DOB/DOD: August 17, 1903 (Rockland, MI) – April 10, 1943; 39 years old
MARITAL STATUS: Married Margaret E. Ahern Lakeman (1900-1955) in 1941
CHILDREN: William A. Fifield II (1942-2021)
LOCAL ADDRESS: Saybrook
SERVICE NUMBER: Z-083465
FAMILY: Born to William A. (1870-1957) and Margaret Greenlaw Fifield (1875-1967). One sister, Lillian Fifield Alden (1905-1977).
CIRCUMSTANCES: On March 1, 1943, the SS Edward B. Dudley was in Savannah, GA, taking on its first cargo. The Liberty ship had recently been built in Wilmington, NC, and this was the first leg of its maiden voyage. From Savannah, the ship sailed to New York, where it took on additional cargo, bound for Liverpool via Halifax, Nova Scotia. Total cargo at this point was 4000 tons of Cotton, munitions, and food.
He had signed on as Second Mate, and he was on board on April 4, 1943, as the ship left New York with convoy HX-232, bound for Halifax. The ship was armed with one 4in and nine 20mm guns and a US Navy Armed Guard crew of 27 men. The rest of her complement, all Merchant Marine, included eight officers and 34 crewmen.
After leaving Halifax, still in convoy, the Edward B. Dudley began to straggle and fall behind the convoy. There is speculation that this was due to (a) bent propeller blade(s). Whatever the reason, the ship was not seen or heard from again, and none of the 69 men on board were ever found.
Some years later, the fates of the Edward B. Dudley and her men were learned from German Naval Records. The following is a narrative based on the information in those records.
On Apr 10th, the Liberty ship was spotted in the North Atlantic (52N, 39W) by German submarine U-615. The sub fired off a spread of four torpedoes, but only one hit the ship, and it failed to explode. In an effort to evade another torpedo, the ship began sailing a zigzag course. The U-boat followed it all that night, finally getting ahead of the ship and waiting for it to approach. When the Edward B. Dudley came within its sights, U-615 fired two torpedoes, hitting it amidships and causing it to stop – but it did not sink. U-615 then came to within a half mile of the ship and fired another torpedo, hitting the stern and detonating the magazine for the 4-in gun. Although the Edward B. Dudley remained afloat, the crew began abandoning ship in the lifeboats. The sub moved closer and fired a fourth torpedo, hitting the ship under the bridge and igniting its cargo of munitions, which exploded and utterly destroyed the Liberty ship. So great was the explosion that even those who had made it into the lifeboats were probably killed at that time.
There were 42 Merchant Mariners and 27 US Navy Armed Guards on board. None survived.
Epilogue: Falling debris damaged U-615 and wounded its captain (Kapitsky), causing the sub to end its patrol and return to base. On its next patrol, U-615 was sunk in the Caribbean by Allied aircraft.
Memorialized on a headstone in Achorn Cemetery, 480 Old County Road, Rockland, Maine.
