On the outbreak of war,
Winona continued to make voyages, joining a number of transatlantic convoys. She was to have been part of the ill-fated
convoy SC 7, but suffered engine trouble shortly after leaving port and turned back. She therefore avoided the devastation of the convoy by a "
wolfpack" attack. Later in the war she was sailing along the east coast of America, usually carrying coal and making voyages between cities like
New York City, and ports around the
Caribbean. The extension of German U-boat activities into American waters at this stage in the war as part of Operation Drumbeat (also known as the
Second Happy Time) meant that
Winona continued to sail in convoys. She was part of
convoy TRIN-19 in October 1942, and was sailing from
Norfolk, Virginia bound for
Rio de Janeiro via
Port of Spain,
Trinidad. She was carrying a cargo of 8,000 tons of coal and was under the command of her master, John Beale Rynbergen. The convoy was sighted and attacked on 16 October by
Georg Lassen's . At 21:20 hours he fired torpedoes at the starboard side of the convoy as it passed 50 miles east-northeast of Trinidad. One torpedo hit , blowing off her bow and causing her to sink in 20 seconds. 30 seconds later another torpedo hit the nearby
Winona on the starboard side in the #2 hold. The impact and subsequent explosion blew the hatch covers off and opened a hole . The #2 hold immediately flooded, whilst leaks began in the #1 and #3 holds. The master secured the important confidential documents, stopped the engines and attempted to evade the other ships in the convoy. She suffered a slight collision when her bow grazed the stern of the
Norwegian merchant
Austvangen. The crew remained on board, and after damage control measures stopped the flooding, were able to bring the
Winona into Port of Spain the following day. There had been no casualties amongst her complement of 56. The
Winona underwent temporary repairs in Port of Spain, departing on 3 February 1943 in
convoy TAG-40. She arrived in
Mobile on 15 February where she underwent more extensive repairs before returning to service on 14 April. She was in
convoy HX 300 (the largest trade convoy of the war) before being transferred to the
Soviet Union in 1945 and renamed
Akademik Pavlov. She was scrapped in the Soviet Union in 1974. ==See also==