USCG Spencer sinks U-175
17th April 1943: A dramatic sequence of images tells the story of a successful U-Boat hunt in mid Atlantic
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7a0de907-c638-43be-a609-0eb0359c0d4d_1280x1016.jpeg)
On 6th April 1943 the 56-ship convoy HX-233 left New York headed for Liverpool, England.
On the 10th April U-175, captained by Heinrich Bruns, just promoted to Korvettenkapitän, left Lorient in France and headed out on her third patrol. Bruns had sunk nine ships on his first patrol - and had been awarded the Iron Cross, First Class - but only one ship on his second.
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F96dbe7a0-54f8-4e87-ae20-f103e6ec5fa4_861x485.jpeg)
On the 11th USCGC Spencer left the Canadian port of St John’s to take over from the local escort to the convoy on the 12th1:
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to World War II Today to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.