On 9 Jun, 1942, U-502 attacked the convoy TO-5 about 35 miles northeast of Cape Blanco, Venezuela and sank the Bruxelles and Franklin K. Lane.

The Franklin K. Lane (Master Warner Edgar Loeffler) was missed by a first torpedo just as the ship began to change her station in the convoy, but a second struck on the starboard side in the #7 tank aft of the bridge. The explosion created a large column of smoke and a geyser of oil rained on the poop deck. The tanker buckled at the point of impact and fire quickly enveloped the bridge and spread on the water. 37 men of the eight officers, 27 crewmen and six armed guards (the ship was armed with one 4in gun) abandoned ship in two lifeboats and one raft, because two boats had been damaged by the explosion. The master, the chief mate and two crewmen were lost. The survivors were picked up by HMS Churchill (I 45) (Cdr P.J. Fitzgerald, RN) three hours later and landed in Curaçao. 15 hours after the attack the destroyer sank the tanker with about 20 shells, concluding that she would be a hazard to navigation.