The Battle of the Atlantic Right Off U.S. Coast

From the July 8, 2011, Baltimore Sun by Frank D. Roylance.

After the U.S. entered the war, German U-boats shifted operations to off the American coast and were winning the Battle of the Atlantic in that area until July 1942, when they moved to attacking the North Atlantic Convoys.  Some 397 ships were sunk off the U.S. coasts.

Ships sunk by U-boats (and one by accident):

W.L. STEED--  Unarmed tanker sunk Feb. 2, 1942, with 66,000 barrels of crude oil, 90 miles off Ocean City, Maryland.  Only a few of the crew survived.

JOHN MORGAN--  Liberty Ship built in 1943 by the Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyards in Baltimore.  On its maiden voyage, it collided with another vessel off Cape Henry and sank with a cargo of fighter planes, tanks, arms and ammunition.  Sixty-seven crew members and guards died.

VARANGER--  Norwegian tanker torpedoed Jan. 25, 1942, with 12,750 tons of fuel oil.  As the crew took to the lifeboats, the U-boat fired three more torpedoes..  Sank 28 miles southeast of Atlantic City, NJ.  The lifeboats were spotted and fishing boats towed them to shore.

INDIA ARROW--  Oil tanker.  Torpedoes and sunk Feb. 5, 1942, 20 miles southeast of Cape May, NJ, with 88,369 barrels of crude oil.  None officers and 29 crew abandoned ship.  Only 12 survived.

The reason for the article is the danger of the fuel the ship's carried getting out into the sea with the ocean's corrosive elements.

In Hawaii, the USS Arizona had 1.1 million gallons of fuel when it was sunk December 7, 1941, and about half is still on board and slowly leaking to the surface, "The Tears of the Arizona."

Most Americans Don't Even Know About the Battle Off Our Shore During World War II.  --GreGen