Hoosier
Hoosier as Black Eagle
| Name | Hoosier | ||
| Type: | Steam merchant (Hog Island) | ||
| Tonnage | 5.060 tons | ||
| Completed | 1920 - American Int Shipbuilding Corp, Hog Island PA | ||
| Owner | Hoosier Marine Co, New York | ||
| Homeport | New York | ||
| Date of attack | 10 Jul, 1942 | Nationality:  American | |
| Fate | Sunk by U-376 (Friedrich-Karl Marks) | ||
| Position | 69.25N, 38.35E - Grid AC 9843 - See location on a map - | ||
| Complement | 53 (0 dead and 53 survivors). | ||
| Convoy | PQ-17 (dispersed) | ||
| Route | Philadelphia - Reykjavik - Archangel | ||
| Cargo | 5029 tons of machinery, explosives and tanks | ||
| History | Laid down as Carlecay, completed as Tomalva, 1932 renamed American Black Eagle for Black Diamond Lines Inc, New York; 1941 renamed Hoosier | ||
| Notes on loss | The Hoosier (Master Julius Holmgren) had been in convoy PQ-17 which was dispersed on Admiralty orders in the Barents Sea on 4 Jul, 1942. She reached Novaya Zemlya where she joined five other merchants and eight escort vessels from the convoy in the Matochkin Strait. Commodore Dowding assembled a small convoy out of them and then proceeded on 7 July to Murmansk and Archangel. On 9 July, the small convoy was attacked by several German Junkers Ju 88 aircraft of II. and III./KG 30 about 65 miles northeast of Iokanka. The first stick of bombs missed the Hoosier, but the second hit five feet from the boat deck and the third 20 yards away. These explosions damaged the steam pipes and oil lines, sprung some of the hull plates and disabled the engines. The eight officers, 34 crewmen and eleven armed guards (the ship was armed with one 4in, four .50 cal and two .30 cal guns) abandoned ship in four lifeboats and were picked up by the British corvette HMS Poppy (K 213) in 69°45N/39°35E. The commanding officer on the British corvette HMS La Malouine (K 46) decided to tow the ship in and put a salvage crew back on board, that included the engineers of the vessel. But when U-255 (Reche) was sighted four miles astern, the corvette expeditiously dropped the tow and recovered the boarding party. The HMS Poppy (K 213) unsuccessfully tried to sink her with gunfire. At 02.56 hours on 10 July, the drifting wreck of the Hoosier was torpedoed by U-376. Another torpedo fired at 03.02 hours missed and the vessel only sunk after a coup de grāce was fired five minutes later. | ||
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