On the morning on July 21, 1918, under the command of Richard Feldt, SM U-156 was positioned off Nauset Beach, located in Orleans, Massachusetts. She was armed with two torpedo tubes and 18 torpedoes as well as two 105 millimeter deck guns, with 1672 shells. U-156 surfaced and opened fire on the town with her deck guns, then with torpedoes and her deck guns on the 140 foot tugboat, Perth Amboy, which was surrounded by four wooden barges.