After writing about blockade-runners during the Civil War for so long, it never occurred to me that the Germans would have needed blockade-runners of their own during World War II as they were also under blockade, much as the Confederacy was.
On November 6, 1941, on Neutrality Patrol, the destroyer USS Somers and light cruiser USS Omaha, spotted a suspicious ship near the equator. Notice the date was a full month before Pearl Harbor. This strange ship was in what was referred to as the American Security Zone.
The ship refused to identify itself The ship was flying an American flag and had the name Wilmott on its stern
A boarding party was dispatched while the Wilmott's crew took to their lifeboats and left the ship. The approaching Americans could hear explosions on boat the ship, but boarded anyway, facing great danger. It then became a prize.
The Wilmott was taken to Puerto Rico and it was discovered the ship was actually the German freighter Odenwald and was carrying 3800 tons of scarce rubber.
--GreGen
The USS North Carolina (BB-55) My all-time favorite warship. As an elementary school student in North Carolina, I donated nickels and dimes to save this ship back in the early sixties.
No comments:
Post a Comment