RMS Laconia torpedoed off the coast of West Africa. 1,649 people died

The second RMS Laconia was a Cunard ocean liner, built by Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson as a successor of the 1911-1917 Laconia. The new ship was launched on 9 April 1921, and made her maiden voyage on 25 May 1922 from Southampton to New York. At the outbreak of World War II she was converted into an Armed Merchant Cruiser, and subsequently a troopship. Like her predecessor, sunk during the First World War, this Laconia was also destroyed by a German submarine.

Some estimates of the death toll have suggested that over 1,649 people were killed when the Laconia sank. The U-boat commander Werner Hartenstein then staged a dramatic effort to rescue the passengers and the crew of Laconia, which involved additional German U-boats and became known as the Laconia incident.