Tuesday, March 21, 2017

It's U-124's Ocean War;
We're Just Re-Living It

Sat. 21 March 1942
Atlantic
Unarmed U.S. tanker Esso Nashville is torpedoed by German submarine U-124 off Frying Pan Lightship Buoy, 33°35'N, 77°22'W. High speed transport McKean (APD 5) rescues eight survivors from two lifeboats; Coast Guard cutters Tallapoosa (WPG-52) and Agassiz (WPC-126) recover the rest (21 men and 8 men, respectively). After Esso Nashville breaks in two, tug Umpqua (AT-25) tows the after end of the vessel to Morehead City, North Carolina. Later, U-124 torpedoes tanker Atlantic Sun off Beaufort (North Carolina) Lightship, but inflicts little damage; there are no casualties among the 40-man merchant complement or the 5-man Armed Guard and Atlantic Sun reaches Beaufort without further incident.
Well, nobody's perfect.

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