Diskussion:Angriff auf Orleans

Angriff auf die Stadt Orleans?

Ich halte die Behauptung, dass die Stadt oder der Hafens von Orleans beschossen wurde für unglaubwürdig. Ich berufe mich auf einen Bericht aus: Josephus Daniels (Hg.): German submarine activities on the Atlantic Coast of the United States and Canada. Government Printing Press, Washington 1920. S. 54-55. Dort ist ein derartiges Ereignis nicht erwähnt. Vielmehr wird erwähnt, dass zu dieser Zeit viele Urlauber am Strand waren und Schaulustige sich das Spektakel anschauten. Ein Beschuss des Hafens oder der Stadt hätte zu Verlusten geführt. Hier der vollständige Bericht:

A German submarine attacked the tug Perth Amboy of the Lehigh Valley R. R., and her four barges, 3 miles off Orleans, on the southeastern elbow of Cape Cod, Mass., at 10.30 a. m. to-day. The one-aided battle lasted one hour and one-half. The tug was burned to the water's edge by shell fire, while the barges Lansford and No. 766, No. 403, and No. 740 were sunk by gunfire. The barges were bound from Gloucester, Mass., for New York, N. Y., and only one was loaded, her cargo consisting of stone. Of the 41 persons, including 3 women and 6 children on board, 3 men were wounded.
The attack was witnessed by large crowds of natives and summer visitors, who had flocked to the cape for the week end, seeking relief from the hot wave. All accounts agreed that the submarine's shooting was very bad. Her torpedo work was no better. According to Capt. Ainsleigh of the Lansford, the U-boat launched three torpedoes at the tug and aII went wild. This is not believed to be true.
The attack occurred only a few miles from the naval air station at Chatham. Four hydroplanes attacked the raider with bombs. The depth bombs dropped did not explode. The fire was returned, keeping the planes high. Finally, the U-boat submerged and was last observed heading south.
To-night the tug was still afloat, and it is thought .We can be saved. The net result of the raid was the sinking of barges valued in the aggregate at $90,000 and the serious damaging of a tug valued at $100,000, and the expenditure of some ammunition.
The appearance of the raider so near the treacherous shoals and tide ripe or the cape and her subsequent actions caused amazement to the thousands of eyewitnesees rather than consternation. The natives of the cape could not understand why she should waste torpedoes and shells on barges running to a coal port.
A fog bank lying 4 miles offshore hid the U-boat from her approaching victims. The Perth Amboy, steaming leisurely through the calm summer sea, was unaware of the presence of danger until a deckhand sighted a streak in the water shooting by the stern.
Before be realized that it was a torpedo, two other missiles sped by, wide of their mark. He shouted a warning. At the same time there was a flash from the fog and a shell crashed through the wheelhouse. A fragment of the flying steel took off the hand of a sailor as be grasped the spokes of the steering wheel. In quick succession came other shots, some of which went wide and some of which struck home.
Capt. J. P. Tapley, of the Prrth Amboy, who was in his cabin at the time, ran out on the deck just as the submarine loomed out of the fog bank, her deck gun flashing out its storm of steel. The bombardment set the tug on fire, and the German then turned his attention to the helpless barges.
Shrapnel bursting over the Lansford, second in the tow, struck down Charles Ainsleigh, master of the barge. The shooting of the enemy was amazingly bad. For more than an hour the blazing tug and the drifting barges were under fire before the enemy succeeded in getting enough shots to sink them. In the meantime, the submarine crept nearer until her range was only a few hundred yards. This at length proved sufficient. and the barges disappeared beneath the surface one by one until only the stern of the Lansford was visible. The tug was a burning hulk.
The crews, with the three women, the five children who were aboard and the wounded, rowed ashore. landing in Nauseet Harbor, Cape Cod, Mass. (Coast Guard Station No. 40). while naval hydroairplanes came out, located the U-boat in the haze, and engaged her.
Some of the summer residents grew uneasy when they saw how wild the German gunners were shooting and feared stray shells would hit their cottages. Many of these reeidents went to cottages which bad substantial cellars and watched the firing there, ready to seek shelter should the German try his markmanship on shore targets. Some residents reported shells falling on shore.--Arturius 23:43, 26. Okt. 2014 (CET)