U-505 Captured, Officer Awarded Medal of Honor

SUN 4 JUN 1944
Pacific
Japanese horizontal bombers attack Allied cruiser and destroyer forces TF 74 and TF 75 (Rear Admiral Victor A.C. Crutchley, RN) off Biak, New Guinea, damaging light cruisers Nashville (CL-43), 01°05'S, 136°05'E, and Phoenix (CL-46), 01°00'S, 136°00'E.

Submarine Flier (SS-250) sinks Japanese troopship Hakusan Maru about 375 miles southwest of Chichi Jima, Bonins, 22°45'N, 136°50'E.

Submarine Golet (SS-361) sinks Japanese guardboat No.10 Shinko Maru east of Japan, 35°47'N, 154°54'E.

Coordinated submarine attack group, TG 17.12, makes contact with Japanese convoy 3530 (see 29 May). Two of the group's three boats, Shark (SS-314) and Pintado (SS-387), will obtain favorable attack positions; the third, Pilotfish (SS-386), will not. Shark sinks army transport Katsukawa Maru about 475 miles northwest of Saipan, 19°45'N, 138°15'E (see 5 June).

USAAF B-24s sink Japanese landing ship T.128, 110 miles northeast of Morotai, 04°09'N, 129°45'E.

USAAF A-20s bomb Manokwari, New Guinea, and Japanese shipping in Geelvink Bay, sinking auxiliary submarine chaser No.2 Hakusan Maru and guardboats Shimane Maru, No.3 Tokyo Maru, and Gongen Maru.

Atlantic
TG 22.3 (Captain Daniel V. Gallery), a hunter-killer group comprising escort carrier Guadalcanal (CVE-60) and destroyer escorts Pillsbury (DE-133), Pope (DE-134), Flaherty (DE-135), Chatelain (DE-149), and Jenks (DE-665), forces German submarine U-505 to the surface 150 miles off the coast of Rio de Oro, Africa. Lieutenant (j.g.) Albert L. David leads a boarding party from Pillsbury (which is damaged in collision with the out-of-control U-boat during salvage operations) that saves the ship despite the dangers posed by scuttling charges. He later assists more well-equipped salvage parties that make the captured U-boat seaworthy for the tow to Trinidad. For his "gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty," David is awarded the Medal of Honor.

A boarding party from Pillsbury (DE-133) works to secure a tow line to the newly captured German U-505.

Pillsbury (DE-133) moves alongside U-505 to take the captured submarine in tow.
Pillsbury was severely damaged when U-505's bow plane sliced open the DE's hull.

Pix from Navsource.