CAPE SAN BLAS — It was just after midnight on Monday 1942 and a beautiful summer night in the Gulf of Mexico as the British oil tanker Empire Mica sailed east for Key West and the Florida Straits East Coast to New York and join a convoy headed for the British Isles turned the placid Gulf waters ahead of the ship into a brilliant silver sheen A gentle breeze washed over Empire Mica’s navigation bridge as the tanker made 11½ knots a distant flash of white every 20 seconds marked where the Cape San Blas Lighthouse lurked just below the horizon 17 miles away with a cargo of 12,000 tons of highly flammable vaporizing oil Empire Mica was a relatively new addition to the British Merchant Fleet but already a seasoned veteran of the maritime struggle between the Allies and Nazi Germany Built in 1941 the tanker had already made eleven trans-Atlantic crossings including five laden with petroleum supplies meant for the British Isles Master Hugh Gordon Bradford Bentley led a crew of 40 merchant seamen and seven British naval gunners who manned a 4-inch naval cannon and eight machine guns Three officers and six crewmen were on watch as the ship’s clock struck midnight Central War Time (CWT) a permanent imposition of daylight savings time ordered by the federal government four months earlier The ship was in a darkened state and steaming under radio silence Despite a strict system of censorship suppressing details of shipping losses in American waters Bentley and his men were well aware that U-boat attacks in the Gulf With a significant number of sinkings taking place along the direct southeast route from Texas and the mouth of the Mississippi to the Florida Straits Bentley chose what he thought was a safer route He opted not to steer Empire Mica on the 710-nautical-mile straight-line course but instead steamed along the 100-fathom-curve hugging the Louisiana Bentley and his lookouts would have been gazing to the east-southeast for subsequent lighthouses marking where the coastline turned south at Florida’s Big Bend busily scanning the Gulf with their powerful Zeiss binoculars sighted what they first called out as two small vessels approaching fast about forty degrees off the U-boat’s starboard bow Bounding up the ladder from the U-boat’s control room to the cramped bridge above the conning tower Kapitänleutnant (Lieutenant Commander) Günther Müller-Stöckheim quickly realized that the shadow was actually a large oil tanker on a converging course Both the commander and his crew were hardened veterans of the war at sea U-67 had sunk four Allied merchantmen totaling 24,833 gross registered tons (GRT) and on this the boat had sunk two more ships and damaged a third for an overall total just short of 39,000 GRT U-67 shadowed the British tanker as it continued toward the waters south of Apalachicola “It is very bright,” Müller-Stöckheim later wrote in his daily war diary “but I hope he does not recognize (the presence of a U-boat) very much.” At 00:50 hours with the Empire Mica just three-fourths of a nautical mile away he called out “Los!” (Release!) and two steam-driven G7a torpedoes raced out from two of the boat’s four torpedo tubes sheer luck was often the deciding factor in a ship’s survival or destruction the encounter between U-67 and the British tanker was actually the result of two things: prudent reckoning by Master Bentley that was canceled out by the shrewd calculation of Müller-Stöckheim Since leaving the French port of Lorient on May 20 U-67 followed the general course track used by other boats deploying to southern waters Müller-Stöckheim directed his U-boat to hug the shoreline of neutral Spain then struck a general course to the southwest then proceeding to the east of Bermuda and — on the 25th day of its four-week transit to the Gulf — entering the Bahamas Channel separating the British colony from the north coast of Cuba He held the U-boat to a fuel-economy speed of less than 10 knots This leisurely pace gave the crew plenty of time to vigorously drill in crash-dives When U-67 came upon the 2,220-ton Nicaraguan freighter Managua in the Florida Straits on June 15 A single G7e electric torpedo broke the back of the coastal steamer After briefly pausing by a lifeboat to question the master about the ship Müller-Stöckheim knew where the hunting would be best: at the mouth of the Mississippi River some 500 nautical miles to the northwest U-67 torpedoed but only damaged the 8,221-ton Norwegian tanker Nortind which was able to escape up the Mississippi to New Orleans Müller-Stöckheim and his men had better luck with the 3,664-ton American tanker Rawleigh Warner which sank in just 10 minutes after being struck by a pair of torpedoes U-67’s lookouts peered at an empty horizon where there should have been a plethora of targets U-67’s commander decided to look elsewhere Intention: operate on traffic from and to Pensacola and Mobile … after dodging several patrol planes but still seeing no ships “Since nothing was met during the advance to the east it is logical to assume that if traffic is in fact evading to the east it moves to the north just offshore … Probably Cape San Blas will be the focal point.” That logic would yield U-67 one of its richest targets thus far the midnight-to 0400 watch was quietly conning the ship two other officers and three crewmen manned the tanker’s bridge while three other crewmen were serving as lookouts on its raised after deck two of the stern lookouts simultaneously saw U-67’s conning tower and the incoming torpedo wakes the first torpedo struck slightly abaft of amidships port side followed by a second torpedo a few seconds later which struck on port side slightly forward of the after deck.” The twin blasts ripped open Empire Mica’s hull and ignited the 12,000 tons of vaporizing oil A colossal fireball engulfed the tanker and rose into the sky where it was seen by civilians on shore from Cape San Blas to Apalachicola 33 of Bentley’s people on board (27 crewmen and six of the seven gunners) perished in the flames including the occupants of two lifeboats that were caught by the flaming oil on the surface of the water Bentley and 13 survivors managed to escape the inferno They were rescued by a Coast Guard auxiliary vessel after four hours and landed at Apalachicola Bentley and six of the Empire Mica survivors were taken by boat to Panama City where they were treated for burns and injuries burned-out hulk of the Empire Mica drifted for nine hours before finally sinking upright in 120 feet of water U-67 reversed course and was returning to the Mississippi River mouth to resume the hunt there Müller-Stöckheim and his men sank another three ships totaling 16,099 GRT before heading for the Florida Straits and their month-long journey back to France who has written two books on German U-boat operations in World War II (Turning the Tide Navy archives and World War II German naval records to tell the all-but-forgotten tale of war in the Gulf more than three-quarters of a century ago CAPE SAN BLAS —It was just after midnight on Monday A gentle breeze washed over Empire Mica’s navigation bridge as the tanker made 11 ½ knots a distant flash of white every 20 seconds marked where the Cape San Blas Lighthouse lurked just below the horizon seventeen miles away Master Hugh Gordon Bradford Bentley led a crew of forty merchant seamen and seven British naval gunners who manned a 4-inch naval cannon and eight machine guns “It is very bright,” Müller-Stöckheim later wrote in his Daily War Diary then proceeding to the east of Bermuda and – on the 25th day of its four-week transit to the Gulf – entering the Bahamas Channel separating the British colony from the north coast of Cuba After briefly pausing by a life boat to question the master about the ship Müller-Stöckheim and his men had better luck with the 3.664-ton American tanker Rawleigh Warner which sank in just ten minutes after being struck by a pair of torpedoes Müller-Stöckheim wrote in his Daily War Diary including the occupants of two life boats that were caught by the flaming oil on the surface of the water burned-out hulk of the Empire Mica drifted for nine hours before finally sinking upright in 120ft of water Martin Beisheim was a rarity in the German U-boat Force during World War II Serving aboard two U-boats from January 1940 until Germany’s surrender in May 1945 the young radioman accomplished something that the great majority of his comrades failed to achieve Of 39,000 U-boat crewmen who went on patrol during the war And of the 11,500 lucky ones who evaded death 5,000 – nearly one-half – survived only because the Allies rescued them after their U-boats were sunk Born in 1921 to middle-class parents during the post-World War I chaos that scourged Germany Beisheim grew up as the country turned to Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party for an economic rebirth In a 2009 interview for this reporter’s 2011 book he described how as a youth and then teenager he was molded and shaped for war Joining the Hitler Youth (membership was mandatory for everyone reaching the age of 13) he was encouraged to study radio technology and communications he was “already almost a complete radio operator.” After basic training and formal naval radio school in December 1940 Beisheim received orders to the Type IXC U-67 He was a member of the crew when it was formally commissioned on January 22 after which U-boat and crew spent seven months in the Baltic undergoing intense combat training The boat finally left on its first war patrol on September 14 of that year Kapitänleutnant (Lieutenant Commander) Günther Müller-Stöckheim Beisheim recalled the high morale aboard despite the harsh living conditions and spartan accommodations for himself and his 50 comrades U-boat crewmen left port with a single working uniform to wear; after four weeks at sea the air went foul with the inevitable combination of diesel fumes All of the fresh food aboard quickly wore a coating of white mold Since at least two crewmen shared each bunk it did not take long for the sheets and pillowcases to darken with sweat Each crewman received one cup of fresh water per day for brushing his teeth “The hygiene in a sub is a catastrophe,” Beisheim later recalled with a shudder “A 100-percent trust between all hands onboard was essential,” Beisheim said Beisheim stood watch with another operator for ten hours each day in the cramped compartment that housed the U-boat’s high-frequency radio transmitter Enigma encryption machine and passive sonar receiver decrypt and type up each incoming message from U-boat Force headquarters and prepare and transmit outgoing messages from Müller-Stöckheim back to U-boat Force commander-in-chief Admiral Karl Dönitz He and his watch mate would also scan the radio waves for messages by other U-boats reporting contact with enemy merchant ships or attacks by Allied naval units When U-67 was submerged at battle stations they would take turns listening with the passive acoustic gear for sounds of incoming warships so as to give the commander a timely evasion order If U-67 went after a target vessel with its 105-mm Beisheim was one of a half-dozen crewmen assigned to haul the 88-pound shells out of their storage canister and hand them to the gun crew for loading and firing Beishem said he had many other tasks that kept him busy particularly inspecting 50 tauchretter escape breathing devices that provided oxygen into a waterproof mask enabling the crew to escape from a U-boat sunk in water up to 150 feet deep Beisheim said there were no fervent Nazis aboard the U-boats “We were doing the same jobs [that our predecessors did] under the Kaiser,” he noted We tried to stop enemy ships from delivering more weapons and bombs against Germany.” After two patrols where for the first time crumpling sound of an Allied merchant ship breaking up as it fell below the surface Beisheim left U-67 in January 1942 to attend advanced radio school Afterwards he reported aboard the Type VIIC U-758 and took part in the fierce convoy battle of March 1943 where two German wolf packs sank 22 Allied ships That transfer was a major reason for his survival the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) together with the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF) and other research institutions invites the interested public to an Open Day the Science Campus Braunschweig-Süd in the Stöckheim district will be offering a varied programme with special activities for children visitors can take a look behind the scenes of modern research facilities and visit laboratories where scientists are otherwise researching the mechanisms of infectious diseases There will also be numerous hands-on activities The “Meet the Scientist” format offers visitors the opportunity to talk directly to researchers from the HZI Another highlight is the research workshop organised by the team from the well-known TV science programme ‘Die Physikanten’ various other institutions will also be represented at the open day on campus: it is recommended that you use public transport to get to the event More information Source: Event announcement of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research I agree that my name and my e-mail-address may be processed to send the newsletter. 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