100 Years Ago Today: The Sinking of the SS Tuscania with American Troops Aboard

SS Tuscania

The liner Tuscania was delivered to its owners, the Anchor Line, at the beginning of 1915 for the joint service with Cunard from Glasgow to New York via Liverpool. Its maiden voyage on 6 February of that year was on this route, on which it traveled for the rest of its career. In September 1915 it helped rescue passengers for the Greek Line's ship Athini which had caught fire in the Atlantic.

Tuscania first undertook trooping duties in September 1916, carrying Canadian troops from Halifax, Nova Scotia, to Liverpool. In August of the following year she brought 1,236 men of the 16th U.S. Engineer Regiment from New York to Liverpool, and two more successful voyages followed.

Tuscania left Hoboken, New Jersey, on her final voyage on 24 January 1918 carrying 2,013 American troops and a crew of 384. She joined Convoy HX-20 at Halifax, Nova Scotia, and proceeded to cross the Atlantic bound for Le Havre. On 5 February the convoy was sighted seven miles north of the Rathilin Island lighthouse by the German Submarine UB-77 under the command of Lt. Cdr. Wilhelm Meyer. At 5:40 p.m he fired two torpedoes at the Tuscania, the first of which missed, the second scoring a direct hit. By 7:00 pm. all the ship's lifeboats had been launched, but approximately 1,350 men remained on board. The convoy's escorting destroyers assisted in removing these but were hampered by the continuing presence of the UB-77 in the area. The Tuscania finally sank at 10:00 p.m., over four hours after being struck, with 230 people lost. (One estimate indicated 201 of these were American troops, the remainder crew members.)

Tuscania was the first ship carrying American troops to be sunk, and public opinion in the USA regarded its loss as an outrage. In 1920 the American Red Cross erected a monument on the Isle of Islay, where many of the victims were buried before their transfer that year to the American War Cemetery at Brookwood [England] or to their homeland.

Some Quick Facts

      Data on Tuscania: 

         Gross Tonnage — 14,348 tons

        Length —549 ft.; Width — 66.5 ft.

        Builder — A. Stephen & Sons, Glasgow

         Launch Date — 3 September 1914

        Passenger Capacity — 271 in 1st cl.; 246 in 2nd cl.; 1,900 in 3rd cl.

        Captain — Peter McLean, OBE

        Sunk — 5 February 1918 by UB-77, Lt. Cdr. Wilhelm Meyer, Commander

      AEF Units Aboard: 

         20th Engineers, Companies D,E,F. [Forestry Battalion]

         107th Engineer Train

         107th Military Police

         107th Supply Train

         100th, 158th, 263rd Aero Squadrons

         Replacement detachments for 32nd Division

         Fifty-one casual [replacement] officers

Source:  The Doughboy Center