My grand father was a Schutterij, Stamboeknummer 4052
How did the gunboat USS Erie get hit?
USS Erie
On 12 November 1942 the Allied convoy TAG-20 arrives at the south coast of Curaçao from Trinidad. Ten escort vessels protect the joining and leaving ships, but the German submarine U-163 still manages to infiltrate the defences. The gunboat USS Erie (PG-50) is escort commander. The commanding officer of U-163, Korvettenkapitän Kurt-Eduard Engelmann, fires three torpedoes at the USS Erie at 16.33 hrs local time, close to Willemstad harbour. Lookouts on the ship see the torpedoes approach, and the Erie takes evasive action, but one torpedo hits her in the starboard aft section. The damage is enormeous, a second explosion follows as the ships tanks with airplane fuel blow up and a raging fire starts. In the initial attack, 6 crewmembers are killed, and several others are wounded.
HNLMS Van Kinsbergen approaches and lowers boats to pick up the crewmembers who are blown overboard in the attack. The damage is so intense that the Erie starts to take on water and an increasing list to starboard developes. Another escort, USS Spry, joins the Erie and tries to fight the fires with four hoses, but without success. The commanding officer of the Erie, Captain Andrew Robert Mack USN, fears that the ship may founder and he steers for the coast of Curaçao. 50 minutes after the attack, at 17.23 hrs, the USS Erie hits bottom and settles on the reef, between the Willemstad harbour entrance and Piscadera Bay. The remaining crewmembers evacuate the burning ship shortly afterwards and swim to the beach. There the crew is mustered and it is determined that there are 6 missing and 13 wounded, of which 8 severely. During all this, other escort vessels search for the submarine, but U-163 manages to escape.
