1942 — Aug 17, US tanker Louisiana sunk by U-boat ~200M off Paramaribo, Suriname–49-50

–50 American Merchant Marine at War. Chronological List of U.S. Ships Sunk or Damaged…
–42 crew
— 8 armed guard
–50 Moore. A Careless Word, A Needless Sinking. 1983. Table extracted by armed-guard.com.
–42 crew
— 8 armed guard
–49 Chen, C. Peter. “Second Happy Time: 14 Jan 1942–31 Aug 1942.” World War II Database.
–49 Clancey. HyperWar: The Official Chronology of the US Navy in [WW] II, Chapter IV 1942.
–41 crew
— 8 Armed Guard
–49 Helgason, G. Ships hit by U-boats. “Louisiana – American Motor tanker.” uboat.net.

Narrative Information

American Merchant Marine at War. Chronological List of U.S. Ships Sunk or Damaged…
“Date Ship Type Cause Result Location Deaths
“08/17/42 Louisiana Tanker Torpedo Sunk Caribbean Crew 42; AG 8.”

Chen, C. Peter. “Second Happy Time: 14 Jan 1942–31 Aug 1942.” World War II Database:
“17 Aug 1942 German submarine U-507 sank Brazilian ship Itagiba off Brazil at 1549 hours (36 were killed, 145 survived); later at 1803 hours, as Brazilian ship Arará approached to rescue survivors, U-507 sank her as well (20 were killed, 16 survived). Meanwhile, at 1756 hours, German submarine U-566 sank Norwegian merchant ship Triton 200 miles northeast of the Azores islands; all 43 aboard survived. At 2244 hours, after a 6-hour pursuit, German submarine U-108 sank US tanker Louisiana 200 miles off French Guiana; all 49 aboard were killed.”

Clancey. HyperWar: The Official Chronology of the US Navy in [WW] II, Chapter IV 1942:
“August 17, Mon. ….
“Atlantic
“U.S. tanker Louisiana is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-108 approximately 200 miles from Paramaribo, Dutch Guiana, 07°24’N, 52°33’W; although U-108 sees three men escape from the burning ship, they are never found. There are no survivors from the 41 merchant sailors and the 8-man Armed Guard.”

Helgason, G. Ships hit by U-boats. “Louisiana – American Motor tanker.” uboat.net:
“Name Louisiana
“Type Motor tanker
“Tonnage 8,587 tons
“Completed 1937 – Sun Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co., Chester PA
“Owner The Texas Co., Wilmington DE
“Homeport Wilmington
“Date of attack 17 Aug 1942
“Nationality American
“Fate Sunk by U-108 (Klaus Scholtz)
“Position 7° 24’N, 51° 33’W – Grid EP 4138
“Complement 49 (49 dead – no survivors)
“Route Areno, Aruba – Trinidad – Rio de Janeiro – Santos, Brazil
“Cargo 92,514 barrels of gasoline and gas oil
“History ….
“Notes on event At 16.57 hours on 17 Aug 1942 the unescorted Louisiana (Joel A. Swanson)
was hit by one of three torpedoes fired by U-108 from a distance of 1800 meters, while proceeding on a zigzagging course at 10 knots about 200 miles from Paramaribo, Dutch Guiana. The torpedo struck forward of the bridge, but the tanker increased speed and tried to escape. The U-boat surfaced and chased the ship, which fired at her with the 4in gun on the stern (the ship was also armed with two .50cal guns) and sent distress signals. At 20.30 hours, the Norwegian motor merchant Tercero came between U-108 and Louisiana and the tanker tried to come in contact with the ship, but the signals were not understood. Scholtz decided to let the Norwegian ship pass and to go after the tanker.

At 22.44 hours, an aircraft approached and the U-boat was forced to dive, one bomb was dropped but it missed. Staying submerged, the U-boat reached a favourable firing position and fired two torpedoes at 23.49 hours. The first struck at the forward edge of the bridge and as the second struck, the tanker caught fire immediately and fire soon covered the entire length of the vessel. The tanker sank bow first in 06°39N/52°15W, leaving a burning oil slick on the surface. Three men on a raft had abandoned the ship during the chase and had been spotted by the aircraft, which attacked the U-boat during the chase, but rescue vessels failed to find them. The eight officers, 33 crewmen and eight armed guards perished.”

Note: uboat.net has information on all 49 crewmen on board. Accessed 5-15-2021 at: https://uboat.net/allies/merchants/crews/ship2062.html

Moore. A Careless Word, A Needless Sinking. 1983. Table extracted by armed-guard.com:
“M/S Louisiana…Torpedoed 8/17/42…Tanker…Crew 42, AG 8 [Number Killed].”

Sources

American Merchant Marine at War. Chronological List of Ships Sunk or Damaged July to December 1942. Accessed 5-15-2021 at: http://www.usmm.org/sunk42a.html#anchor331462

Chen, C. Peter. “Second Happy Time: 14 Jan 1942 – 31 Aug 1942.” World War II Database. Accessed 5-15-2021 at: https://ww2db.com/battle_spec.php?battle_id=277

Clancey, Patrick (transcriber and formatter for HTML). HyperWar: The Official Chronology of the US Navy in World War II, Chapter IV: 1942. Accessed 5-15-2021 at: https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/USN-Chron/USN-Chron-1942.html

Helgason, Gudmundur. Ships hit by U-boats. “Louisiana – American Motor tanker.” uboat.net. Accessed 5-15-2021 at: https://uboat.net/allies/merchants/ship/2062.html

Moore, Captain Arthur R. A Careless Word, A Needless Sinking: A History of the Staggering Losses Suffered By the U.S. Merchant Marine, Both in Ships and Personnel, During World War II. American Merchant Marine Museum 1983 (1st edition), 1990. Table extracted by armed-guard.com. Accessed 5-15-2021 at: https://www.armed-guard.com/sunk.html