Radio Technician 2nd Class, Boyd D. Smith MIA/KIA
Hometown: Omaha, Nebraska
Ship: USS Dorado (SS-248)
His Name is engraved: War Memorial at Bayliss Park, in Council Bluffs, Iowa
Awards: American Campaign Medal
Captain: Lt. Commander Earle Caffrey Schneider
Mission: Transfer Mission
Mission Date: on or about 14-Oct-42
Location: Caribbean Sea Off The coast of Panama
Cause: Unclear Sunk, possibly by German mine or U.S. aircraft
Complement: 6 officers, 54 enlisted
Explanation Notes:
Keel was laid down on 27 August 1942 by the Electric Boat Company of Groton, Connecticut. She was launched on 23 May 1943 (sponsored by Mrs. Ezra G. Allen), and commissioned on 28 August 1943. Dorado's sea trials proved the readiness of the crew, and she sailed from New London, Connecticut, on 6 October 1943 for the Panama Canal Zone. She did not arrive.
The standard practice of imposing bombing restrictions within an area 50 nmi (93 km) ahead, 100 nmi (190 km) astern, and 15 nmi (28 km) on each side of the scheduled position of an un-escorted submarine making passage in friendly waters had been carried out and all concerned had been notified. However, the crew of a PBM Mariner of Patrol Squadron 210 out of Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, assigned to provide air coverage on the evening of 12 October had received an incorrect description of the restriction area, and is believed to have mistakenly attacked the USS Dorado with depth charges. The PBM crew insisted that their attacks were made on enemy U Boats. On 8 October, five miles off Colón Panama, U-214 laid a minefield of 15 mines. One of these may have sunk the US Navy submarine Dorado on or about 14 October.
Source: ancestry.com (photo included)
[Further Notes submitted by Navy Retiree & Researcher, E.A. Nielsen]
Smith was lost on the Dorado when a U.S. patrol aircraft thought it to be German and bombed it. Wall was lost with the Seawolf when the USS Rowell mistook it for a Japanese submarine and depth charged it.
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