Never to Return
By (author) Randall Peffer, Robert Nersasian
Publication date:
01 December 2017Length of book:
264 pagesPublisher
Lyons PressISBN-13: 9781493031221
Selected for the USCG Commandant's 2018 Reading List
Never to Return is the harrowing tale of the torpedoing and sinking of a Coast Guard ship and the loss of 171 Coast Guardsmen off the coast of Iceland during WWII.
The USS Leopold was a U.S. Coast Guard destroyer escort in a convoy of merchant ships carrying war materiel to England, on the lookout for the deadly U-boat wolf packs lurking in the North Atlantic. The Leopold was largely unarmored, lightly armed, and no match for the U-255’s torpedoes. Never to Return is the story of gunner Sparky Nersasian and his shipmates’ struggles to survive the Leopold’s sinking.
Never to Return is the harrowing tale of the torpedoing and sinking of a Coast Guard ship and the loss of 171 Coast Guardsmen off the coast of Iceland during WWII.
The USS Leopold was a U.S. Coast Guard destroyer escort in a convoy of merchant ships carrying war materiel to England, on the lookout for the deadly U-boat wolf packs lurking in the North Atlantic. The Leopold was largely unarmored, lightly armed, and no match for the U-255’s torpedoes. Never to Return is the story of gunner Sparky Nersasian and his shipmates’ struggles to survive the Leopold’s sinking.
"In Never to Return, Randall Peffer and Col. Robert Nersasian meticulously document the heart-breaking true-life story of the United States Coast Guard's worst war-time maritime disaster. In finely wrought detail they render the sinking of the USS Leopold from both the United States and German points-of-view in gripping and dramatic detail. This book belongs on the shelves of every maritime historian and enthusiast."—Peter Stekel, author of Beneath Haunted Waters