New Jersey and World War II are not something you always here in the same sentence, but it appears at least at one point they were. Nearly 100 years ago there was a naval incident that did happen during the war just miles off the coast right here in Ocean County and it was on this day in history.

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On this day in history February 28th in 1942 there was an attack by Nazis and it was right off the coast of Lavallette, right here in Ocean County. Imagine that, an attack by Germany right near Ocean County, New Jersey. I would say this hits close to home.

It was on this day 80 years ago in 1942 that, according to the book,”On This Day in New Jersey History”, a German submarine fired on the SS RP Resor. It was a moonlit night about 18 miles off the coast of Lavallette when explosions could be heard and fire could be seen on the coast of Ocean County. The Shark River Lifeboat Station was the first to report the attack. There were only two survivors of the attack on the SS RP Resor.

The following day a second attack took place on the USS Jacob Jones as the ship continued a search for survivors of the Resor attack. 12 sailors survived this attack by Nazis. The German Submarine or “U-Boat” was Identified as U-578. Incidentally the U-578 ended up going missing later in the summer of 1942 in the Bay of Biscay off the coast of France.

Amazing how this WWII action took place just off the coast of New Jersey.

 

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