At 06.27 hours on 10 April 1942 the unescorted and unarmed Tamaulipas (Master Allan Victor Falkenberg) was hit on the starboard side by a stern torpedo from U-552 while steaming on a zigzag course at 10 knots about 18 miles northeast of Cape Lookout, North Carolina. The torpedo struck about 15 feet abaft the midships house at the #5 tank and wrecked the bridge, broke the back and immediately began to burn. No distress signal could be send before the eight officers and 29 crewmen abandoned ship in two lifeboats. Two men drowned after they jumped overboard. The survivors were picked up by HMS Norwich City (FY 229) and landed two hours later at Morehead City, North Carolina. The tanker burned out and sank in shallow waters early the next morning.