SS West Maximus

With America's entry into World War II in December 1941, West Maximus quickly became engaged in convoy duty. The ship participated in her first wartime convoy in mid-1942, when on 17 June she loaded a cargo of steel and general goods at Baltimore bound for Liverpool, England. From Boston the vessel proceeded in convoy to Halifax and Sydney, Nova Scotia, where on the 26th she departed in an escorted convoy for Liverpool, arriving at her destination 11 July. After unloading her cargo, the ship commenced the return to the U.S. on 19 July, but on 4 August the convoy in which she was sailing was dispersed and West Maximus proceeded alone to New York.[11]

At New York, West Maximus loaded a cargo of general goods again bound for Liverpool, leaving for Halifax 19 August. On 22 August, West Maximus departed Halifax for Liverpool with a large escorted convoy, arriving at her destination 7 September. With her cargo unloaded, West Maximus joined an escorted convoy for the return to New York, departing 26 September and arriving safely on 17 October.[11]

From New York, West Maximus departed in an unescorted convoy to South America, arriving at Guantanamo, Cuba 19 November and Trinidad on the 24th. From this point, she proceeded on December 5 to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.[11] During this voyage, the captain of West Maximus, Otto Heitman, observed what he first feared might be an enemy submarine, but soon realized the object of his attention was an empty lifeboat. On further investigation, two more lifeboats were spotted, containing 41 survivors from the torpedoed British ship MV Teesbank. After rescuing the survivors,[12] Heitmann proceeded to the port of Rio, arriving December 22.[11] Here, as a token of gratitude and a memento for the rescue, he was presented with a silver cigarette case by British members of the Rio community.[12]

Departing Rio December 31, West Maximus returned to Trinidad and thence to Guantanamo, where she sailed in an unescorted convoy on 29 January for New York, arriving 4 February. At New York, West Maximus loaded a general cargo again bound for Liverpool. Leaving in an escorted convoy on 14 March, the ship reached her destination on 3 April 1943.[11]

After unloading her cargo at Liverpool, West Maximus prepared to return to the United States in what would turn out to be her final voyage. On 21 April the ship joined Convoy ONS-5 for her return to the United States.[11] A few days into the voyage, the convoy ran into a Force 10 gale and its speed was reduced to only three knots, allowing a wolf pack of 27 U-boats to gather for interception. The wolf pack attacked on the night of 4–5 May, and one of the first ships struck was West Maximus, hit by a torpedo from U-264 that blew off a large section of the ship's stern. The vessel remained afloat, but while her crew were waiting for rescue, U-264 fired two more torpedoes which struck the ship at 1.10 and 1.30 am respectively on 5 May, and West Maximus went down by the bows about ten minutes later. Six of the ship's complement of 62 were killed in the attack, including an officer, four crew members, and an armed guard. The survivors were rescued at 11am that morning by HMT Northern Spray (FY-129) and evacuated to St. Johns, arriving 8 May.[13]

Convoy ONS-5 would go on to lose a total of 12 ships to U-boat attack (one of which, coincidentally, was West Madaket, a sister ship of West Maximus), but 13 U-boats were also damaged or destroyed in the battle. In spite of its heavy losses therefore, Convoy ONS-5 is considered to be the turning point in the Battle of the Atlantic, as U-boats from this point were to suffer increasingly heavy losses for steadily diminishing results.