1942 — June 1-2, US freighter Illinois sunk by U-boat ~400 miles NE of Puerto Rico –31-32

–32 Chen, C. Peter. “Second Happy Time: 14 Jan 1942–31 Aug 1942.” World War II Database.
–32 Clancey. HyperWar: The Official Chronology of the US Navy in [WW] II, Chapter IV 1942.
–32 Helgason, G. Ships hit by U-boats. “Illinois – American Steam merchant.” uboat.net.
–31 American Merchant Marine at War. Chronological List of U.S. Ships Sunk or Damaged…
–31 Moore. A Careless Word, A Needless Sinking. 1983. Table extracted by armed-guard.com.

Blanchard note on date of loss: According to uboat.net the attack took place during the early morning hours of June 2 (02.53). This might explain why two sources (AMMW and Clancey) place the loss on June 1. However, not being absolutely certain when the attack occurred, we decide to date the loss June 1-2, 1942.

Narrative Information

American Merchant Marine at War. Chronological List of U.S. Ships Sunk or Damaged…
“Date Ship Type Cause Result Location Deaths
“06/01/42 Illinois Freighter Torpedo Sunk Caribbean Crew 31.”

Chen, C. Peter. “Second Happy Time: 14 Jan 1942–31 Aug 1942.” World War II Database:
“2 Jun 1942 German submarine U-159 sank US ship Illinois 450 miles southeast of Bermuda at 0253 hours; 32 were killed, 6 survived. In the same general area at 0255 hours, U-558 sank Dutch ship Triton with the deck gun; 6 were killed, 30 survived. Several hours later, U-553 sank British ship Mattawin off northeastern United States at 0718 hours; all aboard survived. Between 0332 and 0705 hours, U-213 gave chase to Norwegian ship Berganger, which evaded all 5 torpedo attacks, but at 2027 hours she would fall prey to U-578 southeast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, United States; 4 were killed, 43 survived. Finally, 85 miles south of Freetown, British West Africa, Italian submarine Leonardo da Vinci sank Panamanian schooner Reine Marie Stewart.”

Clancey. HyperWar: The Official Chronology of the US Navy in [WW] II, Chapter IV 1942:
“June 1, Mon. ….
“Atlantic….
“U.S. freighter Illinois is torpedoed by German submarine U-172 at 24°00’N, 60°00’W; only six of the 38-man crew survives the loss of the ship.”

Helgason, G. Ships hit by U-boats. “Illinois – American Steam merchant.” uboat.net:
“Name Illinois
“Type Steam merchant
“Tonnage 5,447 tons
“Completed 1920 – Los Angeles Shipbuilding & Drydock Corp., San Pedro CA
“Owner States SS Co., San Francisco CA
“Homeport Tacoma
“Date of attack 2 Jun 1942
“Nationality American
“Fate Sunk by U-159 (Helmut Friedrich Witte)
“Position 24° 00’N, 60° 00’W – Grid DO 6324
“Complement 38 (32 dead and 6 survivors).
“Route Vizagapatam, India – Colombo – Capetown – Baltimore
“Cargo 8000 tons of manganese ore
“History Completed in May 1920 as Las Vegas for US Shipping Board (USSB). 1928 renamed Illinois for States SS Co, San Francisco CA.

“Notes on event At 02.53 hours on 2 June 1942 the unescorted and unarmed Illinois (Master
Hans Mathiesen, lost) was torpedoed and sunk by U-159 about 400 miles northeast of Puerto Rico, while steaming a non-evasive course at 10 knots. Two torpedoes hit amidships, just aft of the bridge. The ship sank within 40 seconds, capsizing to starboard. No distress signal could be sent and no lifeboats could be launched. Only a few men of the eight officers and 30 crew members managed to leave the ship. One officer and five men rightened a capsized lifeboat and remained nearly 20 hours in the area before then sailing a southwesterly course, but found no other survivors. The survivors were picked up by the American steam tanker Esso Montpelier six days after the attack and landed at Port of Spain, Trinidad on 10 June.”

Note: uboat.net contains information on thirty-two of those onboard (30 being American Merchant Marine) accessible at: https://uboat.net/allies/merchants/crews/ship1732.html

Moore. A Careless Word, A Needless Sinking. 1983. Table extracted by armed-guard.com:
“S.S. Illinois…Torpedoed 6/1/42…Freighter…Crew 31 [Number Killed].”

Sources

American Merchant Marine at War. Chronological List of Ships Sunk or Damaged January to June 1942. Accessed 5-10-2021 at: http://www.usmm.org/sunk42a.html#anchor331462

Chen, C. Peter. “Second Happy Time: 14 Jan 1942 – 31 Aug 1942.” World War II Database. Accessed 5-10-2021 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 5-10-2021 at: https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/USN-Chron/USN-Chron-1942.html

Helgason, Gudmundur. Ships hit by U-boats. “Illinois – American Steam merchant.” uboat.net. Accessed 5-10-2021 at: https://uboat.net/allies/merchants/ship/1732.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 5-10-2021 at: https://www.armed-guard.com/sunk.html