| Caption | US tanker Pennsylvania Sun burning after being torpedoed by German submarine U-571 in the Gulf of Mexico, 15 Jul 1942 ww2dbase | ||||
| Photographer | Unknown | ||||
| Source | ww2dbaseUnited States Navy | ||||
| Identification Code | 80-G-61599 | ||||
| More on... |
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| Photo Size | 4,111 x 3,311 pixels | ||||
| Photos on Same Day | 15 Jul 1942 | ||||
| Photos at Same Place | Atlantic Ocean | ||||
| Added By | C. Peter Chen | ||||
| Licensing | Public Domain. According to the United States copyright law (United States Code, Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 105), in part, "[c]opyright protection under this title is not available for any work of the United States Government". Please contact us regarding any inaccuracies with the above information. Thank you. |
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| Colorized By WW2DB |
Colorized with Adobe Photoshop |
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Visitor Submitted Comments
2. Anonymous says:
17 Jul 2017 08:03:16 AM
I had no idea they (German Uboats) had gotten INTO the Gulf of Mexico. You would have thought that they couldn't get passed the Florida Keys.
17 Jul 2017 08:03:16 AM
I had no idea they (German Uboats) had gotten INTO the Gulf of Mexico. You would have thought that they couldn't get passed the Florida Keys.
All visitor submitted comments are opinions of those making the submissions and do not reflect views of WW2DB.
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| WW2-Era Place Name | Atlantic Ocean |
| Lat/Long | 24.2500, -82.7000 |
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"Since peace is now beyond hope, we can but fight to the end."Chiang Kaishek, 31 Jul 1937
3 Oct 2015 05:41:53 PM
Several sources list the time of the attack as 0742 hours on Wed 15 Jul 1942 but all of these sources trace back to the German U-Boat records which were all recorded in Berlin time. The USS Dahlgren reports seeing the flare of the explosion over the horizon at 0200 hours local time on 15 Jul 1942. If the attack took place at 0142 local time (0742 Berlin time) and the Dahlgren saw the glow of the fires at 0200 hours rather than the torpedo explosion, everything fits perfectly. Two Pennsylvania Sun crewmembers lost their lives during the attack and the remaining crew took to their life boats. They were picked up by the Dahlgren at 0500 hours local time. The tanker did not sink, however, and by the evening of 16 Jul 1942, the fires were out and she was steaming under own power. She was repaired and returned to service. Ironically, after the war she was sold to a German company.