AL NUESSER rode the “R” Boats from the Caucasus to the French coast during the war. He came to the USA soon after the war, became a US citizen, and reached the rank of LCDR in the US Navy Sea Cadet program. Al began his Eternal Patrol a year or so ago, because of bone cancer. Here is his story.

In late September of 1944 Athens, the capital of Greece, was not a very good place for Germans to be in. This was especially true for military personnel evacuated from Crete and the other islands. In the city, two or three factions of guerrillas were fighting each other and at the same time they were ambushing the Germans. The British had landed in several places and were threatening highways and railways leading from Athens to the North.

Earlier in September, my unit and I had been evacuated from Crete and flown to Athens on a Blohm & Voss flying boat. This after we had destroyed our monitoring station located on a mountain top.

This was the situation when I received word from Naval Headquarters in Athens that my unit would be dissolved and that individual orders would be issued to the men. My orders called for me to embark on the ship ‘BERTA’ which turned out to be an old tanker requisitioned to carry military personnel, ammunition and equipment from Piraeus to Thessaloniki. When the ship finally got underway, I believe it was on 30 September, she sailed in a convoy with another ship, the ‘TZAR FERDINAND’ heading for the strait which separates the island of Euboea from the Greek mainland.

Both entrances to the Strait of Euboea were protected by anti-submarine net barriers and after an uneventful sail, we arrived at the northern end of the strait where we were met by an escort destroyer (formerly Italian) now manned by a German Navy crew.

In the early evening the convoy ventured out of the protection of the anti-submarine nets and into open waters. the objective was to reach Thessaloniki under the cover of darkness. However, a full moon made for a lot more light than we cared for. In addition and as we were now in open waters, we became more aware that the convoy was traveling at a speed of only 4 knots, the maximum speed the old ‘TZAR FERDINAND’ was capable of. The convoy was presenting an almost ideal target for enemy submarines.

Indeed, we didn’t have long to wait! At about 2100 hours the ‘TZAR FERDINAND’ was hit by two torpedoes and sank within minutes. ‘BERTA’ received orders to continue on her northerly course at maximum speed, which was about seven knots.

For a while, it looked like we were going to make it. However, four hours later at about 0115 hours on 3 October it was ‘BERTA’s’ turn. A torpedo hit aft in the engine compartment, and immediately the ship began to list.

Without waiting for orders, I was among the first who jumped over the side. As I surfaced and turned around, I found that I was about 100 meters away from the ship which was sinking rapidly and with a lot of noise, but without an explosion. the first thing I noticed was that the water temperature was warmer than I had thought, perhaps 68 to 70 degrees. All I was wearing was my khaki uniform. My cap, I had lost in the jump. I was still wearing my belt with holster and service pistol. An old kapok life vest was keeping me afloat. All around me were survivors who, like me, were in their life vests. The injured and the ones who had fractured their legs when the torpedo hit were placed in the one or two life rafts which had cleared the sinking ship. The escort destroyer was gone, but we were - for the most part - confident that help was on the way. There were a few who gave up; they untied their life vests and let themselves go under.

During the night we could hear the noise of aircraft flying over us, but nothing came off them.

As day light came there were survivors and dead bodies as far as I could see. Later, it must have been 0900 hours, I noticed a ship coming up on the horizon. She looked like an auxiliary warship and, as I found out later, she was the U-Jäger (Sub-Chaser) UJ-2102. The ship moved slowly while picking up survivors.

It took another two hours for the ship to come close to where I was. When she was about 50 meters away, I made a desperate effort to swim to her and grab one of the Jacobs Ladders hanging over the side. But I had no strength left and fell back into the water. If it had not been for one of the sub-chaser’s sailors who suddenly appeared in the water right next to me, I would have drowned. As it was, he tied a line around my body and I was hoisted on board like a wet bag. Once on deck, I was not able to stand on my feet and I collapsed. They gave me something to drink and wrapped me in a blanket. I passed out and was still half unconscious when, hours later, the ship docked in Thessaloniki.

I was lucky to survive, and when Germany surrendered in May of 1945, I was in training with the K-VERBAND; the German equivalent of the US Navy SEALS.