Story 1643
North of Scapa Flow, November 5, 1942
Cold spray broke over the battleship’s bow. Behind USS North Carolina, USS Wasp followed, her flight deck wet and slippery. She had landed both of her dive bomber squadrons. Instead, she had raided the fighter complement of an American escort carrier to add an extra eight Wildcats to her air group. She would support only Grummans on this trip as the surface threat was minimal and the Luftwaffe had been seen to shift most of the anti-shipping units to Sicily. A little more than two thirds of an air group would be sufficient for her last trip into the Norwegian Sea before she would be recalled to Norfolk. All the planes were already tied down in the hanger.
Three hundred miles to the north of the departing covering force, PQ-23 was fighting through waves. Forty five merchant ships were being covered by a destroyer squadron and a cruiser division. A trio of tugs as well as an anti-aircraft vessel completed the close escort. The forty five ships were in nine columns of five.
As they steamed into the edge of the storm, SS Ohio fell out of line. A man fell overboard. The American tanker made bare steerage for half an hour before her skipper ordered full speed to rejoin the convoy. In good weather at this time of year, a man might last twenty minutes in the sea. He would have had a chance to survive 10 minutes in the twenty five foot rollers.
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