Potrero del Llano
 The torpedoed Potrero Del Llano
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The Potrero del Llano was a Mexican oil tanker , the sinking of which by the Navy during the Second World War was one of the reasons for Mexico's declaration of war on the German Reich on June 1, 1942.
history
The tanker was built in 1912 as FA Tamplin at the Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company shipyard in Jarrow for the London shipping company FA Tamplin Steam Ship Company and, after its completion, managed by TW Tamplin & Company in London. In 1920, the London shipping company Meade-King, Robinson & Company took over the ship and used it without renaming it. The following year, the shipping company Société Anonyme d'Armement, d'Industrie et de Commerce from Antwerp acquired the tanker and renamed it Arminco . On April 2, 1930, the shipping company Societe Italiana Trasporti Petroliferi (SITP) from Genoa bought the ship and renamed it Lucifero again . In 1933 the tanker was transferred to the Genoa-based shipping company Societa Petrolifera Esercizi Marittimi without being renamed.
The tanker was in Tampico during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 , where it was confiscated by the Mexican government . The Mexicans renamed the ship after a well-known place in the state of Nayarit : Potrero del Llano . It drove now for the state oil company PEMEX and was on May 13, 1942 in the Gulf of Mexico off Miami .
There it was sighted by the German submarine U 564 . The German submarine commander, Kapitänleutnant Reinhard Suhren , later stated that, although the ship was recognized as Italian, he nevertheless decided to attack due to the ship's position in US waters off Miami. Of the 35 crew members, 22 survived, who were picked up by the US ship PC-536 and brought to Miami.
When the tanker Faja de Oro was torpedoed by U 106 on May 21, Mexico declared war on Germany on June 1, 1942.
Web links
- Entry on the list of sunk allied ships on www.uboat.net (English)
Individual proof
Coordinates: 25 ° 35 ′ 0 ″ N , 80 ° 6 ′ 0 ″ W.