SS Las Choapas
| Career | |
|---|---|
| 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 PA |
| Completed: | December 1898 |
| Fate: | Torpedoed and sunk on 27 June 1942 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Steam tanker |
| Tonnage: | 2,005 GRT |
The 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, PA. 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.
At 15.25 hours on 27 Jun, 1942, the unescorted Las Choapas (under her master, Pedro Calderón Lozano) was hit by a single torpedo from U-129 and sank in flames north of Tecotutla, Veracruz. The survivors in three lifeboats were questioned by the Germans, but the U-boat then had to submerge and leave the area when a Catalina aircraft was spotted.[1]