German submarine U-571 was a Type VIIC U-boat built for the Kriegsmarine of Nazi Germany for service during World War II. U-571 conducted eleven war patrols, sinking seven ships totalling 47,169 gross register tons (GRT), and damaging one other, which displaced 11,394 tons. On 28 January 1944 she was attacked by an Australian-crewed Sunderland aircraft from No. 461 Squadron RAAF west of Ireland and was destroyed by depth charges. All hands were lost.
Liberty ships were a class of cargo ship built in the United States during World War II. Though British in concept, the design was adopted by the United States for its simple, low-cost construction. Mass-produced on an unprecedented scale, the Liberty ship came to symbolize U.S. wartime industrial output.
The T2 tanker, or T2, was a class of oil tanker constructed and produced in large quantities in the United States during World War II. Only the T3 tankers were larger "navy oilers" of the period. Some 533 T2s were built between 1940 and the end of 1945. They were used to transport fuel oil, diesel fuel, gasoline and sometimes black oil-crude oil. Post war many T2s remained in use; like other hastily built World War II ships pressed into peacetime service, there were safety concerns. As was found during the war, the United States Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation in 1952 stated that in cold weather the ships were prone to metal fatigue cracking, so were "belted" with steel straps. This occurred after two T2s, Pendleton and Fort Mercer, split in two off Cape Cod within hours of each other. Pendleton's sinking is memorialized in The Finest Hours. Engineering inquiries into the problem suggested the cause was poor welding techniques. It was found the steel was not well suited for the new wartime welding construction. The high sulfur content made the steel brittle and prone to metal fatigue at lower temperatures.
RFA Aldersdale (X34) was a Dale-class fleet tanker of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary.
SS Faja de Oro was an oil tanker built in 1914. She sailed for a number of companies, and survived service in the First World War, only to be torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine during the Second World War while sailing under the Mexican flag in the Gulf of Mexico. Her sinking contributed to Mexico's decision to enter the war on the side of the Allies.
Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company Limited, often referred to simply as "Palmers", was a British shipbuilding company. The Company was based in Jarrow, County Durham, in north-eastern England, and also had operations in Hebburn and Willington Quay on the River Tyne.
MV Harpa was an oil tanker of the Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Company and was in service with the British Merchant Navy during World War II.
William Hamilton and Company was a British shipyard in Port Glasgow, Scotland. The company was bought by Lithgow Ltd., which later became Scott Lithgow and was nationalised as part of British Shipbuilders in 1977.
SS Pedernales was a lake tanker of the World War II and post war eras. She was built in 1938 in Monfalcone, Italy, and sailed under the British flag. Pedernales was severely damaged in a torpedo attack on 16 February 1942 while anchored at Aruba.
SS Potrero del Llano was an oil tanker built in 1912. She sailed for a number of companies, and survived service in the First World War, only to be torpedoed and sunk by a German U-boat during the Second World War while sailing under the Mexican flag off the coast of Florida. Her sinking contributed to Mexico's decision to enter the war on the side of the Allies.
The Battle of the Caribbean refers to a naval campaign waged during World War II that was part of the Battle of the Atlantic, from 1941 to 1945. German U-boats and Italian submarines attempted to disrupt the Allied supply of oil and other material. They sank shipping in the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico and attacked coastal targets in the Antilles. Improved Allied anti-submarine warfare eventually drove the Axis submarines out of the Caribbean region.
German submarine U-564 was a Type VIIC U-boat built for Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine for service during the Second World War. The RAF sank her in the Bay of Biscay on 14 June 1943.
Short Brothers Limited was a British shipbuilding company formed in 1850 and based at Pallion, Sunderland since 1869. The company closed in 1964 when it failed to invest to build bigger ships.
SS British Consul was a tanker built by Sir James Laing & Sons Ltd., Sunderland in 1924 and operated by the British Tanker Company.
The Attack on Aruba was an attack on oil installations and tankers by Axis submarines during World War II. On 16 February 1942, a German U-boat attacked the small Dutch island of Aruba. Other submarines patrolled the area for shipping and they sank or damaged tankers. Aruba was home to two of the largest oil refineries in the world during the war against the Axis powers, the Arend Petroleum Maatschappij, situated near the Oranjestad harbor, and the Lago Oil and Transport Company at the San Nicolas harbor. The attack resulted in the disruption of vital Allied fuel production.
The Torpedo Alley, or Torpedo Junction, off North Carolina, is one of the graveyards of the Atlantic Ocean, named for the high number of attacks on Allied shipping by German U-boats in World War II. Almost 400 ships were sunk, mostly during the Second Happy Time in 1942, and over 5,000 people were killed, many of whom were civilians and merchant marines. Torpedo Alley encompassed the area surrounding the Outer Banks, including Cape Lookout and Cape Hatteras.
The St. Johns River Shipbuilding Company was created in Jacksonville, Florida during World War II to build Liberty ships.
SS Camden was an American 6,653-ton tanker built by the New York Shipbuilding Company of Camden, New Jersey, for the Charles Kurz & Co. Inc. of Pennsylvania Shipping Company. She was operated by Shell Oil Company of Wilmington, Delaware. She was launched in 1921. The ship became famous when it was torpedoed early in World War II off the West Coast of the United States off Coos Bay, Oregon, at 43.38 N, –124.48 W at 7:00 am. She had departed San Pedro, Los Angeles, California, to Portland, Oregon, with fuel oil. The ship was attacked by Japanese submarine I-25 on October 4, 1942 off Oregon. She had been stopped for engine repairs at the time of the attack. She survived the attack, but later sank on October 10. One Crew member died and went down with the ship. The Camden was set on fire by the torpedo hit to her bow and was sinking. The crew abandoned ship and was rescued by a Swedish merchant ship, the MV Kookaburra. The Camden still on fire remained afloat. The tugboat Kenai was towing her to Astoria, Oregon, but then changed the path to Seattle, but the Camden sank off the coast of Washington state at 46.7772, -124.5208 and now rests at a depth of 312 feet.
The McDougall Duluth Shipbuilding Company was a large-scale wartime ship manufacturing shipyard, located at the city of Riverside, near Duluth. McDougall Duluth Shipbuilding was at 110 Spring Street, Duluth, Minnesota, now the site of the West Duluth's Spirit Lake Marina. The shipyard was located on St. Louis River Estuary at western part of Lake Superior. McDougall Duluth Shipbuilding Company was found by Alexander McDougall (1845-1923) in 1917 to built ships for World War I. McDougall Duluth Shipbuilding Company and the Superior Shipbuilding Company were called the Twin Ports shipbuilding industry of Minnesota and Wisconsin. Once built the ships can travel to the Atlantic Ocean through the Great Lakes and the Saint Lawrence Seaway.
Marine Transport Line (MTL) of New York, New York was a commercial steamship service started to support the needs to support charter shipping for the Maritime Commission and War Shipping Administration during World War 2. During wartime the Marine Transport Line operated Victory ships, also a few other ships. After the war it moved to operating mostly tankers ships. Marine Transport Line Inc. made headline news with the sinking of the SS Marine Electric in 1983, an enlarged World War 2 tanker.
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