2 Mar 1940

Atlantic Ocean
  • British cruiser HMS Dunedin stopped German steamer Heidelberg 60 miles west of Aruba in the Caribbean Sea. Heidelberg was scuttled by her crew of 25, who were all subsequently rescued by Dunedin and later delivered to Jamaica. ww2dbase [Caribbean Sea | CPC]
7 Mar 1940

Atlantic Ocean
  • German merchant steamer Hannover was intercepted by the Canadian destroyer Assiniboine and the British cruiser Dunedin in the Mona Passage between Hispaniola and Puerto Rico. The Canadians prevented the German crew from scuttling their ship inside Dominican waters by sending a boarding party. During the hunt for the Hannover which also included the French cruiser Jeanne d’Arc, German steamers Mimi Horn and Seattle, which sailed out of Curaçao together with Hannover two days prior, were able to get away. ww2dbase [Caribbean Sea | HM]
1 Oct 1940

Atlantic Ocean
  • US Navy and US Marine Corps began the Special Landing Operation No. 2 in the Caribbean Sea region. ww2dbase [Caribbean Sea | CPC]
25 Feb 1942

Atlantic Ocean
7 Mar 1942

Atlantic Ocean
  • German submarine U-126 sank US freighters Barbara and Cardonia between Cuba and Haiti. ww2dbase [Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico Campaigns | Caribbean Sea | CPC]
  • At 1759 hours the unescorted 9,755-ton South African whale factory ship Uniwaleco was hit by one of two torpedoes from German submarine U-161 (Kapitänleutnant Albrecht Achilles) in the Caribbean Sea 45 miles west of St. Vincent Passage. The ship apparently went out of control because she ran in circles and settled but did not sink. At 1814 hours, the submarine fired a coup de grâce which hit aft and caused her to sink within three minutes after breaking in two. 18 crew members were lost. The master and 32 crew members landed on St. Vincent. ww2dbase [Second Happy Time | Caribbean Sea | HM]
13 Mar 1942

Atlantic Ocean
  • At 0458 hours German submarine U-68 attacked the convoy GAT-49 about 200 miles northwest of Curaçao, torpedoed the 7,506-ton American tanker Cities Service Missouri. 30 minutes later, she struck the 2,680-ton Dutch steam merchant ship Ceres with two torpedoes, the first hitting under the bridge and the second under the No. 5 hatch. All eight officers, 35 crewmen and 11 armed guards left the American tanker in three lifeboats and one raft. At 0740 hours the ship plunged stern first with her bow straight in the air. Three hours later, destroyer USS Biddle (DD 151) picked up the American survivors. A boatswain drowned trying to get on the destroyer and a machinist died of wounds and burns on board. The survivors were later brought to Curaçao. Meanwhile, the two torpedoes caused heavy flooding, causing her to sink quickly. The Dutch crew and the passengers immediately abandoned ship and were picked up by an escort vessel. ww2dbase [Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico Campaigns | Caribbean Sea | HM]
28 May 1942

Atlantic Ocean
14 Jun 1942

Atlantic Ocean
  • German submarine U-172 sank US ship Lebore in the Caribbean Sea at 0854 hours; 1 was killed, 94 survived. At 1912 hours, U-504 sank Latvian ship Regent 200 miles southwest of the Cayman Islands; 11 were killed, 14 survived. ww2dbase [Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico Campaigns | Caribbean Sea | CPC]
21 Jul 1942

Atlantic Ocean
  • The civilian schooner Roamar, belonging to a Colombian diplomat, was sunk by U-505 off San AndrĂ©s island in the Caribbean Sea with two deck gun shells between 1335 and 1500 hours. ww2dbase [Caribbean Sea | CPC]
22 Jul 1942

Atlantic Ocean
  • German submarine U-505 sank Colombian sail boat Urious with her deck gun 100 miles east of Nicaragua at 1335 hours; 13 were killed. ww2dbase [Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico Campaigns | Caribbean Sea | CPC]
  • German Type IXC U-Boat U-505 shelled and sunk the Columbian 3-masted schooner Urious in the Caribbean off the coast of Nicaragua. 13 were killed and the number of survivors, if any, is not known. This vessel was owned by a Columbian diplomat and its sinking was the political grounds Columbia used to declare war on Germany. ww2dbase [U-505 | Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico Campaigns | Caribbean Sea | DS]
22 Aug 1942

Atlantic Ocean
  • USS Juneau set sail from the Caribbean Sea for the Pacific Theater of War. ww2dbase [Juneau | Caribbean Sea | CPC]
23 Nov 1943

Atlantic Ocean
  • German submarine U-516 hit the unescorted American steam tanker Elizabeth Kellogg with a torpedo 150 miles north of CristĂłbal, Panama in the Caribbean Sea at 0935 hours. 10 were killed; the 38 survivors were picked up by tanker USAT Y-10 and submarine chaser USS SC-1017. ww2dbase [Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico Campaigns | Caribbean Sea | CPC]
7 Mar 1944

Atlantic Ocean
  • At 0140 hours, the unescorted 3,401-ton tanker Valera, owned by "Lago Petroleum Co, Panama", en route from San Nicolas, Aruba to Cristobal, Panama, with a cargo of 35,000 barrels of heavy boiler navy fuel oil, was hit by a torpedo from German submarine U-518 (Oberleutnant zur See Hans-Werner Offermanand) and sank after breaking in two, about 120 miles west-northwest of Barranquilla, Columbia. Master William Marshall Russell was killed; the remaining 34 men survivors were found aboard rafts by a US Coast Guard vessel, and were taken to Panama.11.5,-76.45 ww2dbase [Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico Campaigns | Caribbean Sea | HM]
14 Jul 1944

Atlantic Ocean
  • Escort carrier USS Card and her task group transited the Mona Passage between Puerto Rico and the island of Hispaniola and entered the Caribbean Sea. ww2dbase [Card | Mona Passage, Caribbean Sea | DS]
16 Jul 1944

Atlantic Ocean
  • Just as anti-submarine aircraft from escort carrier USS Card developed a submerged target southwest of Mona Island by means of sonobuoys, the main bearings of the carrier’s single turbine burned out leaving the ship dead in the water. The aircraft launched two Mark 24 FIDO homing torpedoes without result. Contact was lost and the airborne aircraft were diverted to Borinquen Field, Puerto Rico. ww2dbase [Borinquen Field | Card | Mark XXIV | Caribbean Sea | DS]
20 Oct 1944

Photo(s) dated 20 Oct 1944
USS Bennington steaming south across the Caribbean on her way to Trinidad on her shakedown cruise, 20 Oct 1944. Note the Measure 33, Design 17 paint scheme.
27 Apr 1953

Atlantic Ocean
  • While steaming in the Caribbean, USS Bennington suffered an explosion in her No. 1 fire room that killed 11 men. ww2dbase [Bennington | Caribbean Sea | DS]
27 Jan 1966

Atlantic Ocean
11 Feb 1970

Photo(s) dated 11 Feb 1970
USS Shangri-La underway in the Caribbean Sea toward Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico, 11 Feb 1970

Timeline Section Founder: Thomas Houlihan
Contributors: Alan Chanter, C. Peter Chen, Thomas Houlihan, Hugh Martyr, David Stubblebine
Special Thanks: Rory Curtis




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