1942 — July 13, US tanker R.W. Gallagher sunk by U-boat, Gulf, SE of Morgan City, LA–10-11

–10-11 Blanchard estimated death toll.*

–12 Clancey. HyperWar: The Official Chronology of the US Navy in [WW] II, Chapter IV 1942.
–8 crew initial deaths
–2 armed guard initial deaths
–2 crew later deaths from injuries.
–11 American Merchant Marine at War. U.S. Ships Sunk or Damaged…During [WW] II.
–9 crew
–2 armed guard
–11 Helgason. Ships hit by U-boats. “R.W. Gallagher – American Steam tanker.” uboat.net.
–3 officers
–4 crewmen
–2 armed guards
–2 crewmen who died from severe burns after reaching a hospital.
–10 Chen, C. Peter. World War II Database. “13 Jul 1942.”
–10 Moore. A Careless Word, A Needless Sinking. 1983. Table extracted by armed-guard.com.
–9 crew
–1 armed guard
–10 NOAA. Screening Level Risk Assessment Package R.W. Gallagher. 2013, p. 4.
–2 officers
–4 crewmen
–2 armed guards
–2 crewmen who died ashore from severe burns after reaching the hospital.
— 9 Standard Oil Co. (New Jersey). Ships of the Esso Fleet in World War II. 1946, p.357.
–7 crew unaccounted for and presumed lost.
–2 crew from injuries in a hospital ashore.
–? Does not mention armed guard losses.
— 9 Swanson. World War II Merchant Marine Battlefields in the Gulf of Mexico… 2009, 207-8

*Blanchard note on fatalities. The sources above note a range of eight to ten crew deaths (including those who died after rescue in a hospital). Most note nine. Five sources note either one or two armed guard deaths. Two sources note only crew deaths and both of these note nine crew deaths. If these are correct, and if one or two armed guard died, then there would have been ten to eleven total deaths. Only Clancey in HyperWar notes twelve deaths, and thus we do not use his number of twelve deaths in our fatality estimate.

Narrative Information

American Merchant Marine at War (USMM). U.S. Ships Sunk or Damaged…[WW] II.
“Date Ship Type Cause Result Location Deaths
“07/13/42 R.W. Gallagher Tanker Torpedo Sunk GulfMexico Crew 9; AG 2.”

Chen, C. Peter. World War II Database. “13 Jul 1942”:
“80 miles south of Mississippi [River], United States, U-67 sank US tanker R. W. Gallagher; 10 were killed, 42 survived.”

Clancey. HyperWar: The Official Chronology of the US Navy in [WW] II, Chapter IV 1942:
“July 13, Mon. ….
“Gulf of Mexico
“U.S. tanker R.W. Gallagher is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-67 approximately 80 miles from Southwest Pass, Louisiana, 28°32’N, 90°59’W, and abandoned. Eight of the ship’s 40-man merchant complement die in the attack, as do two of the 12-man Armed Guard. Coast Guard cutter Boutwell (WPC-130) rescues survivors; two men later die of their injuries.”

Helgason/uboat.net:
“Name R.W. Gallagher
“Type Steam tanker
“Tonnage 7,989 tons
“Completed 1938 – Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corp., Sparrow’s Point MD
“Owner Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey, New York
“Homeport Wilmington
“Date of attack 13 Jul 1942
“Nationality American
“Fate Sunk by U-67 (Gunther Muller-Stockheim)
“Position 28° 50’N, 91° 05’W – Grid DA 9198
“Complement 52 (11 dead and 41 survivors).
“Route Baytown, Texas (10 Jul) – Port Everglades, Florida
“Cargo 80,855 barrels of Bunker C fuel oil
“History ….
“Notes on event At 07.35 hours on 13 July 1942 the unescorted R.W. Gallagher (Master
Aage Petersen) was hit on the starboard side by two torpedoes from U-67 about 80 miles from Southwest Pass, Mississippi [River]. The first torpedo struck at the #3 tank just forward of amidships and the second hit abaft the midships house between the #8 tank and the pump room. The explosions buckled parts of the ship and started a fire that quickly spread the length of the vessel and into the water. The tanker immediately took a 30° list to starboard, capsized at 09.00 hours and sank at 11.30 hours. With the steam whistle jammed, the eight officers, 32 crewmen and twelve armed guards (the ship was armed with one 5in, one 3in, two .50cal and two .30cal guns) abandoned ship in one lifeboat, one raft and by jumping into the water because the fire had destroyed the other boats and rafts. The master was the last man that jumped overboard after he waited for 40 minutes on the bow. Three officers, four crewmen and two armed guards were lost. The survivors were picked up within one hour by USCG Boutwell (WPC 130) and three of the most seriously wounded were taken by a US Coast Guard plane from Biloxi Air Station to Lake Pontchartrain, transferred to the US Coast Guard boat USCGC CG-6264 and taken to the Marine hospital in New Orleans. Two crewmen died ashore from severe burns after reaching the hospital.”

Note: uboat.net provides information on fifteen of those onboard.

Moore. A Careless Word, A Needless Sinking. 1983. Table extracted by armed-guard.com:
“R. W. Gallagher Torpedoed 7.13.42 Tanker Crew 9, AG 1 [Number Killed.]”

NOAA. Screening Level Risk Assessment Package R.W. Gallagher. 2013, p. 4:
“The tanker R.W. Gallagher, torpedoed and sunk during World War II off the coast of Louisiana in 1942, was identified as a potential pollution threat, thus a screening-level risk assessment was conducted….[p.1]

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, C. Peter. World War II Database. “13 Jul 1942.” Accessed 5-1-2021 at: https://ww2db.com/event/today/07/13/1942

Clancey, Patrick (transcriber and formatter for HTML). HyperWar: The Official Chronology of the US Navy in World War II, Chapter IV: 1942. Accessed 4-30-2021 at: https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/USN-Chron/USN-Chron-1942.html

Helgason, Gudmundur. Ships hit by U-boats. “R.W. Gallagher – American Steam tanker.” uboat.net. Accessed 4-30-2021 at: https://uboat.net/allies/merchants/ship/1930.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 4-30-2021 at: https://www.armed-guard.com/sunk.html

NOAA, Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, Office of Response and Restoration. Screening Level Risk Assessment Package R.W. Gallagher. March 2013. Accessed 5-1-2021 at: https://nmssanctuaries.blob.core.windows.net/sanctuaries-prod/media/archive/protect/ppw/pdfs/r_w_gallagher.pdf

Standard Oil Co. (New Jersey). Ships of the Esso Fleet in World War II. 1946. Accessed 4-30-2021 at: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Ships_of_the_Esso_Fleet_in_World_War_II/e3JMAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=r%20w%20gallagher

Swanson, Eric Alexander. World War II Merchant Marine Battlefields in the Gulf of Mexico: Analysis of the SS R.W. Gallagher and SS Cities Service Toledo Using 3D Modeling, Physics, and Battlefield Archaeology. A thesis submitted to the Department of Anthropology, College of Arts and Sciences, The University of West Florida. In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. 2014. Accessed 5-1-2021 at: http://etd.fcla.edu/WF/WFE0000464/Swanson_Eric_Alexander_201412_MA.pdf