SS Fort Mercer
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | SS Fort Mercer |
| Namesake | Fort Mercer |
| Builder | Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Co., Chester, Pennsylvania |
| Laid down | June 28, 1945 |
| Launched | October 2, 1945 |
| Acquired | October 31, 1945 |
| Fate | Foundered February 18, 1952 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | T2-SE-A1 tanker |
| Displacement |
|
| Length | 523 ft 6 in (159.56 m) (as built) |
| Beam | 68 ft (21 m) |
| Draft | 30 ft (9.1 m) |
| Propulsion | Turbo-electric, single screw, 8,000 hp (5,966 kW) |
| Speed | 15 knots (28 km/h) |
| Capacity | 140,000 barrels (22,000 m3) (as built) |
SS Fort Mercer was a
Loss and aftermath
On February 18, 1952, Fort Mercer, full of
liferafts and surfboats
rescued four men from the bow.
Only five members of Fort Mercer's 44 man crew were lost, all trapped in the sinking bow. Four other men that were aboard the bow, including the Captain, were rescued using a lifeboat and a life raft, both launched by Yakutat. Minutes after rescuing the last men, the bow capsized, and would later be sunk with plastic explosives. [3][4]
The stern of Fort Mercer, which remained afloat, along with the remaining 35 men, was towed to Newport, Rhode Island, outfitted with a new bow and rechristened San Jacinto. The new ship was 41 feet (12 m) longer and expanded from 26 tanks to 29 tanks. The ship again split in half in 1964 and again was rebuilt, renamed this time The Pasadena. The Pasadena was partially salvaged and mostly scrapped in 1983.[1][5][6][7]
In the same storm that broke Fort Mercer in two, SS Pendleton, also a T2 tanker, broke up about 20 miles (32 km) away. Daring rescues by the Coast Guard Lifeboat CG 36500 carried out of Pendleton's stern 32 survivors of 33. After grounding, Pendleton's bow was boarded a week later. Of the eight victims stranded on this section, only one frozen body was recovered.
See also
- Daniel Webster Cluff United States Coast Guard officer
- The Finest Hours - Movie
References
- ^ a b Visser, Auke. "Fort Mercer". Auke Visser's Famous T - Tankers Pages. Auke Visser. Retrieved September 30, 2014.
- ^ usni.org, Triumph and Tragedy off Cape Cod, By Michael Tougias, October 2016 Naval History Magazine
- ^ The Finest Hours : The True Story of the U.S. Coast Guard's Most Daring Sea Rescue, Mike J. Tougias and Casey Sherman, 2009
- ^ "Pendleton Rescue". United States Coast Guard. Retrieved September 30, 2014. (The story of Pendleton's loss and rescue of surviving crewmen is told in the 2016 film, The Finest Hours.)
- ^ Marine engineering, The Log, Volume 49, Page 40, 1954
- ^ The strange saga of the two halves of the SS Fort Mercer, FREDERICK N. RASMUSSEN, The Baltimore Sun, March 15, 2009
- ^ coastguardnews.com, Coast Guard commemorates Cutter Eastwind tragedy, Jan 20th, 2016
Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in 1952 | |
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| Other incidents |
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Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in 1964 | |
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| Other incidents |
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