It was kept out of the press, but the residents of North Carolina’s Outer Banks knew of it. They could hear the explosions and see the fires as ships burned in the darkness, the wreckage that washed ashore on the beaches and the occasional body. It wasn’t in some distant land that this, the U.S. greatest naval loss occurred. It was right off the eastern coast, especially in an area off the coast of North Carolina known as Torpedo Junction. As citizens stood helplessly on the beach watching, ships were being torpedoed and Merchant Marines were dying only a few miles offshore.

There was almost no protection for merchant ships at this time. The U.S. Navy had experienced a terrible loss to the 7th Fleet with the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Resources were too limited to cover all the needs at that time.

Then Germany declared war on the U.S. Germany had already devised a plan to disrupt shipping on the Atlantic coast using U-boats. Starting with only a few U-boats that showed great success against the unarmed and unguarded ships, more u-boats were pressed into service. There was almost no protection for merchant ships at this time. Fishermen reported seeing German U-boats off the coast of North Carolina, but action against them was almost nonexistent. The U.S. was simply caught off guard by the attack on Pearl Harbor in the Pacific.

The waters around the coast were part of Naval District 5, a huge stretch of ocean. It was patrolled by the 165-foot cutter, the Dione, which simply was no match for a German U-boat with an experienced crew. It was built to intercept rum runners during the Prohibition Era. In addition, blackouts were not practiced, so the lighting from persons living along the coast provided a silhouette of each target.

In spite of reports of an enemy presence, the merchant ships kept sailing the area, usually not taking the zig-zag pattern used to help avoid a torpedo strike.

At approximately 1:30 a.m. on January 18, 1942, the United States Merchant Marine tanker Allen Jackson was torpedoed off the coast of Cape Hatteras. Of its 35-man crew, 13 survived and were picked up later by the U.S. destroyer Roe. Before the month was over, eight more freighters and tankers would be sunk by U-boats in the area, earning the area the nickname Torpedo Junction. The Allen Jackson was to be only the first ship lost to the prowling U-boats in the area.

Later on that same day, the cargo ship, Brazos was sunk by torpedoes.

On January 19, 1942, the cargo ship City of Atlanta was sunk.

On January 20, the freighter Norvana was sunk. So was the tanker, Ciltvaira.

On January 23, the cargo ship, Venore was torpedoed. Its radio operator, Vernon Minsye of Mobile, Alabama sent his last message, “Cannot stay afloat much longer” at 1:22a.m. and was never heard from again. He was among the missing. The tanker, Empire Gem was transporting 10,600 tons of gasoline from a refinery in Port Arthur, Texas to Halifax, Nova Scotia with a crew of 57. At approximately 7:45 pm, near the Diamond Shoals Light Buoy a torpedo struck. Of her crew of 57 men, only two survived. At some time in January, 1942, the cargo ship, York was sunk.

Among the many ships lost during this time, on the night of March 26, 1942, the tanker Dixie Arrow was torpedoed off the coast of North Carolina. A photo was taken of the vessel as it sank.

On April 16, 1942 a German U-boat, using its deck gun, opened fire on the unarmed SS Alcoa Guide off the coast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. Twenty-eight-year-old Junior Engineer Waldemar Semenov was one of twenty-seven survivors. Seeing the damage done to the Alcoa Guide, he went to his quarters, changed into a suit that he had recently purchased in New York City, grabbed his camera, then went on deck to take a seat in one of the two lifeboats. He photographed his fellow survivors in the lifeboat and they photographed him! Three days later, they were spotted by a search plane, then picked up by the US Navy destroyer USS Broome. Following the war, Semenov remained a merchant seaman until his retirement in 1987.

It was in April, 1942 that a blackout order was given to the citizens. The British sent armed trawlers to help combat the U-boats. The attacks kept occuring in large number through May and into June. Of the 390 ships lost to U-boats during World War II, eighty occurred in Torpedo Junction.

Once the U.S. Navy moved into the area and showed a strong presence, the U-boats simply went south and concentrated on shipping in the Gulf of Mexico.

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