Papers (1944–1945, 1966, 1988) including correspondence, citations, newspaper clippings.
Lt. Commander Norman Cutten Hoffman, USNR (b. 1913), commanded the USS Baker, a destroyer escort attached to Escort Division 48 in 1944. The division was a hunter-killer task force stationed at Norfolk Naval base working in the North Atlantic. This collection consists of correspondence and miscellaneous items concerning an incident on 5 July 1944, in which the Baker depth-charged a German mine-laying submarine (U-233) to the surface and proceeded to attack with the thought of capturing it. The USS Thomas, under the command of David Kellogg, arrived and promptly rammed and sank the submarine. Both ships and captains received credit for the kill.
The collection contains correspondence between Vice Admiral George A. Parkinson (of Escort Division 48), David Kellogg, Norman Hoffman, and Armistead I. Selden Jr. (of the U.S. House of Representatives from Alabama) concerning Orville Nicholson's article "Echoes From the Deep" about this incident, which Selden read into the Congressional Record on 1 July 1965. Both Selden and Nicholson were sailors aboard the Baker in 1944.
Also included are newspaper clippings (1944–1945), a citation (Legion of Merit award) given to Hoffman for his actions, and a statement by Hoffman (1988) regarding the incident on 5 July 1944.
Gift of Captain Norman C. Hoffman, USNR (Ret)
Processed by S. Gibbons, November 1992
Encoded by Apex Data Services
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