1942 — Jun 28, US freighter Tillie Lykes sunk by sub ~100m so. Santo Domingo, Dom. Rep.–33

–33 American Merchant Marine at War. Chronological List of U.S. Ships Sunk or Damaged…
–29 crew
— 4 armed guard
–33 Chen, C. Peter. “Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico Campaigns 16 Feb 1942–1 Jan 1944.”
–33 Clancey. HyperWar: The Official Chronology of the US Navy in [WW] II, Chapter IV 1942.
–29 merchant crew
— 4 Armed Guard
–33 Helgason, G. Ships hit by U-boats. “Tillie Lykes – American Steam merchant.” uboat.net.
— 8 officers
–21 crewmen
— 4 armed guards
–28 Moore. A Careless Word, A Needless Sinking. 1983. Table extracted by armed-guard.com.
(All identified as “crew.”)

Blanchard note: I choose to follow Helgason (uboat.net) on the dating of this loss, as his is the more detailed account and notes the confusion concerning the reporting of an earlier loss date.

Narrative Information

American Merchant Marine at War. Chronological List of U.S. Ships Sunk or Damaged…
“Date Ship Type Cause Result Location Deaths
“06/15/42 Tillie Lykes Freighter Torpedo Sunk Caribbean Crew 29; AG 4.”

Chen, C. Peter. “Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico Campaigns 16 Feb 1942 – 1 Jan 1944”:
“28 Jun 1942 German submarine U-154 sank US ship Tillie Lykes 100 miles south of the Dominican Republic at 0350 hours; all 33 aboard were killed.”

Clancey. HyperWar: The Official Chronology of the US Navy in [WW] II, Chapter IV 1942:
“June 15, Mon. ….
“Caribbean
“U.S. freighter Tillie Lykes is torpedoed (most likely) by German submarine U-502 approximately 150 miles east-southeast of Punta Herrero, Mexico, 19°00’N, 85°00’W; there are no survivors from the 29-man merchant crew and four-man Armed Guard….”

Helgason, G. Ships hit by U-boats. “Tillie Lykes – American Steam merchant.” uboat.net.
“Name Tillie Lykes
“Type Steam merchant
“Tonnage 2,572 tons
“Completed 1920 – McDougall-Duluth Shipbuilding Co., Duluth MN
“Owner Lykes Bros. SS Co., Inc., New Orleans LA
“Homeport Galveston
“Date of attack 28 Jun 1942
“Nationality American
“Fate Sunk by U-154 (Walther Kolle)
“Position 16° 57’N, 69° 45’W – Grid EC 3586
“Complement 33 (33 dead – no survivors)
“Route Galveston (13 Jun) – San Juan, Puerto Rico
“Cargo 2705 tons of general cargo, including food and machinery
“History Completed in April 1920 as Lake Florian for US Shipping Board (USSB).
1922 renamed Tillie Lykes for Lykes Bros SS Co Inc, New Orleans LA.

“Notes on event At 03.50 hours on 28 June 1942, U-154 fired a single torpedo at an
unescorted zigzagging steamer with East course and scored a hit amidships after 18 seconds. The ship sank after 2 minutes 30 seconds and only left a few survivors on a raft and clinging to debris. The survivors were questioned by the Germans, but they were hard to understand due to the heavy seas and because they all yelled together in great confusion. The vessel was identified as Clyde with 3200 grt, but no such vessel could be found in the ship listings.

The Tillie Lykes (Master Gus Warren Darnell) was reported missing with the eight officers, 21 crewmen and four armed guards (the ship was armed with one 3in and two .30cal guns) on board after leaving Galveston and was incorrectly considered lost by war cause in the Yucatan Basin in approximately 19°N/85°W on 18 June when she was actually lost on 28 June about 100 miles south of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.”

Note: uboat.net contains information on all 33 of those onboard (20 of whom were American Merchant Marines and four were US Navy armed guards). The background information has several Texas towns, especially Galveston, as the home address of 14 of the Merchant Mariners. Accessed 5-13-2021 at: https://uboat.net/allies/merchants/crews/ship1828.html

Moore. A Careless Word, A Needless Sinking. 1983. Table extracted by armed-guard.com:
“S.S. Tillie Lykes…Torpedoed 6/18/42…Freighter…Crew 28 [Number Killed].”

Sources

American Merchant Marine at War. Chronological List of Ships Sunk or Damaged January to June 1942. Accessed 5-13-2021 at: http://www.usmm.org/sunk42a.html#anchor331462

Chen, C. Peter. “Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico Campaigns 16 Feb 1942 – 1 Jan 1944.” Accessed 5-13-2021 at: https://ww2db.com/battle_spec.php?battle_id=276

Clancey, Patrick (transcriber and formatter for HTML). HyperWar: The Official Chronology of the US Navy in World War II, Chapter IV: 1942. Accessed 5-13-2021 at: https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/USN-Chron/USN-Chron-1942.html

Galveston Daily News, TX. “Fate of Tillie Lykes, Vessel Which Disappeared in 1942, Is Still Shrouded in Mystery.” 3-2-1947, p. 28, col. 1. Accessed 5-13-2021 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/galveston-daily-news-mar-02-1947-p-28/

Helgason, G. Ships hit by U-boats. “Tillie Lykes – American Steam merchant.” uboat.net. Accessed 5-13-2021 at: https://uboat.net/allies/merchants/ship/1828.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 5-13-2021 at: https://www.armed-guard.com/sunk.html