German Submarine Tore His Ship Apart — This Captain Sailed 800 Miles With a Massive Hole in the Hull

Описание: Why Commander James Hirshfield rammed a German U-boat at full speed during WW2 — and then faced 11 days fighting to keep his ship alive. This World War 2 story reveals how one Coast Guard captain broke every rule in the manual.

February 22, 1943. Commander James A. Hirshfield, commanding officer of USCGC Campbell, detected U-606 surfaced in Convoy ON-166. The German submarine was damaged, trying to escape on diesel engines. Hirshfield made a split-second decision: ram her at 18 knots. Every training manual said never ram submarines — mutual destruction almost guaranteed. Navy doctrine, Coast Guard experts, convoy commanders all called it suicide.

They were about to find out if they were right.

What Hirshfield didn't know that night was the price of his decision. U-606's bow plane tore a 15-foot gash through Campbell's engine room below the waterline. Salt water flooded in. Generators failed. No power. No engines. A hole three feet underwater that pumps couldn't stop. The all-Black Gun Four crew under Chief Steward Louis Etheridge had fired everything they had during the attack. Now they were dead in the water, 800 miles from port, with a ship that was flooding and 19 more U-boats hunting the convoy.

Hirshfield stood on the bridge, bleeding from shrapnel wounds, refusing medical attention. His executive officer asked if they should prepare to abandon ship. The question hung in the freezing air. Campbell was taking on water. The collision mat wasn't holding. Bucket brigades couldn't keep up. The nearest friendly port was four days away at towing speed — if a tug could even reach them in time. And Hirshfield had to decide: stay with the ship or save his crew.

What happened next would determine whether Hirshfield's ramming attack was brilliant tactics or the mistake that killed everyone aboard.

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