SS R. W. Gallagher
Steam Tanker · United States · Lost 1942 · The Gulf of Mexico
An Esso tanker torpedoed near Ship Shoal in one of the deadliest weeks of Germany's 1942 Gulf of Mexico U-boat offensive.
Edward B Stoeckel
See Shipwreck on Map
The Vessel and Her Loss
R. W. Gallagher was a steam turbine tanker built in 1938 for Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, running coastwise between Gulf oil ports and the Northeast. On July 13, 1942, while en route from Baytown, Texas, to Port Everglades, Florida, with heavy fuel oil, she was torpedoed by the German submarine U-67 roughly 80 miles from the mouth of the Mississippi River. Ten of her 52 crew and armed guards were lost; survivors reached shore in Louisiana.
Vessel
- 1938
- US Official Number 237760
- Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation
- Sparrows Point, Maryland
- Steel
- 445 ft
- 64 ft
- 7989
- Steam turbine, single screw
- Standard Oil Company of New Jersey
Loss
- July 13, 1942
- Enemy action
- Gulf of Mexico, off the Louisiana coast north of Ship Shoal
- Gulf of Mexico
- Baytown, Texas → Port Everglades, Florida
- Heavy fuel oil
- 52
- 10
- Captain Aage Petersen
The Wreck Today
- Not established
- Assessed by NOAA as a potential source of oil pollution under the RULET program.
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
Position
- 28.50° N 91.05° W
- Approximate position
- Ship Shoal, Louisiana
Position reported in wartime records varies slightly between sources (approximately 28.3-28.5N, 90.6-91.1W); treated here as approximate.
Evidence
Overall confidence: Documented (88/100)
Published wartime sources give slightly differing torpedoing coordinates; the exact wreck position is treated as approximate.
NOAA Office of Response and Restoration, RULET Screening Level Risk Assessment: R.W. Gallagher
Build, loss narrative, and wreck risk assessment.
uboat.net, Ships hit by U-boats
Attack details and casualties.
