1942 — May 13, US tanker Gulfpenn sunk, U-boat ~30 miles south of MS Riv. mouth, LA–13

–13 American Merchant Marine at War. U.S. Ships Sunk or Damaged on Eastcoast of U.S…
–13 Clancey. HyperWar: The Official Chronology of the US Navy in World War II, Chapter IV.
–12 in the attack
— 1 after rescue from injuries
–13 Helgason. Ships hit by U-boats. “Gulfpenn – American Steam tanker.”
–13 Moore. A Careless Word, A Needless Sinking. 1983. Table extracted by armed-guard.com.

Narrative Information

American Merchant Marine at War:
“Date Ship Type Cause Result Location Deaths
“5/13/42 Gulfpenn Tanker Torpedo Sunk GulfMexico Crew 13.”

Clancey/HyperWar: “1942….May 13, Wed.
“….Gulf of Mexico
“….U-506 torpedoes and sinks unarmed tanker Gulfpenn at 28°29’N, 89°12’W; 12 men die in the initial explosion or perish with the ship. Of the 26 survivors, one dies of his injuries. Coast Guard plane directs Honduran freighter Telde toward the position of the survivors, and the merchantman rescues them.”

Helgason/uboat.net:
“Name Gulfpenn
“Type Steam tanker
“Tonnage 8,862 tons
“Completed 1921 – Sun Shipbuilding Co., Chester PA
“Owner Gulf Oil Co., New York
“Homeport Philadelphia
“Date of attack 13 May 1942
“Nationality American
“Fate Sunk by U-506 (Erich Wurdemann)
“Position 28° 29’N, 89° 12’W – Grid DA 9536
“Complement 38 (13 dead and 25 survivors).
“Route Port Arthur, Texas – Philadelphia
“Cargo 104,181 barrels of fuel oil
“History ….
“Notes on event At 12.30 hours on 13 May 1943 the unescorted and unarmed Gulfpenn
(Master Arthur S. Hodges) was steaming five miles ahead of the Gulfprince, when the other tanker was attacked by U-507 (Schacht). The Gulfpenn immediately left the scene on full speed and later steered zigzagging course in irregular patterns at 12.5 knots.

At 21.38 hours on the same day, U-506 fired one torpedo, which struck the Gulfpenn aft in the engine room on the starboard side, killing all men on watch below and immediately stopping the engines. 26 men from the eight officers and 30 crew men abandoned ship in two lifeboats. One crewman later died of wounds. One officer and 11 crewmen died in the explosion or went down with the tanker, two of these died trying to retrieve personal papers.

The ship made a half-circle and then plunged stern first within five minutes about 30 miles off the entrance to the Mississippi River. Three hours later, the survivors were picked up by the Honduran steam merchant Telde, which had been directed to them by a US Coast Guard aircraft and taken to Pilottown, Louisiana and thence to New Orleans.”

Note: uboat.net has information on fourteen of those onboard at:
https://uboat.net/allies/merchants/crews/ship1645.html

Moore. A Careless Word, A Needless Sinking. 1983. Table extracted by armed-guard.com.
“S.S. Gulfpenn Torpedoed 5/13/42 Tanker Crew 13 [Number Killed]

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 4-19-2021 at: http://www.usmm.org/eastgulf.html

Clancey, Patrick (transcriber and formatter for HTML). HyperWar: The Official Chronology of the US Navy in World War II, Chapter IV: 1942. Accessed 4-19-2021 at: https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/USN-Chron/USN-Chron-1942.html

Helgason, Gudmundur. Ships hit by U-boats. “Gulfpenn – American Steam tanker.” Accessed 4-26-2021 at: https://uboat.net/allies/merchants/ship/1645.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 4-26-2021 at: https://www.armed-guard.com/sunk.html