USS Susan B. Anthony

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Coordinates: 49°29′24″N 0°42′48″W / 49.49000°N 0.71333°W / 49.49000; -0.71333
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Susan B. Anthony at Oran, 5 July 1943
History
United States
Name
  • SS Santa Clara (1930–42)
  • USS Susan B. Anthony (1942–44)
NamesakeSusan B. Anthony
OwnerGrace Steamship Company[1]
Operator
Port of registryNew York[1]
BuilderNew York Shipbuilding Corporation, Camden, New Jersey[1]
LaunchedMarch 1930,[1] as SS Santa Clara
Acquiredchartered 7 August 1942
Commissioned7 September 1942, as USS Susan B. Anthony
Out of service7 June 1944
Stricken29 July 1944
HomeportNew York
Identification
Honors and
awards		3 service stars (World War II)
Fatemined 7 June 1944
General characteristics
Type
Tonnage
Displacement16,000 long tons (16,257 t)[3]
Length
  • 504 ft 8 in (153.8 m) LOA[3]
  • 483.3 ft (147.3 m)[1]
Beam63 ft 9 in (19.4 m)[1][3]
Draft25 ft (7.6 m)[1]
Depth34.4 ft (10.5 m)[1]
Installed power2,660 NHP[1]
Propulsion
Speed18 kn (33 km/h)
Complement158 officers and men
Armament

USS Susan B. Anthony (AP-72) was a

turbo-electric ocean liner, Santa Clara, of the Grace Steamship Company that was built in 1930. Santa Clara was turned over to the War Shipping Administration (WSA) on 28 February 1942 and operated by Grace Lines as agent for WSA as a troop ship making voyages to the South Pacific. The ship was chartered to the Navy on 7 August 1942 for operation as a United States Navy
transport ship. The ship was sunk 7 June 1944 off Normandy by a mine while cruising through a swept channel with all 2,689 people aboard being saved.

Building and civilian service

The New York Shipbuilding Corporation of Camden, New Jersey completed the ship in March 1930 and named her the SS Santa Clara.

Santa Clara had six

propeller shafts.[1] General Electric made her turbo generators and propulsion motors, and her power output was rated at 2,660 NHP.[1]

Santa Clara gave more than a decade of civilian service. Notable passengers included Walt Disney and his staff in 1941[4] who had been in Chile researching their film The Three Caballeros. They left Valparaíso on the Santa Clara on 4 October and reached New York on 20 October.[4]

World War II

On 28 February 1942 Santa Clara was delivered at New York to the War Shipping Administration (WSA) by Grace Lines with that line operating the ship as a WSA transport allocated to Army transportation requirements under a general agency agreement.[5][6] On 11 March the agreement terms were changed to bareboat charter by WSA.[5]

WSA troopship

The ship was converted from commercial configuration by

Robins Dry Dock and Repair Company in New York in late February.[7] During this period Santa Clara is shown as being in the Pacific and in at least one large convoy, BT-201, departing New York on 4 March and arriving Brisbane on 6 April 1942.[7][8] During that voyage the ship had stopped at Bora Bora on the way to Australia and Melbourne, Townsville and Wellington before returning to San Francisco on 11 May 1942.[7] Santa Clara returned to the South Pacific departing San Francisco on 26 May destined for Auckland and Bora Bora before crossing the Pacific to Buenaventura, Colombia and then transiting the Panama Canal on 9 July bound for New York.[7] On 7 August 1942 Santa Clara was delivered to the Navy at New York on a sub bareboat charter basis.[5]

After delivery to the Navy

few Naval vessels named after a woman. She was commissioned on 7 September 1942 as USS Susan B. Anthony, with the designation AP-72, under the command of Captain Henry Hartley.[9]

Invasion of North Africa, 1942

After almost a month of drills and exercises in the lower

Port Lyautey. Despite the general difficulties encountered in handling landing craft, she disembarked her troops and unloaded their equipment in relatively good order. She stayed in the area for a week before sailing on the 15th for Safi, Morocco to unload the rest of her cargo. On 18 November she left Safi for Norfolk, Virginia, and arrived at Hampton Roads on the last day of the month.[9]

Over the next seven months Susan B. Anthony made three voyages bringing troops and supplies across the Atlantic to North Africa; the first to Casablanca and the remainder to Oran, Algeria.[9]

Invasion of Sicily, 1943

After a brief voyage to the Gulf of Arzeu ferrying men and equipment, she returned to Oran on 25 June 1943 to prepare for the Allied invasion of Sicily. She embarked men and loaded material on 30 June-1 July, refueled on the 2nd, and left Oran three days later.[9]

Anthony approached the coast of Sicily on the 9th near the town of Scoglitti. She spent the early hours of the next day landing troops and equipment. By 0435 hrs enemy aircraft were attacking the ships of the assault force. Bombs fell close to Anthony but she emerged with only minor damage from bomb fragments. Just before 0600 hrs she started toward the inshore anchorage, but withdrew after shore batteries fired on her. About four hours later she was able to enter the anchorage and send her salvage crew to aid broached and disabled landing craft.[9]

Through that day and the next she came under repeated air attacks. Just after 2200 hrs on the 11th a twin-engine plane commenced an attack run at her, but by the time it had closed within 1,500 yd (1,400 m), her anti-aircraft guns had shot it down in flames. Less than 10 minutes later another enemy bomber met a similar fate.[9]

Late in the afternoon of 12 July Susan B. Anthony left for Oran. There she loaded prisoners; sailed for the US; and reached New York on 3 August 1943.[9]

Atlantic convoys, 1943–44

For the next 10 months Anthony crossed and recrossed the Atlantic moving soldiers and cargo between various ports in the US, England, Iceland, Northern Ireland and Scotland in preparation for Operation Overlord, the cross-channel invasion of Europe at Normandy. On these voyages she visited ports including Belfast, Northern Ireland; Holy Loch, Gourock, and Glasgow in Scotland; Hvalfjörður and Reykjavík, Iceland; Mumbles and Milford Haven in Wales, and Newport.[9]

Sinking off Normandy, 7 June 1944

A multibeam image of the wreck in 2003

Early in the morning of 7 June 1944, while transporting soldiers of the

port side. This human ballast soon brought Anthony back to an even keel.[9]

At 08:22

fleet tug USS Pinto
came alongside, prepared to tow the paralyzed Anthony to shallow water. However, fires soon erupted in her engine and fire rooms, and she began to settle more rapidly. The captain now concluded that the ship was lost and ordered her abandoned. With Pinto and two destroyers alongside, the troops were evacuated expeditiously, without resorting to lifeboats or rafts, using cargo nets bridged to the adjacent ships. Anthony's crew followed closely behind the soldiers. By 09:05 the main deck was awash at the stern and she was listing badly. The last member of the salvage crew hit the water at about 10:00 with Commander Gray soon following.

At 10:10 Susan B. Anthony sank about 10 miles (16 km) from the French coast at a depth of 70 feet (21 m). No one was killed, and few of the 45 wounded were seriously hurt. All 2,689 people aboard were saved, which the

Guinness Book of World Records lists as the largest rescue of people without loss of life.[9][10] Samuel Tankersley Williams, then a brigadier general serving as assistant division commander of the 90th Infantry Division, received the Soldier's Medal for non-combat heroism in recognition of his efforts to evacuate the ship.[11] Even though he didn't know how to swim, Williams personally braved smoke, heat, and flames to search the ship and ensure that no one was left behind.[12] Susan B. Anthony was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 29 July 1944.[9]

Honors

Susan B. Anthony was awarded three service stars for World War II service.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Lloyd's Register, Steamships and Motor Ships (PDF). London: Lloyd's Register. 1933. Retrieved 4 May 2013.
  2. ^ Lloyd's Register, Steamships & Motorships (PDF). London: Lloyd's Register. 1935. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
  3. ^ a b c Pacific Marine Review, May 1930.
  4. ^ a b Vinson, Bill; Casey, Ginger Quering. "S.S. Brazil". Welcome Aboard Moore-McCormack Lines. Retrieved 21 May 2013.
  5. ^ a b c MARAD Vessel Status Card: Santa Clara.
  6. ^ Grover 1987, p. 19.
  7. ^ a b c d Charles 1947, p. 245.
  8. ^ Arnold Hague Convoy Database: BT.201.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships: Susan B. Anthony.
  10. ISBN 9781892051172
    .
  11. ^ "Soldier's Medal Citation, Samuel Tankersley Williams". Hall of Valor. Springfield, VA: Military Times. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
  12. ^ "Soldier's Medal Citation, Samuel Tankersley Williams".

Bibliography

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