What historical facts were captured in the news that Nettie`s ship was sunk amid the treachery of WW2?

Mr. ______ puts a letter directly in Celie’s hand. It is a letter from the United States Department of Defense. It says that the ship Nettie and her “family” were traveling in was sunk by German mines. That day, all the letters Celie wrote to her come back unopened. The ship was sunk near Gibralter which was a contested British territory. The German acoustic mines were placed to destroy English naval and merchant marine ships in the area.