During World War II, more than 700,000 American men and women passed through the Hampton Roads Port of Embarkation on their way to the conflict, and over 900,000 more arrived, including wounded service members, survivors of sea battles, and prisoners of war. The U-boat danger reached these waters in 1942 when a submarine mined the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay, but air power and new tools such as radar eventually defeated the threat. In the 20th century, Hampton Roads developed a more permanent relationship with the Navy as Norfolk became and remained the Navy's capital. The region also faced Cold War crises, including the Cuban missile crisis, while Navy ships continued to deploy for conflicts in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and elsewhere. Just after midnight on April 1, 1942, the tanker S.S. Tiger was torpedoed by the German U-754 after slowing to pick up a pilot before entering Chesapeake Bay, and it sank during salvage efforts the next day. On January 17, 1950, the battleship USS Missouri ran hard aground on Thimble Shoals west of here, and after the work of many tugs, dredges, and divers, it was finally freed on February 1.
