Originally Posted by
JohnP
While this is possible, I have my doubts that a U-boat launching a torpedo at 5,000 yards or whatever always got close enough to see whether it was a Standard Oil tanker or not. Not saying the author made this up, at all, but to my mind this doesn't sound real-world to me.
Interesting side note, my grandmother watched a tanker(she said-beats me which one or who) go down right off the NC coast during the war, apparently torpedoed by a U-boat. Said the flames lit up the whole horizon (it was at night/evening, apparently).
John P.