U-593 sighted a convoy off the coast of New Jersey in the afternoon of May 25, 1942.  Kelbling, submerged and attacked in only eight fathoms of water.  He hit the tanker Persephone with a torpedo on the starboard side. The tanker's cargo began to burn and the Master gave orders to abandon ship.  Persephone's crew was rescued by a Coast Guard patrol boat.  The convoy escorts, supported by aircraft, counterattacked damaging the boat.  The tanker's bow section was salvaged and towed to New York, where 21,000 of 80,000 barrels of oil were salvaged.  Her midship house was removed intact and placed on the tanker Livingston Roe.  The stern section was later blown up by the US Coast Guard after passing ships collided with it.

SS Persephone - The tanker's stern is aground off Barnegat Light, New Jersey

A K-type airship surveys the scene

The tanker's lifeboat has returned and the Master reboarded the vessel

Master, in white life jacket, standing by on bridge until a crewman is rescued from near the stack

The tanker's crew in a raft

Seaman clinging to guy wire near stack is visible between the ventilators portside