."
Ensign Eversley called the men
around him after Grills swam away.
"We can do two things," he said,
"either go back to the ship, which can
be seen better by searchers and also
that submarine or swim away from .
here. Each man decide for himself."
Four men Rice, Schmidt, Radio
man 3rd Class Robert. Bourne, and
the assistant gunner, John Kowalski
chose the former and followed Grills
to the wreckage. Eversley, Jandrowitz,
Gidding, Eckert, and Stessel swam
out to sea.
WHEN dawn GAME, the wreckage
was still in sight, and new hope
came over the Eversley group. "Look!
Look!" Eckert pointed. A blimp ap
peared on the horizon. It was just a
speck miles away. But it didn't come
nearer and Anally disappeared.
About two hours later a pair of
blimps appeared and flew almost di
rectly overhead but gave no indication
of having seen the survivors. A few
more minutes and a twin-engine sea
plane came over the wreckage and
dropped a parachute. The chute con
tained a package of supplies, but it
landed out of sight and out of reach.
The men knew now that they had
been seen. Rescue must be imminent
"It won't be long now," Eversley
shouted to Stessel, and started swim
ming toward him. The bombardier,
trying to keep himself above water,
was about 30 yards away. The copilot
planned to pull him closer to the other
men. Eversley heard Stessel yell and
stopped for a moment.
"There's a shark! There's a shark!"
Stessel screamed, pointing to a black
fin that was circling him. Eversley,
barely IS yards away, froze.
The shark circled Stessel two or
three more times, then suddenly struck
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"Oh my God! Help me!" Stessel
cried as he splashed wildly with both
arms. His face was covered with blood.
The long, black monster had locked
onto Stessel's waist and was tugging
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like a dog trying to pull away a bone.
Its fin was slapping the water.
Eversley turned in horror. He
couldn't watch any more, and he
started swimming back to the other
three men. They also had witnessed
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the savage assault and saw Stessel
disappear with the fin.
"Let's pray," Eversley said, still
shivering from fright. The four
formed a square in the ocean and be
gan in unison, "The Lord is my shep
herd ; I shall not want . . ."
Fifteen minutes later they saw the
last of the K-74 as the sea slowly
swallowed its remains. There were
two violent explosions apparently
from depth charges which were still
armed and probably torn from their
racks when the gondola hit the water.
"Let's hope the others were clear of
her," Gidding said.
There were two more hours of the
blazing tropical sun and the incessant
electric shocklike stings of Portuguese
jellyfish. At 10:15 a.m., the destroyer
U.S.S. Dahlgren came into view and
soon hauled the men aboard.
A half-dozen shots rang out as the
Dahlgren crew lifted Eversley, the
last man. "There were two shark fins
right behind you," a sailor with a rifle
informed Eversley.
Another great sigh of relief came
over the four when they learned Rice,
Schmidt, Kowalski, and Bourne were
also aboard, having been picked up
about three miles away. It waant un
til eight hours later that Lt. Grills,
suffering from severe sunburn and
submersion, was rescued by a sea
plane. He had become separated from
the others during the night and wasv
trying to swim to shore a good 26
miles away.
The Navy, not very proud of its
highly touted submarine killer's first
performance against a surfaced enemy
sub, waited 11 days before issuing a
communique on the unprecedented en
gagement. The communique only gave
the barest details: "A nonrigid air
ship, U. S. K-74, was lost at sea re
cently as the result of a gunfire attack
by a surfaced enemy submarine . . .
One member of the crew was lost."
The 75-word statement went almost v
unnoticed in the nation's press. Then,
nearly two decades later, retired Vice
Adm. Charles E. Rosendahl, doing re
search for a history of the Navy's
nonrigid airship program, uncovered
this bizarre war adventure. Investi
gating further, he learned through
West German sources that on July 19,
1943, German Naval Headquarters re
ceived a radio message from U-boat
134 that it had been attacked and
damaged by an American airship off
the Florida coast
The submarine dispatch indicated
that the blimp's gunfire had caused
some damage to the boat's main ballast
tank.
The U-134's message also showed
that bombs were dropped from the air
ship, contrary to the belief of Lieu
tenant Grills.
Admiral Rosendahl learned that the
destruction of the K-74 was avenged
on Aug. 24, 1943, when a British
bomber caught up with the U-134 in
the Bay of Biscay off France. The
bomber crew reported that the sub
marine was surfaced, apparently dam
aged, and limping back to port when
its bombs found their mark. The
German Admiralty confirmed this two
months later when it disclosed that
U-134, last heard from on Aug. 24,
. was presumed lost along with its crew
of 28 officers and men.
Details of this unparalleled blimp
sub engagement were not declassified
until 1961, when the Secretary of the
Navy awarded special letters of com
mendation to every member of the
K-74 crew except Lieutenant Grills.
The lieutenant, now a lawyer in Indi
anapolis, was presented the Navy's
Distinguished Flying Cross "for cour
age, skill, and devotion to duty in the
face of hostile gunfire ... In keeping.,
with highest traditions of the United
States Navy."
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