S.S. Oklahoma and Esso Baton Rouge

S.S. Oklahoma and Esso Baton Rouge is a Georgia historical marker in GA., Glynn County, dedicated 2000.

Old Coast Guard Station, 4201 First Street, St. Simons Island, GA.

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After midnight on April 8, 1942, the German submarine U-123 was in position off the St. Simons Island sea buoy. Minutes later it chased and torpedoed two tankers, the Oklahoma and Esso Baton Rouge, killing twenty-two crew members. Survivors were brought here to the U.S. Coast Guard Station for debriefing. Five of those killed were buried in Brunswick's Palmetto Cemetery as "Unknown Seamen," but were positively identified in 1998. The ships were raised, towed to Brunswick for emergency repairs and re-entered into service. Both ships were sunk in the Atlantic Ocean before the end of World War II.

TodayHistorical map

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Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

Historical maps covering this location

1764 · Carte de la Nouvelle Georgie (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1778 · Parte Orientale della Florida, della Giorgia, e Carolina Meridionale. Fogl. XI (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1852 · Georgia, Florida. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1870 · Johnson's Florida (1870) (Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1924 · South Carolina. Florida. Georgia. Mississippi. Alabama. North Carolina. South Carolina. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)

Johnson's Florida (1870), 1870, covering the location of S.S. Oklahoma and Esso Baton Rouge, with a pin at the marker's coordinates — Johnson's Florida (1870), 1870, covering this location. Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford Libraries. The pin is ours, placed from the marker's coordinates.

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This historical marker is part of the Georgia Historical Marker Program and was erected by the Georgia Historical Society. Marker texts and locations come from the Society's own marker database.

S.S. Oklahoma and Esso Baton Rouge

Historical maps covering this location

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