Supporting Greenland
Photos from Arthur Altvater's USS Laramie (AO-16) Album (ca. 1942-1943).
Text by Ramon Jackson

So much of the popular history of war is in the part featuring the noise, destruction, death and stink. The histories of the battles get the circulation. The histories of what every successful general and admiral knows well is the true basis for victory, logistics, sit on the shelves largely unread by the public. While scanning Arthur's photos something struck me. The USS Laramie spent much of the war supporting Greenland. She shuttled between New York and more northern ports like Halifax with fuel and supplies for that "vital" front -- Greenland. What a backwater job!

People who know the real history of the Second World War probably already know that last sentence isn't really true. There was a war in Greenland. It involved to a great extent weather. Yes, the island had some base facilities for air and sea forces working to fill the "black hole" in the North Atlantic where U-boats had "happy times," but the key was weather. A small, interesting little war was fought over the ability to measure the weather in Greenland. It had vast importance.

USS Laramie set out from ports such as these with fuel and stores for Greenland. On the trip she was torpedoed she was carrying aviation gasoline and depth charges. It was cold work.

One of the few captioned photos: "8° Below Zero New York Harbor"

Captioned "St. John's, Newfoundland" (ca. 1943)

The war started right outside these ports. As soon as the booms and nets were cleared a torpedo was a very real possibility. The run to Greenland might seem to be on the "safe" side of the ocean, but ships were burning in sight of the cities and people stood on beaches in Florida watching tankers flame. There was no "safe" side. A constant watch for subs and torpedoes had to be kept.

Then Greenland. The great island capped in an ice sheet with a fringe of rock and ice bound shores. Fog rolling off, sea smoke rising, ice floes, growlers, rocks . . .

Even here escort was a comfort.

Passages through the ice and big chunks maybe a bit too close for comfort.

Then it was work delivering the cargo

And maybe thoughts of that wonderful liberty ashore . . .

Eight Ball, Laramie's mascot. Arthur tells me he eventually went on liberty and never came back. In an interview, published in Sun Day Magazine, June 18 1972, Bob Mills reports Eight Ball "jumped ship" to a Russian vessel alongside "enticed by the beauty and wiles of a Russian" cat.

There was civilization and liberty -- of sorts

And time to just take photos and relax between chipping paint and ice and doing other routine ship's work

None of the people in the photos are identified

Why was this worth the trouble and, when the "backwater" became the front, the lives? Even here there were casualties and Laramie came very, very close to being one of those infernos incinerating her crew. She was extremely fortunate, but Arthur lost shipmates as he tells at another site.

The real war in Greenland was fought over weather stations. The Germans attempted repeatedly to establish weather stations in the Arctic, particularly Greenland. Allied ski patrols fought a quiet little "weather war" over the rights to observe the weather generator for much of the European battle fronts. What happened here determined whether there would be a clear night over bomber's targets or fields in England would be socked in.

Allied observations here, while Germans were denied the opportunity, gave a few days advance notice of another of those under valued (by the public at least) factors in war -- "General" Weather. He could make or break a campaign or a battle. The Greenland advantage in predicting his moves allowed the Allies to plan ahead and kept the European Axis uncertain of his moves. It was a constant, having an effect on air and naval plans during the striking back and building up days.

In the end, this advantage gave observations that contributed to Group Captain J. M. Stagg's report to Eisenhower in that famous night when the weather report meant that huge effort to throw and invasion force onto Normandy beaches would stand down after all that loading or go. Eisenhower's weatherman knew of a break. The Germans did not. Rommel and not a few other critical officers assumed weather would close the possibility of an invasion and had taken a break. It sort of reminds one of that passage in Henry V about a little nail. If those ships had not kept Greenland active the story of early June 1944 might have been quite different.

The weather advantage continued during the battles, breakout, race to Germany and struggle to smash across the Rhine. Much or Europe's weather, perhaps the bad part, originates in the Greenland area and it was crucial. Here are some links on this story:

The World at War: Greenland 1910-1953

The Coast Gurard & the Greenland Patrol covers the Coast Guard's very large part in the Greenland area and the weather war.

Weather War By Cdr. Carl O. Schuster, USN.

This interesting historical article was unavailable for some time "Due to post 9/11 security measures, our meteorology pages got taken down . . . " according to the response to an inquiry. What nonsense! At least it is back up, but many, many other historical documents have vanished into that panic response.

SS Dorchester's Call Sign Reissued - Army transport USAT Dorchester was the ship on which the four Chaplains gave their life preservers to men and went down with the ship. She was off Greenland. This page mentions the weather war.

The attack on Laramie was part of what, in Canada, is called the Battle of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Two Canadian sites give details:

The Veteran Affairs Canada Site has a detailed account of the Battle of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, part of Operation Paukenschlag (Drumbeat). The sub page U-boat Actions contains the description and details of the attack on Laramie and others. The overall operation is the subject of an excellent book by Michael Gannon titled Operation Drumbeat : The Dramatic True Story of Germany's First U-Boat Attacks Along the American Coast in World War II.

The Musée Naval de Québec has a page with details on vessels of both sides. U-165 was operating with U-517 and it was U-165, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Eberhard Hoffman, that hit Laramie. U-165 apparently did not make it home. Ironically, on the same day of the next month that she attacked Laramie (27 August 1942) she was "Sunk 27 Sept, 1942 in the Bay of Biscay west of Lorient, position unknown, probably by air-laid mines. 51 dead (all hands lost)." [The U-boat War 1939-1945; U-165]

Bob Mills, who was also aboard when the ship was torpedoed, reports most of the photos in the Laramie collection crew members have were taken by "Doc" Beard of the ship's medical department.

"Doc" Beard

Bob Mills, in a letter to Art, wrote:

Yes, I was on the "Galloping Goose" when she was T-boned 8-27-42. I had just hit the rack (forward crews quarters beside the ladder) after securing from sunset general quarters. I heard the ship on our port beam get hit [probably Arlyn, which sank], so I hauled-ass out of there. I was standing by the gunwale tying my life jacket when the fish hit us. I was washed down the deck until I hit the mess hall bulkhead. ... By the way, the forward fuel tank was ruptured and we lost the fuel in the forward tank, I could taste it when I was washed down the deck. If we had been a Fleet oiler we would have been long gone. The Laramie was an auxiliary oiler (hence the AO) with store rooms on both sides of the tanks. That's what saved us. Fleet oilers are all tanks.

Arthur Altvater's USS Laramie memories at Slowbell (Story of the torpedoing of Laramie and burial at sea)
USS Relief's Wartime Chronicle (provided by Arthur Altvater)
Arthur Altvater's Personal USS Relief Log
Arthur Altvater's photos and the story of SNAG 56
R. Jackson's Ship Index