SS Samuel Heintzelman

SS Samuel Heintzelman (MC hull number 651) was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. Named after Samuel Heintzelman, a United States Army general, the ship was laid down by California Shipbuilding Corporation at Terminal Island in Los Angeles, and launched on 27 August 1942.[2] It was operated by Coastwise Steam Ship Company.

A Liberty ship at sea
History
United States
Name: SS Samuel Heintzelman
Namesake: Samuel Heintzelman
Builder: California Shipbuilding Corporation, Terminal Island, Los Angeles
Yard number: 134
Laid down: 27 August 1942
Launched: 30 September 1942
Fate: Sank on 9 July 1943 by U-511
General characteristics
Class and type: Type EC2-S-C1 Liberty ship
Displacement: 14,245 long tons (14,474 t)[1]
Length:
  • 441 ft 6 in (134.57 m) o/a
  • 417 ft 9 in (127.33 m) p/p
  • 427 ft (130 m) w/l[1]
Beam: 57 ft (17 m)[1]
Draft: 27 ft 9 in (8.46 m)[1]
Propulsion:
  • Two oil-fired boilers
  • Triple-expansion steam engine
  • 2,500 hp (1,900 kW)
  • Single screw
Speed: 11 knots (20 km/h; 13 mph)[1]
Range: 20,000 nmi (37,000 km; 23,000 mi)
Capacity: 10,856 t (10,685 long tons) deadweight (DWT)[1]
Complement: 42 merchants an 27 US Armed Guards
Crew: 81[1]
Armament:
  • Stern-mounted 4 in (100 mm) deck gun
  • Variety of anti-aircraft guns

Samuel Heintzelman was en route from Fremantle, Australia, to Colombo, Ceylon with a cargo of 5,644 tons of ammunition without a convoy. A German submarine U-511 torpedoed the ship on 9 July 1943, blowing the ship apart. The crew, 42 merchants, 27 US Navy Armed Guard and six passengers were never found. The ship sank near the Maldives in the Indian Ocean, at 9°S 81°E). The ship was due in make port in Colombo, Sri Lanka on 14 July 1943. From Colombo she was to continue to Karachi, Pakistan and Calcutta, India.[3][4]

All the missing crew were declared dead on January 7, 1946. Later a crew member of U-511, Heinz Rehse, reported the day and place of the sinking of the SS Samuel Heintzelman Some Samuel Heintzelman wreckage parts were found on September 30, 1943 that had washed ashore on to the Diego Garcia Island, an atoll just south of the equator in the central Indian Ocean.[5][6][7][8][9][10][11]

See also


References
  1. Davies, James (2012). "Liberty Cargo Ships" (PDF). ww2ships.com. p. 23. Retrieved 13 May 2012.
  2. "Kaiser California Shipbuilding". shipbuildinghistory.com. 2011. Archived from the original on 10 May 2012. Retrieved 13 May 2012.
  3. wrecksite.eu Samuel Heintzelman
  4. "Samuel Heintzelman". Uboat. Retrieved 31 March 2012.
  5. armed-guard.com, Sunk
  6. heintzelman.info, About Samuel Heintzelman
  7. Samuel Heintzelman Crew
  8. heintzelman.info, Samuel Heintzelman
  9. usmm.org killed
  10. Alton Dalager goes down with the SS Samuel Heintzelman, 1943, March 9, 2009
  11. "Liberty Ships ("Samuel Heintzelman")". mariners-l.co.uk. 2011. Retrieved 13 May 2012.


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