Torpedo Alley The Torpedo Alley , or Torpedo Junction , off North Carolina , is one of the graveyards of the Atlantic Ocean , named for the high number of attacks on Allied shipping by German U - boat s in World War II . Almost 400 ships were sunk , mostly during the Second Happy Time in 1942 , and over 5 , 000 people were killed , many of whom were civilians and merchant marines . The period of attacks began in January 1942 , and together were known as the " " Great American Turkey Shoot " " , by U - boat sailors . Torpedo Alley encompassed the area surrounding the Outer Banks , including Cape Lookout and Cape Hatteras . The was a recently built 10 , 600 - ton British tanker , armed with one gun , one 12 - pounder anti - aircraft gun and six machine gun s . While off Diamond Shoals on the night of January 23 , 1942 , " U - 66 " under Richard Zapp detected the unescorted " Empire Gem " and the unarmed American merchantman SS " Venore " . A few hours later , at about 2 : 40 am on January 24 , " U - 66 " attacked by firing a spread of torpedoes at the " Empire Gem " . One of them struck the tanker at the tanks on the starboard side and the ship immediately began to burn and sink . The U - boat then fired additional torpedoes ; one struck the " Venore " , which also sank . Both vessels sent out an SOS and shortly after an American motor lifeboat from Ocracoke Coast Guard Station arrived to rescue survivors . Fifty - five men out of fifty - seven were killed on the " Empire Gem " including Royal Navy gunners and another seventeen men were killed on the " Venore " . Twenty - three survivors from both ships were later rescued by American forces . The was an 8 , 702 - ton armed British tanker . She was attacked east of Cape Hatteras at position on April 10 , 1942 by under Captain Lieutenant Rolf Mützelburg . At 3 : 47 am " San Delfino " was hit by a torpedo but it had no effect . A second spread missed their target but a final shot hit the ship at 5 : 08 am , sinking the vessel , killing twenty - eight men and sending another twenty - two into the water . The action occurred early in the morning , and the gunners aboard had not been able to see a target . It took seven torpedoes altogether to destroy the ship . The Master and twenty - one crew members were rescued later on by the naval trawler HMT " Norwich City " and landed at Morehead City . On April 14 the armed British steamer was attacked by , N of Diamond Shoals . At 3 : 15 pm a single torpedo hit the ship and it slowly sank . The master , all forty - seven crewmen , and seven Royal Navy gunners escaped without harm . The United States Navy Q - ship witnessed the attack on the horizon but was unable to engage . Arriving two hours later , the Americans rescued the British and took them to Norfolk , Virginia . Sunken warships . Allied vessels . " Bedfordshire " was a 443 - ton British trawler . On May 10 , the " Bedfordshire " and HMT " Lowman " were deployed from their base at Morehead City to Ocracoke Island to search for a U - boat spotted in the area . When the vessels arrived they were discovered by Captain Lieutenant Gunther Krech of who proceeded to shadow the vessels until later that night . Krech attacked after assuming he had been detected by the British ships - firing a spread of torpedoes at the " Lowman " but they all missed . The British then maneuvered and began dropping depth charges but these failed to destroy their target . At 5 : 40 in the morning on May 11 , the U - boat fired a single torpedo at the " Bedfordshire " which missed but a second hit the trawler and it quickly sank with all thirty - seven hands . Two bodies were eventually recovered by the Americans who buried the dead on Ocracoke , creating the British Cemetery there . The next warship sunk was the " Kingston Ceylonite " , another British naval trawler serving in American waters off North Carolina . On June 15 , the " Kingston Ceylonite " was sailing off Virginia Beach in convoy KN - 109 when she unknowingly entered a sea mine field laid by " U - 701 " four days earlier . The British trawler struck one mine at position and sank . Thirty - three men went down with the ship and only eighteen survived . Two other tankers and the destroyer also hit mines that night but were saved from sinking . Some of the dead washed up on Ocracoke Island and were interred with the men of HMT " Bedfordshire " . The small 170 - ton American trawler was destroyed during an action with " U - 701 " in the early morning on June 19 . German Captain Horst Degen decided to surface the submarine and engage with his deck gun s in order to save torpedoes . Armor piercing rounds splashed all around the American ship for an hour and a half before she sunk . Because of a faulty firing pin in the trawler ' s dual purpose gun , only . 30 - 06 Springfield machine guns and depth charges could be used to defend the ship . Of a twenty - five man complement , six American seamen were killed in battle and the eighteen remaining went adrfit . The Germans suffered no casualties though U - 701 sustained slight damage . was a one - gun American tanker of 14 , 054 tons , sunk east - northeast of Diamond Shoals on June 28 , 1942 . At 6 : 16 pm , Horst Degen ' s released a torpedo which hit the " William Rockefeller " s pump room on portside amidships while she was steaming on a non - evasive course at 9 . 2 knots . The torpedo tore a twenty - foot hole in the ship and oil sprayed everywhere , causing a fire . The pump room flooded along with one of the ship ' s tanks and the cargo aboard caught on fire . Nine officers , thirty - five crewmen and six armed guards evacuated the ship and were picked up twenty minutes later by which then depth charged the area inconclusively . " U - 701 " surfaced the following morning around 5 : 20 am and delivered a coup de grâce which sank the American ship at position without loss of life . German U - boats . The first of three German U - boats sunk during the battle for Torpedo Alley was " U - 85 " , sunk at midnight on April 13 , 1942 . While operating within sight of Bodie Island Lighthouse , the destroyer detected " U - 85 " on radar at a range of 2 , 700 yards . The German submarine was surfaced at the time and she attempted to head south . When the " Roper " had closed to 700 yards , " U - 85 " released a torpedo from her stern and began firing with her deck gun but the Americans evaded all of the shots . " U - 85 " then turned to starboard and closed to 300 yards where the Americans opened fire with a gun and machine guns . The sailors of USS " Roper " were able to hit the U - boat one time with naval gunfire before she submerged and then the Americans dropped eleven depth charges over the enemy and sank her . All forty - six German crew members were killed and twenty - nine bodies were recovered . Some of the dead were wearing civilian clothing and had wallets with United States currency and identification cards in them , suggesting that the submarine had been involved in landing German agents on the mainland . A nighttime military funeral was held for the dead Germans at Hampton , Virginia . The hatch of " U - 85 " is now on display at Cape Hatteras Lighthouse and the enigma machine resides at the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum in Hatteras . " U - 352 " , under Captain Lieutenant Hellmut Rathke , was destroyed on May 9 , 1942 by the United States Coast Guard . At position , off Cape Lookout , the USCGC " Icarus " picked up a sonar contact just before a torpedo exploded nearby . Lieutenant Maurice D . Jester knew right away that they were under attack by a submarine and he suspected where the Germans would fire their next torpedo from . The Americans maneuvered and dropped five depth charges , and when sonar detected the U - boat again , " Icarus " moved accordingly and dropped two more charges , forcing the Germans to surface . Then a short surface action occurred as " Icarus " opened fire with machine guns and prepared to ram the enemy U - boat . Before the range closed , the crew of " U - 352 " evacuated their ship and the Americans ceased fire after dropping one last depth charge as the submarine sank . Fifteen Germans were killed and thirty - three survivors were taken prisoner and transported to Charleston , South Carolina where they arrived the following day . Lieutenant Jester later received a Navy Cross for his victory over the Germans . The destruction of " U - 701 " happened on July 7 , 1942 , near Cape Hatteras , and was the last sinking of a German submarine in Torpedo Alley . American Lockheed Hudson aircraft from the United States Army 396th Bombardment Squadron attacked the surfaced " U - 701 " with depth charges . The attack was successful and the U - boat sank with twenty - nine hands . Seventeen survivors then went adrift in lifeboats for two days ; when they were rescued by American forces , only seven remained . German casualties in Torpedo Alley totaled exactly 100 dead and forty captured .