German U-boat, Nicaraguan freighter discovered off Cape Hatteras in 2014
July 15, 1942. America had been in World War II for less than a year, but the fight was coming to the nation’s shores. That day, off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, the German U-boat U-576 sank the Nicaraguan-flagged freighter SS Bluefields. But it came at a steep price – the merchant ship convoy and its U.S. military escorts fought back, sinking the U-boat within minutes as U.S. Navy air cover bombed the sub while the merchant ship Unicoi attacked it with its deck gun.
![The freighter SS Bluefields was sunk by the German submarine U-576 in July 1942. The wrecks of the two ships were discovered in 2014 off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, only 240 yards apart.
(Image credit: Mariners' Museum) The freighter SS Bluefields was sunk by the German submarine U-576 in July 1942. The wrecks of the two ships were discovered in 2014 off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, only 240 yards apart.](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_width_1275/public/legacy/image/2019/Jun/PHOTO%20-%20bluefields%20-%20mariners%27%20museum%20-%2008222016%20-%201120x534%20-%20LANDSCAPE.jpg?itok=UvUDmv2O)
The freighter SS Bluefields was sunk by the German submarine U-576 in July 1942. The wrecks of the two ships were discovered in 2014 off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, only 240 yards apart. (Image credit: Mariners' Museum)