SS Antilles (1907)


 * ''This article is about the American passenger-cargo ship sunk by a U-boat in 1917. For the French cruise liner wrecked in 1971, see SS Antilles.

The SS Antilles was an American passenger-cargo ship launched in 1907. Chartered by the US Navy in 1917 for use as a troop transport ship, the Antilles was sunk by a German U-boat on 17 October 1917, resulting in the loss of 67 lives. At the time of its destruction the Antilles sinking represented the largest single greatest loss of American lives during World War I.

Construction
The SS Antilles was a 6,879 gross ton vessel constructed in the shipyards of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1907. The vessel was operated as a combined passenger and cargo ship by the Southern Pacific Steamship Company from the time of its launch until 1917.

Destruction


Following American entry into World War I in the spring of 1917, the SS Antilles was chartered by the United States Navy for use as an arm transport vessel, thereafter becoming known as the USAT Antilles.

On 17 October 1917, the German U-boat U-62 met the Antilles during the return leg of a voyage to the United States. The Antilles was torpedoed by the submerged U-boat, going down just five minutes after being hit. A total of 67 lives were lost in the sinking, making the destruction of the Antilles the event costing the single greatest number of American lives in the war to that date.

There were survivors of the Antilles sinking, who were picked up in lifeboats by the USS Alcedo.