S.S. Oklahoma and Esso Baton Rouge Attacked by U-123
After midnight on April 8, 1942, the German submarine U-123 was in position off the St. Simons Island sea buoy. Minutes later it chased and torpedoed two tankers, the Oklahoma and Esso Baton Rouge, killing twenty-two crew members. Survivors were brought here to the U.S. Coast Guard Station for debriefing. Five of those killed were buried in Brunswick´s Palmetto Cemetery as ´Unknown Seamen,´ but were positively identified in 1998. The ships were raised, towed to Brunswick for emergency repairs and reentered into service. Both ships were sunk in the Atlantic Ocean before the end of World War II.
2000.17 Erected by The Georgia Historical Society and The Propeller Club o the United States--Port No. 91, Brunswick, Georgia 63-3
Plaque courtesy Lat34North.com.
Original page, with additional info, here.
Photo credit: Byron Hooks of Lat34North.com.