1943 — Dec 16, US freighter Nevada founders in gale, No. Atlantic ~200m so. of Greenland –31-35

–35 American Merchant Marine at War. Chronological List of U.S. Ships Sunk or Damaged…
–24 crew
— 7 armed guard [No doubt U.S. Navy Armed Guard.]
— 4 U.S. Army
–34 Naval History and Heritage Command. “NH 66258 Steamship Nevada.” Accessed 5-28-2021.
–34 Wikipedia. “USS Rogday (ID-3583). 14 May 2021 edit.
–31 Henley. “Army ship ‘Nevada’ sinks in WW II with 31 missing. Nevada Appeal, 8-13-2015.

Narrative Information

American Merchant Marine at War. Chronological List of U.S. Ships Sunk or Damaged…
“Date Ship Type Cause Result Location Deaths
“12/16/43 Nevada (USAT) Freighter Foundered Sunk NAtlantic Crew 24; AG 7, Army 4.”

Henley. “Army ship ‘Nevada’ sinks in WW II with 31 missing. Nevada Appeal, 8-13-2015:
“….In prior columns, I have written about the WW II combat histories of several U.S. Navy warships with Nevada-related names, such as the USS Nevada, USS Churchill County, USS Carson City, USS Douglas County, USS Minden, USS Reno, USS Washoe County and the USS Las Vegas Victory.

“Just recently, however, I learned about the wartime record of another WW II ship that bore the name ‘Nevada.’ It was the U.S. Army Transport Nevada, a 221-foot, 1,685-ton cargo ship built in 1915 (a year after the battleship USS Nevada was launched) that served two years during the war delivering tanks, trucks and other heavy military equipment from the U.S, to Canada, Greenland and Great Britain.

“The dramatic story of the USAT Nevada’s destiny is known by only a handful of military historians, and I believe this column today is the first newspaper report of the ship’s final hours.

“On Dec. 15, 1943, the USAT Nevada was to meet its tragic fate in the Arctic waters of the North Atlantic about 200 miles south of Greenland.

“According to records I have received from the Historical Section of the U.S. Coast Guard in Washington, DC, the USAT Nevada, while en route from St. John’s, Newfoundland, to Narsarssuak, Greenland, became separated from other cargo ships in Convoy 5G-36 during a heavy gale.

“As raging 20-foot high seas and 60-mile-per-hour winds battered the ship and snow squalls cut visibility to near zero, the Nevada’s lower compartments and holds flooded and the its pumps could not keep up with the inflow of water.

“Capt. George P. Turiga, the Nevada’s commanding officer, realized his ship was in dire straits and radioed an urgent “Mayday” call for help…

“The 165-foot Coast Guard cutter Comanche was the closest ship to the Nevada, and it took seven hours to reach the Nevada, which by now was wallowing at its bow with a 30-degree list.

“When the Comanche came close to the Nevada, the cutter’s skipper, Lt. Langford Anderson, ordered its floodlights be turned on, and they showed that the Nevada’s lifeboat davits were empty and the vessel appeared to be abandoned.

“After circling the Nevada twice without finding any signs of life, the Comanche discovered two red flares in the distance and raced to them to find a lifeboat bobbing in the waves with 32 men aboard, according to the official Coast Guard records in my possession.

“The men in the lifeboat ‘could be heard praying, singing and shouting ‘thank God’’ as the Comanche approached to pick them up. But the lifeboat ‘one minute lay in a trough in the sea far below the Comanche’s rail and the next minute was lifted far above the Comanche’s deck on the crest of a huge comer,’ according to a Coast Guard after-action report dated July 15, 1945 and titled ‘History of the Greenland Patrol.’

“After many failed attempts to bring the lifeboat alongside the Comanche, its crew finally succeeded in attaching a line from the cutter to the lifeboat, hauled it to the ship’s side and pulled the survivors aboard. Three men who attempted to jump from the lifeboat to the Comanche fell into the sea and were lost. The Comanche also located a life raft with a half-dozen survivors, and they also were brought aboard.

“Several Comanche crewmen, attired in rubber suits, jumped into the water and rescued five others who had fallen from the raft into the surging waters. The survivors also included the ship’s mascot, a dog named ‘Grondal,’ reported Comanche captain Anderson in a Jan, 1, 1944, dispatch to Coast Guard headquarters marked ‘Confidential.’

“The USAT Nevada’s other lifeboats and rafts were never found despite widespread searches by the Comanche and three other cutters, the Storis, Modoc and Tampa, and the disaster’s final toll was 31 missing and 26 rescued. Among the missing was Capt. Turiga, the Nevada’s skipper….”

Naval History and Heritage Command. “NH 66258 Steamship Nevada.” Accessed 5-28-2021:
“Title: Steamship Nevada [photograph above the caption]
“Description: (American Freighter, 1915) Photographed from the deck of the USCGC Comanche (WPG-76) as Nevada was foundering in the North Atlantic, circa 15-18 December 1943. Comanche was able to rescue twenty-nine of those on board Nevada, but thirty-four lost their lives during the abandonment of the storm-crippled ship. In 1918-1919 Nevada had briefly served as USS Rogday (ID # 3583). U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

Wikipedia. “USS Rogday (ID-3583). 14 May 2021 edit:
“Rogday was built in 1915 as the commercial icebreaking cargo ship SS Nevada by the Manitowoc Shipbuilding & Dory Dock Company at Manitowoc, Wisconsin. Nevada operated on the Great Lakes until March 1917, when the Imperial Russian government purchased her and renamed her SS Rogday. Due to the outbreak of the Russian Revolution that month, however, she never was delivered to Russia and remained in North America. Rogday was at Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada, on 15 November 1918 when the United States Shipping Board acquired her and transferred her to the U.S. Navy the same day. The Navy assigned her the naval registry identification number 3583 and commissioned her on 22 November 1918 at Sydney as USS Rogday (ID-3583)….

“Rogday was decommissioned on 18 June 1919. On 24 September 1919, the Navy transferred her back to the U.S. Shipping Board, which in turn transferred her back to representatives of the now-deposed Imperial Russian government the same day.

“In 1921, the Russians sold Rogday to the Pere Marquette Line Steamers Company of Grand Haven, Michigan, which renamed her SS Nevada and placed her back in commercial service on the Great Lakes. Nevada remained in service on the Great Lakes until 1942 or 1943, being sold successively to the Muskegon Dock & Fuel Company of Muskegon, Michigan, in 1935…then to the Wisconsin and Michigan Steamship Company of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1940, and finally to the Sand Products Corporation of Milwaukee in 1941.

“In 1942 or 1943, Nevada’s Great Lakes career finally came to an end with the United States Maritime Commission purchased her for use on the high seas during World War II. On 15 December 1943 she was abandoned during a gale in the North Atlantic off South Carolina; although 34 members of the crew lost their lives, the United States Coast Guard Cutter Comanche (WPG-76) managed to save 29 others in a ‘dramatic and difficult feat of seamanship.’ Efforts to salvage the abandoned Nevada over the next three days failed as the storm continued, and she sank on 18 December 1943.”

Sources

American Merchant Marine at War. Chronological List of Ships Sunk or Damaged during 1943. Accessed 5-26-2021 at: http://www.usmm.org/sunk43.html#anchor406099

Henley, David C. “Army ship ‘Nevada’ sinks in WW II with 31 missing. Nevada Appeal, Carson City, NV, 8-13-2015. Accessed 5-28-2021 at: https://www.nevadaappeal.com/news/2015/aug/13/army-ship-nevada-sinks-in-ww-ii-with-31-missing/

Naval History and Heritage Command. “NH 66258 Steamship Nevada.” Accessed 5-28-2021 at: https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/our-collections/photography/numerical-list-of-images/nhhc-series/nh-series/NH-66000/NH-66258.html

Wikipedia. “USS Rogday (ID-3583). 14 May 2021 edit. Accessed 5-28-2021 at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Rogday_(ID-3583)