14. Hostilities between the Americans and Germans increased throughout 1941
In June 1941, an American-flagged merchant ship, Robin Moor, was stopped in international waters by U-69, in the South Atlantic. Its manifest was examined by the Germans, who then ordered its crew into its four lifeboats. The Germans sank the abandoned vessel with the U-boat’s deck gun and a single torpedo. None of the ship’s cargo were considered war materials. The only munitions aboard were shotgun shells and .22 caliber rifles, bound for a sporting goods merchant. The Germans had no legal grounds to support sinking a ship of a neutral country in international waters. The argument over the legality of the action was dwarfed by outrage over the treatment of the crew.
The Germans did not broadcast a message of the crew’s position, and they drifted at sea for nearly three weeks. The four boats drifted apart and were eventually rescued by two different ships. When the sinking became known in Washington, German assets in the United States were frozen, and all consulates were ordered closed. In Germany, the Nazis reciprocated in kind. Admiral Ernest King, Commander in Chief of the Atlantic fleet, authorized American warships to act in their own defense, or the defense of American shipping, when threatened by German or Italian submarines.
