Learn@Lunch
They Called it 鈥淐onvoy Maniac鈥� 鈥� When Bay Steamboats Battled Submarines on the North Atlantic
Jack Shaum
September 18, 2024
Jack Shaum is a retired award-winning print and broadcast journalist and the author of several books on maritime history, including a history of steam navigation on the Chester River and a history of the Old Bay Line.
In the spring of 1942, Great Britain was in need of small, highly-maneuverable vessels capable of operating in the shallows of the Normandy beaches in France during the D-Day invasion. Eight American inland water steamboats that were never intended for the high seas were requisitioned for that purpose and sent across the stormy North Atlantic in convoy. Many thought they would never make it. They were attacked by enemy submarines during their perilous crossing and put up a brave battle but a majority of the vessels managed to fight overwhelming odds and survive. It is considered one of the most remarkable, but little-known convoys of World War II.
