Attack on Orleans

For similarly titled battles, see Battle of Orléans.

Attack on Orleans
Part of the U-boat campaign of World War I

Imperial German Ensign and US media coverage of the Attack on Orleans
Date21 July 1918
Location
off Orleans, Massachusetts, United States, Atlantic Ocean
Result German victory
Belligerents
 United States  German Empire
Commanders and leaders
unknown German Empire Kapitänleutnant Richard Feldt[1][2]
Strength
Sea:
Tugboat Perth Amboy
Schooner Lansford
3 barges
Air:
9 Curtiss HS seaplanes		 Submarine U-156
Casualties and losses
Perth Amboy damaged
Lansford and 3 barges sunk
no casualties		 none

The attack on Orleans was a naval and air action during World War I on 21 July 1918 when a German submarine fired on a small convoy of barges led by a tugboat off Orleans, Massachusetts, on the eastern coast of the Cape Cod peninsula. Several shells fired during the engagement likely missed their intended maritime or aircraft targets and fell to earth in the area around Orleans, giving the impression of a deliberate attack on the town.[1]

  1. ^ a b Biggers, W. Watts (1985). "The Germans are Coming! The Germans are Coming!". Proceedings. 111 (6). United States Naval Institute: 38–43.
  2. ^ Hodos, Paul (2017). The Kaiser's Lost Kreuzer: A History of U-156 and Germany's Long-Range Submarine Campaign Against North America, 1918 (1st ed.). Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland Publishing. pp. 84–88. ISBN 978-1476671628. Retrieved 17 January 2021.