Massive WWII Photos and Flags Group of the USS Otter

Because of the extraordinary size and historical importance of this group, it is being shown with two separate listings on this website in order to try to convey the scope of the group. Both of the listings should be viewed in order to appreciate the size and content of this material.

This is a remarkable and compelling group assembled by Frank Jackson, who was a member of the crew of the Destroyer Escort U.S.S. Otter during the Second World War. The group consists of over 400 photographs, both original and with some copies, relating to the service of the Otter during the war. The group also includes two original 48 star American flags used by the Otter during the war and preserved by Jackson with the photo archive.

The Otter was named for Lieutenant Bethel V. Otter, an officer who was killed in the battle for Corregidor in 1942. The ship was launched in October of 1943 and began operations in the Atlantic. In December 1944, Otter and three of her sister ships formed a task group to hunt and destroy German U-boats in the middle and north Atlantic. On 16 January 1945, without assistance from aircraft, the group located and sank the German submarine U-248. The Otter, after playing a crucial role in the depth charge attack, proudly displayed a submarine silhouette on her bridge. There were two particular episodes of note in the story of the service of the Otter, and both of them are documented in original photographs in this group. First, In April of 1945, the Otter was a part of a large task force of destroyer escorts and escort carriers patrolling the shipping lanes of the North Atlantic and searching for German submarines. During these operations, the destroyer escort USS Frederick C. Davis (DE-136) was torpedoed and sunk. While other ships of the group engaged and sank U-546, the Otter assisted in the rescue of survivors and the bodies of crewman who had been killed by the U-Boat attack. This grouping includes original photographs of the rescue efforts of the Otter, with pictures of the survivors of the Davis in the water, being brought aboard the Otter and, finally, the burial at sea ceremonies for those members of the crew of the Davis who had died in the submarine attack. There are even several rather gruesome photographs depicting members of the Davis crew who, while in the water after their ship was sunk, became victims of shark attacks.

The second episode of note in the Otter’s service came a few days after the end of the war in Europe. The USS Otter, then at sea in the waters of the North Atlantic, met and took the surrender of the German submarine U-805. When the submarine was met, a trained boarding party from the Otter took control of the U-Boat. The German crew was transferred to the Otter, an American flag was raised on U-805, and it was taken in tow and returned by the Otter to the United States. This group includes a number of photographs relating to the capture of U-805, including a photograph of the Otter boarding party and photos of U-805 and its crew. The group even includes several German photographs that Jackson notes were taken from the captured submariners of U-805.

Of course, the images of the group posted here cannot begin to convey all of the significant aspects of the content of the group. In “Part II” of this listing there has been posted not only additional images of the group, but also the detailed narrative report of the Otter on the capture of U-805 (this excerpt having been found on an internet site about U-Boats). This narrative account, posted in part II of this listing, reads like something from a movie.

This USS Otter grouping, which is illustrated in part in two listings on the site, consists of the following items:

– Two wool, 48 star American flags from the USS Otter. Each flag is about 28 inches wide on the hoist edge. The lengths are altered by the fact that the fly ends of both flags became tattered from use in the North Atlantic. One of the flags is accompanied by a small card on which Frank Jackson wrote “#1 Flag flown on U.S.S. Otter DE-210 F.A.J. Sr.”. This flag had two steel grommets on the hoist edge, one of which is missing. The other flag is accompanied by a handwritten note (written on the back of a raffle ticket) which states “#2 Steaming Ensign USS Otter DE 210 From Bill “Sam” Nielson (Cleaner One)”. On the hoist edge of this flag is written “DE210 USS Otter”. The hoist edge of this flag has four steel grommets. (As a note, it seems that when a U.S. Navy vessel was in port, the American flag was flown in one location on board the ship as its “jsck” ; when the ship got underway, the flag was moved on to the ship’s mast and then became the ship’s “steaming ensign”). The narrative report on the capture of U-805 states that “Upon boarding the submarine the Officer-in-Charge immediately sent a signalman to cut down the [U-Boat’s] black surrender flag and put up the American ensign.” Ir seems at least possible that one of the American flags in this group was the flag raised over the captured U-805 while it was in the possession of the USS Otter.

– The World War II photograph album compiled by Frank Jackson. This scrap book album was actually manufactured to look like a fine book. It is 6 1/2 by 9 1/2 inches in size and about 1 1/2 inches thick. The album contains 144 photographs, mounted with photo corners, and virtually every photograph seems to have been annotated on the reverse with identifying or explanatory details. The photographs encompass many images of members of the ship’s crew, the USS Otter in ports; The Otter at sea; the rescue of the survivors of the USS Frederick C. Davis; and the capture of the German submarine U-805. The album includes several photos taken from the captured crew members of the U Boat, including a photograph of Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz and a group photo of the U-805’s crew that had been taken in Germany. This album, in and of itself, is an amazing and exceptional photographic chronicle of an American warship at sea in the Atlantic during the Second World War.

– Three loose leaf binders, each with plastic pocketed sleeves, containing over 250 photographs of the Otter, her service, and her crew. These album include 8 by 10 inch official Navy press photos of the launching of the Otter. The albums also contain some original period photos, very much like those contained in the scrap book album. And many of the photographs in the binder are copies of photographs. In some cases they are copies of photos, or portions of photos, from the scrap book album. In other cases they are copies of different period photographs taken during the war on the Otter. A number of these copied photographs have identifying information on them. In fact, there are several photographs of members of the captured crew of U-805 which, on the reverse, actually identify by name the Kriegsmarine officers who are in the photographs.

It seems that Frank Jackson was heavily involved in the post-war reunions and activities of the crew of the Otter. It is likely that, as a part of this activity, Jackson assembled copies of photographs taken during the war by other crew members in order to assemble a true archive of the exploits of the USS Otter and her men during the war. This group, which includes Jackson’s personal album of over 140 photographs and two of the Otter’s war flags, represents an extraordinary grouping that reoords and preserves the service on an American warship form the Second World War.