Destroyer Escort Commanding Officers Collection: Norman C. Hoffman Papers

1944-1945, 1966, 1988
Manuscript Collection #564-003
Portions of this collection are digitized (1 item)
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Creator(s)
Hoffman, Norman C. (Norman Cutten), 1913-
Physical description
0.5 Cubic Feet, 15 items , consisting of correspondence (originals and copies), a citation, and newspaper clippings.
Preferred Citation
Destroyer Escort Commanding Officers Collection: Norman C. Hoffman Papers (#564-003), East Carolina Manuscript Collection, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA.
Repository
ECU Manuscript Collection
Access
No restrictions

Papers (1944–1945, 1966, 1988) including correspondence, citations, newspaper clippings.

Scope and arrangement

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.

Administrative information
Custodial History

December 9, 1988, 13 items; Papers (1944, 1966), including correspondence, clippings, and a citation concerning the USS Baker (DE-190). Gift of Captain Norman C. Hoffman, USNR (Ret), Naples, Florida

Source of acquisition

Gift of Captain Norman C. Hoffman, USNR (Ret)

Processing information

Processed by S. Gibbons, November 1992

Encoded by Apex Data Services

Copyright notice

Literary rights to specific documents are retained by the authors or their descendants in accordance with U.S. copyright law.

Metadata Rights Declaration
Key terms
Personal Names
Hoffman, Norman C. (Norman Cutten), 1913-
Corporate Names
Baker (Ship)
Thomas (Destroyer escort)
United States. Naval Reserve
United States. Navy--Officers
Topical
Anti-submarine warfare
Destroyer escorts
World War, 1939-1945--Campaigns--North Atlantic Ocean