By June 1944, Capt. Daniel Gallery and the escort carrier USS Guadalcanal were in the middle of their second hunter-killer mission. The Guadalcanal and its destroyer escorts USS Chatelain, USS Flaherty, USS Pillsbury and USS Pope had already taken out two German U-boats and were on the hunt for a third. This submarine, however, would have a different fate. Capt. Gallery wanted to capture one and was certain he could do it; he even had boarding parties at the ready.
When two of the Guadalcanal’s F4F Wildcat aircraft spotted a U-505 off the coast of Cape Verde, Gallery knew he had his chance. Not only did he have boarding parties ready, he had a film crew standing by to capture the moment: the moment when the U.S. Navy captured its first enemy warship at sea since the War of 1812.
“Codename Nemo: The Hunt for a Nazi U-Boat and the Elusive Enigma Machine” is a new, exhaustively researched book from journalist Charles Lachman that tells the whole story of the capture of U-505, using records and interviews from both the American and German points of view.
“‘Codename Nemo’ is my first military-oriented book,” Lachman, a former reporter for the New York Post, Fox and “Inside Edition,” told Military.com. “I love reading and writing nonfiction thrillers. I felt this story had everything I was looking for in terms of this extraordinary military engagement. It had great characters, great villains, great American heroes, extraordinary action…
