Information on most of Louise Lykes' wartime activities is also absent from secondary sources, but she is recorded as sailing in Convoy UGF 2 from Hampton Roads, Virginia, to Casablanca in November 1942 with 21 other merchant vessels,[4] and the return convoy, GUF 2, which returned to Hampton Roads on 11 December.[5] Both convoys were escorted across the Atlantic by the American battleship Arkansas and other escorts and support ships.[4][5][Note 1]
Less than a month after her cruise to Casablanca and back, Louis Lykes departed from New York City for Belfast with a cargo of munitions.[6] Sailing independently on a zig-zag course, she was discovered at 20:25 GWT[Note 2] some 500 nautical miles (930 km) south-southeast of Iceland[Note 3] by Oberleutnant zur See Hans-Achim von Rosenberg-Gruszcynski, in command of U-384.[6] Lookouts on Louise Lykes spotted the German vessel and opened fire, straddling the submarine with misses. In response, von Rosenberg-Gruszcynski launched a spread of four torpedoes at the American vessel from a distance of 2,000 yards (1,800 m). Although two of the torpedoes were wide of the mark, the other pair did their job and struck home on the cargo ship,[3] igniting her cargo and raining debris on the deck of U-384.[6] After a crash dive to avoid damage at the hands of the exploded American ship, von Rosenberg-Gruszcynski surfaced after five minutes to find no trace of the ship afloat.[6] Master Edwin J. Madden, 9 other officers, 41 crewmen, and 32 Naval Armed Guardsmen were killed in the attack on Louise Lykes,[3] the first of two ships sunk by U-384 during the war.[7]
