Q-ships, also known as Q-boats, decoy vessels, special service ships, or mystery ships, were heavily armed merchant ships with concealed weaponry, designed to lure submarines into making surface attacks. This gave Q-ships the chance to open fire and sink them.
The German auxiliary cruiser Atlantis, known to the Kriegsmarine as Schiff 16 and to the Royal Navy as Raider-C, was a converted German Hilfskreuzer, or merchant or commerce raider of the Kriegsmarine, which, in World War II, travelled more than 161,000 km (100,000 mi) in 602 days, and sank or captured 22 ships with a combined tonnage of 144,384. Atlantis was commanded by Kapitän zur See Bernhard Rogge, who received the Oak Leaves to the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. She was sunk on 22 November 1941 by the British cruiser HMS Devonshire.
An armed merchantman is a merchant ship equipped with guns, usually for defensive purposes, either by design or after the fact. In the days of sail, piracy and privateers, many merchantmen would be routinely armed, especially those engaging in long distance and high value trade. In more modern times, auxiliary cruisers were used offensively as merchant raiders to disrupt trade chiefly during both World War I and World War II, particularly by Germany.
USS Crevalle (SS/AGSS-291), a Balao-class submarine, was a ship of the United States Navy named for the crevalle, the yellow mackerel, a food fish, found on both coasts of tropical America, and in the Atlantic as far north as Cape Cod.
Komet (HSK-7) was an auxiliary cruiser of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine in the Second World War, intended for service as a commerce raider. Known to the Kriegsmarine as Schiff 45, to the Royal Navy she was named Raider B.
A hell ship is a ship with extremely inhumane living conditions or with a reputation for cruelty among the crew. It now generally refers to the ships used by the Imperial Japanese Navy and Imperial Japanese Army to transport Allied prisoners of war (POWs) and rōmusha out of the Philippines, the Dutch East Indies, Hong Kong, and Singapore in World War II. These POWs were taken to the Japanese Islands, Formosa, Manchukuo, Korea, the Moluccas, Sumatra, Burma, or Siam to be used as forced labor.
Michel(HSK-9) was an auxiliary cruiser of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine that operated as a merchant raider during World War II. Built by Danziger Werft in Danzig 1938/39 as the freighter Bielsko for the Polish Gdynia-America-Line (GAL), she was requisitioned by the Kriegsmarine at the outbreak of World War II and converted into the hospital ship Bonn. In the summer of 1941, she was converted into the auxiliary cruiser Michel, and was commissioned on 7 September 1941. Known as Schiff 28, her Royal Navy designation was Raider H. She was the last operative German raider of World War II.
The Battle of the Caribbean refers to a naval campaign waged during World War II that was part of the Battle of the Atlantic, from 1941 to 1945. German U-boats and Italian submarines attempted to disrupt the Allied supply of oil and other material. They sank shipping in the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico and attacked coastal targets in the Antilles. Improved Allied anti-submarine warfare eventually drove the Axis submarines out of the Caribbean region.
SS Antoine Saugrain was a Liberty ship of the United States that served in World War II. The ship was built at the Permanente Metals Corporation Yard No. 2 in Richmond, California under Maritime Commission Contract 1728. Laid down on 26 July 1943, the ship was launched on 15 August, and delivered on 28 August to Agwilines Inc. She was named after Antoine Saugrain, a French physician and chemist who immigrated to America at the end of the 18th century and led various pioneering works, including on vaccination against smallpox.
HMHS Gloucester Castle was a steam ship originally built for the Union-Castle Line, but requisitioned for use as a British hospital ship during the First World War. On 30 March 1917 she was torpedoed by German U-boat UB-32. She was, however, salvaged, and returned to civilian service after the war. She was sunk by the German commerce raider Michel in 1942 off Ascension Island in the South Atlantic.
The action of 6 June 1942 was a single ship action fought during World War II. The German raider Stier encountered and sank the American tanker SS Stanvac Calcutta while cruising in the South Atlantic Ocean off Brazil.
The Torpedo Alley, or Torpedo Junction, off North Carolina, is one of the graveyards of the Atlantic Ocean, named for the high number of attacks on Allied shipping by German U-boats in World War II. Almost 400 ships were sunk, mostly during the Second Happy Time in 1942, and over 5,000 people were killed, many of whom were civilians and merchant sailors. Torpedo Alley encompassed the area surrounding the Outer Banks, including Cape Lookout and Cape Hatteras.
SS Peter Silvester, was an American merchant marine ship built for the United States Maritime Commission. She was operated by the Pacific Far East Line under charter with the Maritime Commission and War Shipping Administration. Peter Silvester was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-862 off the coast of Australia in the Indian Ocean on February 6, 1945. 33 men aboard the ship died and 142 were eventually rescued, with some rescued weeks after the initial sinking.
SS Hobbs Victory was a cargo Victory ship built for World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding program. Hobbs Victory, was launched on January 9, 1945 by Permanente Metals Corporation, Richmond, California and completed on January 9, 1945. She was built in just 87 days. She was operated by the Sudden & Christenson for the United States Maritime Commission.
The following index is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Wikipedia's articles on recreational dive sites. The level of coverage may vary:
Recreational dive sites are specific places that recreational scuba divers go to enjoy the underwater environment or for training purposes. They include technical diving sites beyond the range generally accepted for recreational diving. In this context all diving done for recreational purposes is included. Professional diving tends to be done where the job is, and with the exception of diver training and leading groups of recreational divers, does not generally occur at specific sites chosen for their easy access, pleasant conditions or interesting features.
H.M. Storey was an oil tanker built in 1921. She escaped an attack in California in 1941, but was sunk in an attack in 1943. She was owned by Standard Oil Company of California and built by Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation at the Alameda Works Shipyard with a hull# of 5312. She had a max capacity of 306,115 US gallons of fuel oil. Her keel was laid on 19 January 1921 and she was launched on 28 September 1921. Her sister ships are the SS F.H. Hillman and SS W.S. Rheem. She had a range of 7,717 miles, 10,763 DWT and a 16,000-ton displacement. She had a length of 500 feet (150 m), a beam of 68.2 feet (20.8 m) and a draft of 30 feet (9.1 m). The engines created 2,700 horsepower (2,000 kW), made by a triple-expansion engine with dual shaft and two screws. She had three Scotch boilers. Named for Henry Martin Storey, vice president of the Standard Oil Company.
World War II United States Merchant Navy was the largest civilian Navy in the world, which operated during World War II. With the United States fighting a world war in all the world oceans, the demand for cargo and fuel was very high. Cargo and fuel was needed around the world for the United States Navy, United States Army, United States Marine Corps, United States Army Air Forces, United States Coast Guard and the support of the allied nations of the United States. American steamship companies chartered ships from the Maritime Commission and War Shipping Administration to meet the demand. Many United States Merchant Marine ships were newly built in the Emergency Shipbuilding Program, other ships were older World War I ships that were put back in service, or private ships acquired under Emergency war requisitions. The Merchant Navy operated in the Pacific War and European war. Over 200 US Merchant ships took part in the D-day Normandy landings. To make a Normandy breakwater Harbor, called Mulberry harbour, 33 merchant ships were sunk 1,000 yards from shore. Some of the ghosts merchant ships used were damaged and others were deemed too old.
Sword Line Inc. was a steamship company founded by Charilaos "Charles" G. Poulacos and Abbott Abercrombie in New York City in 1933. Sword Line Inc. had shipping routes from Atlantic ports to and Gulf of Mexico ports. Charilaos "Charles" G. Poulacos and Abbott Abercrombie purchased the ship Eastern Sword in 1932. The Eastern Sword was a 3,785-ton cargo ship built in 1920 at the Uraga Dry Dock Co. Ltd, at Uraga, Japan. The ship sank after being hit by a torpedo from German submarine U-162 on May 4, 1942 twelve miles (19 km) off the coast of Georgetown, Guyana. The Eastern Sword had a crew of 38 and only 13 survived the attack. Sword Line Inc. was active in supporting the World War II effort.
United States
