A Place Called YORKSHIP Casualties of War and Fortune
	Last Modified: 23 Jul 2009

The ultimate fate of most ships is a quiet, undignified encounter with the scrapper's torch. A privileged few vessels may earn a genteel second life in a museum, their decks trod by schoolchildren, vacationers, and veterans. The rest belong to the sea--its depths their final port of call.

The Saratoga sinks in Bikini Atoll

Lost to Enemy Action

• General Belgrano - light cruiser (ex-Phoenix, ex-16th of October). A Pearl Harbor survivor, USS Phoenix was transferred to Argentina in 1951. During the Falklands War, the Belgrano was torpedoed and sunk by the Royal Navy submarine Conqueror, May 2 1982. This is the first and, so far, only documented instance of a nuclear-powered sub sinking a surface vessel in combat. There were 323 casualties among Belgrano's crew of 1200.
• General Royal T. Frank - transport, formerly Army mine planter. Torpedoed and sunk by Japanese submarine I-71 (later I-171) in channel between Maui and Hawaii. Was ferrying a group of Japanese-American (Nisei) Army recruits. Sank in "30 seconds" with 29 killed.
• Kachidoki Maru (ex-Wolverine State) - cargo liner. Intentionally grounded off Swaiwaishan Island, China coast, while pursued by Japanese forces in Dec 1941. Salvaged by Japanese. Sunk in convoy from Singapore to Formosa by American submarine SS-383 Pampanito on Sep 12, 1944.
• SS Alamance (ex-Nevadan) - freighter, Garland Steamship Co.. Torpedoed and sunk by German submarine UB-57 when 4 miles east of Maiden's Head, Ireland, Feb 5, 1918. Six crew lost.
• SS Broad Arrow - tanker. Struck by two torpedoes from German submarine U-124 while in convoy TB-1 off Guyana. She sank about two hours later, with the loss of 23 crew.
• SS Camden - tanker. Torpedoed by Japanese submarine I-25 off Coos Bay, Oregon, October 4. 1942. Camden burned but did not sink until 6 days later while under tow by the Kenai.
• SS Deepwater - tanker. Torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-404 off Atlantic City, March 3, 1942. Twenty killed. Wreck lies in 80 feet of water.
• SS Dixie Arrow - tanker, Socony-Vacuum Oil Co. Inc.. Torpedoed three times and sunk off Diamond Shoals by U-71 on Mar 26, 1942 while en route from Texas City to Paulsboro NJ. Eleven of 33 crew lost.
• SS Gulfoil - tanker, Gulf Oil Co.. Torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-506 on May 16, 1942 while 75 miles SW of the Mississippi Delta. Twenty-one of 40 aboard killed.
• SS Lemuel Burrows (ex-Deepwater) - collier, Mystic Steamship Co.. Torpedoed and sunk by U-404 off Atlantic City on 3 March 1942. Casualties: 20 of 34 killed.
• SS Rawleigh Warner (ex-Rayo) - tanker, Sabine Transportation Co.Inc. .Torpedoed 40 miles off the mouth of the Mississippi River, June 23, 1942, with the loss of all 33 hands.
• SS Refast (ex-Gulflight) - tanker, Harris & Dixon Ltd.. Torpedoed by German submarine U-30 while 20 miles west of Scilly Islands, May 1, 1915, but made it to Scilly Isles and repaired. Torpedoed and sunk by U-582 in approaches to English Channel, Jan 26, 1942.
• SS Rockingham (ex-Nebraskan) - freighter. Torpedoed by German submarine U-69 when 150 miles west-northwest of Ireland, May 1, 1917. The captain and  47 crew were picked up after 24 hours in lifeboats; 2 were killed and 13 missing.
• SS Scottsburg - freighter, Lykes Brothers Steamship Co. Torpedoed by U-502 and sunk in Caribbean convoy, June 14, 1942. Five of the 51 men aboard were killed.
• SS Sylvan Arrow - tanker, Socony-Vacuum Oil Co. Inc.. Torpedoed by German submarine U-155 and sunk, southwest of Grenada, May 20, 1942. Just 1 of 44 aboard killed. Did not sink, master and 11 crew unsuccessfully attempted salvage 3 days later. Those 12 were returning to the US aboard Crijnssen Jun 11 when it was sunk. Seven reached Yucatan by lifeboat; 5 were picked up by Lebore, which was in turn sunk June 14. All 5 Sylvan Arrow crew were among the survivors picked up by USS Tattnall three days later.
• SS Texan - freighter, American Hawaiian Steamship Co. Torpedoed, shelled, and sunk by German submarine U-126 while 40 miles east of Nuevitas, Cuba, March 12, 1942. Nine officers and crew were drowned when suction capsized both lifeboats.
• SS Tyler - cargo ship, Old Dominion Steamship Co.. Torpedoed and sunk by German submarine UB-48 in Mediterranean, 65 miles off French coast, 2 May 1918..Eleven crew lost.
• USS Barry (DD-248, APD-29) - destroyer. Struck by a kamikaze on May 25, 1945, off Okinawa, and severely damaged. She was decommissioned June 21, 1945 and designated for use as a decoy, but was attacked again by kamikazes later that day while under tow near Keramo Retto. She and her escort, the landing ship LSM-59, were both sunk.
• USS Edward Rutledge (AP-52) - transport (ex-liner Exeter). Sunk after being torpedoed by German submarine U-130 off Fedala, Morocco, 12 November 1942.
• USS Indianapolis (CA-35) - heavy cruiser. Sunk after being torpedoed by Japanese submarine I-58 in the Philippine Sea, 29 July 1945, with loss of 883 men. Last U.S. warship sunk in World War II.
• USS Jacob Jones (DD-61) - destroyer. Torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-53 off Isles of Sicily, December 6, 1917, with loss of 64 men.
• USS Jacob Jones (DD-130) - destroyer. Sunk after being torpedoed by the German submarine U-578 off Cape May, New Jersey, 28 February 1942. Struck by 2 torpedoes, the first detonating ship's magazine. Only 11 of her crew of 144 survived.
• USS John Penn (APA-23) - attack transport (ex-liner Excambion). Sunk by Japanese Kate torpedo bombers off Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, 13 August 1943.
• USS Joseph Hewes (AP-50) - transport (ex-liner Excalibur). Sunk after being torpedoed by German submarine U-173 off Fedala, Morocco, 11 November 1942.
• USS Leary (DD-158) - destroyer. Sunk after being torpedoed by the German submarine U-275 in the North Atlantic, 24 December 1943, with the loss of 97 crew.
• USS Oklahoma (BB-37) - battleship. Capsized and sank after being torpedoed by Japanese aircraft at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, 7 December 1941, with loss of 415 sailors and Marines.
• USS Porter (DD-356) - destroyer. Sunk after being torpedoed by Japanese submarine I-21 near Santa Cruz Island, east of the Solomon Islands, 26 October 1942.
• USS Princeton (CVL-23) - light carrier. Sunk by US destroyers after being bombed by Japanese aircraft during the Battle of Leyte Gulf, Philippine Islands, 24 October 1944, with loss of 108 men.
• USS Reuben James (DD-245) - destroyer. Sunk after being torpedoed by German submarine U-552 south of Iceland, 31 October 1941. One hundred fifteen of her crew were killed.
• USS Sonoma (ATO-12) - fleet tug. Struck by a kamikaze bomber at San Pedro Bay, Leyte Gulf, on 24 October 1944. She sank in 18 feet of water off Dio Island after an unsuccessful attempt to beach her. Struck from Naval Register on 27 November 1944.
• USS Sturtevant (DD-240) - destroyer. Struck a mine in a US-laid minefield off Marquesas Key, Florida, and sank 26 April 194, with loss of 15 men.
• USS Susan B. Anthony (AP-72) - transport (ex-liner Santa Clara). Sunk by a mine off Normandy, France, 7 June 1944.
• USS Utah (AG-16) - target auxiliary (ex-battleship). Capsized after being torpedoed by Japanese aircraft at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, 7 December 1941, with loss of 58 men.
• LCI(L)-1 - landing craft, infantry. Sunk off Bizerte, Tunisia, 17 August 1943.
• LCI(L)-20 - landing craft, infantry. Sunk off Anzio, Italy, 22 January 1944.
• LCI(L)-32 - landing craft, infantry. Sunk off Anzio, Italy, 26 January 1944.
• LCT(5)-413 - landing craft, tank. Sunk off northern France, June 1944.
• LCT(5)-458 - landing craft, tank. Sunk off northern France, 7 June 1944.
• LCT(5)-459 - landing craft, tank. Sunk off western France, 19 September 1944.
• LCT(5)-486 - landing craft, tank. Sunk off northern France, 7 June 1944.
• LCT(5)-496 - landing craft, tank. Sunk in the English Channel, 2 October 1943.

Lost to Nature

• WSC-128 Bedloe - Active-class patrol boat, ex-Antietam.
  WSC-142 Jackson - Active-class patrol boat. As the Great Atlantic Hurricane of 1944 roared up from the south, the 125-foot cutters Bedloe and Jackson were dispatched to assist the Liberty ship George Ade, which had been torpedoed off Cape Hatteras by a German submarine. Both the Bedloe and the Jackson were struck by a series of giant waves, capsized, and sank, September 14, 1944. The George Ade made it to Norfolk with no casualties, but 49 crew members from the two cutters were lost before 31 survivors were rescued.

Lost to Accidents

• LV-78 Ambrose Channel - ligthship, ex-Blunt's Reef. Struck by freighter Green Bay and sunk on station, June 24, 1960.
• SS Gulfland - tanker. Collided at night with another Gulf tanker, the Gulfbelle, near Hobe Sound FL on October 21, 1943. Both ships caught fire, and the Gulfland sank.
• WPG-20 Tahoma - revenue cutter. Ran aground on an uncharted reef south of the Aleutian Islands on September 20, 1914. The crew took to the boats and was later rescued without casualties, but the Tahoma was a total loss.

Friendly Fire (Sunk as Test or Target)

• BB-33 Arkansas - battleship
  CV-3 Saratoga - aircraft carrier. Assigned to the Operation Crossroads atomic bomb tests after World War II, both the Arkansas and Saratoga survived the air-burst test (Event Able), but were sunk in Bikini Lagoon by the 21-kiloton underwater test (Event Baker).
• BB-47 Washington - battleship. Contruction was cancelled under the Washington Treaty in 1922, and the 75-percent complete vessel was sunk in the Atlantic as a gunnery target, November 26, 1924.
• CL-25 Salt Lake City - light cruiser. Badly damaged in Operation Crossroads, Salt Lake City was decommissioned and sunk as a target off the California coast in May 25, 1948. The final blow came from torpedoes, after a four-hour bombardment by naval rifles and aircraft. She lies in about 2000 fathoms of water.
• CL-103 Wilkes-Barre - light cruiser. Used for tests of underwater explosives, then sunk as a breakwater off the Florida Keys, May 13, 1972.
• CL-104 Atlanta - light cruiser. Damaged in "Sailor Hat" explosive tests, 1965. Sunk in explosives test off San Clemente Island, California. October 1, 1970.
• CVL-22 Independence - light aircraft carrier. Badly damaged in Operation Crossroads, Independence was decommissioned and sunk as a target off the California coast, January 27, 1951. She lies a thousand fathoms below the surface.

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your Yorkship memories to Michael Kube-McDowell, Class of '68