1942 — May 08, U.S. freighter Ohioan sunk by U-boat ~8 miles off Boynton Beach, FL– 15

Blanchard Note: There are three sources below which note seventeen deaths. There are four which note fifteen deaths. In our review of all sources we found the lengthy and very detailed Eric Stone “write-up” to be the most persuasive, including a listing by name of each fatality as well as each survivor.

–17 American Merchant Marine at War. U.S. Ships Sunk or Damaged on Eastcoast of U.S…
–17 Moore. A Careless Word, A Needless Sinking. 1983. Table extracted by armed-guard.com.
–17 Watson. Watson’s Really Big WWII Almanac (Vol. 1: January to June). 2007, p. 485.
–15 Chen, Peter. “Second Happy Time – 14 Jan 1942 – 31 Aug 1942.” World War II Database.
–15 Clancey. HyperWar: The Official Chronology of the US Navy in World War II, Chapter IV.
–15 Helgason. Ships hit by U-boats. “Ohioan – American Steam merchant.”
–15 Stone, Eric. “Ohioan.” SSArkansas.com. Accessed 4-20-2021.*

*Stone lists the names of the fifteen fatalities as well as the twenty-two survivors.

Narrative Information

American Merchant Marine at War:
“Date Ship Type Cause Result Location Deaths
“05/08/42 Ohioan Freighter Torpedo Sunk Eastcoast Crew 17.”

Chen: “8 May 1942. German submarine U-564 sank US freighter Ohioan 10 kilometers north of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States, killing 15 of 37 aboard. On the same day, U-136 sank Canadian sailing ship Mildred Pauline with the deck gun off Nova Scotia, Canada.”

Clancey: “1942…May 8, Fri…Atlantic….Unarmed U.S. freighter Ohioan is torpedoed by German submarine U-564 four and a half miles off the coast of Florida, 26°31’N, 79°58’W, and sinks so quickly that no lifeboats can be launched. Coast Guard craft rescue the 22 survivors from the 37-man crew.”

Helgason/u-boat.net:
“Name Ohioan
“Type Steam merchant
“Tonnage 6,078 tons
“Completed 1919 – G. M. Stradifer Construction Corp., Vancouver WA
“Owner American-Hawaiian SS Co., New York
“Homeport New York
“Date of attack 8 May 1942
“Nationality American
“Fate Sunk by U-564 (Reinhard Suhren)
“Position 26° 31’N, 79° 59’W – Grid DM 2316
“Complement 37 (15 dead and 22 survivors).
“Route Bombay – Port Elizabeth – San Juan, Puerto Rico – Baltimore, Maryland –
Philadelphia
“Cargo 6000 tons of manganese ore, 300 tons of wool and 1300 tons of licorice root
“History ….
“Notes on event At 18.12 hours on 8 May 1942 the unescorted and unarmed Ohioan (Master Frank H. Roberts) was hit on the starboard side aft by one G7e torpedo from U-564, while steaming on a non-evasive course at 14.5 knots about 10 miles off Boynton Beach, Florida. The torpedo struck in the #4 hold and caused the ship to sink by the stern within three minutes, rolling over from starboard to port. The U-boat did not surface to question the survivors due to an aircraft circling overhead. The eight officers and 29 crewmen tried to launch two lifeboats, but the first swamped when it touched the water while the second was cut from its falls but did not float. The suction of the sinking ship caused the majority of the casualties of one officer and 14 crewmen. The survivors rescued themselves on six rafts that had floated free and were rescued by US Coast Guard vessels. They were brought to West Palm Beach, where four had to be hospitalized.”

Note: u-boat.net contains information on sixteen of those aboard at:
https://uboat.net/allies/merchants/crews/ship1618.html

Moore: “S.S. Ohioan…Torpedoed 5/8/42…Freighter…Crew 17.”

Stone: “This was the second known vessel to be named Ohioan in American-Hawaiian’s fleet….

“According to historian Norman L. McKeller, the Ohioan of this story was originally completed in 1919 as Pawlet for the United States Shipping Board (USSB). She was an Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFC) Design, No. 1015, also known as a “Moore & Scott Type” for a 9400 Dead Weight Ton (DWT) steel freighter. There were two variations of the type built, dry cargo and refrigeration (aka Reefer). Pawlet was the former design….

“The Attack

“The unarmed, unescorted Ohioan was on her return leg from Bombay, India to Philadelphia, PA under the command of 41-year-old Master Frank H. Roberts. They were carrying 6,000 tons of manganese ore, 300 tons of wool, and 1,300 tons of licorice root.

Ohioan had departed Bombay on March 15th, 1942 and had stopped in Port Elizabeth, South Africa on the way back. They had originally intended to make for Cape Henry at the mouth of the Chesapeake, but due to the heavy U-boat activity off the East Coast the Navy changed their routing instructions and had them sail for San Juan, Puerto Rico instead. By the time they arrived there, additional U-Boat activity between Cuba and Florida caused them to abandon the most direct route north of Cuba. Instead, they sailed May 2nd for the Mona Passage and into the Caribbean for a rather circuitous route south of Cuba, west to the Yucatan Channel, north into the Gulf of Mexico where they were told to stay within 4 ½ miles of the Florida Coast on their way northeast.

“The irony is that by the time they entered the Caribbean all hell was breaking loose there as well, and the U-564 had just arrived off the coast of southern Florida to wreck havoc. The U-564 was commanded by 26-year-old ace Reinhard “Teddy” Suhren. Suhren was already a legend within the ‘Ubootwaffe’, known as much for his irreverent behavior as for his skill and tenacity as a U-boat officer….

“May 8th was a beautiful spring Friday afternoon off the coast of Boynton Beach, FL, not a cloud in the sky with a slight breeze and seas described as “glassy” by Master Roberts. Visibility was very good. Ohioan had her US Flag flying on the stern and navy signals on the yardarm. They had four lookouts posted;
• Chief Mate Charles Clark on inshore (port) bridge wing
• 3rd Mate John Boyer on offshore (starboard) bridge wing
• An O.S. (unidentified) on “monkey island”, the open flying bridge above the main bridge
• An A.B. (unidentified) on the boat deck forward, starboard side

“Ohioan was not zig-zagging at the time.

“The U-564 was slowly heading north along the coast submerged at 2.4 knots to see what they could find. At 12:04pm they heard engine noises and Suhren went up to periscope depth to take a look around…. For the Ohioan attack, his log read (times adjusted to local time):

“12:05pm: To action stations! Freighter with heavy cargo (5000 GRT.) (Course 0°, estimated range 1000 meters, speed 10 knots) loaded.

12:12pm: Fire! Hit aft 20 meters [65.6ft]. High detonation plume. Immediately went deep for aircraft.”

“Suhren’s Torpedo Report provided additional details:

“He fired a single G7e (electric, “wakeless”) torpedo from Tube 1, which had a preset speed of 30 knots. He used the piston option (“mit Kol.”) behind the torpedo to trap the compressed air and prevent it from being released so as to not give away their position. The torpedo was set to run at a depth of 3m (~10 feet), and Suhren had aimed for the middle (“Mitte”) of the ship. In his rush he underestimated Ohioan’s tonnage and speed. The incorrect speed estimate (10knots according to the KTB, 10.5 knots according to the torpedo report, 14.5 knots actual) is why the torpedo struck aft of the engine room in the forward part of the No. 4 hold….

“The surprise was complete. The lookouts did not spot the torpedo, and the first indication anything was wrong was the actual impact when the 617 pounds of high explosive went off. What happened next was recorded by Master Roberts, two crew members, and a group of civilians watching from shore….

“The Navy report, which was a compilation of all the crew statements, added some additional details about the life boats:

“Nos. 3 and 4 lifeboats were carried swung out, and when the torpedo struck the vessel on the starboard side at No. 4 hatch, just aft of the engine room, they were shattered by the blast. An attempt was made to launch No. 1 boat with 10 men in it, and while endeavoring to aid other men to disembark, the stern of No. 1 boat was held in too close to the ship’s side and the bow swung off, rolling the boat under the water and swamping it. The boat was swamped because the Deck Engineer took a turn with a line from the vessel around the after thwart in the lifeboat. This held the boat’s stern toward the ship and sheered the bow away, swamping by the headway of the vessel. The vessel at this time had headway of approximately 3 miles an hour [likely by the Gulf Stream current]. The Chief Officer [Charles Clark] cut the falls of No. 2 lifeboat, thinking the boat would float off the chocks as the ship submerged, but it did not do so.”

“….Those of the crew that were saved (22 out of 37) were saved by rafts. There were two small life rafts on top of the engine room, and four larger rafts on deck. The later were not the typical mass-produced Armed Guard ramp rafts added to vessels as the war progressed, but were constructed on the ship earlier on this voyage by the crew from empty oil drums, each raft constructed with four drums. Whether this was Master Roberts’ idea or he simply approved it is unknown, but they saved many lives.

“The Ohioan went down in less than two minutes from the time she was torpedoed in about 800 feet of water. Other than the torpedo explosion, they crew never saw any sign of the U-Boat.

Rescue

“In some sources the rescue is attributed to Coast Guard vessels, but according to the survivor statements, at least some small personal craft were involved and perhaps some fishing boats. On Master Robert’s War Action Casualty Report dated July 28th, 1944, he noted they were rescued by private boats.

“One of those private boats was Bill Jebb’s Furious, as mentioned above, and passenger Louisa Robins went on to provide a riveting account of their efforts to aid in the rescue. Louisa’s account states:

Our decision to go to the rescue of the survivors, if any, was instantaneous. Bill ran to the wheel, Mary and Emily [Louisa’s daughter Mary V.R. Robins and Bill Jebb’s wife Emily Schoellkopf-Jebb] jumped overboard [onto the dock] to make more room for survivors and I decided to go along. The reasons for my going were – first, in the event that anything should happen to Tom and Bill, I could take the helm and – second, because I figured that Bill would maneuver the boat, Tom haul on board the men, while I could administer first-aid, if it was needed. This is exactly the way it worked out. Only once Bill had to help getting the captain aboard, and I went forward and stood by the helm.

The SS Ohioan was hit by a torpedo about eight miles off shore [closer to 5 miles], but it seemed not more than five minutes before we sighted her wreckage. Fortunately, Tom had taken bearings on her smoke, for the ship had completely disappeared from sight in two minutes.

Never have I been so petrified. I was afraid I would lose my nerve should I see some horrible sights. In order to pull myself together, I hunted around below and found a Red Cross kit which I opened and put in a convenient place. Also, I turned Bill’s beautifully-covered mattresses in case they should be dirtied. Then I said a few prayers. As we speedily drew close to the remains of the vessel, I knew that I had myself in hand.

In the middle of a mess of what seemed miles of wreckage, the twisted specter of the ship’s bridge stood up. We skirted this terrible flotsam, searching for human life. There were so many black things all over that at first it was difficult to pick out anything. My first realization that any human still was alive was when I saw what looked like a floating timber slowly start to swim in the center of the silent mess. Gradually some of the black spots became little clumps of men strewn amidst the debris.

Tom threw a line to three men huddled motionless on something. They were a ghastly sight. It turned out later, one of these men had a broken arm [A.B. Edward Reville] and the other was a pathetic little spider of a man, the oiler, and covered with cuts. My first impression was not of their bodies, however, but of their piteous dark, dead eyes.

Next, we maneuvered to a life raft with four motionless men. As we drew alongside, one pointed to a colorless lump of wreckage. He said, “Would you get that man over there first? He can’t swim a stroke, he’s nearly gone, and he’s the captain. We can wait.” The captain was clinging to an old piece of gangway. He was on his stomach with his face almost in the water. It was then that Bill had to leave the helm to help with getting him on board. His hands were numb and tangled in the rungs, all cut and blistered. I untied his life belt, bandaged his cuts, and gave him a towel for his running nose. He was so cute, apologized for using the towel, and said it was only salt water that he blew!

We turned the Furious and picked up the other four. They were perfectly well men. The third mate, John Boyer, was especially handsome. Unfortunately, we had very few cigarettes and a shortage of drinking water. As they seemed pretty thirsty, I put only a small amount in the glass at a time so they would think they were getting more than they were.

Able Seaman Edward Reville’s arm was broken. I rolled a towel underneath and then tied a bandage firmly around his body to keep it in place. He never uttered a word of complaint, although you could see he was suffering badly. Captain Roberts’ first comment, when he recovered himself was, “We have been 28,000-mi and this had to happen to us just when we were almost home!” ….

“The rescue was completed about 30 minutes after the Ohioan sank.

“Of the original crew of 37, 13 men were initially listed as missing and two were confirmed dead (the bodies of Steward Luiz and 2nd Assistant Engineer Verdon were picked up and brought ashore). Three men on watch below (unidentified), were believed killed by the explosion, an indication the engine room was breached as well. Most of the casualties were believed to be from drowning, however, the proximity of the galley at the aft end of the deck house preparing lunch, the radio room directly above it, and the engineering quarters to the explosion may also explain some of the casualties from those personnel living and working there.”

Note 1: Stone lists the fifteen casualties alphabetically by name, and includes age, position on the Ohioan, and home town and State. He does the same for the twenty-two survivors, though not in alphabetical order.

Note 2: Stone includes twenty-two references as his sources, several of which have links.

Watson: “The American freighter Ohioan (6,078 tons – 17 dead) was sunk by the U564. U564 survived until June 14, 1943.”

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

Chen, Peter. “Second Happy Time – 14 Jan 1942 – 31 Aug 1942.” World War II Database. Accessed 4-19-2021 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 4-19-2021 at: https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/USN-Chron/USN-Chron-1942.html

Helgason, Gudmundur. Ships hit by U-boats. “Ohioan – American Steam merchant.” Accessed 4-19-2021 at: https://uboat.net/allies/merchants/ship/1618.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 4-19-2021 at: https://www.armed-guard.com/sunk.html

Stone, Eric. “Ohioan.” SSArkansas.com. 2020. Accessed 4-20-2021. Accessed 4-20-2021 at: https://www.ssarkansan.com/american-hawaiian-in-wwii/ohioan#h.p_ID_556

Watson, Patrick. Watson’s Really Big WWII Almanac (Vol. 1: January to June). Xlibris Corporation, 2007. Accessed 4-19-2021 at: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Watson_s_Really_Big_Wwii_Almanac/7bSQAAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1