1942 — July 3, freighter Alexander Macomb sunk by U-boat ~175m east of Cape Cod, MA-10

–10 American Merchant Marine at War. Chronological List of U.S. Ships Sunk or Damaged…
–4 Crew
–6 Armed Guard
–10 Chen, C. Peter. “Second Happy Time: 14 Jan 1942–31 Aug 1942.” World War II Database.
–10 Clancey. HyperWar: The Official Chronology of the US Navy in [WW] II, Chapter IV 1942.
–4 Crew
–6 Armed Guard
–10 Helgason. Ships hit by U-boats. “Alexander Macomb – American Steam merchant.” uboat.net.

Narrative Information

American Merchant Marine at War. Chronological List of U.S. Ships Sunk or Damaged…
“Date Ship Type Cause Result Location Deaths
“07/03/42 Alexander Macomb Liberty Torpedo Sunk NAtlantic Crew 4: AG 6.”

Chen, C. Peter. “Second Happy Time: 14 Jan 1942–31 Aug 1942.” World War II Database:
“3 Jul 1942 German submarine U-215 sank US ship Alexander Macomb 150 kilometers east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, United States at 1230 hours; 10 were killed, 57 survived; Alexander Macomb sunk with 9,000 tons of war goods for the Soviet Union. British armed anti-submarine warfare trawler HMS Le Tiger counterattacked and sank U-215 with depth charges, killing all 48 aboard.”

Clancey. HyperWar: The Official Chronology of the US Navy in [WW] II, Chapter IV: 1942:
“July 3, Fri. ….
“Atlantic….
“U.S. freighter Alexander Macomb, in convoy BA 2, is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-215 at 41°40’N, 66°52’W; four of the ship’s 41-man crew and six of the 25-man Armed Guard are killed in the attack. British trawler HMS Le Tiger rescues 31 survivors; Canadian corvette HMCS Regina 25.”

Helgason. Ships hit by U-boats. “Alexander Macomb – American Steam merchant.” uboat.net.
“Name Alexander Macomb
“Type Steam merchant (Liberty)
“Tonnage 7,191 tons
“Completed 1942 – Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyards Inc., Baltimore MD
“Owner A.H. Bull & Co. Inc., New York
“Homeport Baltimore
“Date of attack 3 Jul 1942
“Nationality American
“Fate Sunk by U-215 (Fritz Hoeckner)
“Position 41° 48’N, 66° 35’W
“Complement (66 (10 dead and 56 survivors).
“Convoy BX-27
“Route New York – Woods Hole MA – Halifax – Archangel
“Cargo 9000 tons of military equipment, tanks, planes and explosives
“History ….
“Notes on event The Alexander Macomb (Master Carl Monsen Froisland) was on her maiden
voyage. During the night of 3 July 1942, heavy fog and fear of collision caused the ship to fall astern of convoy BX-27. The master maintained an intermittent zigzag course and was attempting to catch convoy in daylight. She had reached the rear of convoy and had about seven ships and an escort vessel in sight when at 12.30 hours a torpedo from U-125 struck between #4 and #5 holds, causing the cargo of explosives to ignite and burst into flames. The eight officers, 33 crewmen and 25 armed guards (the ship was armed with one 4in, one 3in, four 20mm and two .30cal guns) abandoned ship in three lifeboats and one raft, but because the ship was still under way one boat capsized. Other survivors jumped into the water and hung onto pieces of wreckage. At 13.00 hours, the ship sank by the stern about 175 miles east of Cape Cod. 15 minutes later HMS Le Tiger (FY 243)… rescued 23 crew members and eight armed guards and brought them to Woods Hole on 4 July.

U-125 had been sunk with all hands by depth charges from HMS Le Tiger (FY 243) shortly after this attack.”

Note: uboat.net has information on twenty-three of those on board. Accessed 6-6-2021 at:
https://uboat.net/allies/merchants/crews/ship1883.html

Sources

American Merchant Marine at War. Chronological List of Ships Sunk or Damaged during July to December 1942. Accessed 6-6-2021 at: http://www.usmm.org/sunk42b.html#anchor340736

Chen, C. Peter. “Second Happy Time: 14 Jan 1942 – 31 Aug 1942.” World War II Database. Accessed 6-6-2021 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 6-6-2021 at: https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/USN-Chron/USN-Chron-1942.html

Helgason, G. Ships hit by U-boats. “Alexander Macomb – American Steam merchant.” uboat.net. Accessed 6-6-2021 at: https://uboat.net/allies/merchants/ship/1883.html