Ships hit by U-boats


Sheherazade

Panamanian Motor tanker


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NameSheherazade
Type:Motor tanker
Tonnage13,467 tons
Completed1935 - Ateliers et Chantiers de la Seine Maritime Worms & Co, Le Trait 
OwnerMarine Transport Lines Inc, New York 
HomeportPanama 
Date of attack11 Jun 1942Nationality:      Panamanian
 
FateSunk by U-158 (Erwin Rostin)
Position28° 41'N, 91° 20'W - Grid DA 9180
Complement59 (1 dead and 58 survivors).
Convoy
RouteNewport News - Houston 
CargoBallast 
History Completed in October 1935 as French Shéhérazade for Cie Auxiliaire de Navigation, Le Havre. On 7 Feb 1942, she was turned over by the Free French government to the US War Shipping Administration (WSA), assigned on bareboat charter to the Marine Transport Lines and registered in Panama. 
Notes on event

At 10.55 hours on 11 June 1942 the unescorted Sheherazade (Master Trygve O.B. Wold) was hit on the starboard side amidships and in the bunker tank by two torpedoes from U-158 about 20 miles west of Ship Shoal Buoy. The explosions destroyed all power facilities, stopped the engines and caused a starboard list of 45°. The tanker capsized after being hit by a coup de grâce on the starboard side in the engine room at 11.05 hours. The U-boat then surfaced and fired eight rounds from the deck gun into the bottom of the tanker to sink her.

The 44 crew members and 15 armed guards abandoned ship eight minutes after the hit in a lifeboat, a motor boat and by jumping overboard. One crew member was lost. The shrimp boat Midshipman rescued 26 survivors from the motor boat and nine who had jumped overboard and landed them at Morgan City, Louisiana the next day. The 23 survivors in the lifeboat were picked up by the fishing vessel 40 Fathoms at 14.30 hours on the same day and landed at Morgan City.

 
On boardWe have details of 3 people who were on board


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