USS Jouett (DD-396)-- Part 3: Sinking Two German Blockade Runners

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

USS Jouett (DD-396)-- Part 1: Early Duty

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

USS Omaha(CL-4)-- Part 6: Operation Dragoon, Brazilian Cruiser Bahia and Decommissioning

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

USS Omaha (CL-4)-- Part 5: Rescuing the Sailors from the U-177

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

USS Omaha (CL-4)-- Part 4: And Yet Another German Blockade Runner Sunk

The Omaha returned the following day to the vicinity where the Rio Grande had sunk and again encountered  an unknown merchant steamer.  She once again challenged the unknown ship with her searchlight and again received no response to her signals.

This time, the Omaha fired two warning shots over the unknown ship's bow, due to the fact that she appeared to be dead in the water

An explosion on the ship was observed, followed by smoke billowing from her.  Captain Elwood M. Tillson ordered the Omaha's six-inch guns to train on the unknown ship and open fire.

Captain Tillson then allowed members of the crew to rotate topside to observe the gunfire since many of them were unable to observe the action against the Rio Grande the previous day.

The unknown ship was later identified as another German blockade runner named the Burgenland.  It sank by her stern  thirty minutes later.  Two days later, 21 of her survivors were recued by the Davis while the Winslow was able to retrieve an additional 35 crewmen on January 8, 1944.

--GreGen

USS Omaha (CL-4)-- Part 1

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

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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 on German Blockade Runners of World War II and No-Longer the Deepest Wreck Found

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.

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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

Wreck of the SS Rio Grande

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.

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Reply:  The Bergenland was sunk a few days later off Brazil.

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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.

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Reply:  Approximately  55 miles (89 k) off Brazil.

--GreGen

The USS Omaha and USS Jouett Sink the German Blockade Runner Rio Grande

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

WW II Cargo from Sunken German Blockade Runner Washing Up on Texas Shore Now

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

Capture of German Blockade-Runner Odenwald-- Part 2

This took place even though the United States was not yet officially involved in the war.

An Admiralty Court ruled that since the ship was claiming American registration, this was grounds for confiscation and that the crews of the American ships involved, the USS Somers and USS Omaha had salvage rights because the German crew was attempting to scuttle it.

The court case was settled in 1947.  Members of the boarding party received $3,000 apiece and crewmen of the Somers and Omaha were entitled to two months pay and an allowance.  This was the last-ever official prize money issued by the U.S. Navy.  Quite a bit was given out during the Civil War.

The Odenwald was built in Hamburg, Germany, in 1923 and had set a record for speed between Honolulu and San Francisco in 1932 at 75 hours and 40 minutes.

At the time of its last capture, it had made four runs through the Allied blockade to Europe.

--GreGen

The Omaha and Somers Receive Last U.S. Navy Prize Money for the Odenwald Capture

From Wikipedia.

The Odenwald was carrying 3800 tons of scarce rubber for Germany's war effort when captured by the Omaha and Somers November 6, 1941, one month before U.S. entry into the war. At the time, the Odenwald was disguised as the American merchant ship Willmote.

Of course, being captured while America was still officially neutral led to some question as to the seizure's legality. The Odenwald was taken to Puerto Rico where an Admiralty Court ruled that since the German ship had an illegal American registration, there were sufficient grounds for its confiscation. As such the American crews could claim prize money.

A legal case began concerning salvage rights. Since the Odenwald's crew was trying to scuttle the ship, that was considered the equivalent of abandoning the ship.

The case was finally settled in 1947 with members of the boarding parties and prize crew entitled to $3,000 apiece in prize money while the crews of the Omaha and Somers received two months pay and allowances. I imagine there was some partying after that decision.

This was the last-ever prize money awarded by the U.S. Navy. Prize money was also a big deal during the Civil War and War of 1812.

--GreGen

Still On the Neutrality Patrol.

Ever since the end of July, I have been doing deeper research on the United States Neutrality Patrol established before the war. This came about when I found out that a ship had been in it. One source led to the capture of the German blockade-runner Odenwald.

I didn't know about German blockade-runners so did research on that (I am also a Civil War Naval buff and, of course, those Confederate blockade-runners). That led to medals German blockade-runners received from the German government.

Then, the history of the light cruiser USS Omaha, which captured the Odenwald with the USS Somers. Next, I will write about the destroyer USS Somers.

Why It Takes So Long to Do These Blogs. --GreGen

USS Omaha (CL-4-- Part 2): More Blockade Runners and France

The Omaha was 556 feet long and mounted ten 6-inch guns and had six torpedo tubes.

On January 4-5, 1944, the Omaha and destroyer USS Jouett (DD-396) sighted two German blockade-runners, the Rio Grande and Bergenland. The crews of both sank their ships to avoid capture, denying Germany of much-needed rubber. The American ships rescued the survivors.

August 1944 found the Omaha in the Mediterranean covering the Allied invasion of southern France. The Omaha did much damage firing at targets in the Toulon area. After that, it was back to the South Atlantic where the Omaha was at the end of the war.

It was decommissioned November 19, 1945 and scrapped at the Philadelphia Navy Yard in 1946.

--GreGen

USS Omaha (CL-4)-- Part 1: A Light Cruiser

From Wikipedia.

Last month I wrote about the capture of the German blockade runner Odenwald by the USS Omaha and USS Somers of the United States Neutrality Patrol which was in place before the country entered the war. 

The USS Omaha was commissioned in 1923, the first of a ten-ship class of 7050 light cruisers built in Tacoma, Washington. It served in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans for 17 years, often as fleet flagship.

With the outbreak of war in Europe, the Omaha joined the Neutrality Patrol and captured the Odenwald November 6, 1941, a month before the United States joined the war. It continued operations afterwards as part of the Fourth Fleet, based in Brazil. It continued searching for German commerce raiders and blockade-runners.

--GreGen

Some More on the German Blockade-Runner Odenwald

From the June 19, 2005 U-boat.net.

Listed some German blockade-runners including the Odenwald.  Others listed were the Ramses, Rhakotis and Tannefells.

From Warsailors.com:

The Odenwald was a German ship of 6054 tons.  It left Yokohama, Japan, 8-21-41 heading for Bordeaux, France.  It was captured 10-9-41.

From US Navy photo:

Photo of the captured ship showing the USS Omaha's crew poses with a German swastika flag and with life rings with the name Odenwald-Hamburg and Wilmotto-Philadelphia.

From sixtant.net: WWII in the South Atlantic:

The Odenwald was built in 1923 and had just left Trinidad in the Caribbean when it was captured.  Along with the 45 man crew, it was carrying 3,857 tons of crude rubber, 102 Goodrich auto tires, 97 tons of tannic acid, 360 tons of brass, half a ton of hair (hair?), 545 tons of oats, 900 tons of peanuts and 7 tons of oatmeal.  (Goodyear Tires?)

I imagine the crude rubber came from ally Japan and the rest probably from Trinidad.

Just the Facts.  --GreGen

The Neutrality Patrol Seizes a German Prize

From the U.S. Naval History Blog "Neutrality Patrol Seizes German Prize, 6 Nov 1941."

On 6 Nov. 1941, the light cruiser USS Omaha (CL-4) and destroyer USS Somers (DD-381) sighted a suspicious vessel flying the American flag and with the name Willmoto of Philadelphia on the stern.  The freighter refused to suitably identify itself and took evasive action according to reports.

A boarding party was dispatched.  As they approached, the freighter's crew took to the lifeboats and hoisted the signal that the ship was sinking.  When the American boarders came alongside, they heard explosions in the hull.

They boarded and found it was the German blockade-runner Odenwald and it was being scuttled, but the ship was aved and soon underway to Puerto Rico for adjudication.

In 1947, the crews of both ships were awarded salvage money.

An Incident On the "Neutrality Patrol."  --GreGen

Remembering Maryland's World War II History-- Part 1

From the June 4, 2010, Baltimore Sun by Jacques Kelly.

There is an air raid shelter in downtown Baltimore.  Other sites from World War II where people could take shelter in case of an air raid were the Bromo Seltzer Tower, the Two O'Clock Club, Yale Underwear Factory on Hanover Street and the Horn & Horn restaurant on East Baltimore Street.

There were 20 POW camps in Maryland for captured Germans.  Some were at Fort Holabird, Logan Field in Dundalle, Westminster, Edgewood and Pikesville at what had been the Old Confederate Home and Armory. 

Fort Meade had three political internee camps: one for those of Japanese ancestry, one for German and Italian soldiers and one for German sailors from the commerce raider Odenwald captured by the crew of the cruiser USS Omaha in Puerto Rico.  The Germans and Italians complained that they were not allowed beer or wine.

Poor Guys.  How Can You Get By in a POW Camp Without Alcohol?  --GreGen