U-117

The Type XB boat U-117 left Bordeaux on 22 July 1943, commanded by Korvettenkapitan Hans-Werner Neumann, and came to the rescue of the damaged Type IXC boat U-66 on 6 August 1943, about 330 miles west of the Azores. Oberleutnant zur See Frerks went aboard to take command from the wounded Markworth. On the following day the two U-boats were spotted together on the surface by a TBF-1 Avenger flown by Lieutenant (jg) A.H.Sallenger of Composite Squadron VC-1 from the escort carrier USS Card. He dived down against intense flak and dropped two depth charges with 25 feet settings as well as a Mark 24 mine (actually a acoustic homing torpedo) with a contact fuse, as shown here. This was followed by attacks from two more Avengers and two F4F-4 Wildcats. U-117 was destroyed, probably by a homing torpedo dropped by one of the Wildcats. There were no survivors from the crew of sixty-two. Ref: ADM 199/1408