1945 — Apr 09, US tankers out of NY Apr 8 collide, Saint Mihiel burns, ship abandoned–37

–37 American Merchant Marine at War. Chronological List of U.S. Ships Sunk or Damaged…
–27 Crew
–10 AG [Armed Guard]
–27 crew. Casetext.com. “Baretich v. United States.” Opinion March 27, 1951.
–27 crew. New York Times. “Hero Of Sea Fire Honored By WSA.” 9-22-1945, p. 8.
Narrative Information

American Merchant Marine at War. Chronological List of U.S. Ships Sunk or Damaged…
“Date Ship Type Cause Result Location Deaths
“04/09/45 Saint Mihiel Tanker Collision/fire Total loss NAtlantic Crew 27; AG 13.”

Casetext.com. “Baretich v. United States.” Opinion March 27, 1951:
“Opinion
“March 27, 1951
“….Libel by eleven members of the crew of the S.S. Saint Mihiel for salvage.
….
“The S.S. Saint Mihiel was a tanker operated by respondent United States of America.

“On April 8, 1945 the Saint Mihiel left New York in convoy. She carried a cargo of six million odd gallons of high-octane gasoline for delivery to England.

“In the same convoy and immediately preceding the Saint Mihiel was another tanker, the Nashbulk. On April 9, 1945, at about 8 p.m. a collision occurred between the Saint Mihiel and the Nashbulk. The Saint Mihiel was struck on her starboard side at or about the No. 6 tank, and as a result fire broke out on the Saint Mihiel, which soon enveloped the whole vessel. As one of the witnesses stated, ‘She immediately went up into flames.’ The captain and the chief mate were on the bridge at the time. According to one of the crew, the conditions were such that the captain stated then that, ‘We could not possibly do anything with her. We could not fight it and we would have to abandon ship.’ The general alarm was then sounded. At that time there was a hole on the top of the deck and the rough seas were going into the side of the ship and forcing the gasoline up (from No. 6 tank) and spreading it over the entire vessel and into the sea, so that soon the whole ship was afire as well as the water on the starboard side. The flames on the ship were higher than the mast. There was, of course, a fear in the minds of some of the men that the Saint Mihiel would blow up. There was ammunition on board for the use of the gun crew and it was exploding. As one may very well imagine, there was great confusion and panic. The captain was yelling, ‘Abandon ship, abandon ship’, about the time the burning gasoline on the water was beginning t encircle the ship.

“After some difficulty the No. 2 life boat on the portside was launched, and some of the officers and men attempted to leave the vessel that way, but the flames started to come into the boat and they were compelled to jump into the sea. Most of the men jumped into the sea from the Saint Mihiel and started to swim away. The survivors were picked up by two of the escort destroyers in the convoy, which had turned back to rescue the men. Out of the crew of 50, 27 perished including the captain and the chief mate.

“Several of the destroyer escorts were ordered to stand by and they cruised around all night in search of survivors, and the Nashbulk stood by all night….”

Visser, Auke. Auke Visser’s Famous T- Tankers Pages. “Saint Mihiel”:
“T2-SE-A1
“Built…1945 by Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock, Chester, PA….
“Collided with s/t Nashbulk and burned, 9 April 1945, in 37.34N-64.40W, voyage Corpus Christi
via New York – Cherbourg, gasoline, put back to New York, 12 April, fire extinguished.”

Sources

American Merchant Marine at War. Chronological List of Ships Sunk or Damaged during 1945. Accessed 6-5-2021 at: http://www.usmm.org/sunk45.html#anchor564125

Barry, Chris. “Crown Salute: Barney Burnett.” Accessed 6-5-2021 at: https://m.facebook.com/crownartists/posts/crown-salute-barney-burnett-by-chris-barrymemorial-day-weekend-is-a-good-time-to/775123532692786/

Casetext.com. “Baretich v. United States.” Opinion March 27, 1951. Accessed 6-5-2021 at: https://casetext.com/case/baretich-v-united-states

New York Times. “Hero Of Sea Fire Honored By WSA.” 9-22-1945, p. 8. Accessed 6-5-2021 at: https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1945/09/22/issue.html

Visser, Auke. Auke Visser’s Famous T- Tankers Pages. “Saint Mihiel.” Accessed 6-5-2021 at: http://www.aukevisser.nl/t2tanker/id633.htm

Additional Reading

Ryan, George J. (Editor), and Thomas F. McCaffery (Primary Researcher). Braving the Wartime Seas: A Tribute to the Cadets and Graduates of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and Cadet Corps Who Died during World War II. The American Maritime History Project, 2014. Gooble preview accessed 6-5-2021 at: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Braving_the_Wartime_Seas/XhEcBAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1