September 29, 2006

The Navy pilot was one of the first to spot a German U-Boat off Block Island in the final days of the fight against Germany in WWII. The German submarine would eventually sink the SS Black Point off Pt. Judith killing twelve. It was Germany's last sub attack of the war, but the story doesn't end there.

North Kingstown, RI-- The Quonset Air Museum is proud to announce that retired Navy pilot and Anti-Submarine Specialist John Gordon Bradley, Jr. will be its guest lecturer on Wednesday, October 11th at 7pm as part of the museum's monthly Aviator Series. Bradley's talk will be held at the Quonset Air Museum in North Kingstown and is open to the public at no charge.

"That's a German U-Boat!"

While on a training mission over Long Island Sound in early May of 1945, Bradley and his radioman spotted the German U- Boat 853 just under the water's surface.

Because of strict radio silence, Bradley could not call in his sighting and instead had to fly back to his base at Quonset Point to report the U-Boat sighting. Sadly, Bradley's report of a German submarine off the coast of Rhode Island was not taken seriously due to fog conditions in the area and additional human errors made at the air base. The consequences would be tragic.

"It wasn't supposed to happen."

On May 4th, 1945, German Headquarters sent a signal to all U- boats ordering the end of attacks on allied shipping effective at 8 AM on May 5th.

At 5:40 PM on May 5, 1945, the lookout at the Coast Guard Station at Point Judith, Rhode Island noted the SS Black Point as she passed the lighthouse while carrying coal to Boston. He was about to enter his sighting in a logbook when he heard an explosion and saw the SS Black Point had stopped.

A torpedo had blown off the last 50 feet of the 396 foot ship. Within one minute the water was waist deep in the engine room and Captain Charles Prior gave the order to abandon Ship. The Captain was the last one in the lifeboats at 6:05 PM. Within minutes the SS Black Point rolled over.

Twelve men, including one naval armed guard, went down with the ship. Four of them were killed instantly when the ship was hit. Thirty four men were saved.

At 7:20 PM the Coast Guard frigate Moberly and two Navy destroyer escorts, Amick and Atherton, arrived in the area and began a systematic search using their sonar equipment. Keeping in mind the U-boat's limited speed and range while submerged, they guessed the German submarine would likely hide in a steeply rising shoal known as East Ground, about 9 miles from the sinking. The Amick was ordered away to escort another merchant ship but the destroyer Ericsson joined the search and 7 other ships arrived to box in the U-boat.

At 11:43 PM the Atherton and Moberly made sonar contact at a depth of 100 feet. Depth charges brought up some air, oil, pieces of wood and eventually life jackets.

In spite of that, sonar operators saw the submarine moving at 5 knots across their path. More depth charges reduced her speed to 2 knots. In the morning two Navy blimps spotted an oil slick. The three ships dropped more depth charge and the blimps used rocket bombs in order to crack the pressure hull.

At 10:45 AM the commander of the Ericsson declared the U- boat sunk. A diver was sent to check the wreck and identified her as U-853. She had holes in the bow and bodies were strewn about inside. Sixty-one years later, the German sub remains at rest where she was sunk off Rhode Island in 1945.

U.S. authorities wondered why veteran Captain Helmut Fromsdorf risked an attack in shallow water, close to shore, and why he remained in the area for 90 minutes before arrival of the search boats. At no time did the German sub attempt to surface, abandon ship, or try to torpedo her attackers. Germany surrendered on May 7, 1945.

It is not known whether Captain Fromsdorf received the message to cease fire. (www.USMM.org)

About the QAM:
Founded in 1992 with the assistance of then Governor Sundlun, the air museum educates the public in the state's rich aviation legacy and displays collections that document the contributions of Rhode Island to the growth and development of aviation and space exploration. QAM is housed on 3 acres in an original Naval Air Station Quonset Point hangar built in 1945.

The museum has a large and valuable collection of aircraft, aircraft parts, and other historical artifacts. The 28 aircraft currently on display or under restoration include civilian, military and prototype aircraft dating from 1944 (Hellcat under restoration) to 1983 (F-14 Tomcat).

website: http://www.theQAM.org

Those media interested in an interview with John Bradley prior to the event on October 11th should contact Tim Gray at timgray@timgraymedia.com or 401.862.3422. If you would like to learn more about QAM's monthly Aviator Series, contact John Shepard, Executive Director of the Quonset Air Museum at jshepard@TheQAM.org or 401-556-0928.