Hi Janice! That is awesome that you own a Picket Patrol boat. Of course you can link to this. Very kind of you to ask. Post a link here when you’ve finished your story.
Wonderful! I hope you have beautiful peaceful holidays Christine. Your success inspires me in these days when I cannot even get the publishers to pen a quick reply...J
My mother grew up in West Palm Beach. She was not on the water, but rather above the water- in a two person plane! She was the spotter with binoculars. She says she never saw a submarine.
Hey, Sis — this is cool! Davd’s excited, too, since his Dad was a Chief Petty Officer on a sub-chaser based in Florida, 1942-ish to the end of the war (David was born in 1945). He has a picture of his Dad in a bar in the Keys. Looking forward to this book!
My uncle was a coast guardsman assigned to a yacht which sailed up and down the East Coast looking for U-boats. I asked him if they ever saw one. He said no "but we might have heard one once." They had a sonar and a radio to report anything they heard or saw.
Hey Peter, yeah, the success of using these civilian boats was pretty paltry, and the sonar they had was primitive. Eric Wiburg in his book U-boats in New England is pretty brutal in his assessment of the Picket Patrol. He refers to the U-boat logs the Germans made available after the war. Their captains had been at war already for several years, and they were playing a game of cat and mouse. There's a reason why so few U-boats were spotted, but once the Navy and the Coast Guard got their purpose built boats and some experience under their belts, by 1943 we had turned it around.
Our vessel STEADFAST was part of this, patrolling Long Island and New Jersey with a gun on the bow!
May I link this story in one of mine? Such a great part of her history. Thanks for sharing! And researching!!
J
Hi Janice! That is awesome that you own a Picket Patrol boat. Of course you can link to this. Very kind of you to ask. Post a link here when you’ve finished your story.
Wonderful! I hope you have beautiful peaceful holidays Christine. Your success inspires me in these days when I cannot even get the publishers to pen a quick reply...J
My mother grew up in West Palm Beach. She was not on the water, but rather above the water- in a two person plane! She was the spotter with binoculars. She says she never saw a submarine.
Karen, thanks for sharing this! Great to know that there were women in the air!
Hey, Sis — this is cool! Davd’s excited, too, since his Dad was a Chief Petty Officer on a sub-chaser based in Florida, 1942-ish to the end of the war (David was born in 1945). He has a picture of his Dad in a bar in the Keys. Looking forward to this book!
Thanks sis! How cool is that about David's dad. I'd love to see that picture.
My uncle was a coast guardsman assigned to a yacht which sailed up and down the East Coast looking for U-boats. I asked him if they ever saw one. He said no "but we might have heard one once." They had a sonar and a radio to report anything they heard or saw.
Hey Peter, yeah, the success of using these civilian boats was pretty paltry, and the sonar they had was primitive. Eric Wiburg in his book U-boats in New England is pretty brutal in his assessment of the Picket Patrol. He refers to the U-boat logs the Germans made available after the war. Their captains had been at war already for several years, and they were playing a game of cat and mouse. There's a reason why so few U-boats were spotted, but once the Navy and the Coast Guard got their purpose built boats and some experience under their belts, by 1943 we had turned it around.