.jpg) West Grama underway in 1919. | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | USSWest Grama (ID-3794) |
| Builder | |
| Yard number | 9[1] |
| Launched | 4 July 1918[2] |
| Completed | December 1918[1] |
| Acquired | 9 January 1919[2] |
| Commissioned | 9 January 1919[2] |
| Decommissioned | 16 June 1919[2] |
| Fate | Returned to USSB |
| History | |
| Name |
|
| Owner | USSB |
| Operator | 1927:American Republics Line |
| Acquired | 16 June 1919 |
| Identification | Official number: 217220[3] |
| Honors & awards | 1battle star,Invasion of Normandy, June 1944 |
| Fate | Sunk as part of "gooseberry"breakwater offNormandy, 8 June 1944[3] |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Design 1013 ship |
| Tonnage | 5,445 GRT[3] |
| Length | |
| Beam | 54 ft 6 in (16.61 m)[3] |
| Draft | 23 ft 11 in (7.29 m)[4] |
| Depth of hold | 29 ft 9 in (9.07 m)[2] |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 11.5 knots (21.3 km/h)[3] |
| Capacity | |
| Complement | 70 (as USSWest Grama)[2] |
| Armament | None[2] |
MSWest Grama, sometimes spelled asWest Gramma, was adiesel-poweredcargo ship of theUnited States Maritime Commission (USMC) that was sunk as part of the "gooseberry"breakwater offUtah Beach during theNormandy invasion. Prior to her diesel conversion, she was known asSSWest Grama. In 1919, she was briefly taken up by theUnited States Navy under the nameUSSWest Grama (ID-3794).
SSWest Grama was built as asteam-powered cargo ship in 1918 for theUnited States Shipping Board (USSB), a predecessor of the USMC. She was part of theWest boats, a series of steel-hulled cargo ships built on theWest Coast of the United States for the World War I war effort, and was the 9th ship built atLos Angeles Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company inSan Pedro, California. She wascommissioned into theNaval Overseas Transportation Service (NOTS) of theUnited States Navy as USSWest Grama (ID-3794) in January 1919. She became the first American-flagged vessel to enter Bulgarian waters when she delivered a load ofwheat flour toVarna in early 1919. After her one overseas trip for the Navy, she was decommissioned in June 1919 and returned to the USSB.
SSWest Grama sailed betweenGenoa and New York early in her civilian career. In 1927,West Grama was outfitted with a diesel engine that replaced her original steam engine as part of a pilot program by the USSB. After her conversion, she sailed primarily betweenEast Coast ports andSouth America. By the late 1930s, she had been laid up, but was reactivated for merchant service duringWorld War II. She sailed primarily in theCaribbean until March 1944 when she sailed from the United States for the final time. She wasscuttled in June as part of the "gooseberry"breakwater offOmaha Beach during theNormandy invasion, earning abattle star in the process.
TheWest ships werecargo ships of similar size and design built by several shipyards on the west coast of the United States for the USSB for emergency use duringWorld War I.[7] All were given names that began with the wordWest, likeWest Grama,[7] the ninth of some 40West ships built by theLos Angeles Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company ofLos Angeles.[1]West Grama (Los Angeles Shipbuilding yard number 9)[1] was one of three Los Angeles Shipbuilding shipslaunched on 4 July 1918,[8][Note 1] and was completed in December.[1]
West Grama was 5,445 gross register tons (GRT), and was 410 feet 1 inch (124.99 m) long (between perpendiculars)[3] and 54 feet 6 inches (16.61 m)abeam. She had a steelhull thatdisplaced 12,225 t with ameandraft of 24 feet 2 inches (7.37 m).[2] Herhold was 29 feet 9 inches (9.07 m) deep and she had adeadweight tonnage of 8,028 DWT.[2][4]West Grama's power plant, as built, consisted of a singletriple-expansion steam engine driving a singlescrew propeller, which moved the ship at up to 10.5 knots (19.4 km/h).[3]
West Grama was taken over by the U.S. Navy on 9 January 1919 atSan Pedro, California, and wascommissioned into the NOTS the same day.West Grama headed north toSan Francisco to take on a load ofwheat flour for delivery to Europe.[2][Note 2] After undergoing boiler repairs atUnion Iron Works, she departed San Francisco forNorfolk, Virginia, on 28 January.West Grama transited thePanama Canal on 14 February and got underway again on 19 February, after a four-day layover in theCanal Zone.[2]
On 25 February, a half-submerged ship was spotted some 200 nautical miles (370 km)east-northeast ofNassau, Bahamas.[2][9] Upon investigation, it was determined to be the wreck of the AmericanschoonerNettie Shipman, but, with no signs of life aboard the hulk,West Grama continued on to Virginia, where she arrived three days later.[2]
After general repairs and fuel replenishment,West Grama got underway for theMediterranean on 13 March. Touching atGibraltar, she next headed toConstantinople,Turkey, to unload part of her cargo, and then proceeded into theBlack Sea. She arrived atVarna, Bulgaria, to unload the remainder of the flour,[2] and, in the process, became the first American-flagged vessel to enter Bulgarian waters.[10] After departure from Varna,West Grama returned to the United States via Gibraltar. She carried a mixed load of 13depth charges and 218 long tons (221 t) of general cargo.[2] In early June, during her return voyage,West Grama was disabled by some unspecified problem while west ofBermuda.[11] The U.S. Navy cargo shipEastport, en route fromNew Orleans toCardiff, assistedWest Grama,[12] and the Navy dispatched theicebreakerRogday from Boston to aidWest Grama.[11] It is not known what assistance was provided or ifWest Grama was even able to proceed on her own, but she arrived at Norfolk on 11 June. Five days later,West Grama was decommissioned and returned to the USSB for civilian service.[2]
After her return to the USSB,West Grama sailed on aGenoa –Gibraltar –New York route through 1920.[13] In April 1920,West Grama carried some 52 passengers from Genoa and Gibraltar to New York.[6] There is no mention in sources of the ship's activities over the next seven years, but in June 1927, theLos Angeles Times reported thatWest Grama had been selected for a $400,000 conversion fromsteam-power todiesel-power.[14] By late November, the conversion, undergoing at theFore River Shipyard near Boston, was nearly complete. The new engine was aMcIntosh & Seymour double-acting diesel, the first of its type built in America.[15] On 8 December, during successful sea trials ofWest Grama's new diesel power plant, a malfunction in a steam boiler used to heat the crew quarters caused minor damage to the ship.[16]
Allocated to theAmerican Republics Line for service to the east coast of South America,West Grama sailed forBuenos Aires, Argentina, where she had arrived by late January 1928,[17] and back to New York by late March.[18] In October 1929,West Grama was reportedly assigned to the newPacific–South Africa Line by the USSB,[19] an around-the-world venture under the management ofJ. J. Moore & Company.[Note 3] The Pacific–South Africa Line—the world's only all-diesel around-the-world service, as described by theLos Angeles Times—sailed fromLos Angeles toSouth Africa via theStraits of Magellan, across the Indian Ocean toJapan and China, across the Pacific to San Francisco, and back to Los Angeles.[20] It's not clear how long, if at all,West Grama sailed for this line. In July 1929, a report inThe New York Times shows thatWest Grama was still in South American service, sailing toSantos,Brazil.[21]
Sources are not clear as to all ofWest Grama's movements over the next years. Hints can be gleaned from contemporary news accounts. In March 1930, theLos Angeles Times reported thatWest Grama was en route fromBalboa to San Francisco.[22]The New York Times reportedWest Grama's arrival fromPortland, Oregon in September,[23] her departure forFremantle, Western Australia in October 1933,[24] and her arrival fromBaltimore in March the following year.[25] After these mentions,West Grama disappears from contemporary news accounts, and by 1939,West Grama had been laid up in areserve fleet.[4]
In December 1940, the USMC, a successor to the USSB, announced that it was seeking bids for the sale of 24 ships from its reserve fleet, includingWest Grama.[26] In January 1941, the USMC announced that a consortium ofCommonwealth shipping lines had been the high bidders for 19 of the 20 ships still offered. The highest bid forWest Grama was $80,000,[27][Note 4] but it is not clear if the bid was, in fact, accepted; by November,West Grama was sailing betweenAntofagasta,Chile, and New York, but remained under the American flag.[28] From July 1942 through February 1944,West Grama sailed between the United States andCaribbean ports, frequently traveling inconvoys. The ship's recorded movements show her calling atCristóbal,Guantánamo Bay,Trinidad,Key West, andPilottown, Louisiana. In mid-February 1944,West Grama sailed from Key West to New York, and from there, on to Boston.[29]
West Grama had been selected to become one of theblockships for theAllied invasion of France, then in the planning stages. Though the specific modifications performed onWest Grama are not revealed in sources, modifications for other ships do appear. In November 1944,The Christian Science Monitor reported that blockships dispatched from Boston, likeWest Grama, had been loaded with "tons of sand and cement" and had been rigged with explosive charges before departing the port. Further, existing antiaircraft weapons had been moved higher up on the ship and supplemented by additional guns.[30] An account by Cesar Poropat, chief engineer aboardWest Honaker, another blockship dispatched from Boston, mentions that shipyard workers proceeded to cut holes in "strategic places".[31]
West Grama departed Boston on 25 March and arrived at Halifax two days later. Departing from that port on 29 March, she sailed in Convoy SC 156 and arrived atBarry Roads on 13 April, and by 7 May, she had arrived atMethil.[29]West Grama's whereabouts and movements through early June are not recorded. Other ships that had been selected as blockships assembled in a "corncob" fleet atOban,[31] though it's not clear ifWest Grama did or not. The "corncob" fleet was the group of ships intended to be sunk to form the "gooseberries",[32] shallow-water artificial harbors forlanding craft.[33] Poropat reports that once the ship crews were told of their mission while anchored at Oban, they were not permitted to leave the ships.[31]
Three "corncob" convoys, consisting of what one author called the "dregs of the North Atlantic shipping pool",[34] departed fromPoole and reached the Normandy beachhead the next day, shortly after theD-Day landings.[35] Poropat reports that the corncob ships traveled under cover of darkness and, stripped of all unnecessary equipment, carried no radios, having only a signal lamp (with a spare bulb) for communication.[31] Once at the designated location, the ships were put into position andscuttled over the next days, under heavy German artillery fire.[36]Naval Armed Guardsmen manned the guns on all the gooseberry ships to protect against frequent German air attacks.[37] All the while, harbor pilots—about half of the New York Bar Pilots Association, according to one source—carefully positioned the ships.[38]West Grama was sunk offOmaha Beach on 8 June,[3] though she continued to serve as an antiaircraft platform manned by Navy gun crews. On 9 June,West Grama's gunners fired 19 times and were credited with assisting in the downing of oneGerman airplane; only one ofWest Grama's Navy gunners was wounded during the attack. On 14 June,West Grama escaped serious damage when a bomb landed near the ship. By the time her Naval Armed Guardsmen were replaced by Army crews on 18 June, they had received credit for a second assist,[37] and had been awarded abattle star for their participation in the Normandy Landings.[2]
