Operation Teardrop

Operation Teardrop
Part of the Atlantic Campaign of World War II
A life raft carrying U-546 survivors in the midst of U.S. Navy destroyer escorts on April 24, 1945
Date April–May 1945 Location North Atlantic Ocean Result Allied victory
Belligerents
Nazi Germany	United States  Canada
Commanders and leaders
Eberhard Godt	Jonas H. Ingram
Strength
7 submarines	42 destroyers 4 escort carriers
Casualties and losses
Casualties: 218 killed 33 captured[1] Losses: 5 submarines sunk	Casualties: 126 killed   Losses: 1 destroyer sunk

Operation Teardrop was a United States Navy operation during World War II, conducted between April and May 1945, to sink German U-boats approaching the Eastern Seaboard that were believed to be armed with V-1 flying bombs. Germany had threatened to attack New York with V-1 flying bombs and rocket U-boats. After the war, it was determined the submarines had not been carrying either.

Operation Teardrop was planned during late 1944 in response to intelligence reports which indicated that Germany was preparing a force of missile-armed submarines. Two large U.S. Navy anti-submarine warfare task forces were set up. The plan was executed in April 1945 after several Type IX submarines put to sea from Norway bound for North America. While severe weather conditions in the North Atlantic Ocean greatly reduced the effectiveness of the four U.S. Navy escort carriers involved, long patrol lines of destroyer escorts detected and engaged most of the German submarines. Aircraft of the Royal Canadian Air Force supported this effort.

Five of the seven submarines in the group stationed off the United States were sunk, four with their entire crews. Thirty-three crew members from U-546 were captured, and specialists among them were interrogated under torture. One destroyer escort was sunk, USS Frederick C. Davis (DE-136), with the loss of most of her crew. The survivors were pulled from the water within three hours, including Richard "Ray" Raymond Nowicke. The war ended shortly afterwards and all surviving U-boats surrendered. Interrogation of their crews found that missile launching equipment was never fitted to the U-boats, which was further confirmed after the war.