Talk:USCGC Campbell (WPG-32)

message: Additional detail on U606 encounter on 2/22/43 by nephew of the Chief Engineer (added 12/26/2011).
 
My Uncle Eddy (Muurahainen) served aboard the Campbell during WWII as Chief Engineer and often told me, as a young boy, the encounter with U606.  What has been previously described is accurate and I won’t repeat it.  Here are additional details from my uncle.
The Campbell engaged U606 after it surfaced but the range was so close the Campbell’s main guns could not be lowered enough to fire on the sub.  The Campbell’s captain decided to ram the sub, the Campbell had an ice breaker bow.  As the two vessels closed on each other, small arms fire was exchanged and the U-boat was still under power with her diesels.   The U-boat’s captain, realizing he was going to be rammed turned towards the Campbell in an attempt to avoid being rammed, and perhaps realizing their closeness was protecting his U-boat from the Campbell’s main batteries.  One can possibly assume the U-boat captain was attempted to get aft of the Campbell to try to outrun her on the surface.
As the two vessels approached each other, whether intentionally or not, the sub’s diving planes were still full extended outward.  As the two ships sideswiped each other the sub’s diving plane sliced the Campbell open like a can opener, allowing water to enter her engine and boiler rooms.  As the two ships opened distance again, the Campbell quickly lost all engine and electrical power and her guns could not be fired or brought to bear without electrical power.  The U-boat captain, most likely unaware of the extensive damage to the Campbell scuttled his boat.
With the Campbell’s engine and boiler rooms totally flooded, the Campbell had no propulsion, no defenses other than small arms, no electric power, lights  or heat, and the pumps on the Campbell were inoperative.  The gash in the hull extended for several inches into an adjacent watertight compartment and if it flooded the Campbell could not stay afloat.  The crew rigged some sort of matting (cofferdam?) and my Uncle Eddy when into the frigid water, in a hard hat diver’s suit, to weld a plate or the mat over the gash in the adjacent compartment to stop the flooding.  He was awarded a medal for undertaking this dangerous repair and dive.
My Uncle said they could not send out a distress signal (radio had backup batteries) because German U-boats might detect their sitting duck predicament and finish her off.  During the nine days they were adrift in the freezing North Atlantic, my Uncle said they spotted more than one periscope but the Germans probably assumed the Campbell was playing dead in an effort to sucker a U-boat to take shot at them.  Finally the Polish manned destroyer, Burza, came upon the disabled Campbell and towed her to port.
After the Campbell was towed to port for repairs, it was discovered U606’s diving plane was still stuck in the side of the Campbell.  The diving plane was cut up into small pieces by the shipyard and a pieces was given to each crew member.  I saw the piece my Uncle Eddy had but it is now long gone.
:I removed this from the article because while it is interesting, it is non-encyclopedic. Cuprum17 (talk) 02:24, 13 March 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  Material removed from article