At 08.31 hours on 23 Sep 1943, U-952 fired two T-3 torpedoes at convoy ON-202, the first hit the Steel Voyager and the second missed. Seven minutes later, another T-3 and a FAT torpedo were fired. The T-3 exploded prematurely and the FAT struck the James Gordon Bennett after 4 minutes 25 seconds, but did not detonate.

The Steel Voyager (Master John Joseph Brady) had left Liverpool in station #11 of convoy ONS-18, which merged with convoy ON-202 on 20 September and took station as the fourth in the port outboard column. The torpedo struck on the starboard side at the collision bulkhead and blew the windlass and forecastle deck upward and the hatch covers off the #1 hatch. The engines were stopped to inspect the damage, but as the ship settled by the bow the propeller raised out of the water and it was decided to abandon ship. Seven crew members had already left the ship in a lifeboat and layed alongside. They were followed by the nine officers, the remnants of the 30 crewmen and 27 armed guards (the ship was armed with two 3in and eight 20mm guns) in the remaining three lifeboats and stood by the vessel. At 12.00 hours, FFL Renoncule (K 117) came to assistance, so the crew reboarded the ship followed by a boarding party from the French corvette while HMCS Morden (K 170) (T/Lt E.C. Smith, RCNVR) screened them. At 14.30 hours, the escorts were ordered back to convoy so the crew was forced to abandon their ship for a second time because she was not seaworthy. 35 men boarded the French corvette and 31 the Canadian corvette. All hands were landed in St. John’s on 26 September.