 "Hobbema" was one of 19 Allied ships in the convoy sunk by German submarines.The sinking of "Hobbema" (or possibly "Hatimura", also sunk by U-132 at the same time) resulted in one of the largest non-nuclear man-made explosions in history, with the German submarine also destroyed by the ensuing explosion.The "West" ships were cargo ships of similar size and design built by several shipyards on the West Coast of the United States for the USSB for emergency use during World War I.