Work begins on British tanker sunk by U-boat off Rockaway Beach

A German U-boat, similar to the one that sunk a British tanker near the Rockaways in 1942. (AP Photo).

The Associated Press

Work is underway to extract oil from a British tanker sunk by a German U-boat off Long Island during World War II.

A team has been at the site of the tanker, named Coimbra, since April 29 and has pumped more than 62,000 gallons (235,000 liters) of oil since May 11, the Coast Guard said in a news release. Initial dive operations found the tanker was leaking small amounts of oil.

The Coimbra was carrying more than 2 million gallons of oil when it was torpedoed in January 1942, killing 36 officers and crew members.

It now lies 180 feet (54 meters) beneath the surface of the Atlantic Ocean, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) off Long Island's south shore.

The Coast Guard and the state Department of Environmental Conservation are working with a private company, Resolve Marine, to assess and reduce any pollution threats posed by the leak.

German U-boats sank 148 petroleum tankers and countless other ships near the U.S. Gulf and East Coast.

Some came harrowingly close to heavily populated areas. The one that torpedoed the Coimbra had ventured just hours earlier along the New York City shoreline, bobbing on the surface near Rockaway Beach and on view of Coney Island's Parachute Jump and Wonder Wheel amusement rides, according to "New York at War," a book by Steven Jaffe.

The seemingly peaceful scene was a precursor to destruction.

As the torpedo slammed into the Coimbra's hull, it "sent a blinding sheet of fire boiling up into the night sky," Jaffe wrote.

The government censored information on such attacks and counterattacks, asking that any witnesses keep quiet as a matter of national security.

But "with the Coimbra's oil and life preservers washing up on Long Island beaches, and survivors reaching shore, a news blackout was impossible," wrote Jaffe.