Mobiloil
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| Name | Mobiloil | ||
| Type: | Steam tanker | ||
| Tonnage | 9.925 tons | ||
| Completed | 1937 - Sun Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co, Chester PA | ||
| Owner | Socony-Vacuum Oil Co Inc, New York | ||
| Homeport | New York | ||
| Date of attack | 29 Apr, 1942 | Nationality:  American | |
| Fate | Sunk by U-108 (Klaus Scholtz) | ||
| Position | 25.35N, 66.18W - Grid DO 1389 - See location on a map - | ||
| Complement | 52 (0 dead and 52 survivors). | ||
| Convoy | |||
| Route | New York (16 Apr) - Norfolk - Caripito, Venezuela | ||
| Cargo | Water ballast | ||
| History | | ||
| Notes on loss | At 08.57 hours on 29 Apr, 1942, the unescorted Mobiloil (Master Ernest V. Farrow) was torpedoed by U-108 about 350 miles northeast of Turks Island. The tanker had been spotted by the U-boat already at 19.50 hours in grid DC 9592 the day before, but she was steaming at 14 knots and it took so long to come into an attack position. At 04.12 hours, a first torpedo already missed, before the U-boat fired a spread of two torpedoes at 08.57 hours and hit the tanker with one between the #1 and #2 tanks on the starboard side and blew a large hole in the bow. Then the U-boat surfaced and began shelling the tanker from a distance of 2000 metres with all weapons, while Mobiloil was firing 12 rounds from the 4in stern gun (the ship was also armed with two .50cal and two .30cal guns). After three hits on the tanker, Scholtz had to cease fire after 50 minutes because the target could not be seen properly, the 2cm AA gun jammed and the gun sight of the 3,7cm AA gun was defect. In the meantime the tanker swung around to show the stern towards the U-boat, shifted some ballast and set course toward Bermuda. At 11.12 and 11.13 hours, the U-boat fired two torpedoes, the first missed and the second struck on the starboard side of the #4 tank, destroying a lifeboat, opening the pumproom, wrecking the living quarters and the gyro compass, but the tanker was able to continue. The sixth torpedo fired at 16.45 hours hit between #7 and #8 tanks on the port side, stopping the engines and caused flooding, this caused the ship to break in two in the middle. The eight officers, 33 crewmen, two workaways and nine armed guards abandoned ship in three lifeboats just before the ship sank at 17.12 hours in 26°10N/66°15W with bow and stern pointing skyward. The master was later convicted of violating convoy routing orders, because he had been ordered to await a convoy off Norfolk, but the vessels did not arrive at the appointed hour, so he proceeded alone. | ||
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