Torpedo Damage, SS Samtucky

Three shipyard workers (lower left) pose beside the massive damage a German torpedo inflicted on the merchant ship SS Samtucky.

The underwater explosions of the torpedo warhead buckled and tore the steel plates of the Samtucky's hull, making the rib-like frames of the ship's structure clearly visible. The German U-Boat (submarine) U-806 torpedoed the Samtucky off Halifax in December 1944, and the ship was brought to Halifax for repairs. Samtucky and its crew were fortunate to survive such an attack; thousands of Allied merchant ships and tens of thousands of Allied merchant mariners would not.

George Metcalf Archival Collection
CWM 19720151-067