I remember the 3 German E Boats attempting to penatrate the screen off Southern France. The bridge picked up on radar an E boat off our starboard side around 10 p.m. They put the search light on the E boat to identify it and fired on it. We stopped and picked up two survivors and satisfied they were Germans we took off Flank speed and dropped a shallow depth charge to sink the E boat.

The rest of the night until early dawn we chased the other two boats E boats and forced them on to the beach, shelled and destroyed them. The two survivors reported that the torpedo aimed at us jammed and was unable to release it off the E boat. "Lucky for the Hughes".

I also recall a collision with a tanker near Bermuda. The tanker had engine trouble and we were sent to stand by her. The captain came on the bridge, the officer on the bridge assumed the Captain would give the orders and the Captain thought the officer on deck would give the orders and we hit the tanker.

I was on watch in the forward fireroom when the emergency astern sounded at that same time we hit the tanker. There were no casualties on the Greek tanker and we were able to continue to Casablanca to a dry dock for temporary repairs.

Anthony (Tony) Zarella
472 River Road. Rumney, NH 03266-6517
BT Forward Fireroom
USS Charles F. Hughes DD 428

A group of shipmates from the C.F. Hughes.