The SS Caddo, a 10,172 ton tanker was actually laid down as Dorchester Heights for the U.S. Maritime Commission ....and completed in May of 1942 at Sun Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co., Chester, PA.... for SoconyVacuum Oil Co. Inc. New York as the second Caddo. The Caddo, with her Master Paul Muller, forty-two merchant crewmen, seventeen U.S. Navy Armed Guard and her cargo holes full of 105,000 barrels of fuel oil and 300 drums of gasoline departed Baytown, TX. on November 11th 1942 bound for Iceland. The Caddo was proceeding toward her destination on a Zig-Zag course.....changing direction about every six to nine minutes. The Caddo was up around Newfoundland on November 23rd....up to this point of her trip she was not experiencing any difficulty....but all that was about to change....due to the fact that a German Submarine U-518, commanded by Friedrich Wilhelm Wissmann, had her in their sights on this day. The U-518 fired off a torpedo at the Caddo, and at about 500 yds out the Caddo lookouts spotted the torpedo heading for them. Immediately the helmsman was notified....he put the helm over hard to starboard.....but it was too late...the torpedo struck the Caddo’s port side, at the pump room, just foreward of the after bulkhead. The explosion tore up the Caddo pretty bad....ripped up the deck, tore a huge hole in the ship’s side, flooded the pump room, and destroyed a lifeboat and a raft. All of this damage made the ship immediately began to settle by the stern ......and this ship behavior caused the watch below to secure the engines. The entire crew and Armed Guard survived the explosion....and they all boarded three life boats and three rafts....all of this took place approximately 30 minutes after the explosion. About an hour later the Caddo sank stern first....then ten or so minutes after the ship sank the U-518 came to the surface and proceeded to take captive the Master and the Chief Officer. These two were eventually taken to a German prison camp.....where the Master died but the Chief Mate survived and was repatriated to the U.S. There were seventeen men in the #1 life boat.....and in the other two boats there were a total of 40 men. As the boats made there way towards Bermuda....the #1 life boat capsized twice during the night of December 7th .....this resulted in the drowning of seven men.....but unfortunately on December 8th four more men died at sea as well. The other two life boats attempted to follow #1 life boat....but couldn’t for some reason....and they drifted off and were never found and all hands were lost. After 15 days and 8 hrs, the remaining survivors in the #1 boat were picked up by the Spanish motor ship Motomar ....650 miles South of where there ship had sunk. They were landed at Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania on December 24 and hospitalized. Out of this tragic event....three U.S. Armed Guard, three Merchant crewmen survived. LOST CREW & ARMED GUARD BY NAME AND RANK Merchant Seaman  Lost August J. Anderson (Messman); Marcel Atonso (Pumpman); Alvin W. Barnett (OS); Adam Bogdonovic (3rd Engr.); Ernest M. Boshinsky (AB); Worth B. Buckner (F/W); David A. Caylor (Utility); Franklin B. Charlock (Wiper); Edward H. Chiles (AB); Guadaloupe C. Cuellar (Galleyman); Arthur A. Davis (Machinist); Hugh G. Delk (OS); Charles H. Doell (3rd Mate); Lemuel A. Dupont (F/W); John A. Fiefalt (OS) Norman Gale (Messman); Anthony J. Gallagher (Cook); Philip L. Gilman (AB); Charles T. Horn (Wiper); Augustus Hornbrook (OS); Edwin Johansson (Bosun); Daniel L. Johnston (2nd Engr.); Joseph A. Morgan (4th Mate); Ole A. Olsen (Steward); Leif M. Olson (2nd Mate); Alfonso Ponce (Utility); Charles J. Rogers (4th Engr.); William Rosenblatt (Radio Oper.); Robert S. Sharples (Oiler); Ernest Simpson (Cook); Raymond B. Snoga (F/W); Robin Spiegel (AB); Clarence M. Stevens (Oiler); Hiram Torres (Messman); Raymond Van Brogen (AB); Arthur S. Watson (Chief Engr.); Harold P. Wegmann (1st Engr.); Paul B. Muller (Master)...Died in German POW camp. U.S. Navy Armed Guard Lost Charles H. Coulbourne (S1c); Lawrence Collins (S1c); Joseph Paul Coscia (S2c); Leonard Alfred Currier (S2c); Calvin Clensay (S2c); Paul Sullvan Dempsey (S1c); Ernest John Derbyshire (S1c); Paul Joseph Deschenes (S2c); Thomas Vincent Devins (S2c); Dewey Della (S1c); Edward J. KInudsen (Ens.); Richard Wallace Kendall (S1c); Clyde Augustus Lewis (S2c); John Elihu Meares (S1c). The U-518 was launched on February 11th, 1942......and she met her fate of being sunk on April 22nd 1945 by depth charges from two destroyer escorts, the USS Carter (DE-112) and USS Neal A. Scott (DE-769)....all hands lost. In her sub life she had hit 12 ships.