1942 — Jun 15-16, US freighter Kahuku sunk by U-boat 70 miles west of Grenada, Caribbean-17-18

–18 Clancey. HyperWar: The Official Chronology of the US Navy in [WW] II, Chapter IV 1942.
–18 Moore. A Careless Word, A Needless Sinking. 1983. Table extracted by armed-guard.com.
–6 crew
–9 passengers
–3 Armed Guard
–18 Wreck Site. “SS Kahuku (+1942).”
–17 Chen, C. Peter. World War II Database. “16 Jun 1942.”
–17 Helgason. Ships hit by U-boats. “Kahuku – American Steam merchant.” uboat.net.
–1 the Captain
–1 officer
–4 crew
–3 armed guards
–8 survivors of other torpedoed ships

Blanchard note on dating and fatalities. While it is understandable that there may not be clarity on the exact number of survivors, the fact that there were a number of survivors raises the question how sources could disagree on the date of the attack – with two dating the attack on June 15 and three noting June 16. We could not locate a newspaper account, or another source which appeared to definitively set the date – thus we employ a date range as well as a fatality range.

Blanchard on Kahuku name: While searching newspapers at the time we found references to Kahuku Point in the county of Honolulu in Hawaii and speculate that there is a connection between the name of this freighter and this Hawaii location.

Narrative Information

Chen/WW II Database: “16 June 1942….German submarine U-126 sank…US ship Kahuku at 0320 hours (17 were killed, 46 survived) 70 miles west of Grenada.”

Clancey. HyperWar: The Official Chronology of the US Navy in [WW] II, Chapter IV 1942.
“June 15, Mon. ….
“Caribbean….U.S. freighter Kahuku, torpedoed by U-126, sinks; six of her 36-man crew as well as three of her 10-man Armed Guard perish in the attack. Lost as well are nine passengers: six of the 46 survivors from U.S. freighter Scottsburg, sunk by U-161 on 15 June and three of the 17 survivors of Panamanian-flag steamer Cold Harbor, sunk by U-502 the same day. Coastal yacht Opal (PYc-8) and district patrol vessel YP-63 rescue the 91 survivors from the three ships.”

Helgason/uboat.net:
“Name Kahuku
“Type Steam merchant
“Tonnage 6,062 tons
“Completed 1920 – Pacific Coast Shipbuilding Co., Bay Point CA
“Owner Matson Navigation Co., San Francisco CA
“Homeport San Francisco
“Date of attack 16 Jun 1942
“Nationality American
“Fate Sunk by U-126 (Ernst Bauer)
“Position 11° 54’N, 63° 07’W – Grid ED 9412
“Complement 109 (17 dead and 92 survivors).
“Route New York – Hampton Roads – Trinidad – Table Bay – Busreh – Bandar Shapur
“Cargo 7100 tons of general cargo, including cranes, tractors and construction
equipment
“History Completed in November 1920 as Cuprum for US Shipping Board (USSB).
1928 renamed Shelton for Tacoma-Oriental SS Co, Tacoma WA. 1937 renamed Kahuku for Matson Navigation Co, San Francisco CA.
“Notes on event At 03.20 hours on 16 June 1942 the unescorted Kahuku (Master Eric
Herbert Johanson) was torpedoed by U-126 about 90 miles west of Grenada, while steaming a zigzagging course at 9.5 knots. Lookouts spotted the wake of the torpedo about 20 yards away from the ship before it struck on the starboard side abaft the bridge about 8 feet below the waterline in the engine room. The eight officers, 28 crewmen, ten armed guards (the ship was armed with one 4in, two 20mm, two .50cal and one .30cal guns), 17 survivors from the Cold Harbor and 46 survivors from the Scottsburg abandoned ship in two lifeboats and three rafts in some chaos, due to the extra men aboard. The armed guards fired a few shots from the after gun, but soon left the ship. A coup de grâce was fired at 04.15 hours, but the ship remained afloat after the hit. The U-boat surfaced and fired between 05.00 and 05.26 hours approximately 30 shells on the bridge and the radio room, one shell hit the after magazine and the ship sank at 06.20 hours. The master, one officer, four crewmen, three armed guards and eight survivors died. Some men were picked up by U-126 and placed on rafts, but able seaman Archie Gibbs, a survivor from Scottsburg stayed aboard for four days, until he was placed on board the small Venezuelan vessel Minataora about 45 miles off Curaçao and landed there. The remaining survivors were picked up by the American patrol vessels USS Opal (PYc-8) and USS YP-63 and landed at Trinidad.”

Note: uboat.net has information on twenty-two of those onboard at:
https://uboat.net/allies/merchants/ship/1819.html

Moore. A Careless Word, A Needless Sinking. 1983. Table extracted by armed-guard.com:
“S.S. Kahuku Torpedoed & Shelled 6/15/42 Freighter Crew 6, Passengers 9, AG 3.”

Wreck Site. “SS Kahuku (+1942)”:
“nationality: American
“purpose: transport
“type cargo ship
….
“cause lost: torpedo
“date lost 16/06/1942
“casualties mas.18
….
“History: Kahuku SS was an American Cargo Steamer of 6,062 tons built in 1920. On the 16th June 1942 when on route from New York & Hampton Roads for Table Bay, Busreh & Bandar Shapur carrying a cargo of 7,100 tons of cranes, tractors and construction equipment she was torpedoed by German submarine U-126 and sunk by gunfire. 18 persons lost from a total crew of 109.”

Sources

Chen, C. Peter. World War II Database. “16 June 1942.” Accessed 4-29-2021 at: https://ww2db.com/event/today/06/16/1942

Clancey, Patrick (transcriber and formatter for HTML). HyperWar: The Official Chronology of the US Navy in World War II, Chapter IV: 1942. Accessed 4-29-2021 at: https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/USN-Chron/USN-Chron-1942.html

Helgason. Ships hit by U-boats. “Kahuku – American Steam merchant.” uboat.net. Accessed 4-29-2021 at: https://uboat.net/allies/merchants/ship/1819.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 4-29-2021 at: https://www.armed-guard.com/sunk.html

Wreck Site. “SS Kahuku (+1942).” Accessed 4-29-2021 at: https://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?16377