On July 21, 1918 the only attack on American soil during WWI took place.
At about 10:30 a.m. a German U-boat started firing at an American tugboat, the Perth Amboy, off the coast of Orleans on Cape Cod. The tug was towing 4 barges along the Outer Cape, headed for Virginia. The Captain of the tug, James Tarpley, had been sound asleep in his berth when the first torpedo landed on the beach creating “a great thunderous roar.” He fell out of bed and stumbled to the deck and saw what looked like an enormous submarine, he is quoted as saying later, “This, I was sure, was the source of the trouble.”*
Despite being in fairly close quarters most of the charges landed on the beach. The tug boat captain was also quoted as saying “I never saw a more glaring example of rotten marksmanship.” *
Hearing the commotion townspeople began to run down to the beach and to the bluffs above. Dr. Danforth Taylor of Boston had a summer home on the bluffs, he “sat on the piazza” of his cottage and phoned in a blow by blow account to the Boston Globe as it was happening. (Headline the following day, “Allies Have Huns On The Run).
At a nearby Coast Guard station a watchman heard the explosions and alerted his commanding officer. The commander ordered a surf boat launched but when it became clear he was up against a 200 foot submarine he was at a loss as to what to do. (My research on surf-boats in 1918 indicate they were 26 foot wooden vessels with 12 hp motors). They would ultimately rescue passengers from the barges as the sub was able to sink 3 of the 4 barges.
The Coast Guard commander put in a call to the Chatham Naval Air Station which was 10 miles away. The executive officer at Chatham had heard the sounds and identified them as shellfire even before getting the phone message however he was having some trouble too. Most of his pilots were away searching for a missing blimp. Those pilots not searching for the blimp were engaged in a baseball game against the crew of a minesweeper in Provincetown. The first plane they attempted to use developed spark plug problems and couldn’t take off. A second plane was prepared but was known to have a crankshaft problem that could cause engine failure.
An Ensign Lingard took off anyway with a single bomb. At 10:58 Lingard was directly over the U-boat and his Chief Mechanic pulled the lever to release the bomb but it didn’t move. The Chief then jumped out of the plane onto the lower wing and released the bomb, it was a dud and failed to detonate.
Shortly after 11:00 a.m. Captain Eaton, returned from searching for the blimp, took off with his single bomb. Facing shrapnel fire from the sub Captain Eaton released his bomb, it too was a dud and failed to detonate. Captain Eaton then threw a monkey wrench at the submarine followed by the rest of the tools on the aircraft. Frightened by the unexploded bomb, the U-156 charted a zig-zag course out of the area. The attack was over after approximately 90 minutes. Thankfully, although there were injuries there was no loss of life.
No one is sure why the sub was so close to shore, some speculate that he was trying to cut the trans-Atlantic cable.