1942 — July 30, US passenger ship Robert E. Lee sunk by U-boat, Gulf, ~50M SE MS Riv. entrance, LA-25

–25 American Merchant Marine at War. U.S. Ships Sunk or Damaged…During [WW] II.
–10 crew
–15 passengers
–25 Chen, C. Peter. World War II Database. “30 Jul 1942.”
–25 Helgason. Ships hit by U-boats. “Robert E. Lee – American Steam passenger ship.” uboat.net.
— 1 officer
— 9 crew
–15 passengers
–25 Moore. A Careless Word, A Needless Sinking. 1983. Table extracted by armed-guard.com.
–10 crew
–15 passengers

Narrative Information

American Merchant Marine at War (USMM). U.S. Ships Sunk or Damaged…[WW] II.
“Date Ship Type Cause Result Location Deaths
“07/30/42 Robert E. Lee Passenger Ship Torpedo Sunk GulfMexico Crew 10;
survivors of Stanvac Palembang & other ships: 15.”

Chen, C. Peter. World War II Database. “30 Jul 1942”:
“….German submarine U-166 sank American freighter Robert E. Lee 50 kilometers [31 miles] southwest of New Orleans, Louisiana, United States at 2230 hours; 25 were killed, 379 survived. Escorting patrol chaser USS PC-556 counterattacked with depth charges and sank the German submarine, although the sinking was not confirmed until after the war; all 52 aboard U-166 were lost.”

Clancey. HyperWar: The Official Chronology of the US Navy in [WW] War II, Chap. IV: 1942:
“July 30, Thu. ….
“Gulf of Mexico
“German submarine U-166 attacks convoy TAW 7 about 25 miles southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River, and sinks U.S. passenger ship Robert E. Lee, 28°40’N, 88°30’W. Submarine chasers PC-566 and SC-519, and civilian tug Underwriter rescue survivors; none of the six-man Armed Guard are lost.”

Helgason/uboat.net:
“Name Robert E. Lee
“Type Steam passenger ship
“Tonnage 5,184 tons
“Completed 1924 – Newport New Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co., Newport News VA
“Owner Eastern SS Co., Boston MA
“Homeport New York
“Date of attack 30 Jul 1942
“Nationality American
“Fate Sunk by U-166 (Hans-Gunther Kuhlmann)
“Position 28° 37’N, 88° 30’W – Grid DA 69
“Complement 404 (25 dead and 379 survivors).
“Convoy TAW-7 (dispersed)
“Route Port of Spain, Trinidad (21 Jul) – Tampa, FL – New Orleans, LA
“Cargo Passengers and 47 tons of general cargo and personal effects
“History ….
“Notes on event At 23.37 hours on 30 July 1942 the Robert E. Lee (Master William C.
Heath) was hit by one torpedo from U-166, steaming at 16 knots about 50 miles southeast of the entrance to the Mississippi River. Lookouts had spotted the torpedo wake about 200 yards away before it struck just aft of the engine room. The explosion destroyed the #3 hold, vented through the B and C decks and wrecked the engines, the radio compartment and the steering gear. The vessel had been bound for Tampa, but no pilot was available so she was diverted to New Orleans under escort by USS PC-566 (LtCdr Herbert Gordon Claudius, USNR) which now began dropping depth charges at a sonar contact, sinking the U-boat.

The badly damaged Robert E. Lee first listed to port then to starboard and finally sank by the stern about 15 minutes after the torpedo hit. One officer, nine crewmen and 15 passengers were lost. The survivors of the eight officers, 122 crewmen, six armed guards (the ship was armed with one 3in gun) and 268 passengers on board abandoned ship in six lifeboats, eight rafts and five floats and were soon picked up by USS PC-566, and the tug Underwriter and landed in Venice, Louisiana.

The passengers aboard the Robert E. Lee were mostly survivors of previously torpedoed ships on their way to the USA. Among the rescued were all 39 men from the Andrea Brovig, 32 men from the Hoegh Giant and 44 men from the Stanvac Palembang, while one man from the latter died in the sinking.”

Note: uboat.net contains information on 346 of the men and women onboard at:
https://uboat.net/allies/merchants/crews/ship1981.html

Moore. A Careless Word, A Needless Sinking. 1983. Table extracted by armed-guard.com:
“S.S. Robert E. Lee Torpedoed 7/30/42 Passenger Ship Crew 10, Passengers 15.”

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 5-1-2021 at: http://www.usmm.org/eastgulf.html

Chen, C. Peter. World War II Database. “30 Jul 1942.” Accessed 5-1-2021 at:
https://ww2db.com/event/today/07/30/1942

Clancey, Patrick (transcriber and formatter for HTML). HyperWar: The Official Chronology of the US Navy in World War II, Chapter IV: 1942. Accessed 5-1-2021 at: https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/USN-Chron/USN-Chron-1942.html

Helgason, Gudmundur. Ships hit by U-boats. “Robert E. Lee – American Steam passenger ship.” uboat.net. Accessed 5-1-2021 at: https://uboat.net/allies/merchants/ship/1981.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 5-1-2021 at: https://www.armed-guard.com/sunk.html