At 23.37 hours on 30 July 1942 the Robert E. Lee (Master William C. Heath) was hit by one torpedo from U-166, steaming at 16 knots about 50 miles southeast of the entrance to the Mississippi River. Lookouts had spotted the torpedo wake about 200 yards away before it struck just aft of the engine room. The explosion destroyed the #3 hold, vented through the B and C decks and wrecked the engines, the radio compartment and the steering gear. The vessel had been bound for Tampa, but no pilot was available so she was diverted to New Orleans under escort by USS PC-566 (LtCdr Herbert Gordon Claudius, USNR) which now began dropping depth charges at a sonar contact, sinking the U-boat.
