A pictoral history of WWII

Type: T3 tanker, USA
Built: 1943, Norfolk VA, USA
Specs: ( 516 x 70 ft ) 11017 gross tons
Sunk: Sunday April 16, 1944
torpedoed by U-550, then shelled and sunk by USS Sagamore - 60 survivors
Depth: 300+ ft ?

Click to expand...

Type: Type IXC/40 U-boat, Kriegsmarine, Germany
Built: 1942, Germany
Specs: ( 252 x 22 ft ) 740 displacement tons, 56 crew
Sunk: Saturday April 16, 1944
by depth charges and gunfire from destroyer escorts USS Gandy, USS Joyce and USS Peterson after torpedoing tanker Pan Pennsylvania - 44 casualties.
Depth: 300+ ft ?

Click to expand...

The U-550, a Type IX C-40 U-boat under the command of Kapitanleutnant Klaus Hanert, departed on her first patrol on 6 February 1944. She sailed from Kiel for the North Atlantic and conducted weather reporting duties before sailing for Newfoundland and later the northeast coast of the United States. On 16 April, south of Nantucket Island, she located convoy CU-21, bound for Great Britain from New York. The tanker SS Pan Pennsylvania, one of the largest tankers in the world, was unwisely straggling behind the convoy and the U-550 torpedoed her. The tanker quickly caught fire and began to sink. As the tanker settled, the submerged U-boat sailed underneath her in an effort to hide from the inevitable counter-attack by the convoy's escorts.

Convoy CU-21 was escorted by Escort Division 22, consisting of Coast Guard-manned destroyer escorts reinforced by one Navy DE, the USS Gandy, which took the place of the USS Leopold, which had been lost in action the previous month. The escort division's flagship, USS Joyce and the USS Peterson rescued the tanker's surviving crew, and then the Joyce detected the U-boat on sonar as the Germans attempted to escape after hiding beneath the sinking tanker. The U-550's engineering officer later said, "We waited for your ship to leave; soon we could hear nothing so we thought the escort vessels had gone; but as soon as we started to move -- bang!" The Joyce delivered a depth-charge pattern that bracketed the submerged submarine. The depth charges were so well placed, a German reported, that one actually bounced off the U-boat's deck before it exploded.

The attack severely damaged the U-550 and forced the Germans to surface, where they manned and began firing their deck guns. The Joyce, Peterson, and a Navy destroyer escort, the USS Gandy, returned their fire. The Gandy then rammed it abaft the conning tower, and the Peterson dropped two depth charges which exploded near the U-boat's hull. Realizing they were defeated, the U-boat's crew prepared scuttling charges and abandoned their submarine. The Joyce rescued 13 of the U-550's crew, one of whom later died from wounds received during the fire-fight. The remainder of the U-boatmen went down with their submarine. Joyce delivered the prisoners of war and the Pan Pennsylvania survivors to the authorities in Great Britain.

Click to expand...

There is a grisly postscript to the sinking of the U-550. According to the Easter Sea Frontier's War Diary account of the sinking of the U-550, apparently some of the crew actually survived the sinking and were trapped in a forward compartment. They apparently attempted to escape from the U-boat as it lay on the ocean floor using their escape lungs. At 1515 on 5 May 1944, the Coastal Picket Patrol CGR 3082 recovered a body from the sea in 39° 51' North x 71° 58' West, about 93 miles ESE of Ambrose. The body was clothed in a German type life jacket. From the markings on his clothing it was possible that them man's name was "Hube." A German escape lung was found near his body as well. An autopsy performed on the body indicated that the individual died only five days before his body was discovered -- the U-550 had been sunk on 16 April and the body was found 19 days later. Two other bodies were subsequently found. The first, picked up by another picket boat, CGR-1989, at 1730 on 11 May, was fully clothed, had an escape lung and life jacket on. He was found in a rubber raft. Identification marks indicated the man was a German sailor named Wilhelm Flade, age about 17. The body was transferred from CGR-1989 to CGR 1338 on the morning of 12 May 1944 and was brought to Tompkinsville. On 16 May a third body was sighted and picked up by USS SC-630. It was stated that the uniform and insignia indicated the victim had been a German crewman, although he carried no identification; that he had been in the water more than 18 days.

The War Diary report continued: "Further evidence is lacking to complete the apparent story of successful attempts made by certain men to escape from compartments in the vicinity of torpedo tubes or escape hatches. Curiously, the area was not entirely deserted by patrol vessels. On the day following the torpedoing of the Pan Pennsylvania, a vessel was sent to the area to effect salvage operations or to sink the derelict [tanker] in order to remove such a menace to navigation. This vessel spent some time in trying to sink with gunfire the still buoyant and burning hulk of the Pan Pennsylvania. No survivors were sighted during these operations. Questions were raised as to the possibility of some survivors having been able to reach the southern shore of Long Island, since the sub sank only 150 miles from Montauk Point; only 70 miles from Nantucket. Although such considerations should not be dismissed, it is doubtful that men aboard the smallest type rubber rafts would be able to cover so great a distance without being detected before they reached shore."

Click to expand...

El Justo said:

hey! i remember this thread! thanks to whomever dug it up!

Click to expand...

THE New York Shipbuilding Corporation was organized in 1899. The original plan was to build the new plant on Staten Island, and the company which was formed was therefore called the New York Shipbuilding Company. Inability to acquire the desired site, however, necessitated a survey of other locations down the coast as far as Virginia. The result of investigations by several inspection parties was the purchase of a tract of approximately 160 acres on the east side of the Delaware River in the southern part of the city of Camden, New Jersey, across the river from Philadelphia. The ground conditions were especially suited to the building of shipway foundations, and railway facilities were adequate. Time has shown the selection to have been a good one.

Click to expand...

At the outset it was decided to break away from the old century's accepted traditions of shipbuilding and build a yard in which could be applied the most up-to-date labor-saving machinery and advanced methods of structural steel construction. The planning and opening of the New York Shipbuilding Company yard was due mainly to the foresight and energy of the late Henry G. Morse, its first president.


Henry G. Morse

Mr. Morse, who had resigned from the presidency of the Harlan and Hollingsworth Company, of Wilmington, Del., to form the new shipyard, was the guiding force throughout "New York Ship’s" organization. He survived the completion of the yard and the delivery of the first nine ships. Up to the time of his death he had secured for his company twenty contracts. Among these was the armored cruiser WASHINGTON, first Naval vessel ordered from New York Ship.

Ground was broken for New York Ship on July 3, 1899. Contracts for preliminary work and equipment for the yard were let within a month. On June 15, 1900, in the sixth month of the new century and the twelfth month of the new yard, the contract for New York Ship's first vessel was signed. On November 29, 1900, the keel was laid.

Click to expand...

New York Ship Building Corporation, also known as the New York Shipyards, was located in Camden NJ, across the Delaware River from downtown Philadelphia. This south New Jersey facility closed in 1967. The USS Kitty Hawk, launched in 1961, was one of the last major shipbuilding projects at the yard. Construction of the SSN-647 Pogy began at Camden, though in January 1968 the boat was towed to the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard for completion, following the cancellation of the contract with New York Shipbuilding on 05 June 1967.

Camden City, located in the southwestern section of New Jersey, is the seventh largest City in the state. The nearby Audubon Park community was created for New York Shipyard employees in 1941. Camden was once self-sufficient, a thriving metropolis turning out battleships during World War II from the New York Shipyard that employed thousands in the city. Campbell Soup and RCA Victor were there, too. But the shipyard closed; RCA merged, diversified and eventually sold out; and Campbell has closed the plant where it once made soup. Camden is faced with a dwindling tax base and a dearth of industry and commerce.

Despite Camden's socio-economic decline, the City's strategic location offers hope that this trend may be reversed. Located directly across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, Camden has easy access to many different forms of transportation. Camden has access to the international market through the City's ports which rank among the nation's leaders in the shipment of bulk cargo.

Click to expand...

New York Ship was the dream of Henry G. Morse. After spending 25 years building iron bridges and tunnels for a variety of companies, and two years as president of the Harlan & Hollingsworth shipyard in Wilmington, Delaware, Morse decided it was time to start his own company. With the financial support of Andrew Mellon and Henry Frick, Morse set out to build a state of the art shipyard. He named his company New York Ship, because it was originally intended to be located on Staten Island. Instead, Morse decided on a site in Camden, NJ, which offered better land, rail facilities, and access to a great number of experienced shipyard workers. The name was kept, and in 1899 Morse began constructing his shipyard.

New York Ship opened in 1900. It operated according to Morse's five principals, which made it the most modern and efficient shipyard in the country, if not the world. First, New York Ship used the template system, which called for fabrication and assembly to be done separately. The second was that all major parts should be prefabricated. Third, overhead cranes connected all parts of the yard, for easy movement of parts. Fourth, the shipbuilding ways were roofed to avoid delays caused by bad weather. Fifth, many tasks that were usually completed during outfitting were completed before launching.

The first ship, MS Dollar, was launched in 1901. Among the notable ships built during the pre-war period were a series of tankers for Gulf Oil, and New York Ship's first warship, the cruiser Washington. The success of its first dreadnought battleship, USS Michigan, led to a series of contracts for battleships, including USS Utah, USS Arkansas, and USS Oklahoma. By 1914, New York Shipbuilding (NYS) was a leader in naval construction

The First World War saw NYS become the largest shipyard in the world, with the creation of the middle and southern yards. These additions were necessary due to a growing backlog of civilian and naval construction orders. A number of vessels, including battleships Oklahoma, Colorado and Idaho, completed too late to serve in WWI, would see action during the Second World War. The most famous ship built by NYS during this era was the USS Saratoga (CV-3). Originally designed as a battle cruiser, she was converted to an aircraft carrier in accordance with the "Washington Treaty" limiting naval armaments. She was the first fast carrier in the United States Navy. "Sara" can be considered the forerunner of the Independence class carriers built by NYS sixteen years later. They too would be transformed from cruisers. It was also during the years of WWI that New York Ship began to build communities designed to attract and house an ever increasing work force. Yorkship Village, today known as Fairview, was an example of this type of self-contained neighborhood.

On July 5, 1939, while the citizens of Camden and Philadelphia went about their everyday business, the men and women of New York Shipbuilding (NYS) went to war. Technically the United States of America was still considered a neutral nation in the midst of an expanding World War, but in actuality the "arsenal of democracy" was, belatedly, preparing to enter a conflict that President Roosevelt felt would eventually engulf our nation. To this end, the United States Navy had begun a massive rebuilding program which would place our country's naval forces on a level playing field with those of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. Over the next six years New York Shipbuilding Corporation would play a vital role in the construction of the most powerful Navy to ever sail the oceans of the world. Laying the keel for the battleship USS South Dakota (BB-57) on July 5, 1939 was just the beginning.

During the Second World War New York Shipbuilding Corporation would supply 26 heavy combatant ships for service in the U.S. Navy. Among this number were 2 destroyer tenders, 3 seaplane tenders, 1 repair ship, 8 light cruisers, 9 light aircraft carriers, 2 battle cruisers and 1 battleship. This is not to mention 44 other ships that were on active duty prior to America's official entry into the war. In all, 70 ships originally built by NYS for the Navy saw service during WWII. This number does not include 148 landing craft (LCIs and LCTs) constructed at NYS during the year 1942.

New York Shipbuilding had been a major builder of civilian vessels during its first 43 years in business. Military needs necessitated the conversion of its entire facility to the production of naval combatant ships during the Second World War. To say that the workers of NYS responded magnificently to needs of their country's Navy would be an understatement. In a one-year period, from March 15, 1942 until March 15, 1943 the "Yard" delivered new naval construction representing an aggregate value of $217,000,000. The bulk of these deliveries consisted of heavy combatant ships from 12,000 to 35,000 tons displacement, which were completed from 8 to 13 months ahead of contract delivery dates. This total output of large naval combatant ships, in twelve months, has never been exceeded by a single shipyard in the history of shipbuilding. At its peak period of production during the War, well over 30,000 men and women were employed at New York Shipbuilding.

Following the war, New York Ship moved into the nuclear age, by producing a series of nuclear submarines, and the first commercial nuclear ship NS Savannah. The contract to build the carrier Kittyhawk also kept the yard running for a while, but as military contracts dried up in the mid-sixties, the company could not continue. The last ship to leave the yard, USS Guardfish, was completed in October 1967, and then New York Ship went out of business.

Click to expand...

El Justo said:

Photographed from USS Joyce DE-317

Click to expand...

joycem10 said:

Ive gotta get a pic of the stern of the USS Joyce for my office.

Click to expand...

El Justo said:

.


the USS Washington CA in 1930. This ship was the first one ordered from the yard for the USN.

Click to expand...

YNCS said:

While I can read "Washington" on the bow, this ship is not an armored cruiser. She's a passenger liner. Notice the complete lack of guns. The hull painted black (or another dark color) and the superstructure painted a light color. U.S. warships in the 1930s were painted battleship gray.

Also, according to the U.S. Navy Historical Center, the only ships in the U.S. Navy named Washington were two battleships. BB 45 was cancelled in 1923 in accordance with the Washington Naval Disarmament Treaty. BB 56's keel was laid in 1938. She was commissioned in 1941, served in WW2, decommissioned in 1947, and scrapped in 1961.

Click to expand...