At 03.01 hours on 24 March 1942 the unescorted Empire Steel (Master William John Gray) was hit by two torpedoes from U-123 and caught fire after the cargo exploded. The U-boat had spotted the zigzagging tanker about 5 hours earlier and at 01.57 hours made a first attack that became a complete failure because the G7a torpedo fired became a tube runner and due to a misunderstanding a stern torpedo was fired without being aimed. After 40 minutes the U-boat fired nine rounds from the deck gun at the burning wreck which later capsized port and sank northeast of Bermuda. 35 crew members and four gunners were lost. The master, six crew members and one gunner were picked up by the American tug Edmund J. Moran (towing the Robert E. Lee) and landed at Norfolk, Virginia.