U-Boats Off Panama City Beach...You Betcha

Sitting here on an very cold day outside the room here in Panama City Beach, staring southward at the Gulf of Mexico as a cat sits on the fence looking for little varmints, I have to wonder if, during World War II, any U-boats were offshore.

Well, actually I already knew that they were, but I didn't know much about German Naval operations in the Gulf, so did a little research.

From the Gulf Coast Historical Review.

Early in May 1942, the first two German U-boats cruised into the Gulf of Mexico and began operations and at least a dozen followed. Their heaviest operations occurred in 1942, but there were occasional forays in 1943.

** In June 1942, German submarines in the Gulf and its approaches sank more in a single month than they did anywhere else.

** From May to September 1942, 58 ships totalling about 300,000 tons were sunk.

However, the Gulf coastal waters were considerably shallower than along the Atlantic coast, so operations were called off with more pressing needs to attack Atlantic convoys.

And So It Was. --GreGen