On this day in 1918 Cape Cod came under attack from a German submarine.
Off the coast of Nauset Beach in Orleans U-156 attacked the tugboat
"Perth Amboy" and four wooden barges. With a combination of fire from
the deck gun and torpedoes the tugboat was sunk and barges and town of
Orleans came under fire also. The nearby Chatham Naval Air Station was
alerted and joined foray to thwart the German attack. Unfortunately they
were dropping duds or completely missed there mark. All 32 merchant
sailors, including the tugboat Captain's wife and child, were saved. It
was the first attack on the continental United States from a foreign
power since the Mexican War in 1846. The U-156 then left to continue
it's mission elsewhere.
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