budden@manta.nosc.mil (Rex A. Buddenberg) (10/03/89)
From: budden@manta.nosc.mil (Rex A. Buddenberg) In the latest of Bill Thacker's 50 years ago submissions, the Hess garrison surrenders and three ships, including the Burza, escape to Britain. This fills in an interesting tidbit -- read on. I had the priveledge of serving as operations officer in the Coast Guard Cutter Campbell in 1977-79. Campbell was the class leader (Hamilton, the original class leader was sunk off Iceland by torpedo in WWII) of a class of seven 327 foot patrol gunboats that lasted 45 years in service. Campbell was one of the first cutters detailed to convoy escort service -- several months before Pearl Harbor -- as augmentation to the Atlantic Fleet. LantFlt was far more involved in the war in part of 1940 and all of 1941 than is generally acknowledged in well known history...but that is a story that the 50 years chronical isn't quite up to yet... In 1943, Campbell was escorting a convoy and caught a U-boat on the surface making a night attack. XO had the conn, attempted to ram and wound up getting rammed by the submarine. Sort of. Anyway, Campbell's engine room was flooded because there had been the bow of a sub there a moment before. The black crew (stewards and cooks) on the after machine gun mounts were rather eager and were picking off escaping Germans from their sinking submarine -- from the histories, it seems getting those folks back under control was a bit of a problem. Campbell very nearly sank; the sub did. The damage control is a minor legend in the service and the ship was still afloat the next morning. Here's the punch -- the Polish corvette Burza was the vessel that towed Campbell into port (Londonderry, I think) for repairs. Repairs that lasted 40 more years before the ship was finally decomissioned. Rex Buddenberg