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IPTC: Caption
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U-848 is bracketed by five depth charges dropped by United States Navy PB4Y-1 Privateer "107-B-4" flown by Lieutenant Samuel K. Taylor of Patrol Bombing Squadron VB-107. Lieutenant Taylor attacked from seventy feet (21 meters) at 225 knots (415 kilometers per hour). This ninth attack in one day on U-848 was followed by another run by Lieutenant Taylor, who destroyed the U-Boat with two depth charges. U-848, a Type IXd2 U-Boat, was commissioned on February 20, 1943 under the command of Korvettenkapitan Wilhelm Rollman (August 5, 1907 - November 5, 1943). Rollman was a U-Boat ace who sank over 100,000 tons while the commander of U-34. Ordered to the Far East to join the "Monsoon" wolfpack operating from Japanese bases in Indonesia for war patrols in the Indian Ocean, U-848 sank the unescorted steamship Baron Semple, a British freighter, near Ascesion Island in the South Atlantic on November 2, 1943. Master Philip Jarvis Carnie and sixty-one crewmembers were killed. Word of the sinking did not reach VB-107 before they attacked U-848. VB-107 was ordered to Ascension Island in September 1943; they conducted antisubmarine patrols in conjunction with United States Army Air Force North American B-25C Mitchells of the 1st Composite Squadron. Lieutenant Charles A. Baldwin's "107-B-12" was five hours into their patrol on November 5, 1943 when they spotted U-848 on the surface. In two attack runs they were able to disable the U-Boat's ability to submerge and directed subsequent aircraft to the target. Lieutenant William R. Ford, flying "107-B-4" joined Lieutenant Baldwin; while he attacked in a strafing run, Ford dropped depth charges fifty feet from U-848 in two separate runs. Both planes reported heavy antiaircraft fire. Ford called for more help and returned to Ascension Island. Lieutenant William E. Hill left Ascension at 1209 Hours in "107-B-8" and arrived at U-848's location at 1235. His attack was disrupted when U-848 set his number two engine on fire; his depth charges
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IPTC: Copyright Notice
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Caption ©2007 MFA Productions LLC
Image in the Public Domain
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