After Standard Transportation Company, Inc. ordered Dixie Arrow in 1919, the ship was built in 1921 by New York Shipbuilding Corporation in Camden, New Jersey.[1]Dixie Arrow was the last Arrow-class ship built for the company.[2]Dixie Arrow was designated yard number 226.[3] Her keel was laid on January 24, 1921, and the ship was launched on August 29 of that same year.[1][4][5] The launch was sponsored by Isabelle Brown of Dallas, Texas.[6] The ship was completed on November 29.[7] The ship was designated ID-4789 by the United States Navy.[8]
Design
General plans (blueprints) for Dixie Arrow
Dixie Arrow was 468 feet (143m) long, 62 feet (19m) wide, and 32 feet (9.8m) from the waterline to the bottom of the keel, a total of six decks high.[9][10] She was outfitted with a one four-cylinder quadruple expansion steam engine, along with three single boilers and nine corrugated furnaces. Dixie Arrow's total tonnage was 8,046 gross registered tons.[11] The ship boasted three masts and a funnel atop the aft superstructure.[10][12] The ship also had a total telegraph range of 800 nautical miles.[13]
The first year of Dixie Arrow's service had among its longest trips, going from New York City, through the Panama Canal, and to the far east. This was the route designed for the Arrow-class ships until the outbreak of World War II. Normally, the ship would leave New York City, docking in Colón, then San Francisco, and finally sailing across the Pacific Ocean to Hong Kong. After unloading cargo in the British port, the ship would load coconut oil in Manila before heading back to New York. Normally ships would simply sail empty with ballast, but Socony-Vacuum Oil wanted to make as much money as they could, due to the long length of the voyages. Said voyages took around six months to complete, and served as a testament to the Arrow-class' seaworthiness and range.[19]
After two years in the far east, Dixie Arrow was rerouted to carry oil between Texas and New York. She would also conduct long hauls through the Panama Canal to the cities of San Francisco and San Diego, sailing from ports in the northeast such as New York City, Boston, and Providence. By 1931, the ship was sold to Socony-Vacuum Transport Co. That same year, the ship was once again rerouted to service between various Texan ports such as Galveston, Houston, Beaumont, Texas City, Port Arthur, and Sabine.[19] On its return trips back to Texas, in contrast to its service in the far east, Dixie Arrow sailed in ballast with no load.[20] In 1935, Socony-Vacuum Transport Co. renamed themselves to Socony-Vacuum Oil Co.[21]
As she sailed, Dixie Arrow constantly received messages of SOS and SSS[note 1] from ships that had been torpedoed by German U-boats. Not even three months into 1942, the year had already been rough for the United States Merchant Marine. Nearly 400 allied ships would be sunk by German U-boats off of the coastline of North Carolina during World War II.[25][26]
Captain Anders Johanson decided to take an unusual course away from the barrier islands that made up North Carolina's Outer Banks, concerned about the shallow depth of the water there. This decision, however, brought Dixie Arrow right into the hunting grounds of German U-boats. Around 10 minutes before 09:00 AM, Dixie Arrow made its way past Cape Fear and Cape Lookout, and into the Diamond Shoals region of Cape Hatteras.[12][27] The ship was reported to be zig-zagging with 45° tacks at 11 knots.[28]
Dixie Arrow was a sailing in dangerous waters. Ships traditionally sailed along currents, and both the Labrador Current and the Gulf Stream meet off the coast of North Carolina.[27][29] All shipping in the area was either coming from the north or the south, making the region a prime target for German U-boats. In addition, the continental shelf is narrowest along the coastline, making it convenient for U-boats to hide themselves in deep water while waiting for ships. As a result of this, the area was nicknamed 'Torpedo Junction' by sailors.[30][31]
Dixie Arrow aflame after being torpedoed by U-71
Sinking
At 9:04 AM EST, a United States Coast Guard airplane reported it was circling Dixie Arrow near the Diamond Shoals outer buoy, at 34° 59' N, 75° 33' W.[11]Fifteen miles (24km) south of Cape Hatteras, at 08:58 AM, while on its fifth patrol, U-71 spotted the masts of Dixie Arrow through its periscope.[32][19]Korvettenkapitän Walter Flachsenberg gave the order to fire three torpedoes, all of which hit Dixie Arrow amidships on the starboard side.[1] The first blew up the forward deckhouse, killing Johanson, as well as a radio operator and a number of other crewmen. The other two torpedoes hit the ship roughly sixty seconds later, sending the ship ablaze and causing her to buckle and break in two.[18][33] In addition, the blasts knocked out the lights in the ship's engine room, causing the room to go completely dark.[12] The engines were stopped by first assistant engineer William Rolfe, causing the ship to drift helplessly in the water.[19] Around this time, the USCG airplane spotted the ship aflame. Its pilot proceeded to take multiple photographs of the sinking ship.[34][35]
The able seaman in the wheelhouse, Oscar Chappell, brought the ship into the wind to keep the men on the bow from being burnt to death and allow them to jump into the water to relative safety. However, in doing so, he turned the flames on himself and was killed. He was posthumously awarded both the Distinguished Merchant Marine Medal and the Navy Distinguished Service Medal for his actions.[25][36] The liberty ship SS Oscar Chappell was also named after the sailor.[35][37][38]
Oil poured out of the ship in gallons, and the inferno completely engulfed the ship along with her cargo.[39] The crew of U-71 became unable to see their target through the thick smoke. The secondary explosion killed eight men in the ship's dining hall. Two of the four lifeboats were destroyed in the flames, and a third swung uncontrollably on its davits and ended up crushing one crewman to death.[25][19][40] The ship's fourth lifeboat managed to launch, with eight crewmen aboard it. As it pulled away from Dixie Arrow, two crewmen jumped from the deck of the ship and perished in the flames. One life raft was covered in burning oil after oil tanks ruptured, killing everyone on it. As the radio operator was killed in the initial explosion, no distress call was ever sent out.[2]
Rescue operations
USS Tarbell, which rescued Dixie Arrow's survivors
The United States Navy destroyer USSTarbell spotted the flames of Dixie Arrow, and the ship's crew came to investigate. Being guided by a USN seaplane, the ship arrived around 9:30, roughly half an hour after Dixie Arrow had first been torpedoed.[19][34][41]Tarbell dropped lifeboats for Dixie Arrow's survivors, and proceeded to circle the flaming ship in search of U-71. The ship dropped a few depth charges, which killed several survivors of Dixie Arrow and did nothing to the submarine. Tarbell ended up rescuing a total of 22 survivors, taking them to Morehead, North Carolina.[1][18] They were later transferred to Norfolk, Virginia, for better conditions.[19]
U-71 managed to escape and was one of the few U-boats to survive until the end of the war. It was decommissioned and later scuttled on May 2, 1945 in Wilhelmshaven, Germany.[42][43]
Wreck
Dixie Arrow continued to drift aflame for more than a day, eventually drifting inshore near the Cape Hatterasminefields.[44] By that time, the ship's three masts were the only thing sticking out of the water. The ship detonated a mine laid by the USN in an attempt to deter U-boats.[45] The buoy tenderOrchid was sent to the wreck, where she placed a red buoy to warn other vessels about the shipwreck.[12] The masts and wreck site of Dixie Arrow were used as target practice by the Cherry Point North Carolina Marine Air Station, but the former collapsed into the sea in 1943.[19] The remainder of the wreck was wire-dragged and finally demolished in 1944, to ensure that she would not be a hazard for navigation.[18]
Present day
Dixie Arrow lays under 90 feet (27m) of water, 15 miles south of Hatteras Inlet, at 34°54'0.58"N, 75°45'1.73"W. She sits upright, intact, half-buried in the seabed. The ship's bow and stern are in the best condition, with much of the machinery in the bow still in its original positions. The boilers and engine are the most prominent features of the stern section. The triple-expansion steam engine lies in the middle of the wreck, amidst the remains of all sorts of pipes, valves, and fittings. Amidships, the ship is an unrecognizable mess of parts and metal.[33] On September 25, 2013, the ship was labeled as a National Historic Place.[19] In recent years, the wreck has become a popular site for recreational wreck divers.[9][18]
↑ Goralski, Robert; Freeburg, Russell T. (2021). Oil & War. Quantico, VA: Marine Corp University Press.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
1 2 3 Duffus, Kevin (2012). War Zone: World War II Off the North Carolina Coast (1st ed.). Raleigh, North Carolina: Looking Glass Productions, Inc. ISBN1888285427.
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