Hampton Roads
| Name | Hampton Roads | ||
| Type: | Steam merchant | ||
| Tonnage | 2.689 tons | ||
| Completed | 1920 - Manitowoc Shipbuilding Co, Manitowoc WI | ||
| Owner | Polar Steamship Co, New York | ||
| Homeport | Wilmington | ||
| Date of attack | 1 Jun, 1942 | Nationality:  American | |
| Fate | Sunk by U-106 (Hermann Rasch) | ||
| Position | 22.45N, 85.13W - Grid DL 6538 - See location on a map - | ||
| Complement | 28 (5 dead and 23 survivors). | ||
| Convoy | |||
| Route | Tampa, Florida - San Juan, Puerto Rico | ||
| Cargo | 3620 tons of phosphate rock | ||
| History | Built as Lake Galien for US Shipping Board, Washington. 1923 sold to Philadelphia & Norfolk Steamship Co, Wilmington DE and renamed Hampton Roads. 1939 sold to Union Shipbuilding Co and in the same year to Polar Steamship Co, New York. | ||
| Notes on loss | At 11.40 hours on 1 Jun, 1942, the unescorted and unarmed Hampton Roads (Master William Hanson Lane) was stopped by two warning shots fired across the stern by U-106, while proceeding on a zigzag course at 6 knots. The most men of the eight officers and 20 crewmen on board immediately began to abandon ship in the port lifeboat and a raft, while the radio operator sent distress signals. At 11.46 hours, U-106 fired one torpedo that struck the ship at the #3 hatch, causing the vessel to sink within one minute. The master, one officer and two crewmen were still on board and were lost. The second mate was in the water near the lifeboat when the torpedo struck at close range and was not seen again. The 23 survivors were picked up seven hours later by the Alcoa Pathfinder and landed at Curaçao on 6 June. | ||
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