History | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Name | John Carter Rose |
Namesake | John Carter Rose |
Owner | War Shipping Administration (WSA) |
Operator | American West African Line, Inc. |
Ordered | as type (EC2-S-C1) hull, MCE hull 56 |
Awarded | 14 March 1941 |
Builder | Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyard, Baltimore, Maryland [1] |
Cost | $1,084,000 [2] |
Yard number | 2043 |
Way number | 4 |
Laid down | 10 June 1942 |
Launched | 31 July 1942 |
Sponsored by | Mrs. Harry B. Kreisher |
Completed | 10 August 1942 |
Identification | |
Fate | Sunk by German submarine U-201, 8 October 1942 |
General characteristics [3] | |
Class and type |
|
Tonnage | |
Displacement | |
Length | |
Beam | 57 feet (17 m) |
Draft | 27 ft 9.25 in (8.4646 m) |
Installed power |
|
Propulsion |
|
Speed | 11.5 knots (21.3 km/h; 13.2 mph) |
Capacity |
|
Complement | |
Armament |
|
SS John Carter Rose was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after John Carter Rose, a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and previously was a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland.
John Carter Rose was laid down on 10 June 1942, under a Maritime Commission (MARCOM) contract, MCE hull 56, by the Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyard, Baltimore, Maryland; she was sponsored by Mrs. Harry B. Kreisher, the wife of a yard employee, and was launched on 31 July 1942. [1] [2]
She was allocated to American West African Line, Inc., on 10 August 1942. [4]
John Carter Rose had dispersed from Convoy TRIN-15 on 4 October 1942, during her maiden voyage. She carried 7,979 long tons (8,107 t) of gasoline, in 26,000 drums, along with food, piping, tires, and trucks. On 6 October, about 620 mi (1,000 km) east of Trinidad, she was spotted, unescorted, by German submarine U-201, at 16:04. A few hours later she was also spotted by U-202, which along with U-201, began to chase John Carter Rose east. [5]
U-201 fired at John Carter Rose at 00:06 on 7 October, from her stern torpedo tube. U-201 was forced to dive after the torpedo she fired was either a dud, or missed, and John Carter Rose opened up with her stern 4-inch (100 mm)/50 caliber gun, firing four shots. Turning away and setting her speed to maximum, 12 kn (22 km/h; 14 mph), John Carter Rose unknowingly turned towards U-202, which at 00:29 fired a spread of three torpedoes at her. Hearing two detonation, but not observing any effect on John Carter Rose, at 00:35, U-202 fired her stern torpedo, which missed the zigzagging ship. John Carter Rose again opened up with her 4-inch gun, forcing U-202 to crash dive. [5]
At 13:38, on 7 October, U-201 was able to again make contact with John Carter Rose. At 23:58 U-201 fired a two torpedo spread which again missed. At 02:32, on 8 October, after 32 hours, 290 mi (470 km), and seven torpedoes missing her, John Carter Rose was struck between the #2 and #3 holds by U-201. The explosion immediately ignited her cargo of gasoline and blew the hatch covers off. It took 20 minutes to stop the engines so the crew could abandon ship. Eight officers, 28 crewmen, and 17 Armed guards were able to escape in three lifeboats, three Armed guards and five crewmen died. U-201 fired another torpedo at the burning ship at 06:06, and then opened fire with her deck mounted 8.8-centimeter (3.5 in) naval gun at 11:00. Less than an hour later John Carter Rose sank at 10°27′N45°37′W / 10.450°N 45.617°W by the bow after having 51 8.8-cm rounds fired into her. [5]
The survivors were questioned by the German crew which gave them cigarettes, bread, first aid, and directions to Venezuela. The U-boat crew also rescued one man from the water and transferred him to one of the lifeboats. On 13 October 1942, after the lifeboats had become separated, the merchant ship West Humhaw picked up 18 survivors from one lifeboat at 18:00. The Argentinean tanker Santa Cruz picked up the remaining 35 survivors the same day. [5]
SS Benjamin Harrison was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after Benjamin Harrison, an American planter and merchant, a revolutionary leader, and a Founding Father of the United States. She served a year from March 1942 to March 1943, when she was attacked and scuttled.
German submarine U-201 was a Type VIIC U-boat of the Kriegsmarine in World War II.
SS Alexander Macomb was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after Alexander Macomb, the Commanding General of the United States Army from May 29, 1828, until his death on June 25, 1841. Macomb was the field commander at the Battle of Plattsburgh, during the War of 1812, and after the stunning victory, was lauded with praise and styled "The Hero of Plattsburgh" by some of the American press. He was promoted to Major General for his conduct, receiving both the Thanks of Congress and a Congressional Gold Medal.
Hai was a wolfpack of German U-boats that operated from 3 to 21 July 1942 in the Battle of the Atlantic during World War II. They attacked the Liverpool to Freetown, Sierra Leone convoy OS-33, sinking eight ships for a total of 61,125 gross register tons (GRT).
SS George Calvert was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after George Calvert, an English politician and colonizer. Calvert took an interest in the British colonization of the Americas, becoming the proprietor of the Province of Avalon, the first sustained English settlement on the southeastern peninsula on the island of Newfoundland. He later sought a new royal charter to settle the region, which would become the state of Maryland.
SS Oliver Ellsworth was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after Founding Father Oliver Ellsworth, an American lawyer, judge, politician, and diplomat. He was a framer of the United States Constitution, a United States senator from Connecticut, and the third Chief Justice of the United States.
The SS Gulfamerica was an American steam tanker built by Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyards Inc, of Sparrow's Point, Maryland and completed in March 1942. She was operated by the Gulf Oil Company of New York City and homeported in Philadelphia.
The SS David H. Atwater was a United States Merchant Marine coastal steamer which was sunk on 2 April 1942 by gunfire from German submarine U-552, commanded by Erich Topp, during World War II. The circumstances of the destruction of the vessel along with almost all of its crew fueled persistent rumours at the time of war crimes being perpetrated by Nazi Germany's U-boat fleets on the high seas against shipwrecked allied sailors.
German submarine U-177 was a Type IXD2 U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. The submarine was laid down on 25 November 1940, at the DeSchiMAG AG Weser yard in Bremen, as yard number 1017. She was launched on 1 October 1941, and commissioned on 14 March 1942, under the command of Kapitänleutnant Wilhelm Schulze. After a period of training with the 4th U-boat Flotilla at Stettin, the boat was transferred to the 10th flotilla on 1 October 1942, and based at Lorient, for front-line service, she was then reassigned to the 12th flotilla at Bordeaux on 1 December.
SS Express was a Type C3-E cargo ship of American Export Lines that was sunk by Japanese submarine I-10 in June 1942 in the Indian Ocean. The ship, built in 1940 by Bethlehem Shipbuilding in Quincy, Massachusetts, was one of eight sister ships built for the United States Maritime Commission on behalf of American Export Lines. Out of a total of 55 men aboard the ship at the time of her torpedoing, 13 were killed; most of the other 42 landed on the coast of Mozambique six days after the sinking.
Empire Dryden was a 7,164 GRT cargo ship that was built in 1941 by William Doxford & Sons Ltd, Sunderland, Co Durham, United Kingdom for the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT). Completed in February 1942, she had a short career, being torpedoed and sunk on 20 April 1942 by U-572.
HM LST-404 was a United States Navy LST-1-class tank landing ship that was transferred to the Royal Navy during World War II. As with many of her class, the ship was never named. Instead, she was referred to by her hull designation.
HMS LST-422 was a United States Navy LST-1-class tank landing ship that was transferred to the Royal Navy during World War II. As with many of her class, the ship was never named. Instead, she was referred to by her hull designation.
SS Roger B. Taney was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after Roger B. Taney, who was the fifth Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, holding that office from 1836 until his death in 1864. Prior to joining the Supreme Court, Taney served as the United States Attorney General and United States Secretary of the Treasury under President Andrew Jackson.
SS Christopher Newport was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after Christopher Newport, who was an English seaman and privateer. He is best known as the captain of Susan Constant, the largest of three ships which carried settlers for the Virginia Company, in 1607, on the way to found the settlement at Jamestown, in the Virginia Colony, which became the first permanent English settlement in North America. He was also in overall command of the other two ships on that initial voyage, in order of their size, Godspeed and Discovery.
SS John Witherspoon was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after John Witherspoon, a Scottish-American Presbyterian minister and a Founding Father of the United States. Politically active, Witherspoon was a delegate from New Jersey to the Second Continental Congress and a signatory to the United States Declaration of Independence. Later, he signed the Articles of Confederation and supported ratification of the Constitution. In 1789 he was convening moderator of the First General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America.
SS Richard Bland was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after Richard Bland, an American planter and statesman from Virginia. He served for many terms in the House of Burgesses, was a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1774 and 1775, and is considered a Founding Father of the United States.
SS Thomas Ruffin was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after Thomas Ruffin, an American jurist and Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court from 1829 to 1852 and again from 1858 to 1859. He was Chief Justice of that Court from 1833 to 1852.
SS Thomas McKean was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after Founding Father Thomas McKean, an American lawyer and politician from New Castle, in New Castle County, Delaware and Philadelphia. During the American Revolution, he was a delegate to the Continental Congress, where he signed the Continental Association, United States Declaration of Independence, and Articles of Confederation. McKean served as a President of Congress. He was at various times a member of the Federalist and Democratic-Republican parties. McKean served as President of Delaware, Chief Justice of Pennsylvania, and Governor of Pennsylvania. He is also known for holding many public positions.
SS Pierce Butler was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after Pierce Butler, a South Carolina, rice planter, slaveholder, politician, an officer in the American Revolutionary War, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He served as a state legislator, a member of the Congress of the Confederation, a delegate to the 1787 Constitutional Convention, and a member of the United States Senate.