Photo: Ocean Exploration Trust
On July 30, 1942, Herbert Claudius in command of the patrol boat PC 566 was escorting passenger ship passenger ship Robert E. Lee in the Gulf of Mexico, southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River. The German U-boat U-166 attacked and sank the passenger ship. Claudius and PC 566 fought back with gun fire and depth charges. They saw oil and debris and thought that they had sunk the German submarine, but they Navy did not believe their report.
Now 72 years later, a National Geographic/NOVA expedition located the wreck of U-166 which indeed had been sunk by Captain Claudius and the PC 566. The Navy has admitted its error. As reported by National Geographic: “Seventy years later, we now know that [Claudius’s] report after the action was absolutely correct,” Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said in a small ceremony attended by members of Claudius’s family.
“[Claudius’s ship] did sink that U-boat, and it’s never too late to set the record straight,” Mabus said, as he presented the late captain with a posthumous Legion of Merit with a Combat “V” device, which recognizes heroism in battle.
Claudius’s son, Gordon Claudius, accepted the medal and said that he wished his father could have known about the correction to a largely forgotten chapter in American history. Claudius passed away in 1981, after a 33-year career in the Navy.
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I’m glad that Captain Claudius will finally get the recognition he deserves, but National Geographic/NOVA didn’t locate the wreck. It was found in 2001 by two archaeologists from C&C Technologies, and the subject deep-sea ROV examination in 2003 and 2004. The linked NatGeo article mentions none of this, making seem look at though the sinking of U-166 by Captain Claudius was their discovery. It wasn’t.
Very interesting. Thanks for the clarification.
Good job by Navy Secretary Ray Mabus and Mr. Greenert giving a metel to the Claudius family. Like Mabus said in the TV show, those were perilous times. The enemy was at our gate. Thanks Balard, Kohler and their team. Also those 2 initial finders were recognized in the show. They set history straight. The story is a reminder to the 2015 world that we are vulnerable and must work hard to defeat terrorists.
My Navy dad was on a 1943 PBM Mariner RP-55 based in Banana River Florida. He was a gunner/radio man looking for subs. He said he never say one. History books seem to state that by the end of 1943, Dornitz moved the subs away from the US. I think I read somewhere that most of the sunk tonnage was close to the US. The survivors of the Robert Lee ship are lucky that the 566 sunk the 166. Image trying to bring ships to the sub spot?