SS Samoa

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USSLakePepin.jpg
USS Lake Pepin, in 1923 SS Samoa
History
US flag 48 stars.svgUnited States
NameUSS Lake Pepin (ID 4215)
Namesake Lake Pepin, Minnesota
Builder McDougall Duluth Shipbuilding Company
Launched30 March 1918
Acquired4 September 1918
Commissioned4 September 1918
Decommissioned18 June 1919
Out of service18 June 1919
US flag 48 stars.svgUnited States
NameSS Samoa
Acquired1923
Namesake Samoa a Polynesian island country
FateScrapped 1947
General characteristics as USS Lake Pepin
Displacement4,500 tons
Length261 ft (80 m)
Beam43 ft 6 in (13.26 m)
Draft17 ft 10 in (5.44 m)
Propulsiontriple expansion engine steam engine
Speed9.25 knots
Complement122
Armament2 x 3"/50 caliber guns (for World War I only)
Notes1919 call sign LMJT
Cape Mendocino Coast Cape Mendocino Coast.jpg
Cape Mendocino Coast
Japanese submarine I-26, sister of I-17 I-26 Japanese submarine.jpg
Japanese submarine I-26, sister of I-17

The SS Samoa was a 1,997-ton cargo ship that was able to escape an attack off the coast of California in the early days of World War II. The Samoa was built under a United States Shipping Board (USSB) contract in 1918 as the SS Muerthe, but was launched as the USS Lake Pepin, named after Lake Pepin, by the McDougall Duluth Shipbuilding Company of Duluth, Minnesota measured at 3,600 tons deadweight. She had a triple expansion engine steam engine with 1,250 horsepower (930 kW), a 251-foot (77 m) length, 43.5-foot (13.3 m) beam, a draft of 17 feet 8+12 inches (5.398 m), a top speed of 9.25 knots (17.13 km/h; 10.64 mph). The vessel had a crew of 52, with the hull # 9 and O.N.ID # 21699. The USS Lake Pepin (ID # 4215) was owned and operated by the United States Navy, commissioned at Montreal, Quebec, Canada on 4 September 1918. For World War I she was fitted with one 3"/50 caliber gun. The Navy put her in Naval Overseas Transportation Service as a coal carrier traveling between the United Kingdom and France as a United States Navy Temporary auxiliary ship. Her coal service ended in May 1919. In June 1919 she returned to the US with a cargo of World War I vehicles and weapons and unused ammunition. The US Navy decommissioned the Lake Pepin on 18 June 1919. [1] In 1923 she was, renamed Samoa purchased and operated by the Hammond Lumber Company. In 1936 she was sold to the Wheeler Logging Company of Portland, Oregon. In February of 1941 she was sold to W. A. Schaefer Company.

Contents

World War II

After the Attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 the United States entered World War II. The Imperial Japanese Navy sent submarines to attack ships off Coastal California. On 18 December 1941 at about 5 am the Samoa was 15 miles (24 km) off Cape Mendocino, Humboldt County, California near Humboldt Bay, near the town of Petrolia, when Japanese submarine I-17 fired 83-pound (38 kg) artillery shells at her from her single 14 cm (5.5 in) naval gun. The Samoa was en route to San Diego with a load of lumber.I-17, far from home, was ordered to conserve torpedoes, so Commander Nishino Kozo opened the attack with artillery fire. Samoa the sub was spotted just before it fired on the ship. The captain of Samoa, Nels Sinnes, gave the order for the crew to report to their lifeboat stations and prepare the lifeboat. I-17 fired five shells at Samoa, none hit the ship, but shell fragments fell to the deck's stern. Ocean swells prevented I-17 from getting a direct hit. Nishino had orders to use only one torpedo on a merchant ship and then only if necessary. The swells and pitching deck made Nishino decided a torpedo was necessary. I-17 fired a torpedo while 70 yards (64 m) from Samoa. The Samoa watched as the torpedo's wake approached them amidships. They watched as the torpedo passed under the ship, continued and after passing the ship exploded. The explosion gave off smoke and flames, with torpedo fragments falling on Samoa's deck. It was very dark and foggy that early morning and Nishino was unsure of the damage he had done to the Samoa. So he moved in closer to inspect the ship. At 40 feet (12 m) away from the ship the Samoa's crew heard a Hi ya! from the sub. Captain Sinnes replied What do you want of us?, but there was no answer. Then the sub departed in the darkness. Sinnes then realized that the sub had inspected the side of the ship that had a damaged lifeboat form a previous storm and that the sub came close enough to see that the Samoa was listing, as the ship's engineers had been shifting water in the ballast tanks. Parts of the damaged lifeboat were hanging on the davit and it look like an explosion could have done the damage. Later Captain Sinnes thoughts on the sub's departure were confirmed. Captain Nishino sent a radio message to Japanese submarine I-15, that was near San Francisco, that he had sunk an American merchant ship. At 7 am daybreak the Samoa departed at full speed towards San Diego and arrived at port two days later. Samoa was scrapped in 1947 at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] I-17 was sunk on 19 August 1943 by the New Zealand HMNZS Tui and United States Navy Kingfisher floatplanes, off Noumea. [9]

Sister ships

USS Lake Traverse, sister ship of USS Lake Pepin / SS Samoa SSLakeTraverse.jpg
USS Lake Traverse, sister ship of USS Lake Pepin / SS Samoa
SS Lake Markham in 1918, sister ship of USS Lake Pepin SSLakeMarkham1918.png
SS Lake Markham in 1918, sister ship of USS Lake Pepin

USS Lake Pepin / SS Samoa had eight sister ships built as Lake freighters. All nine were built in 1918 by McDougall-Duluth Company of Duluth, Minnesota with a 3,600 ton deadweight. The nine ships were built under United States Shipping Board (USSB) contract # 1320. [10]

See also

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">McDougall Duluth Shipbuilding Company</span> Shipyard in Duluth, Minnesota, United States

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References

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  2. World War II Magazine, West Coast War Zone, July 1998, by Donald J. Young
  3. militarymuseum.org SS Samoa
  4. mobileranger.com The Impact of WWII on the California Coast
  5. Merchant Vessels of the United States, June 1923, page 121
  6. The Des Moines Register from Des Moines, Iowa, 23 December 1941, Page 11
  7. The MARINE DIGEST, 12 February 1941, Steel Steam Schooners of Pacific Coast, page 2, By John Lyman with Maritime Research Society of San Diego
  8. hyperwar, SS Lake Pepin
  9. Waters, Sydney David (1956) The Royal New Zealand Navy, Page 327-328, Official History.
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