![]() Helmut Frömsdorf, failed to heed orders issued on May 4, 1945, by Germany's then-president, Adm. ![]() The key unanswered, and most perplexing, question about the battle is why U-853's commander, Lt. I want to focus here on new information I learned while researching two books I co-authored on Rhode Island during World War II. The Providence Journal over the years has covered both sinkings in various retrospectives. It was the last or, more likely, second-to-last sinking of a German submarine by U.S. Navy destroyer escorts and a Coast Guard frigate dropped 195 depth charges and 264 “hedgehogs” - projectiles that detonated on contact - on U-853 and sank it, seven miles east of Block Island.Īll 55 submariners aboard perished. mainland by a foreign power since the War of 1812.Ī day later, in what is called the Battle of Point Judith, U.S. It was the last U.S.-flagged merchant vessel sunk by a German U-boat, and the ship sunk closest to the U.S. Twelve of the Black Point's 46 crewman were killed by the blast or drowned. On May 5, 1945, just days before the end of the war in Europe, the German submarine U-853 torpedoed and sank Black Point, a coal-carrying collier, less than three miles southeast of Point Judith. This week will see the 75th anniversaries of two notable military incidents that occurred off Rhode Island's shores. ![]()
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