Comol Rico
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| Name | Comol Rico | ||
| Type: | Steam tanker | ||
| Tonnage | 5.034 tons | ||
| Completed | 1919 - American Int Shipbuilding Corp, Hog Island PA | ||
| Owner | Commercial Molasses Corp, New York | ||
| Homeport | New York | ||
| Date of attack | 4 Apr, 1942 | Nationality:  American | |
| Fate | Sunk by U-154 (Walther Kölle) | ||
| Position | 20.46N, 66.46W - Grid DO 7296 - See location on a map - | ||
| Complement | 42 (3 dead and 39 survivors). | ||
| Convoy | |||
| Route | Humacoa, Puerto Rico (3 Apr) - Boston, Massachusetts | ||
| Cargo | 8068 tons of bulk molasses | ||
| History | Laid down as steam merchant Sebethe of the Hog Island-type, completed as Kishacoquillas, 1920 converted to steam tanker, 1939 renamed Comol Roco
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| Notes on loss | At 21.35 hours on 4 Apr, 1942, the unescorted Comol Rico (Master Peter Hansen Lang) was hit by one torpedo from U-154 about 225 miles north of San Juan, Puerto Rico, while proceeding on a nonevasive course at 9 knots. Lookouts had spotted the torpedo 150 feet from the tanker and the helmsman put the wheel over hard left, but it struck amidships and the vessel sank quickly within seven minutes. The surviving members of the crew of eight officers, 28 men and six armed guards (the ship was armed with one 4in, two .50cal and two .30cal guns) left the ship in one lifeboat and three rafts. Just as the boats left a second torpedo had struck the Comol Rico and blew away the whole side, killing one officer and two men on watch below. Later the survivors spotted a passenger ship and sent up flares, but the ship, when about three miles off, turned and steamed in the opposite direction. On 6 April, a US Navy aircraft spotted the survivors and directed the American destroyer USS Sturtevant (DD 240) to pick them up. The 39 survivors were landed at San Juan, Puerto Rico on 9 April. | ||
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