The Jouett then continued to operate with Admiral Ingram's antisubmarine force, now called 4th Fleet, through the rest of 1943.
On New Year's Day, 1944, she joined the light cruiser USS Omaha (CL-4) for ocean patrol; and the ships intercepted the German blockade runner SS Rio Grande with a cargo of rubber. After its crew abandoned ship, the Jouett and Omaha sank the German ship.
This effective closing of the South Atlantic to German blockade running was demonstrated even more forcefully just a day later when patrol planes reported a strange ship identifying herself as the Floridian. Intelligence, however, identified her as the blockade runner Burgenlund.
Before aerial attacks could begin, the Omaha and Jouett picked her up on radar and closed in. Scuttling charges were set on the German ship and the cruiser's gunfire sank her just after 17:30.
--GreGen
The other ship that was with the USS Omaha when the German blockade runner SS Rio Grande was sunk was the destroyer YSS Jouett, named for Civil War naval officer James Jouett.
From Wikipedia
The USS Jouett was a Somers-class destroyer and was laid down 26 March 1936 by Bath Ironworks in Bath, Maine, and launched 24 September 1938, commissioned at Boston, Massachusetts, on 25 January 1939, Commander G.W. Clark in command.
She soon began work on the U.S. Neutrality Patrol along the U.S. east coast and the Gulf of Mexico. She stood out of Pensacola, Florida, on 15 February 1940 as one of the escorts of the USS Tucaloosa (CA-37) carrying President Roosevelt to Panama.
She then had duty at Pearl Harbor from 10 April 1940 until April 1941. She then accompanied the carrier USS Yorktown through the Panama Canal. She then joined a cruiser/destroyer fleet charged with protecting American shipping from German surface and submarine attacks.
On 7 December 1941, the Jouett was in Port of Spain, Trinidad, and immediately began offensive anti-submarine patrols between Brazil and Africa.
--GreGen
From the April 23, 2022, Independence (Iowa) Bulletin Journal.
DAVID F. TIDBALL
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) recently announced that Navy Seaman First Class David F. Tidball, 20, of Independence, Iowa, was accounted for on March 3, 2021.
He was assigned to the USS Oklahoma that tragic day.
He will be buried May 14 in his hometown.
***********************************
CLAUDE WHITE
From the April 19, 2022, WKRN Newborn, Tennessee.
A full military service in Newborn, Tennessee, for U.S. Navy Chief Water Tender Claude White.
He was formally accounted for on January 4, 2021 by the DPAA and had been on the USS Oklahoma. Flags over the Tennessee State Capitol were flown at half mast.
--GreGen
Now operating in the Mediterranean Sea, the Omaha joined the heavy cruisers USS Quincy (CA-71)and Augusta (CA-31), , the battleship Nevada (from Pearl Harbor attack) and the French battleship Lorraine in bombarding Toulon, France in Operation Dragoon (the invasion of Southern France).
In 7 August 1944, she fired 24 rounds and received return fire from an enemy shore battery. She remained on station until 27 August and returned to Palermo.
She returned to Bahia, Brazil, 9 September and continued patrolling the South Atlantic Ocean and in December, went to Sandy Hook, New Jersey, at the end of December and then to New York City for repairs and alterations.
When the Brazilian cruiser Bahia was reported sunk by a submarine on 8 July 1945, the Omaha went on a search and rescue mission. A report came in that the British steamer Balfe had picked up 33 survivors of the Bahia, the Omaha steamed to that ship to provide medical services. On all, only 44 were rescued, with seven of them dying from their injuries. That was from a crew of 346. Eight bodies were also recovered.
It was later learned that the Bahia had been firing anti-aircraft training at a large target kite and continued to fire as the kite descended. They hit a rack of live depth charges and that caused the explosion.
The Omaha continued in her area off Brazil until 12 August when she returned home after the Japanese surrender was announced. She went to the Philadelphia Navy Yard where it was decommissioned in November 1945 and scrapped in February 1946.
Quite a War Record. --GreGen
This was quite the busy ship.
The Omaha was again on patrol with the USS Memphis (CL-13) and USS Jouett (DD-396) on 6 February 1944 when the ships were given orders to be on the lookout for the survivors of a U-boat which had been sunk earlier that day. A yellow life raft was later spotted by lookouts on the Omaha and proved to be those survivors of the U-177 which had been sunk by a Consolidate PB4Y-1 Liberator.
The U-177 had been sitting on the water with some of its crew sunning and swimming. Their commanding officer and fifty other crewmembers had gone down with the ship. The 15 prisoners were sent to sickbay for treatment of shock and exposure and supplied fresh clothing.
Until the Omaha put into Bahia on 15 February, the Germans were put under guard on the ship.
On 4 July 1944, the Omaha got underway for the European Theater of operations.
--GreGen
On 30 April 1943, the Omaha collided with her sister ship, the USS Milwaukee (CL-5) while on patrol together. There was considerable damage, but not enough to cancel the patrol. When it was over, both ships put in to Brazil for repairs.
Ordinary rescue and search operations continued until early 1944, when the Omaha and USS Jouett were together and a plane from the Omaha spotted a ship about 55 miles off the Brazilian coast on 4 January. At 10:20, the Omaha challenged the ship with a searchlight that produced no acknowledgement. Lookouts spotted two guns at the front of the unknown ship and then smoke was seen coming from the stern of the ship, indicating that the crew was in the process of scuttling the ship.
The Omaha and Jouett opened fire and the stranger's crew began heading for lifeboats at the stern. The Omaha then opened fire on the crew trying to get them to return to the ship, but by now it was obvious the ship was sinking.
The Omaha then opened fire on the ship and it sank stern first. With fears that they might have alerted lurking U-boats in the area, the two American ships withdrew from the area without picking up survivors.
The ship was later identified as the German blockade runner Rio Grande. The Marblehead was able to rescue 72 Rio Grande survivors later on January 8.
--GreGen
After commissioning in 1923, the Omaha operated on the Pacific coast, Caribbean Sea, Brazil and Central America. In 1937, she became grounded on a reek in the Bahamas.
By June 1941, the Omaha was involved with Neutrality Patrols near Brazil with the intention of enforcing a blockade against Germany by intercepting and boarding vessels that might be involved in commercial endeavors for Germany.
CAPTURE OF THE ODENWALD
The German blockade runner Odenwald was sighted 6 November 1941 by the Omaha and the destroyer USS Somers ((DD-381). It was pretending to be an American ship by the name of SS Willmoto and carrying a large cargo of much-needed rubber. This ended up being the last time Navy personnel received prize money for the capture of a blockade runner.
This was a month and a day before the attack on Pearl Harbor which plunged the U.S. into World War II.
The Omaha then patrolled the Atlantic and Caribbean Seas and made quite a few rescues of survivors of sunken Allied ships.
--GreGen
From the April 14, 2022, CBS News, New York "All-out effort to save World War II destroyer USS The Sullivans after it starts taking in water."
A decommissioned World War II-era destroyer docked near Buffalo was taking on water and listing perilously on Thursday. It is located at the Buffalo and Erie County Naval and Military Park.
Park president Paul Marzello said: "We've got a committed group down here. We're not going to give up the ship and failure is not an option."
The ship is named for the five Sullivan brothers from Waterloo, Iowa who died when the USS Juneau was sunk.
It was having hull problems last year and over $1 million was raised for repairs. They'll definitely have to go forward with those. It is too important of a ship to lose.
--GreGen
The light cruiser USS Omaha (CL-4) and destroyer USS Jouett teamed up to sink the German blockade runner SS Rio Grande.
USS OMAHA (CL-4)
From Wikipedia.
The USS Omaha was the lead ship of the Omaha-class of light cruisers. She was originally classified as a scout cruiser and the second U.S. Navy ship to be named after Omaha, Nebraska. The first one was screw sloop launched in 1869.
Commissioned in 1923, she spent most of her career in the Pacific Ocean.
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS
Length: 555.6 feet
Beam: 55 feet
Speed: 38.5 mph
Crew: 29 officers, 429 enlisted
*******************************
Armament:
four 6-inch guns in two turrets
eight single 6-inch guns
two 3-inch anti-aircraft guns
two triple 21-inch torpedo tubes
two twin 21-inch torpedo tubes
224 mines
--GreGen
There is a book about the German blockade runners of World War II "Axis Blockade Runners of World War II" by Martin Brice.
The USS Omaha (CL-4) captured one of the German blockade runners and caused two others to sink.
**************************
Also, earlier I wrote that the SS Rio Grande was the deepest-shipwreck ever found. It was, until the wreck of the destroyer USS Johnston (DD-557) was located.
On October 25, 1944, the Johnston and two other destroyers and four destroyer escorts were engaged by a large Japanese fleet in what is known as the Battle of Samar. The Johnston and other American ships managed to drive the Japanese off, but the Johnston was sunk with loss of 187 men.
The Johnston's wreck was discovered on 30 October 2019, but not positively identified until March 2021. Lying more than 20,000 feet below the ocean surface, it is the deepest shipwreck ever discovered.
(21,180 feet)
--GreGen
From the Axis History Forum.
Mearns claim to finding one of the deepest wrecks, the S.S. Rio Grande, a German blockade runner sunk by US naval ships in 1944. Discovered in 1996, the Rio Grande is on the floor of the South Atlantic at a depth of 5762 meters.. "The [Sydney] wreck is nowhere as deep as the Rio Grande," he says.
*********************
Reply: The Bergenland was sunk a few days later off Brazil.
*********************
Reply: The ship was sighted by a plane from the Omaha, then sunk by artillery fire from the Jouett on the night of 2nd/3rd January 1944 somewhere west of Ascension Island in the South Atlantic.
*********************
Reply: Approximately 55 miles (89 k) off Brazil.
--GreGen
There is a photograph taken of the sinking of the German blockade runner SS Rio Grande. The caption reads:
February 22, 1944. U.S. gunfire sinks scuttle Nazi blockade runner. Towering geysers of water mark near-hits fired by the six-inch guns of the USS Omaha and the five-inch guns of the USS Jouett as they joined in sinking the Nazi blockade runner Rio Grande in the South Atlantic after removing the crew some of whom had scuttled he doomed vessel before abandoning it.
Second of three Nazi blockade runner sunk within 48 hours early in January in the same sector by alert U.S. warships, the Rio Grande was, like the other two, laden with valuable war materials destined for Germany, including tin, fats, strategic ores, oil and rubber.
Some rubber was recovered after the sinkings. 22 February 1944.
--GreGen
From the April17, 2017, Mental Floss "The deepest shipwreck ever found."
According to the Guinness World Records, the deepest shipwreck ever identified is that of the German blockade runner from WW II, the SS Rio Grande.
In early January 1944, it was sunk by two U.S. warships in the South Atlantic Ocean. It lies at the depth of about 18,900 feet -- about 3.5 miles below the surface. It was discovered on November 28, 1996, using side-scanning sonar technology. Two days later, the company responsible for finding it, Blue Water Recoveries, confirmed the wreck using a remotely operated vehicle.
--GreGen
From Southern Living "WW II cargo from sunken German warship washing up in Texas nearly 80 years Later" by Meghan Overdeep.
Mysterious rubber bales have been washing ashore at Texas' Padre Island and the Padre Island National Seashore has gone to Facebook to explain the surprising origin of the objects. They have been appearing on Gulf beaches since 2020. And, they come from a German ship sunk by the United States off Brail's coast during World War II.
Bales like these have also washed up on Brazil's beaches.
In January 1944, the German ship SS Rio Grande, a blockade runner, was carrying a load of much-needed materials including tin, copper, cobalt and crude rubber bales when it was spotted by the USS Omaha (CL-4) and USS Jouett (DD-396) off the coast of Brazil.
Realizing that they had been spotted, the crew of the Rio Grande abandoned ship and its cargo after purposefully scuttling the ship to prevent its capture. The two American ships opened fire on it until it sank.
So, how did those nearly 200-pound bales of rubber make their war to American waters?
The answer is that the Rio Grande has started to break up and the bales rose to the surface and into the North Brazil current. From there, the bales have stayed afloat in a series of northbound currents along the coasts of South and Central America, around the Yucatan and then finally into the Gulf of Mexico.
German blockade runners? Yep.
Where Ya Been? --GreGen
For the next two years, the former USS Luzon, now the IJN Karatsu operated mostly in conjunction with the Imperial Japanese Army to conduct counter-guerrilla operations, with secondary escort/patrol missions.
It was during one of these missions that she helped sink the American submarine USS Cisco (SS-290), assisted by two Nakajima B5Ns from the IJN 954th Air Group.
On 3 March 1943, the Karatsu was torpedoed off the Philippine Islands by the USS Narwhal (SS-167), and had to be towed back to Cebu with her bow blown back to the bridge. The damage was too extensive for repairs at Cebu and she was towed to Manila to No. 103 Repair Facility at Cavite.
On 22 January 1945, before repairs could be completed, she was ordered to depart immediately to prevent capture. Unable to do so, the Japanese sank the Karatsu in order to block the main channel into Manila Bay on 5 February 1945.
She was struck from the IJN List on 10 April.
--GreGen
In late May 1942, the Luzon was raised by the Imperial Japanese Navy and repairs begun at the 103rd Repair Facility in Cavite, Philippines. Her forward 3-inch gun was replaced by a built-up superstructure and her bow was adorned with two imperial crests, one on each side. On 1 August, she was renamed the Karatsu by the Japanese after the city of Karatsu and was assigned to t6he Sasebo Naval District.
There she was assigned to the Southwest Area Fleet's Third Southern Expeditionary Fleet. Although classified as a riverine gunboat, , repair work continued to transform her into a sea-going submarine-chaser, including installation of a sonar system. Refit work was completed on 14 October and she was assigned to the Cebu Guard Unit the following day.
--GreGen
In December 1938, the Luzon arrived at Shanghai to relieve the USS Augusta (CA-31) as station ship. Except for infrequent calls at Nanking, Wuhu and other parts of the Yangtze, she remained at Shanghai until 29 November 1941 when she departed for the Philippines.
The Luzon arrived at Manila in 30 December, just 23 days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor brought the United States into the war. She then began patrol operations in the waters off the Philippines, assisting in both the defense of Bataan from 1 February until the surrender of the peninsula to the Japanese 9 April, and Corregidor until the enemy landings on 5 May.
The next day, with the surrender of Corregidor and the Manila Bay forts to the Japanese, the Luzon, along with Oahu (PR-6) and Quail (AM-15) were scuttled in Manila Bay to prevent capture and subsequently struck from the Navy List on 8 May 1942.
What Next? --GreGen
From Wikipedia.
Earlier this month I wrote about this U.S. warship in my Not So Forgotten: War of 1812 blog. In it, I have been looking for a Gunboat 47 that the Americans had during that war and that a Richard Hill served on it. It evidently was one of the Jeffersonian Gunboats which weren't usually named, just numbered. I haven't found any mention of it yet.
But, I did find this gunboat while looking for that other one and figured it would fit nicely into this blog because it was in World War II and the years leading up to it.
From Wikipedia.
USS LUZON (GB-47) (PR-7)
The first USS Luzon in the U.S. Navy was laid down 20 November 1926 by the Kiangnan Dock and Engineering Works, Shanghai, China, launched 12 September 1927 and commissioned 1 June 928.
It was one of eight gunboats built for service on the Yangtze River in Chiba. She served as the flagship of the Yangtze River Patrol until December 1938. In August 1937, she evacuated the American embassy staff from Shanghai to Chunking after the Japanese attack on the former city.
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS
LENGTH: 210.9 feet
BEAM: 31 feet
COMPLEMENT: 80
ARMAMENT:
Two 3-inch guns
Ten .30 caliber machine guns
--GreGen
Probably not a ship from World War II that you have ever heard of before. I know I hadn't.
This ship's history intersected with that of the submarine USS Sealion (SS-195) which was sunk when the Japanese attacked the Philippines in December 1941.
But, the Sealion was not the reason I came across the Luzon. That all started in my Not So Forgotten: War of 1812 blog. I was looking for the Gunboat No. 47 that Richard Hill served on board in the New York Flotilla during that war. As of now, I still haven't found anything about it, but came across this ship because of the PG-47 ship's number.
It has an interesting and not well-known history so I am going to write about it here. In addition, it was a sister ship of the USS Panay as in the Panay Incident.
You can find the blog entries about Richard Hill in my February and March Not So Forgotten blog. Go to the right of this and click that blog to go directly to it.
By the way, Richard Hill was a black sailor.
--GreGe
From March 29, 2022, M Live "Staying active, keeping good company helps 100-year-old Michigan Pearl Harbor survivor stay young" by Chloe Miller.
Jackson, Michigan
Herb Elfring turned 100 on March 29.
He was at Camp Malakole about three miles from Pearl Harbor when the Japanese attacked. Today, he is one of less than 1,500 Pearl Harbor survivors still alive in the United States according to the U.S. department of Veterans Affairs.
He was a part of the Army and California National Guard stationed there and remembers the Japanese planes flying overhead and bullets hitting the base. The camp was for anti-aircraft guns.
Mr. Elfring was discharged from the U.S. Army in 1945 and then attended the University of Michigan for electrical engineering. After graduation, he got a job with Consumers Energy in Jackson and worked there for 35 years.
It Is So Nice to Write About One Who Is Still Alive. --GreGen
