"Sighted Sub, Sank Same"

    
"Sighted Sub, Sank Same." This terse message from a patrolling U.S. Navy plane over the North Atlantic on January 28, 1942, electrified the nation. At the controls of the Lockheed PBO-1 Hudson was Aviation Machinist’s Mate First Class Donald F. Mason, an experienced 28-year-old enlisted naval aviation pilot. Mason and his three-man crew had spent two hours flying over the broad reaches of the icy sea from their Argentia, Newfoundland, base. Their mission: Find and sink German U-boats.
     Spotting the periscope and wake of a possible sub, Mason prepared for action. He approached it descending to about 25 feet altitude at 165 knots airspeed and cut across its course from astern. His aircraft released two 325-lb depth bombs which straddled the target. After two huge bursts subsided, the boat‘s conning tower emerged momentarily. To the delight of Mason and company, the U-boat sank out of sight. A spreading oil pool seemed to confirm the kill. As Mason prepared to land, Aviation Ordnanceman Second Class Keith Neuneker recalled, "We were very surprised when he returned to base after ‘Sighted Sub, Sank Same.‘ We thought he was going to take the top of the hangar off!"
     This was not the U.S. Navy‘s first encounter with a U-boat, nor indeed, with a German vessel. Shortly after war began in Europe in September 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered the navy to form a Neutrality Patrol 200-300 miles offshore in the Atlantic. Later he extended this zone to 26 degrees West Longitude. This inevitably led to unneutral contacts between American naval forces and the German Kriegsmarine.
     Atlantic Squadron units formed patrols approaching the German war zone. This had been established from 50 degrees West Longitude below Greenland, slanting south to 20 degrees West in the Bay of Biscay. On May 17, 1941, the Kriegsmarine U-203 spotted the battleship USS Texas (BB-34) and escorts in what appeared to be the war zone. Despite orders to avoid contact with American warships, the sub began tracking Texas with hostile intent. However, in increasingly heavy seas it broke off.
     A week later an epochal sea engagement took place in the waters between Iceland and Greenland when the German battleship Bismarck accompanied by heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen encountered the British battle-cruiser HMS Hood and battleship HMS Prince of Wales. In an exchange of fire, Hood took an eight-inch hit from Prinz Eugen which ignited ammunition near its mainmast. Bismarck‘s 15-inch guns scored another hit in the same area. This set off a great blast of fire from Hood‘s magazines which blew the ship apart. Thus perished the pride of the Royal Navy, a great icon of the British people.
     Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy joined in the search for Bismarck with flights by Argentia-based PBYs of Patrol Squadron 52. Long and difficult searches through foul, stormy . . . . .