Wreck of USS Fiske (DE-143)
Portugal /
Acores /
Lagoa /
World
/ Portugal
/ Acores
/ Lagoa
World
Second World War 1939-1945, military, shipwreck, destroyer (ship), United States Navy
Laid down in January 1943 at the Consolidated Steel Shipyard in Orange Texas as the 15th member of the Edsall Class of Destroyer Escorts, USS Fiske commissioned into service with the US Navy’s Atlantic Fleet in August 1943. Making a combined maiden/shakedown/training voyage from her builders yard to Norfolk, the Fiske began regular convoy escort operations in November 1943
Eventually assigned to the US Gulf–Casablanca/West Africa route, the Fiske and her crew made three successful round trips across the U-Boat infested Atlantic before putting into New York Harbor in May 1944 for a period of voyage repairs and upkeep. Receiving orders to join a Submarine Hunter-Killer Group centered around the USS Wake Island (CVE-65), the Fiske crossed the Atlantic once again to Casablanca before returning to the Mid-Atlantic in late July 1944 to hunt German weather-reporting Submarines.
Steaming in the lead van on the morning of August 2nd alongside her fellow escort USS Douglas L. Howard (DE-138), lookouts aboard both ships made visual contact with a possible surfaced Submarine and detached from formation to investigate. Lookouts aboard the German U-804 made visual contact with the American ships at roughly the same time and the order was passed to crash-dive the boat as the two Destroyer Escorts closed in at flank speed. Aboard Fiske, lookouts watched the surface contact disappear from view shortly before sonar operators picked up the unmistakable sound of a diving U-Boat, confirming a hostile contact. Going to General Quarters, both the Fiske and Howard split apart and prepared their hedgehogs and depth charges for an attack.
As U-804 dove, her Captain changed her course towards her attackers and ordered four GNAT (German Navy Acoustic Torpedoes) fired at the onrushing ships before continuing his plunge to deep water. At 1536hrs Sonar operators aboard Fiske heard the first of four torpedoes fire from the German Sub, prompting a torpedo warning and evasive maneuvering from both Fiske and the Howard as they sought to avoid what both ships assumed to be standard torpedoes. After seeing one of the torpedoes sail wide the Fiske began a turn back towards her target when the second torpedo homed in on Fiske’s engine and propeller noises and slammed into her Starboard side amidships at 1539hrs. Tearing a large hole in her side and detonating in the rear of her engine room, the first torpedo caused heavy casualties and severe damage to the ship, which immediately took a list to Starboard and began to slow. At 1540hrs the battered hull of the Fiske was struck again by an acoustic torpedo, this time on her Port side and in roughly the same location. The force of the second blast exacerbated the damage caused by the first and within moments of the blast the Fiske’s keel gave way and she began to wrench herself apart. Rolling back to an even keel briefly before capsizing onto her Port side, the Fiske continued to pull apart as her dazed crew scrambled topside to get clear of their foundering vessel.
At 1549hrs, only 10 minutes after the initial torpedo impact, the Fiske broke in two and separated, spilling her remaining crew into the Atlantic where they were eventually rescued by other Escort vessels. Fiske’s Bow and Stern remained defiantly afloat for several hours as their internal compartments held out the Atlantic, but after her final survivors were accounted for and contact lost with U-804 the order was passed to sink the wreckage as a hazard to navigation. Taken under fire by her former fleetmates, the Fiske’s Bow and Stern were eventually sunk at this location on August 2nd, 1944. 33 of her crew, mainly from her engine room, went down with the ship.
For her actions on the date of her loss, USS Fiske was awarded her first and final Battle Star for her World War Two service.
www.navsource.org/archives/06/143.htm
Eventually assigned to the US Gulf–Casablanca/West Africa route, the Fiske and her crew made three successful round trips across the U-Boat infested Atlantic before putting into New York Harbor in May 1944 for a period of voyage repairs and upkeep. Receiving orders to join a Submarine Hunter-Killer Group centered around the USS Wake Island (CVE-65), the Fiske crossed the Atlantic once again to Casablanca before returning to the Mid-Atlantic in late July 1944 to hunt German weather-reporting Submarines.
Steaming in the lead van on the morning of August 2nd alongside her fellow escort USS Douglas L. Howard (DE-138), lookouts aboard both ships made visual contact with a possible surfaced Submarine and detached from formation to investigate. Lookouts aboard the German U-804 made visual contact with the American ships at roughly the same time and the order was passed to crash-dive the boat as the two Destroyer Escorts closed in at flank speed. Aboard Fiske, lookouts watched the surface contact disappear from view shortly before sonar operators picked up the unmistakable sound of a diving U-Boat, confirming a hostile contact. Going to General Quarters, both the Fiske and Howard split apart and prepared their hedgehogs and depth charges for an attack.
As U-804 dove, her Captain changed her course towards her attackers and ordered four GNAT (German Navy Acoustic Torpedoes) fired at the onrushing ships before continuing his plunge to deep water. At 1536hrs Sonar operators aboard Fiske heard the first of four torpedoes fire from the German Sub, prompting a torpedo warning and evasive maneuvering from both Fiske and the Howard as they sought to avoid what both ships assumed to be standard torpedoes. After seeing one of the torpedoes sail wide the Fiske began a turn back towards her target when the second torpedo homed in on Fiske’s engine and propeller noises and slammed into her Starboard side amidships at 1539hrs. Tearing a large hole in her side and detonating in the rear of her engine room, the first torpedo caused heavy casualties and severe damage to the ship, which immediately took a list to Starboard and began to slow. At 1540hrs the battered hull of the Fiske was struck again by an acoustic torpedo, this time on her Port side and in roughly the same location. The force of the second blast exacerbated the damage caused by the first and within moments of the blast the Fiske’s keel gave way and she began to wrench herself apart. Rolling back to an even keel briefly before capsizing onto her Port side, the Fiske continued to pull apart as her dazed crew scrambled topside to get clear of their foundering vessel.
At 1549hrs, only 10 minutes after the initial torpedo impact, the Fiske broke in two and separated, spilling her remaining crew into the Atlantic where they were eventually rescued by other Escort vessels. Fiske’s Bow and Stern remained defiantly afloat for several hours as their internal compartments held out the Atlantic, but after her final survivors were accounted for and contact lost with U-804 the order was passed to sink the wreckage as a hazard to navigation. Taken under fire by her former fleetmates, the Fiske’s Bow and Stern were eventually sunk at this location on August 2nd, 1944. 33 of her crew, mainly from her engine room, went down with the ship.
For her actions on the date of her loss, USS Fiske was awarded her first and final Battle Star for her World War Two service.
www.navsource.org/archives/06/143.htm
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Fiske_(DE-143)
Coordinates: 47°10'59"N 33°29'0"W
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