WAYNE M. PICKELS
AWAY ALL BOARDING PARTIES
On June 4, 1944, an order not heard aboard a U.S. Navy ship in over 100-years was sounded: Away all boarding parties. Thus began an event which culminated in the boarding and capture by a U.S. Navy vessel of a foreign man-of-war during battle which had not occurred since 1815. This was the capture of the sinking German submarine U-505 approximately 150-miles off the west coast of Africa by antisubmarine hunter-killer Task Group 22.3. The event was unprecedented and kept secret from Germany and the U.S. public for almost a year until the close of World War II against Germany. For his heroic part in this historic event BM2 Wayne Pickels was awarded the Silver Star.
Task Group 22.3 sailed from Norfolk, Virginia, on May 15, 1944, on its third mission with four destroyer escorts screening the escort aircraft carrier USS GUADALCANAL (CVE-60). CAPT Daniel V. Gallery, the task group commander aboard GUADALCANAL had thought for a long time that it might be possible to force a damaged German U-boat to the surface, force its crew overboard, and then board and capture it before it sank. On May 17, 1944, CAPT Gallery sent a message to his escort ships: EACH ESCORT DRAW UP PLANS AND ORGANIZE A PARTY TO BOARD-CAPTURE AND TAKE SUB IN TOW IF OPPORTUNITY ARISES. CAPT Gallery later exclaimed, The plan worked to perfection!
Until the morning of June 4, 1944, the task group's passage had been uneventful and with fuel running low CAPT Gallery had ordered them to make for Casablanca to refuel. At 1109 one of the escorts, USS CHATELAIN (DE-149) reported, WE ARE INVESTIGATING POSSIBLE SOUND CONTACT. At 1112, CHATELAIN signaled confirmation of the contact as a submarine and fired a full pattern of hedgehogs at the submerged contact. The contact-detonated hedgehogs missed their target at which time one of the two patrolling Wildcat fighters aloft from the GUADALCANAL radioed, I CAN SEE THE SUBMARINE BELOW THE SURFACE NOW. The two fighters dove and fired their machineguns into the water to mark the position and the CHATELAIN made a second attack which was this time successful. At 1123 the damaged German U-505 rose to the surface and could not have been in a worse position as she was surrounded by ships of the task force which immediately sent hundreds of anti-personnel rounds toward the submarine, designed to drive the crew overboard without inflicting serious structural damage. The two aircraft made a total of eighteen .50-caliber strafing runs, concentrating their fire on the conning tower and the antiaircraft emplacements aft. As crewmembers came on deck the withering firepower quickly drove them overboard as by now their ship was beginning to sink as scuttling valves had been opened and her stern began to settle. The U-505 was still underway at about 6-knots, in a tight circle to the right, her damaged rudders jammed from depth charges, her afterdeck completely submerged, her conning tower and bow barely awash.
With most of the U-505 crew obviously in the water the boarding parties were ordered into action, one being from the USS PILLSBURY (DE-133) with BM2 Pickels aboard. When the order was received to form a boarding party, Pickels had volunteered and was assigned the responsibility of searching for booby traps if the plan to board a sinking German U-boat succeeded. The boarding plan also specified that Pickels was to take aboard a 30-foot length of chain, one end of which was to be lashed to the coming tower rail, the other dropped down the hatch, to prevent enemy crewmen from closing it, trapping the boarding party below. It took about 10 to 12-minutes for the whaleboat from PILLSBURY to reach the rapidly sinking U-boat and snag a conning tower railing with a boat hook. Boarding the U-505 proved difficult but boarders managed to time their leaps aboard on the crest of waves. One boarder lost his footing and was crushed between the conning tower and the heavy whaleboat. Helpless and in agony, he was washed aft but was pulled from the water by Pickels and another shipmate. The badly injured boarder was the only American casualty of the action. In the process of the rescue Pickels lost his length of chain.
As Pickels and his companions entered the U-boat, illuminated only by dim emergency lighting, they quickly set about their assignments in keeping the U-boat afloat and in gathering equipment and documents of value. Pickels' immediate assignment was to assist in quickly passing captured equipment and documents topside. During an interview in 2004, Pickels said the boarders were in a state of emergency and took everything off as fast as possible. He said he started by helping with the radio room and then cleaned out the CO's office and stateroom. According to Pickels he had no knowledge of the significance of what he helped gather until much later when he learned they had gathered enormously valuable documents, codebooks and the prize of the capture, the U-505's Enigma ciphering devices, all of which proved to be extremely important in the battle against German submarines.
While the boarding party worked feverishly they found it necessary to close the conning tower hatch as water cascaded down when waves washed over the sinking submarine. The boarders performed numerous heroic and remarkable acts. They took over the U-boat in a foundering condition, with water pouring into the hull, and despite the danger of booby traps and working against time, which was rapidly running out, they plugged the leaks, disabled booby traps, shut off the engines and managed to keep U-505 afloat. If they had been unsuccessful the boarders would undoubtedly have gone down with her because the conning tower hatch had been secured.
The Commander in Chief, US Atlantic Fleet, later remarked, The Task Group's brilliant achievement in disabling, capturing and towing to a United States base a modern enemy man-of-war in combat on the high seas is a feat unprecedented in individual and group bravery, execution, and accomplishment in the Naval History of the United States. The whole task group was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation.
For his part in this unprecedented action, BM2 Pickels was awarded the Silver Star.
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action, while serving on board the USS PILLSBURY, attached to Task Group TWENTY-TWO POINT THREE, during the capture of an enemy German submarine off French West Africa, June 4, 1944. Participating in the skillfully coordinated attack on the German U-505 which climaxed a prolonged search by the Task Group, PICKELS joined a party from the PILLSBURY in boarding the hostile submarine as it circled erratically at five or six knots on the surface. Fully aware that the U-boat might momentarily sink or be blown up by exploding demolition and scuffling charges, he braved the added danger of enemy gunfire to plunge through the conning tower hatch and, with the rest of the small party, exerted every effort to keep the ship afloat and to assist the succeeding and more fully equipped salvage parties in making the U-505 sea worthy for the long tow across the Atlantic to a United States port. By his valiant service during the first successful boarding and capture of an enemy man-o'-war on the high seas since 1815, PICKELS contributed materially to the effective prosecution of the Battle of the Atlantic and upheld the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.