Francis A. Dales

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Francis Alonzo "Lonnie" Dales
Second World War

Francis Alonzo Dales (December 3, 1923 – March 29, 2003) was a cadet midshipman in the

Second World War. For his actions defending the convoy, considered one of the most important British strategic victories of the war, he was awarded the Merchant Marine Distinguished Service Medal
.

Initial training

Dales began his basic training as a cadet midshipman in temporary facilities at

U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in its new campus at King's Point.[1]

Background

Main article: Operation Pedestal
HMS Indomitable with HMS Eagle behind her, viewed from the flight deck of HMS Victorious. All three of these aircraft carriers took part in Operation Pedestal.

In summer 1942, supplies on the British occupied

Mediterranean island of Malta were running desperately low. There were acute food shortages, but even more serious was the lack of aviation fuel, needed to sustain the dozens of fighter aircraft defending the island against German Luftwaffe and Italian Regia Aeronautica bombing attacks. It was later said that Malta would have been forced to surrender in only sixteen days if fuel had not got through. The British conceived a plan to resupply Malta using fourteen merchant ships escorted by a vast armada of Royal Navy warships; four aircraft carriers, two battleships, seven cruisers and thirty-two destroyers.[2]

naval mines laid by ships and aircraft in the path of the convoy.[3] There were also hostile shore batteries on some of the coastlines the convoy had to pass.[4]

The most important ship of the operation was the

River Delaware at Wilmington in the United States for the oil giant Texaco, but had been requisitioned and manned by a British crew.[2][5] In addition to the fuel supplies on the Ohio, several of the merchant ships carried fuel in drums.[6]

Malta was critical to the Allied war effort in the

Western Desert Campaign in Libya and Egypt. In summer 1942 the Axis forces had advanced far eastwards into Egypt, threatening to reach the Suez Canal and thereby cut Allied communications with India and the Far East. The continued resistance of Malta was key to stopping Rommel, and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill ordered that the convoy must "get through at all costs".[6][7]

SS Santa Elisa

Main article: SS Santa Elisa
Italian motor torpedo boat in the Mediterranean Sea, of a type similar to those that attacked the Santa Elisa

Most of the merchant ships in the convoy were British owned and British crewed. The

straits of Gibraltar towards Malta.[6][7]

Air attacks were constant and as many as fifteen submarines stalked the freighters in the narrowing straits,

HMS Penn.[1][6]

SS Ohio

Ohio hit by a torpedo from the Italian submarine Axum
Main article:
SS Ohio

By this time the Ohio had already become the primary focus for Axis attacks on the convoy, having been torpedoed by the

Stuka dive bombers which attacked continuously for five hours. The torpedo had caused catastrophic damage and initially brought the ship to a dead stop, while near misses from bombs caused further damage and put some of the ship's defensive armament out of action. The crew were twice forced to abandon ship as further air attacks caused yet more damage.[6]

HMS Penn, with Dales still aboard, was one of several British destroyers that came alongside the Ohio to render assistance. The crews made attempts to tow the crippled tanker, before eventually sandwiching it between HMS Penn and HMS Bramham in order to drag it along while preventing it from sinking.[5] Seeing that one of the Ohio's anti-aircraft guns could be repaired, another survivor from the Santa Elisa, junior third officer Frederick August Larsen, boarded the ship. Dales and four British crewmen volunteered to go with him. Between them, they were successful in bringing the gun back into action.[6]

Ohio supported by destroyers. HMS Penn, which rescued Dales after the sinking of the Santa Alisa, is on the left.

Dales and the other crew members then operated the gun as the ungainly gaggle of ships struggled slowly towards Malta. The three ships became an obvious target for the Axis aircraft and torpedo boats, and endured an ever increasing series of attacks. In the chaos, all but one of the British aircraft carriers supporting the convoy had been either sunk or seriously damaged, reducing the number of aircraft available to defend it.

Beaufighter fighters flying from Malta.[6]

The Ohio finally reached the

American Merchant Marine Museum in 2008.[2]

Distinguished Service Medal

On May 22, 1943,

National Maritime Day in the US, Dales was awarded the Merchant Marine Distinguished Service Medal in front of 2,300 other cadet midshipmen at the United States Merchant Marine Academy, for his bravery in defense of the convoy, described as "heroism beyond the call of duty".[6][7][12] Dales was only the third Cadet Midshipman ever to receive the medal.[1]

Later life

Dales was interviewed in connection with the 60th anniversary celebration of Operation Pedestal in 2002, and said that he would always remember the Maltese people's grateful response to his actions on board the Ohio. Dales died in Augusta, Georgia, USA, on March 29, 2003.[6] He was inducted into the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy's National Maritime Hall of Fame in 2009, one year after the ship he had defended received the same honor.[7]

References

Ohio's shattered hulk moored in the Grand Harbour with her cargo of fuel being unloaded
  1. ^ a b c d Pepping, WJ (July 1943). "Gets Tanker to Malta Under Blazing Attacks". Polaris Magazine.
  2. ^ a b c d "Tanker that saved Malta inducted in US Maritime Hall of Fame". The Times of Malta. February 26, 2008.
  3. ^ a b "Sta Marija convoy defender passes away". The Times of Malta. August 16, 2004.
  4. ^ a b c Moore, Arthur R. (1985). A careless word—a needless sinking. American Merchant Marine Museum. p. 254.
  5. ^ a b c "Former RAF man builds model of Ohio to help animals' association". The Times of Malta. June 19, 2003.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i "American who defended Ohio dies". The Times of Malta. April 4, 2003.
  7. ^ a b c d "New members honored in National Maritime Hall of Fame". Marine Log Magazine. February 6, 2009.
  8. ISBN 978-0-8371-7511-9
    .
  9. ^ The Grace log. Vol. 18 to 21. W. R. Grace & Co. p. 19.
  10. ^ "Surviving crewmen for Malta reunion". The Times of Malta. July 15, 2002.
  11. ^ "Crew 'wondered why there were so many people...'". The Times of Malta. August 14, 2009.
  12. ^ "Big Fêtes Planned for Maritime Day; Federal and Local Groups to Hold Observances Saturday on Unprecedented Scale". The New York Times. May 16, 1943.

Bibliography

At All Costs: How a Crippled Ship and Two American Merchant Mariners Turned the Tide of World War II, Sam Moses, Random House, 2007.

ISBN 978-0-345-47674-6

External links
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