KIA  IN  SINKING  OF  SS  ROBERT  E.  LEE

During World War II there were no provisions on wartime U.S. merchant ships for women crew members although a small group of women disputed this and fought for their jobs.  Only a handful of women served on merchant ships during the war and one of these women was Winifred Gray who served as a stewardess aboard the steam passenger ship SS ROBERT E. LEE.  This 5,184-ton ship was launched in 1925 in Newport News, Virginia, and was owned by the Eastern Steamship Company of Boston, Massachusetts.  On July 30, 1942, the ROBERT E. LEE was steaming at 16 knots about 45 miles southeast of New Orleans and the entrance to the Mississippi River.  She was returning from the Caribbean Sea carrying mostly survivors of previously torpedoed ships on their way to the U.S.  Although originally bound for Tampa, Florida, no pilot was available there so the ship was diverted to New Orleans under escort of the newly commissioned USS PC-566.

At 11:37pm on July 30, lookouts spotted a torpedo wake about 200 yards away but before evasive action could be taken the torpedo struck ROBERT E. LEE just aft of the engine room.  The explosion destroyed the #3 hold, vented through the B and C decks, and wrecked the engines, the radio compartment and the steering gear.  Badly damaged, the ship first listed to port then to starboard before sinking by the stern about 15 minutes after the torpedo hit.  Of the 429 people on board, 10 crew members and 15 passengers were lost.  Unfortunately, Winifred Gray did not survive the sinking and her body was not recovered.  She thus became one of the handful of women serving in the U.S. Merchant Marine who were killed during World War II. 

Immediately following the sinking, the USS PC-566 attacked a sonar target which was believed to be the submarine.  It was not until 2011 that evidence was finally discovered to confirm that it was the German Submarine U-166 that was sunk.

Submitted by CDR Roy A. Mosteller, USNR (Ret)