The SS David H. Atwater was a United States Merchant Marine coastal steamer which was sunk on 2 April 1942 by gunfire from German submarine U-552, commanded by Erich Topp, during World War II.

The circumstances of the destruction of the vessel along with almost all of its crew fueled persistent rumours at the time of war crimes being perpetrated by Nazi Germany's U-boat fleets on the high seas against shipwrecked allied sailors.

[3] On the night of 2 April 1942, at the height of the U-boat offensive against US shipping known as the Second Happy Time, the David H. Atwater was en route from Norfolk, Virginia to Fall River, Massachusetts,[4] with a full load of 4,000 tons of coal.

U-552 surfaced about 600 yd (550 m) from the freighter and opened fire with her 88mm deck gun and automatic weapons (possibly including the submarine's 20mm cannon) without warning, one of her first shells destroying the bridge and killing all of the officers.

Legare crew members found a second lifeboat with a body aboard; the boat was discovered to have been riddled by gunfire, and lent strength to the widespread belief at the time that U-boats were deliberately murdering the survivors of ships they had sunk.