Cocoa Beach is the scene of some interesting WWII history. On May 1, 1942, the German submarine U-109 torpedoed the ship La Paz off the shore of Cocoa Beach. Then on May 3, the same U-boat sank the SS Laertes near the same spot. Shortly thereafter, the federal government realized the danger of back-lighting from the coast making easy targets of passing ships and ordered a blackout for the remainder of the war.