History Name Atlas (1898–?) Las Choapas (1941–192) Owner Standard Oil of New Jersey (1898-?) Ditta G.M. Barbagelata, Genoa (?–1941) Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex ), Tampico (1941–1942) Port of registry Tampico (1941–1942) Builder Delaware River Iron Shipbuilding & Engine Works , Chester, Pennsylvania Launched 17 November 1898 Completed December 1898 Fate Torpedoed and sunk on 27 June 1942 General characteristics Type Steam tanker Tonnage 2,005 GRT
SS Las Choapas was an oil tanker built in 1898. She was originally commissioned by Standard Oil of New Jersey and built by the Delaware River Iron Ship Building and Engine Works of Chester, Pennsylvania . As the SS Atlas she saw service in World War I before being sold in the 1920s to the Italian company Ditta G.M. Barbagelata, of Genoa .
She was seized while docked at Tampico , in Mexico on 8 December 1941 by the Mexican government and renamed, to be operated by Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex), and homeported in Tampico.
On the afternoon of 27 June 1942, Las Choapas was hit by a single torpedo from the German submarine U-129 and sank in flames east of Tecolutla , Veracruz .[ 1]
20°15′N 96°20′W / 20.250°N 96.333°W / 20.250; -96.333
Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in June 1942
Shipwrecks 1 Jun: HMAS Kuttabul , Malmö 2 Jun: U-652 3 Jun: USS Bunting , Iron Chieftain , Northwestern 4 Jun: Iron Crown , Kaga , Sōryū 5 Jun: Akagi , C.O. Stillman , Hiryū 6 Jun: USS Hammann , Mikuma 7 Jun: Coast Trader , Edith , USS Gannet , USS Yorktown 8 Jun: Agios Georgios IV , Said 10 Jun: Abkhazia , Empire Clough 12 Jun: HMS Grove 13 Jun: Gruziya , Supetar , U-157 15 Jun: HMS Airedale , HMS Bedouin , City of Oxford , HMS Hasty , Thurso , Trento 16 Jun: Argo , HMS Hermione , ORP Kujawiak , Managua , HMAS Nestor , Port Nicholson 17 Jun: HMS Wild Swan 18 Jun: Macdhui 19 Jun: USS S-27 , Shch-214 , USS YP-389 , Nissan Maru 20 Jun: Fort Camosun 21 Jun: HMS P514 , HMSAS Parktown 22 Jun: Rio Tercero 23 Jun: USAT Major General Henry Gibbins , Resolute 25 Jun: Yamakaze 26 Jun: Putney Hill 27 Jun: Las Choapas , Tuxpam 29 Jun: Diana , Everalda , Thomas McKean , William Rockefeller 30 Jun: Express , USS Hornbill , HMS Medway , U-158 Other incidents