SS Ogontz was a steam freighter of 5,037 tons displacement. Originally laid down as Scatacook, she was completed as Ogontz in 1919. Joe Lang sailed with her first in 1930 as Second Assistant Engineer and he had sailed with Ogontz exclusively since 1939 so he knew the ship well. By the start of WWII he had risen to be her Chief Engineer.

After Germany declared war on the US on December 11 1941 US merchant shipping was under constant threat of U-boat attack. In mid May 1942, under the command of her master Adolph M. Wennerlund, SS Ogontz was en route from Iquique & Cristobal and bound for Panama City carrying a cargo of nitrates and canning machinery valued at $32,715. At this time she was unescorted but she was armed with one 4in, four .50cal and four .30cal guns. She maintained a zig-zag course in case of U-boat attack.

Also in central American waters in May 1942 was U-103, a Type IXB U-boat, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Werner Winter, a ten year veteran of the German Ubootwaffe. U-103 had completed six patrols so far in the war and her seventh had already resulted in the sinkings of the British freighter Stanbank off Bermuda and the American steam merchant ship Ruth Lykes off Cape Falso, Nicaragua. On May 19th U-103 entered the Gulf of Mexico looking for what German submariners called 'fette beute' (fat booty). At about 4pm U-103's Wachoffizier spotted a tell-tale smudge of smoke on the horizon - a single contact, a freighter on a zig-zag course. Kaleun Winter decided to give chase and the U-boat crew sprang into action. Four hours later the U-boat was in position and the order was given to launch a torpedo attack.

At 20.24 hours on 19 May, 1942, Ogontz was hit by one torpedo from U-103 about 70 miles southeast of Cozumel Island off Yucatan. The torpedo struck on the starboard side below the navigating bridge at the bulkhead separating the fireroom and engine room. The ship was taking on water very fast so the engines were secured and the crew of seven officers, 30 crewmen and four armed guards immediately began to abandon ship in two lifeboats and two rafts. Ogontz sank by the bow within ten minutes. Two of the armed guards refused to leave the ship and managed to fire one shot with the stern gun in the direction of the U-boat. When the ship sank a falling mast hit the lifeboat of the master causing most of the casualties. Altogether, the master, 16 crew members and the two armed guards were lost.

Two crew members swimming in the water were picked up by the U-boat and questioned before they were placed on a raft and given some cigarettes. Joe may have been one of these two men, as he told family members that the German commander had questioned him. If he was not pulled from the water by the U-boat crew it must be the case that he was questioned by the U-boat commander while aboard one of Ogontz's liferafts. In any case, all survivors were picked up the following day by the American steam tanker Esso Dover and landed at New Orleans on 22 May. Joe later said that the commander of the U-boat had treated them well and that he hoped he survived the war.

Kapitänleutnant Winter did indeed survive the war. Immediately after completing the patrol in which he sank the Ogontz, Kapitänleutnant Winter took command of the 1st U-Flotille in Brest, France. He was captured after the surrender of Brest in August 1944, returning home from Allied captivity in November 1947. After the war he served for a few years in the Bundesmarine and retired as Kapitän zur See in March 1970. He spent his retirement in Kiel where he and Joe must have crossed paths without knowing it, as Joe's job often took him to Kiel during the post war years. Kapitänleutnant Winter died on 9 September 1972, just one year and nine months after Joe's death.