The Donbass was a Soviet ship sunk by a German U-boat

U-boat

U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...

 in 1942, when it was on its way to the United States.

The case aroused considerable later interest due to the widely-held assertion that the Soviet spy Arnold Deutsch

Arnold Deutsch

Dr. Arnold Deutsch , variously described as Austrian, Czech, or Hungarian, was an academic who worked as a Soviet spy, most well known for having recruited Kim Philby. Much of his life remains unknown or disputed.-Early life:...

was among the passengers killed in the attack, and that he was at the time bound for an espionage mission in the Western Hemisphere..