1942 — June 15, passenger ship Cherokee sunk by U-boat, Atlantic ~50M off Boston, MA-86

–87 American Merchant Marine at War. U.S. Ships Sunk or Damaged on Eastcoast of U.S…
–65 crew
— 2 armed guard
–20 passengers
–86 Chen, Peter/ww2db.com. “Second Happy Time – 16 Jun 1942….” World War II Database.
–86 Clancey. HyperWar: The Official Chronology of the US Navy in World War II, Chapter IV.
–86 Helgason. Ships hit by U-boats. “Cherokee – American Steam passenger ship.”
–65 officers and crew
— 3 officers
–62 crew
— 1 armed guard
–20 passengers
–86 Moore. A Careless Word, A Needless Sinking. 1990. Table extracted by armed-guard.com.
–65 crew
–20 passengers
— 1 armed guard

Narrative Information

American Merchant Marine at War:
“Date Ship Type Cause Result Location Deaths
“06/15/42 Cherokee Passenger Ship Torpedo Sunk Eastcoast [87].”

Chen/ww2db.com: “16 Jun 1942…. German submarine U-87 attacked Allied convoy XB-25 25 miles east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, United States at 0417 hours, sinking British ship Port Nicholson (2 were killed, 85 survived) and US passenger liner Cherokee (86 were killed, 83 survived). ww2dbase (Second Happy Time / CPC)

Clancey: “U.S. tanker Cherokee, in convoy XB 25, is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-87 approximately 50 miles east of Boston, Massachusetts, 42°11’N, 69°25’W; 65 of the 103-man crew, as well as one of the 11-man Armed Guard and 20 of 46 passengers perish in the attack. Freighter Norlago rescues 44 survivors; Coast Guard cutter Escanaba (WPG-77) 39 more.)

Helgason/u-boat.net:
“Name Cherokee
“Type Seam passenger ship
“Tonnage 5,896 tons
“Completed 1925 – Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co., Newport News VA
“Owner Clyde-Mallory Lines (Agwilines Inc), New York
“Homeport New York
“Date of attack 16 Jun 1942
“Nationality American
“Fate Sunk by U-87 (Joachim Berger)
“Position 42° 25’N, 69° 10’W – Grid CA 3268
“Complement 169 (86 dead and 83 survivors).
“Convoy XB-25
“Route Halifax – Boston
“Cargo 350 tons of sand ballast
“History Completed in June 1925
“Notes on event At 04.17 hours on 16 June 1942, U-87 fired one torpedo at the leading ship of convoy XB-25 northeast of Cape Cod during a gale and fired at 04.18 hours a second torpedo at another ship. Berger observed how the first hit and thought that the second missed, but apparently both hit Port Nicholson. At 04.21 hours, a spread of two torpedoes was fired which both hit Cherokee.

“The Cherokee (Master Twiggs E. Brown) was struck by one torpedo on the port side under the bridge. The explosion lifted the vessel out of the water, destroyed the chart house and incoming water gave the ship a sharp list to port. The speed was increased and the rudder was turned hard right, but a second torpedo struck the port bow 90 seconds later, causing the ship to sink by the bow with a 60 degrees list to port within six minutes. The rough seas and the extreme list prevented the launching of lifeboats and only seven rafts were cut loose. The ship carried nine officers, 103 crew men, 11 armed guards (the ship was armed with one 4in, two .50cal and two .30cal guns) and 46 US Army passengers. Three officers, 62 crew men, one armed guard and 20 passengers died. 44 survivors were picked up by the American steam merchant Norlago and landed them at Provincetown, Massachusetts the same day. 39 others were picked up by USCGC Escanaba (WPG 77) which took them to Boston.”

Note: u-boat.net contains details concerning 151 of those on board. Accessed at:
https://uboat.net/allies/merchants/crews/ship1818.html

Moore: “S.S. Cherokee…Torpedoed 6/15/42…Passenger Ship…Crew 65, Passengers 20, AG 1”

United States Navy Memorial: Cherokee
“Monday, June 15, 1942
“Torpedoed near Halifax
“On June 15, 1942 the troopship S.S. Cherokee was part of a convoy out of Halifax Nova Scotia. The Cherokee was a fast freighter just down from Iceland carrying 41 army enlisted men, 4 Russian naval officers, and an army air force pilot, all headed for the US. Two torpedoes had hit the S.S. Port Nicholson and she was firing flares. A low boom followed by two huge explosions were seen on the troopship. Two torpedoes had hit her. The troop ship sank almost immediately taking half of her ship’s crew and the soldiers down with her. Flares and rockets indicated a submarine attack (U-87) on the convoy. The Escanaba came to the position where the SS Cherokee had gone down and to assist with survivors.”

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). 12-22-2010. Webpage accessed 4-20-2021 at: http://www.usmm.org/eastgulf.html

Chen, Peter. “Second Happy Time – 14 Jan 1942 – 31 Aug 1942.” World War II Database. Accessed 4-20-2021 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 4-20-2021 at: https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/USN-Chron/USN-Chron-1942.html

Helgason, Gudmundur. Ships hit by U-boats. “Cherokee – American Steam passenger ship.” Accessed 4-20-2021 at: https://uboat.net/allies/merchants/ship/1818.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 4-20-2021 at: https://www.armed-guard.com/sunk.html

The United States Navy Memorial. Cherokee. Accessed 4-20-2021 at: http://navylog.navymemorial.org/cherokee?field_sailor_first_name_value=&field_sailor_last_name_value=&field_soldier_service_branch_tid=All&items_per_page=20&order=field_sailor_last_name&sort=asc&page=2