At 03.29 hours on 22 April 1942 the unescorted and unarmed San Jacinto (Master Robert W. Hart) was hit on the port side by one G7e torpedo from U-201 about 375 miles southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. The U-boat had chased the ship for about 12 hours and was spotted only 300 feet off the port beam just before the torpedo (a surface runner) struck slightly aft of amidships in the #5 hold near the waterline. The explosion blast vented upwards, tore up the deck and demolished the staterooms, recreation halls, radio room and the boat deck. The damaged engines were stopped and the ship lost all power. After the survivors of the eight officers, 71 crewmen and 104 passengers on board abandoned ship in six lifeboats and several rafts quickly and in good order, the U-boat fired 75 rounds from the deck gun at the vessel, which caught fire and sank after three hours. The master, four crewmen and nine passengers were lost.

The survivors (among them 32 women and children) tied together the boats and rafts and waited until dawn to sent a distress signal from a portable radio transmitter in one of the boats because they feared an attack by the U-boat. They were picked up the same day by USS Rowan (DD 405) and landed at Norfolk on 24 April.