At 06.18 hours on 1 Apr, 1942, the unescorted and unarmed Tiger (Master Rein S. Schnore) was hit by one torpedo from U-754, after a spread of three torpedoes had missed earlier just as the tanker reduced speed and signaled with blinkers to pick up a pilot off Cape Henry, Virginia. The torpedo struck on the starboard side just aft of amidships at about #5 tank and blew oil all over the ship. As the stern settled, the eight officers, 28 crewmen and six passengers (a US Navy gun crew in transit) abandoned ship in three lifeboats and were picked up after two hours by the YP-52 and landed at Norfolk. One of the firemen on watch below had been killed.

A salvage crew boarded the Tiger the next day and the American tug Relief and the US Coast Guard cutter USS Jackson (WPC 142) took the ship in tow for Norfolk, but she sank on 2 April in 55 feet of water in the Chesapeake Bay and declared a total loss. In 1954 the wreck was sold for breaking up.