1943 — Dec 3, US tanker Touchet sunk by U-boat, Gulf of MX, So. of Pensacola, W. of Naples, FL–10

–10 American Merchant Marine at War. Chronological List of U.S. Ships Sunk or Damaged…
–10 Clancey. HyperWar: The Official Chronology of the US Navy in [WW] II, Chapter V 1943.
–10 Helgason, G. Ships hit by U-boats. “Touchet – American Turbine tanker.” uboat.net.
–1 Armed Guard commander
–9 Armed Guard
–10 Moore. A Careless Word, A Needless Sinking. 1983. Table extracted by armed-guard.com.

Narrative Information

American Merchant Marine at War. Chronological List of U.S. Ships Sunk or Damaged…
“Date Ship Type Cause Result Location Deaths
“12/03/43 Touchet Tanker Torpedo Sunk GulfMexico AG 10.”

Clancey. HyperWar: The Official Chronology of the US Navy in [WW] II, Chapter V 1943:
“3 December, Fri. ….
“Atlantic [Gulf of Mexico]
“U.S. tanker Touchet is torpedoed twice (the second torpedo is a dud) by German submarine U-193 at 25°15’N, 86°15’W, and abandoned by most of the 50-man merchant complement and 30-man Armed Guard. The latter’s commander and nine men, however, stay with the ship, manning the 5-inch gun aft. U-193’s third torpedo finishes off the tanker, though, and she sinks, taking nine of the ten Armed Guards who manage to reach a raft (they are swept off as the ship goes under), as well as the detachment commander, down with her….

“5 December, Sun. ….Norwegian freighter Lillemor rescues 43 survivors from tanker Touchet, torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-193 on 3 December 1943; shortly thereafter, destroyer escort Falgout (DE-324) picks up 11 more men from the lost ship (see 6 December 1943)….

“6 December, Mon. ….
“Minesweeper Raven (AM-55) rescues 16 survivors from tanker Touchet, torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-193 on 3 December 1943. All told, the entire merchant complement of 50 men survives Touchet’s loss, but ten of the 30-man Armed Guard are lost with the ship.”

Helgason, G. Ships hit by U-boats. “Touchet – American Turbine tanker.” uboat.net:
“Name Touchet
“Type Turbine tanker (T-2)
“Tonnage 10,172 tons
“Completed 1943 – Alabama Dry Dock & Shipbuilding Co., Mobile AL
“Owner American Petroleum Transport Co., New York
“Homeport Mobile
“Date of attack 3 Dec 1943
“Nationality American
“Fate Sunk by U-193 (Hans Pauckstadt)
“Position 25° 50’N, 86° 30’W – Grid DL 2626 [see uboat.net map]
“Complement 80 (10 dead and 70 survivors).
“Route Baytown – Galveston, Texas (1 Dec) – New York
“Cargo 120,000 barrels of heating oil
“History ….
“Notes on event At 07.47 hours on 3 Dec 1943 the unescorted Touchet (Master Jesse Field
Bird) was hit on the port side by a torpedo from U-193 n the Gulf of Mexico
while steaming at 16.5 knots. The torpedo struck the bow ten feet aft of the stem and opened a 20 feet long hole. The tanker was equipped with a torpedo indicator that warned the crew but the turn to port was too late, after the hit the engine was first secured while turning to the opposite direction and then ordered full ahead in an attempt to escape. Due to the flooding the bow settled and forced the ship to stop, when another torpedo warning sounded but this was apparently a dud hitting the port side amidships. The most of the ten officers, 40 crewmen and 30 armed guards (the ship was armed with one 5in, one 3in and eight 20mm guns) abandoned ship in six lifeboats, only the armed guard officer and ten of his men remained behind and manned the 5in stern gun. At 08.22 hours, a coup de grâce hit the engine room on the starboard side and caused the ship to sink stern first at 11.00 hours. The men still on board had to jump overboard and swam to a raft but the suction of the sinking ship was so strong that all except one armed guard drowned.

“On 5 December, the 43 survivors in four boats were picked up by the Norwegian steam merchant Lillemor (Master Bernt Belland) and landed them the next day at Pensacola, Florida. The same day, USS Falgout (DE 324) picked up eleven survivors from another boat and on 6 December, the remaining 16 survivors in the last boat were picked up by USS Raven (AM 55) and landed in Galveston on 8 December.”

Note: uboat.net has information of thirty-one of those onboard, accessible at:
https://uboat.net/allies/merchants/crews/ship3143.html

Moore. A Careless Word, A Needless Sinking. 1983. Table extracted by armed-guard.com:
“S.S. Touchet…Torpedoed 12/3/43…Tanker…AG [Armed Guard] 10.”

Sources

American Merchant Marine at War. Chronological List of Ships Sunk or Damaged during 1943. Accessed 5-28-2021 at: http://www.usmm.org/sunk43.html#anchor406099

Clancey, Patrick (transcriber and formatter for HTML). HyperWar: The Official Chronology of the US Navy in World War II, Chapter V: 1943. Accessed 5-28-2021 at: https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/USN-Chron/USN-Chron-1943.html

Helgason, Gudmundur. Ships hit by U-boats. “Touchet – American Turbine tanker.” uboat.net. Accessed 5-28-2021 at: https://uboat.net/allies/merchants/ship/3143.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 5-28-2021 at: https://www.armed-guard.com/sunk.html