True Story behind the sinking of the USS Ingraham 1942

Propaganda is as old as conflict itself. Propagandize was used in World War Two to ensure push for an increase in recruitment numbers, especially in coastal towns such as Halifax, Nova Scotia.

For 70 Years the deaths of 300 US Navy sailors have been buried in the propaganda of the time. The USS Ingraham, which was launched in 1941, was escorting two Canadian troop transports and a larger supply convoy on its way towards England, when on August 22nd 1942 is sank off of Sable Island, known as the Maritime Graveyard of the Atlantic.

It was not Sable island that caused the sinking, but a false U-Boat scare that led the USS Ingraham and USS Buck to begin a cross-search and destroy pattern. In the fog and darkness of the North Atlantic, the Buck's bow was hit by the troop transport Awatea and almost simultaneously, the oil tanker Chemung t-boned the Ingraham, causing the Ingraham to sink instantly killing all by 11 of its crew. As the Ingraham sank, the unlocked depth charges on its deck exploded, killing many of the survivors in the water.

Until recently, thanks to a National Post investigation the Ingraham was thought to have been hit by a torpedo while protecting the Awatea. There are no specific memorials to the USS Ingraham in Halifax - the port it last sailed from.

You can read the entire report here:

How 300 U.S. sailors died off the coast of Nova Scotia