Torpedo Attack off the Virgina Coast
US Army Transport Oneida, left New York City in a convoy headed through Guantanimo Bay, Cuba to Australia. ... Off the Virginia coast, the Oneida developed engine trouble in heavy seas, began to take on water and on May 3, dropped out of the convoy with two otherstragglers. During that evening, and still in heavy weather, the Oneida sighted aGerman submarine, almost colliding with that same vessel. The gun crews went togeneral quarters to prepare for an attack from the submarine. ... As time passed and thestorm worsened, the captain relaxed general quarters as he thought that he had eluded the enemy vessel in the heavy rain and seas. ... However, in the early morning hours of May 4, still in a storm, two torpedoes struck the Oneida. The ship began to sink headfirst into the sea, going down in less than two minutes.
