1942 — Jun 12, tanker Cities Service Toledo sunk by U-boat, Gulf, south of Marsh Island, LA–15

–15 American Merchant Marine at War. U.S. Ships Sunk or Damaged…Gulf of Mexico…[WW] II
–11 crew
— 4 armed guard
–15 Chen, Peter. World War II Database. “12 Jun 1942.”
–15 Clancey. HyperWar: The Official Chronology of the US Navy in World War II, Chapter IV.
–11 crew
— 4 armed guard
–15 Helgason. Ships hit by U-boats. “Cities Service Toledo – American Steam tanker.” uboat.net
— 1 officer
–10 crew
— 4 armed guard
–14 Moore. A Careless Word, A Needless Sinking. 1983. Table extracted by armed-guard.com.
–11 crew
— 3 armed guard
Narrative Information

American Merchant Marine at War:
“Date Ship Type Cause Result Location Deaths
“06/12/42 Cities Service Toledo Tanker Torpedo Sunk GulfMexico Crew 11; AG 4.”

Chen, Peter. World War II Database. “12 Jun 1942.”: “German submarine U-158 sank US tanker Cities Service Toledo 40 kilometers south of Abbeville, Louisiana, United States, killing 15 of 45 aboard.”

Clancey. HyperWar: The Official Chronology of the US Navy in [WW] II, Chapter IV: 1942.
“June 12, Fri.
“Gulf of Mexico
“U.S. tanker Cities Service Toledo, bound for Portland, Maine, with a cargo of 84,000 barrels of crude oil, is torpedoed by German submarine U-158, 20 miles east of Trinity Shoals Gas Buoy, 29°02’N, 91°59’W, and explodes; 11 of the 36-man merchant complement perishes in the inferno, as do four of the nine-man Armed Guard. Norwegian tanker Belinda, U.S. tanker Gulf King, and steamship San Antonio rescue the 30 survivors from among the merchant seamen and bluejackets.”

Helgason/uboat.net:
“Name Cities Service Toledo
“Type Steam tanker
“Tonnage 8,192 tons
“Completed 1918 – Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corp., Wilmington DE
“Owner Cities Service Oil Co., New York
“Homeport New York
“Date of attack 12 Jun 1942
“Nationality American
“Fate Sunk by U-158 (Erwin Rostin)
“Position 29° 02’N, 91° 59’W – Grid DA 8368
“Complement 45 (15 dead and 30 survivors).
“Route Corpus Christi, Texas (10 Jun) – Portland Maine
“Cargo 83,000barrels of crude oil
“History ….
“Notes on event At 07.50 hours on 12 June 1942 the unescorted Cities Service Toledo
(Master Kosti F. Toivola) was torpedoed by U-158 about 20 miles east of the Trinity Shoal Light Buoy in the Gulf of Mexico, while she proceeded on a non-evasive course. Two torpedoes struck two seconds apart on the starboard side amidships in the #6 and #7 tanks. The tanker rapidly took a starboard list. Five minutes later two more torpedoes struck the starboard side about amidships at the #4 and #5 tanks, causing the tanker to burst into flames. The armed guards (the ship was armed with one 5in, two .50cal and two .30cal guns) stayed with the ship as long as possible and fired three rounds at a light thought to be the U-boat. The most of the eight officers, 28 crewmen and nine armed guards abandoned ship in two lifeboats, because all rafts and the two other lifeboats were destroyed. One of these lifeboats could not get clear the flames and the men had to jump in the water. The Cities Service Toledo sank about two hours after the second attack. The 17 men in the remaining lifeboat were picked up by the Norwegian motor tanker Belinda several hours later. Eight hours after the attack, the surviving 13 men in the water were picked up by the American steam tanker Gulfking and the Panamanian steam merchant San Antonio. All survivors landed at Burwood, Louisiana and were then sent to New Orleans, where four men were hospitalized. One officer, ten crewmen and four armed guards died.

Note: uboat.net contains information on seventeen of those aboard at:
https://uboat.net/allies/merchants/crews/ship1792.html

Moore. A Careless Word, A Needless Sinking. 1983. Table extracted by armed-guard.com.
“S.S. Cities Service Toledo Torpedoed 6.12.42 Tanker Crew 11, AG 3.”

Sources

American Merchant Marine at War. U.S. Ships Sunk or Damaged on Eastcoast of U.S, and Gulf of Mexico During World War II Eastcoast of U.S. (175 ships). Accessed 4-29-2021 at: http://www.usmm.org/eastgulf.html

Chen, Peter. World War II Database. “12 Jun 1942.” Accessed 4-29-2021 at: https://ww2db.com/event/today/06/12/1942

Clancey, Patrick (transcriber and formatter for HTML). HyperWar: The Official Chronology of the US Navy in World War II, Chapter IV: 1942. Accessed 4-29-2021 at: https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/USN-Chron/USN-Chron-1942.html

Helgason, Gudmundur. Ships hit by U-boats. “Cities Service Toledo – American Steam tanker.” Accessed 4-29-2021 at: https://uboat.net/allies/merchants/ship/1792.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 4-29-2021 at: https://www.armed-guard.com/sunk.html