Morehead City, North Carolina, United States

Atlas Tanker

The SS Atlas was a 132-metre US-flagged Standard Oil tanker carrying gasoline from Houston to New Haven when she was torpedoed by the German submarine U-552 (Erich Topp) on the night of 9 April 1942 about 20 nautical miles southeast of Cape Lookout, North Carolina. Two of the 34-man crew were lost. The bow section detonated and burned, but the stern section settled relatively intact and is now the focus of the dive. The wreck lies at 40 metres on a sand bottom with the highest superstructure around 27 metres, accessible with good gas planning on a single advanced air or nitrox profile. The Atlas is a regular summer station for sand tiger sharks and has matured into a heavily encrusted artificial reef of sponges, hydroids and small ascidians. Schools of amberjack, almaco jack and Atlantic spadefish circle the structure. Visibility is excellent in Gulf Stream weeks (18 to 30 metres). Currents are typically moderate.