1943 — Jan 9, US tanker Broad Arrow sunk by U-boat ~100M NW of Paramaribo, Suriname–23

–23 American Merchant Marine at War. Chronological List of U.S. Ships Sunk or Damaged…
–16 crew
— 7 armed guard
–23 Helgason, G. Ships hit by U-boats. “Broad Arrow – American Steam tanker.” uboat.net.
–23 Moore. A Careless Word, A Needless Sinking. 1983. Table extracted by armed-guard.com.

Narrative Information

American Merchant Marine at War. Chronological List of U.S. Ships Sunk or Damaged…
“Date Ship Type Cause Result Location Deaths
“01/09/43 Broad Arrow Tanker Torpedo Sunk Caribbean* Crew 16; AG 7.”

*Blanchard note: We disagree with designating this loss in the Caribbean when it was at least two hundred miles southwest of what is normally thought of as the Caribbean Sea (uboat.net clearly shows the location of this attack and loss on a map southeast of the Caribbean).

Clancey. HyperWar: The Official Chronology of the US Navy in [WW] II, Chapter V 1943:
“8 January, Fri. ….
“Atlantic
“Shortly before midnight, submarine U-124 attacks 12-ship Rio de Janeiro, Brazil-bound convoy TB 1, torpedoing U.S. tanker Broad Arrow at 07°21’N, 55°43’W, and freighter Birmingham City at 07°12’N, 55°37’W. On board the former, the initial explosion kills seven of the eight-man Armed Guard, and her complement abandons the blazing ship (which is illuminating the entire convoy) without orders. Birmingham City sinks in three minutes (see 9 January)….

“9 January, Sat. ….
“Atlantic
“German submarine U-124 continues assault on convoy TB 1, begun shortly before midnight the day before, about 100 miles northeast of Paramaribo, Dutch Guiana [today’s Suriname]. U-124 torpedoes freighters Collingsworth and Minotaur at 07°12’N, 55°37’W; each ship sinks four minutes after being struck. Tanker Broad Arrow sinks as the result of damage received in U-124’s initial attack. Submarine chaser PC-577 rescues survivors from all four ships sunk by the U-boat. Of the Armed Guards on the four merchantmen, only one sailor of the eight-man guard on board Broad Arrow survives; five of the 18-man Armed Guard perish in the abandonment of Birmingham City; Collingsworth’s detachment loses four of 24 men; Minotaur’s 15-man Armed Guard, however, survives intact.

Helgason, G. Ships hit by U-boats. “Broad Arrow – American Steam tanker.” uboat.net.
“Name Broad Arrow
“Type Steam tanker
“Tonnage 7,718 tons
“Completed 1918 – New York Shipbuilding Corp., Camden NJ
“Owner Socony-Vacuum Oil Co., Inc., New York
“Homeport New York
“Date of attack 9 Jan 1943
“Nationality American
“Fate Sunk by U-124 (Johann Mohr)
“Position 7° 35’N, 55° 45’W – Grid EO 5354
“Complement 47 (23 dead and 24 survivors).
“Convoy TB-1
“Route Port of Spain, Trinidad – Rio de Janeiro
“Cargo 85,111 barrels of diesel and fuel oil
“History ….
“Notes on event At 04.33 hours on 9 Jan 1943, U-124 attacked convoy TB-1 and hit the
Broad Arrow with two torpedoes and sank the Birmingham City with one torpedo at 04.36 hours.

The Broad Arrow (Master Percy Louis Mounter) in station #31 was struck on the port side by the first torpedo at the after magazine. The explosion tore open the entire after end of the vessel and she flooded rapidly and settled by the stern. The explosion probably killed seven of the eight armed guards on board (the ship was armed with one 5in and two .30cal guns). Moments later the second torpedo struck forward of amidships and set the cargo on fire, so that the tanker lit up the entire convoy. All hands standing on watch on the bridge (including the master) and in the engine room were killed by the explosions. She began to settle more evenly and sank stern first at 07.00 hours. The survivors of the eight officers and 31 men abandoned ship within five minutes without orders in two lifeboats and two rafts. Some men stranded on the burning tanker and in the water, because the lifeboats were launched with only a few men in it. Three officers, 22 crewmen and one armed guard were picked up by USC PC-577 about ten hours later and landed them at Paramaribo the next day. The Second Mate died on board and the Pumpman died from burns in the hospital. Both were buried in Paramaribo.”

Note: uboat.net includes information of twenty-five of those onboard. Accessed 5-22-2021 at:
https://uboat.net/allies/merchants/crews/ship2577.html

Moore. A Careless Word, A Needless Sinking. 1983. Table extracted by armed-guard.com:
“S.S. Broad Arrow…Torpedoed 1/9/43…Tanker…Crew 16, AG7 [Number Killed].”

Sources

American Merchant Marine at War. Chronological List of Ships Sunk or Damaged during 1943. Accessed 5-21-2021 at: http://www.usmm.org/sunk43.html#anchor406099

Clancey, Patrick (transcriber and formatter for HTML). HyperWar: The Official Chronology of the US Navy in World War II, Chapter V: 1943. Accessed 5-19-2021 at: https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/USN-Chron/USN-Chron-1943.html

Helgason, Gudmundur. Ships hit by U-boats. “Broad Arrow – American Steam tanker.” uboat.net. Accessed 5-21-2021 at: https://uboat.net/allies/merchants/ship/2577.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 5-18-2021 at: https://www.armed-guard.com/sunk.html