History and mysteries · Off the New Jersey coast
Carolina: escaping the ship was only the first danger (1918)
Documented history · Source reviewed
A German submarine allowed a passenger ship to evacuate off New Jersey, but people died after reaching its boats.
Warning shots before the sinking
On June 2, 1918, U-151 attacked shipping off the American coast in a concentrated raid. Among its targets was Carolina, carrying 218 passengers and 117 crew on a voyage toward New York.
The Navy’s historical account describes warning shots and an evacuation, with women and children going into boats first. The submarine then sank the abandoned ship by gunfire. This was not a story of passengers trapped aboard by an unannounced torpedo strike.
The loss after evacuation
Thirteen people nevertheless died when a boat overturned. The distinction between abandoning a ship and surviving the sea is the central feature of Carolina’s loss: the evacuation succeeded in getting people off the vessel, while the subsequent journey remained dangerous.
The broader raid also damaged or sank other coastal vessels. Carolina connects the wartime threat off New Jersey to civilian travel between Puerto Rico and New York, beyond the better-known submarine attacks of 1942.
Sources and research limits
Naval History and Heritage Command, H-Gram 019-5, U-151 and Carolina account. Passenger and crew figures describe those aboard before evacuation; thirteen is the reported subsequent loss.