1944 — Apr 19, U.S. Liberty Ship John Straub explosion/sinks off Sanak Island, AK –53-55

–65 Gottehrer. The Associated Press Stylebook for Alaska (Revised 2nd edition). 2000, p. 93.
–65 Titusville Herald, PA. “Liberty Ship Cracks Apart and 65 Men Believed Lost.” 4-24-1944
–55 AK Bur. Ocean Energy Mgmt., Reg., Enforce. Alaska’s Worst All Time Shipping Losses.
–55 Spokesman-Review, Spokane. “Sailor’s son pursues long-submerged truth. 4-18-1999.
–55 Lettens, Jan. “SS John Straub (+1944).” Wrecksite.eu. Added 9-11-2009; 5-11-2019 update
–54 Clancey. HyperWar: The Official Chronology of the US Navy in [WW] II, Chapter VI 1944.
–39 merchant seamen crew
— 1 passenger
–14 Armed Guard
–53 American Merchant Marine at War. Chronological List of U.S. Ships Sunk or Damaged…
–39 crew
–14 armed guard
–15 Armed-guard.com. “The Pacific.”

Narrative Information

Alaska Bureau of Ocean Energy and Management, Regulation and Enforcement:
“Apr 19, 1944. Liberty ship John Straub. Exploded and sank. Off Sanak Island. 55 lost, 15 rescued.” (Alaska’s Worst All Time Shipping Losses.)

American Merchant Marine at War. Chronological List of U.S. Ships Sunk or Damaged…:
“Date Ship Type Cause Result Location Deaths
“04/19/44 John Straub Liberty Torpedo Sunk Alaska Crew 39; AG 14.”

Armed-guard.com: “After the John Straub sank in Alaskan waters in April of 1944 with a loss of 15 men, there was a great hue and cry that the Liberty ship was a poor product of shipbuilding, although survivors reported that faulty construction ‘was not a factor in the sinking’ and that, as a matter of fact, the sea was smooth and the night clear at the time of the accident.” (Armed-guard.com. “The Pacific.”)

Clancey. HyperWar: The Official Chronology of the US Navy in [WW] II, Chapter VI 1944:
“18 April, Tues. — ….
“Pacific….
“U.S. freighter John Straub hits a mine off Sanak Island, Aleutians, 54°15’N, 163°30’W and sinks, breaking in two; 14 of the 27-man Armed Guard perish, as do 40 merchant seamen and the ship’s solitary passenger. Army coastal freighter FP 41 rescues the survivors; frigate Albuquerque (PF-7) later scuttles the stern half with gunfire.”

Gottehrer: “April 19, 1944. The Liberty ship John Straub broke up and sank 21 miles south of Sannak [Sanak] Island. Only 15 of the 80 men aboard were rescued.” (Gottehrer. The Associated Press Stylebook for Alaska (Revised 2nd edition). 2000, p. 93.)

Hackett/Kingsepp. Sensuikan! (webpage). “IJN Submarine I-180: Tabular Record of Movement.”
“19 April 1944:
“20 miles SE of Sanak Island, Alaska. I-180 [Japan] torpedoes and sinks the 7,176-ton American “Liberty” ship JOHN STRAUB en route from Port Townsend to Dutch Harbor. After receiving two hits to the port side JOHN STRAUB sinks by the bow at 54-23N, 162-35W.”

Lettens, Jan. “SS John Straub (+1944).” Wrecksite.eu. Added 9-11-2009; 5-11-2019 update:
“nationality: American
“….type: cargo ship
“subtype/class Liberty EC2-S-C1 class
“Propulsion: steam
“date built: 1943
….
“tonnage: 7176 GRT
“dimensions: 134.6 x 17.3 x 10.6 m
“material: steel
….
“armament: armed merchant ship
….
“cause lost: torpedo
“other reasons: gunfire – shelled
“date lost: 19/04/1944
“casualties: max.55
….
“complement: 27
“passengers: 1
….
“references: Lloyd’s of London, Lloyd’s Register of Shipping
“updates
“entered by: Jan Lettens
“entered: 09/11/2009
“last update: Allen Tony
“last update: 05/11/2019
“….”

Note: wrecksite.eu has information on thirteen of those onboard at: https://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?137543

NOAA, ONMS/ORR. Screening Level Risk Assessment Package: John Straub. NOAA, 2013:
“The past century of commerce and warfare has left a legacy of thousands of sunken vessels along the U.S. coast. Many of these wrecks pose environmental threats because of the hazardous nature of their cargoes, presence of munitions, or bunker fuel oils left onboard. As these wrecks corrode and decay, they may release oil or hazardous materials….

“In order to narrow down the potential sites for inclusion into regional and area contingency plans, in 2010, Congress appropriated $1 million to identify the most ecologically and economically significant potentially polluting wrecks in U.S. waters…. [p. ii]

Executive Summary: John Straub

“The freighter John Straub, torpedoed and sunk during World War II off the coast of Unimak Island, at the southern end of the Alaska Peninsula in 1944, was identified as a potential pollution threat, thus a screening-level risk assessment was conducted…. [p. 1.]

Section 1: Vessel Background Information….

“Vessel Particulars
“Official Name: John Straub
….
“Vessel Type: Freighter
….
“Builder: Oregon Shipbuilding Corp. Portland, OR
….
“Flag: American
“Owner at Loss: United States War Shipping Administration
….
“Operated by: Alaska SS Company Homeport: Portland, OR
…. [p. 2]

“Casualty Information
“Port Departed: Seattle, WA
“Destination Port: Attu Shemya
….
“Date Lost: April 19, 1944
….
“Cause of Sinking: Act of War (Torpedo or Mine)
….
“Nautical Miles to Shore: 20
….
“Cargo Carried when Lost: 9,000 tons of Army cargo including explosives
….
“Probable Fuel Oil Remaining (bbl): < 12,054 “Total Oil Carried (bbl): < 12,054 …. [p. 3] “Casualty Narrative “Vessel sank as a result of explosions believed to have been the result of a Japanese torpedo. The vessel exploded multiple times and broke in half. U.S. forces had to fire upon the stern section to get it to sink but the bow sank immediately.” [p. 4] Spokesman-Review/Tracy Ellig: Quotes from letter written by Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal to families of the fatalities, one year later: Dear…, Your son…was a member of the armed guard crew serving on board the S.S. John W. Straub when that vessel, while en route from Seattle, Washington to Attu Island, was damaged as the result of one or more internal explosions and subsequently sank almost immediately. [Article notes other theories of the loss, such as breaking apart due to splitting seams in cold environment, hitting a mine or being suck by torpedoes from a Japanese submarine. Article also notes from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer of 4-24-1944 that “Laden with munitions, the Liberty ship John Straub sank last Wednesday in a mysterious disaster in Alaskan waters with a presumed loss of 55 lives [out of 70].”] Newspapers at the Time April 23: “Associated Press. Seattle, April 23. – The Liberty ship John Straub, laden with explosives for the Alaska war theatre, broke its back and sank with a presumed loss of 65 of the 80 men aboard, E. M. Murphy, superintendent of the Alaska Steamship Co., announced today. “Master of the Straub, a new vessel making its third voyage, was Capt. A. W. Westerholm of Seattle, a veteran of 26 years with the Alaska Steamship Co. “All the ship's officers, 40 merchant seamen, 14 Navy men and the cargo security officer were reported lost. “The wreck occurred 21 miles off Sanak island, a small island south of the pass between Unimak island and the Alaska peninsula, which extends westward to the beginning of the Aleutian chain. “First reports mentioned a fire, and explosions, but a party of Coast Guardsmen which boarded the after part of the wreck found no evidence of fire, Murphy said. “Scant Hope for Others. “All but one of the lifeboats and rafts from the Straub have been accounted for, Murphy said, leaving but scant hope that more survivors of the disastrous wreck will be found. “The accident occurred at 5:30 a. m. Wednesday. The Straub, northbound, was reported by the boarding party to have parted aft the engine bulkhead. The forward section sank immediately. The Coast Guardsmen reported no evidence of life on the after part, which sank 14 hours after the breakup. The 15 survivors were taken to the Army hospital at Cold Bay, Alaska….” (Titusville Herald, PA. “Liberty Ship Cracks Apart and 65 Men Believed Lost.” Apr 24, 1944, p. 1.) Sources Alaska Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement. Alaska’s Worst All Time Shipping Losses. Accessed 7-18-2011 at: http://www.alaska.boemre.gov/ref/ships/ American Merchant Marine at War. Chronological List of Ships Sunk or Damaged during 1944. Accessed 6-30-2021 at: http://www.usmm.org/sunk44.html#anchor412649 Armed-guard.com. World War II U.S. Navy Armed Guard and World War II U.S. Merchant Marine” (website). “The Pacific” (webpage). Accessed 6-1-2021 at: https://www.armed-guard.com/ag78.html Clancey, Patrick (transcriber and formatter for HTML). HyperWar: The Official Chronology of the US Navy in World War II, Chapter VI: 1944. Accessed 6-1-2021 at: https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/USN-Chron/USN-Chron-1944.html Hackett, Bob and Sander Kingsepp. Sensuikan! (webpage). “IJN Submarine I-180: Tabular Record of Movement.” Accessed 6-1-2021 at: combinedfleet.com Gottehrer, Dean M. The Associated Press Stylebook for Alaska (Revised and 2nd edition). Fairbanks, Alaska: Epicenter Press, 2000. Partially digitized by Google at: http://books.google.com/books?id=O53zwdFYTGEC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false Lettens, Jan. “SS John Straub (+1944).” Wrecksite.eu. Added 9-11-2009; 5-11-2019 update. Accessed 6-1-2021 at: https://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?137543 NOAA, Office of National Marine Sanctuaries and Office of Response and Restoration. Screening Level Risk Assessment Package: John Straub. NOAA, March 2013. Accessed 6-1-2021 at: https://nmssanctuaries.blob.core.windows.net/sanctuaries-prod/media/archive/protect/ppw/pdfs/john_straub.pdf Spokesman-Review, Spokane (Tracy Ellig). “Sailor’s son pursues long-submerged truth. 4-18-1999. Accessed 9-1-2017 at: http://www.spokesman.com/stories/1999/apr/18/sailors-son-pursues-long-submerged-truth/#/0 Titusville Herald, PA. “Liberty Ship [John Straub] Cracks Apart and 65 Men Believed Lost.” Apr 24, 1944, 1. At: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=105937641