When the US entered the war, German U-boasts began to prey on the heavy shipping traffic up and down the East Coast of the United States.
Disagreements between the US and Royal Navies, coupled with a shortage of escort ships, left American merchant ships with little to no protection.
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Playlist:
Fanfare
Opening War Theme
“Ride of the Valkyries” from Die Walküre
Composed in 1870 by Richard Wagner. Public domain.
Performed by The University of Chicago Orchestra, conducted by Barbara Schubert, and used pursuant to a Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 3.0license. Source.
Closing War Theme
Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.
Another great episode. Loved the Postscript re Irish Republic support of RAF. The Republic also prepared bases in center of the country should England be invaded.
When we went to the Jersey Shore in the 50’s and 60’s there were big tar balls in the sand. I believe they were from oil from tankers that got sunk off the coast. They eventually disappeared.
The movie Greyhound is streaming on Apple TV, and is a really good depiction of being on a destroyer escorting a convoy in early 1942. I thought it was well done. Tom Hanks is Tom Hanks, and he is really good as the skipper, but I think the best performance was British actor Stephen Graham as his XO.