If you knew or served with this Sailor and have additional information or photos to support this Page, please leave a message for the Page Administrator(s) HERE.
Contact Info
Home Town Omaha, Nebraska
Last Address Burial: Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale) Los Angeles County, California, USA Plot: Corridor of Glory, GM, Holly Terrace, Lot 0, Space 14434
Date of Passing Jul 31, 1981
Location of Interment Forest Lawn Memorial Park - Glendale, California
Wall/Plot Coordinates Corridor of Glory, No. 14434
Captain Herbert Gordon Claudius, USN (Ret.) USNR 1930-1946, transfered to USN 1946-1963
Naval officer, Commanding Officer of Coastal Patrol Boat 566 (PC-566, later the USS Honesdale), a sub chaser. He gave orders to launch depth charges on a suspected enemy submarine in the Gulf of Mexico after having just witnessed the sinking of the SS Robert E. Lee. Evidence showed a potential sinking of the submarine by the 566. However, then US Navy officials highly doubted his report. Instead of being praised and revered, LtCdr Claudius was relieved of command and sent to ASW school again. For years, he had this stain on his record.
Seven decades later, wreckage of a German submarine was found in the area indicated by Lt Commander Claudius. With the help of several people, including a marine archeologist surveying the Gulf floor in 2011, & from the underwater archology branch at the Navy History & Heritage Command under director Robert Neyland, and using the most recent data from a 2013 expedition in the Gulf of Mexico lead by Oceanographer, Bob Ballard, he was vindicated!
In 2014, 72 years later his only surviving son, Gordon Claudius, received posthumously the Legion of Merit with a Combat "V", for Valor while under combat, from the Chief of Naval Operations, Jonathan Greenert, and Sec. Of the Navy Ray Mabus on behalf of his deceased father. Lt. Commander Herbert G. Claudius was correct in his after action report that day and the record is now corrected.
Other Comments:
WASHINGTON - The Navy has posthumously awarded the Legion of Merit with a Combat "V" device to Herbert G. Claudius, 72 years after it dismissed his claims that he and his crew sunk a German U-boat off the coast of Louisiana during World War II.
Captain Herbert G. Claudius, then a Lieutenant Commander, has finally been recognized for his actions on July 30, 1942, when he led the patrol ship USS PC-566 into battle against a German submarine that had been attacking American vessels.
Minutes after the passenger ship SS Robert E. Lee was torpedoed and sunk by U-166 45 miles south of the Mississippi River Delta, Claudius' crew spotted a periscope in the area. After Claudius ordered depth charges fired, the crew saw an oil slick in the area where the weapons were dropped, according to historical accounts of the incident. This was strong evidence that the submarine had been severely damaged or destroyed.
But when Claudius submitted his after-action report, the Navy doubted his account because he and his crew had not yet received anti-submarine training, according to National Geographic, which is making a documentary about the affair.
The Navy's Anti-Submarine Warfare Assessment Committee even admonished the crew for a poorly executed attack, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.
Claudius was removed from command and sent to anti-submarine warfare school.
"Claudius was shafted," U-boat expert Richie Kohler said, according to National Geographic. "He should have returned home a hero, but he was humiliated and sent back to school."
But the Navy has since come around. Nearly 60 years after the fact, an oil company discovered U-boat wreckage very close to where the battle occurred. Last summer, oceanographer Robert Ballard explored the site with remotely piloted vehicles and conducted high-resolution mapping to try to figure out what happened. The evidence suggested that U-166 had in fact been destroyed by a depth charge.
After concluding its own historic and archeological assessment, the Naval History and Heritage Command recommended the service credit PC-556 and Claudius for sinking the U-boat and give them the appropriate recognition.
Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus acknowledged that the Navy made a mistake.
.oOo.
USS Floyd B. Parks DD-884
"The Fightin' Floyd B" Korean War Service, Commander H.G. Claudius
in command from April 1949 to December 1951
First U.N. Counter Offensive 1951: 16-Mar.-51 21-Apr.-51, One Battle Star.
Communist China Spring Offensive1951: 11-Apr.-51 16-May-51, One Battle Star.
U.N.Summer-Fall Offensive 1951: 11-Jul.- 51 22-Sep-5, One Battle Star.
Commander Claudius was awarded the "Legion of Merit" with combat "V" for his command leadership in this activity. While on the PARKS in July, 1951, he was promoted to the rank of Captain.
Description As 1951 drew to a close, a lull had settled over the battlefield. Fighting tapered off to a routine of patrol clashes, raids, and bitter small-unit struggles for key outpost positions. The lull resulted from Ridgway's decision to halt offensive operations in Korea, because the cost of major assaults on the enemy's defenses would be more than the results could justify. Furthermore, the possibility of an armistice agreement emerging from the recently reopened talks ruled out the mounting of any large-scale offensive by either side. On 21 November Ridgway ordered the Eighth Army to cease offensive operations and begin an active defense of its front. Attacks were limited to those necessary to strengthen the main line of resistance and to establish an adequate outpost line.
In the third week of December the U.S. 45th Division, the first National Guard division to fight in Korea, replaced the 1st Cavalry Division in the I Corps sector north of Seoul. The 1st Cavalry Division returned to Japan.
In the air, U.N. bombers and fighter-bombers continued the interdiction campaign (Operation STRANGLE, which the Far East Air Forces had begun on 15 August 1951) against railroad tracks, bridges, and highway traffic. At sea, naval units of nine nations tightened their blockade around the coastline of North Korea. Carrier-based planes blasted railroads, bridges, and boxcars, and destroyers bombarded enemy gun emplacements and supply depots. On the ground, the 155-mile front remained generally quiet in the opening days of 1952. Later in January the Eighth Army opened a month-long artillery-air campaign against enemy positions, which forced the enemy to dig in deeply. During March and April Van Fleet shifted his units along the front to give the ROK Army a greater share in defending the battle line and to concentrate American fire power in the vulnerable western sector.
My Participation in This Battle or Operation
From Month/Year
November / 1951
To Month/Year
December / 1951
Last Updated: Mar 16, 2020
Personal Memories
Memories PARKS' WESTPAC activity: Captain Claudius commanded during four WESTPAC tours. The PARKS was now involved in the Korean Conflict. The ship performed superbly in conducting shore bombardment and blockade duties in the Bay of Wonsan, North Korea. Captain Claudius was awarded the "Legion of Merit" for his command leadership in this activity. While on the PARKS in July, 1951, he was promoted to the rank of Captain.
USS Floyd B. Parks DD-884 "The Fightin' Floyd B" Korean War Service, Commander H.G. Claudius in command from April 1949 to December 1951.
First U.N. Counter Offensive 1951: 16-Mar.-51 21-Apr.-51, One Battle Star. Communist China Spring Offensive1951: 11-Apr.-51 16-May-51, One Battle Star. U.N.Summer-Fall Offensive 1951: 11-Jul.- 51 22-Sep-5, One Battle Star.
Commander Claudius was awarded the "Legion of Merit" for his command leadership in this activity. While on the PARKS in July, 1951, he was promoted to the rank of Captain.
