Original Item: Only One Available. Fantastic original World War 2 Fire Away! Buy Extra Bonds poster. Full color print of two sailors on a Navy submarine at sea. One sailor is using a search light and the other is looking through binoculars. The sailors wear blue jackets and knitted "watch caps". A U.S. flag can be seen on the ship deck below as well as an artillery gun.

"In memory, U.S.S. Dorado" - At upper left corner of poster. Logo near bottom of poster: "5th 'V' War Loan".

The poster does show original fold marks made for the shipping and distribution process, but unfortunately, after being folded and unfolded for many years it has cause some minor separation. The middle fold towards the bottom has a tear approximately 3 inches in length. The edges and corners have wear present as well as tearing. The colors look fantastic and only exhibit minor fading, but still lovely and easily discernible.

Designed in 1994 by artist Georges Schreiber (1904-1977) commemorates the sinking of the USS Dorado submarine in this 1944 War Bonds poster entitled, Fire Away, for the Fifth War Loan. Schreiber sailed aboard the ship in the summer of 1943 and had a personal connection to the tragedy. USS Dorado (SS-248) was a Gato-class submarine. Her keel was laid down on 27 August 1942 by the Electric Boat Company of Groton, Connecticut and was commissioned on 28 August 1943 under the command of Lieutenant Commander Earle Caffrey Schneider. The USS Dorado sailed for the Panama Canal for use in the East Asia war effort. The submarine was sunk off the coast of Cuba due to a minefield left by a German-NSDAP U Boat.

Read on the lower edge "U.S. Government Printing Office : 1944-O-581636" and "WFD 908-A". Measures approximately 20" x 27 ½”.

A rare vintage U.S. Sub poster from WW2!

USS Dorado
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 unescorted 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, 11 nmi (20 km) out of place.

At 2049 local time, under a moon-lit but stormy sky, that plane attacked an unidentified submarine that it believed was outside the restriction area with three Mark-47 depth charges and a 100 lb (45 kg) Mark-4 Mod-4 demolition bomb. About two hours later, the plane sighted a second submarine with which it attempted to exchange recognition signals. This second submarine fired upon the plane.

A convoy scheduled to pass through the restricted area surrounding Dorado on the evening of 12 October reported no contact.

Air searches were begun immediately after 14 October, her scheduled date of arrival. Widely scattered oil slicks with occasional debris were found. Subsequently, the Board of Investigation held in Guantánamo Bay, and the more formal Naval Board of Inquiry held at the Washington Navy Yard, found that the "widely scattered oil slicks" were actually oleous in nature and not bunker oil or fuel - most probably rotting vegetation like seaweed. All of the "occasional debris" was determined not to have come from Dorado.

At both the Board of Investigation and the Court of Inquiry, the aircrew testified that they were certain that both submarines they had attacked were U-boats. Despite the circumstantial evidence, there are reasons to doubt that Dorado was sunk by the Mariner. Because the crew knew that Dorado was operating in the area, they carefully observed their two targets before attacking. Prior to the first attack, the four crewmen of the aircraft observed the surfaced submarine for 12 minutes, noting:

it was 48 nmi (89 km) from where they had been told to expect Dorado to be and 34 nmi (63 km) from where Dorado really was supposed to be
it was heading almost 90 degrees off from Dorado’s base course
it had no guns on the fore deck where Dorado carried a five-inch (127 mm) gun
it had an entirely grooved deck where Dorado's deck was grooved only near the conning tower
it had a "knob-like" object on the front of the conning tower, almost certainly the Metox radar detector installed on Type IX U-boats

Post-war examination of Kriegsmarine records indicate that the submarine first attacked by the Mariner may have been U-518, though that boat's logs do not record the attack. It is possible that the attack went unnoticed by the boat; of the three depth charges and one 100-pound bomb that were dropped, one depth charge was a confirmed dud, one was dropped too low to arm, and neither the third depth charge nor the bomb were seen to explode. After the attack, the Mariner searched the area for 20 minutes, but saw no explosions, bubbles, or debris.

The second submarine, attacked by the Mariner two hours later, was certainly U-214; her log book, captured after World War II, describes firing at the aircraft.

On 8 October, five miles off Colón, U-214 laid a minefield of 15 mines. One of these may have sunk the USS Dorado on or about 14 October.

Home Front Posters during WWII
Guns, tanks, and bombs were the principal weapons of World War II, but there were other, more subtle forms of warfare as well. Words, posters, and films waged a constant battle for the hearts and minds of the American citizenry just as surely as military weapons engaged the enemy. Persuading the American public became a wartime industry, almost as important as the manufacturing of bullets and planes. The Government launched an aggressive propaganda campaign with clearly articulated goals and strategies to galvanize public support, and it recruited some of the nation's foremost intellectuals, artists, and filmmakers to wage the war on that front.

The Government tried to identify the most effective poster style. One government-commissioned study concluded that the best posters were those that made a direct, emotional appeal and presented realistic pictures in photographic detail. The study found that symbolic or humorous posters attracted less attention, made a less favorable impression, and did not inspire enthusiasm. Nevertheless, many symbolic and humorous posters were judged to be outstanding in national poster competitions during the war.

“The mortal realities of war must be impressed vividly on every citizen. There is a lighter side to the war picture, particularly among Americans, who are irrepressibly cheerful and optimistic. But war means death. It means suffering and sorrow. The men in the service are given no illusions as to the grimness of the business in which they are engaged. We owe it to them to rid ourselves of any false notions we may have about the nature of war.”

- Government Information Manual for the Motion Picture Industry Office of War Information