.jpg) SS Connecticut | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | Connecticut |
| Namesake | Connecticut |
| Owner | Texaco |
| Builder | Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corp. Ltd. - Bethlehem Steel |
| Yard number | 4327 |
| Launched | 1 September 1938 |
| Identification | 237981 - WNZB |
| Fate | Sank after surface raider attack, 22 April 1942 |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage | 8,684 grt |
| Length | 149.5 m |
| Beam | 19.9 m |
| Draught | 10.4 m |
| Installed power | 880 n.h.p. |
| Propulsion | 2 x Steam turbines DR geared to 1 screw shaft, one propeller |
| Speed | 13 knots |
| Complement | 53 Merchant and US Navy armed guard |
| Armament | Deck guns |
SSConnecticut was a 8684 tontanker ship built in 1938 byBethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation and used for aWorld War II. She operated her under theUnited States Merchant Marine act for theWar Shipping Administration, withUnited States Navy Armed Guards to man herdeck guns. On 28 December 1941, theConnecticut wastorpedoed nearCape Disappointment in thePacific Ocean byI-25 of theImperial Japanese Navy. To stop from sinking theConnecticut ran aground and was later salvaged. The attack took place 10 nautical miles off the mouth of theColumbia River nearOregon. The Japanese attack on theConnecticut was under the command of Lieutenant Commander Akiji Tagami.
TheConnecticut was later sunk on 22 April 1942 in the middle of theSouth Atlantic, while in route fromPort Arthur, Texas, toCape Town, South Africa. German lightmotor torpedo boatEsau (LS-4) from theauxiliary cruiserSSMichel torpedoed theConnecticut at 2:10am. The first torpedo started a fire to her cargo of 84,299 barrels of gasoline and heating oil. The radio operator was able send out a SOS call before the second torpedo hit and blew the ship apart. The attack killed 35 men and one more died aboard theMichel. All 11 of the Navy Armed Guards were killed. Only 18 sailors survived, they were turned over toJapan atYokohama. Two prisoners of war died under the barbaric conditions as POWs of the Japanese.Connecticut rest at 22.58 S - 16.05 W. After the war the 16 surviving prisoners made it back home.[1][2][3][4]
The merchant raiderMichel was torpedoed and sunk by the US submarineUSSTarpon on 17 October 1943, nearTokyo Bay 290 men went down with the ship, other 116 reached Japan in lifeboats.[5]
22°58′S16°05′W / 22.967°S 16.083°W /-22.967; -16.083
