Coamo (ship)
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The Coamo (II) was a passenger ship put into service in 1926 by the US shipping company Porto Rico Line. It was sunk on December 2, 1942 in the North Atlantic by the German submarine U 604 , killing all 186 people on board. It was the greatest loss of life on board a merchant ship flying the American flag during World War II .
The ship
The 7057 GRT passenger and cargo ship Coamo was built at the Newport News Shipbuilding yard in Newport News in the US state of Virginia and was launched there on July 22, 1925. The 130.8 meter long and 18.1 meter wide ship had a chimney, two masts and a propeller and was powered by oil-fired steam turbines, which accelerated the ship to 16.5 knots. The Coamo was completed in December 1925 and went on maiden voyage in January 1926 .
She was the sister ship of the Borinquen (7114 GRT), completed in 1931 , with which she set new standards on the route from New York to Puerto Rico and back. New York was also the home port of the two ships.
The Coamo was operated by the Porto Rico Line (actually New York and Porto Rico Steamship Company ), which belonged to the American shipping group AGWI Lines (Atlantic, Gulf & West Indies Steamship Lines). The shipping companies Clyde-Mallory Line and Ward Line (actually New York and Cuba Mail Steamship Company ) also belonged to AGWI Lines . The Coamo was the second ship of the Porto Rico Line with this name. The first Coamo (4244 BRT) entered service for the Allan Line in 1891 , bought by the Porto Rico Line in 1901 and scrapped in 1925.
In January 1942, the Coamo was chartered as a troop transport for the US Army .
Sinking
On Thursday, November 26, 1942, the Coamo cast off under the command of the 54-year-old Captain Nels Helgesen in Gibraltar for another crossing to New York via Land's End on the southern tip of England. She drove as part of convoy MKF-3. There were eleven officers, 122 other crew members, 37 artillerymen and 16 members of the US Army as passengers on board. The steamer was equipped with a 4-inch cannon, two 3-inch cannons and six 22-mm cannons for its defense.
On December 1, 1942, the Coamo was about 150 miles west of Ireland by order of the British Admiralty from the convoy and continued the journey alone. On the evening of the following day, the westbound ship was sighted by U 604 , a German VIIC submarine under Lieutenant Horst Höltring. At 8:18 p.m. on December 2, 1942, U 604 fired a torpedo from less than 800 meters away at the ship, which was traveling at 17.5 knots.
The torpedo hit below the navigating bridge. The Coamo sank within five minutes (position 49.00N / 24.00W). None of the 186 people on board survived the sinking. From aboard the submarine one could see some men disembarking the sinking ship on rafts, but these were likely to perish in the storm that began the day after the sinking in the area and lasted for three days.
The wreck of the Coamo is still undiscovered today (2016).