The Navy announcement that more than 850 lives were lost in the sinking of two North Atlantic passenger-cargo ships had driven home the U-boat peril to the U.S. (TIME, March 1). The horror came home with Signalman Robert Weikart, whose ship was the first to reach the spot where one of the torpedoed vessels went down. Said Weikart:
"We got word that a ship had been sunk during the night. I was on the signal tower when we reached the spot, just as dawn was lighting the scene.
"We saw hundreds of bodies in the water and lifeboats full of men swirled...
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