She was built as a tanker under yard No 190 by the Shipbuilding & Drydock Co., Chester, Pennsylvania for the Texas Oil Co.
20 April 1940 launched under the name OHIO.
Tonnage 8.247 gross, 5.436 net, 14.140dwt., dim. 518.4 x 68 x 28ft., betweenpp 495ft.
Westinghouse steam turbines, 9.000shp. maximum 10.000shp., speed 16 knots, maximum 17.2 knots.
Two Babcock and Wilcock boilers, one screw.
Registered at Port Arthur, Texas.
23 June 1940 completed.
She was special built for the service around the east coast of America. Her for-hatch was a dry cargo hatch, discharging and loading took place in this hold with two 5 ton derricks, mostly she carried in this hold oil in drums.
Had 5 centre-tanks and 16 smaller side-tanks. Armament 1 – 5 inch and 3 – 1 inch AA guns.
25 June 1942 she came under British administration, after she had discharged a cargo of oil at Bowling on the Clyde.
Still at anchor in the River Clyde, Capt. Peterson got orders to hand the ship over to a British Capt. and crew.
She was special requested by Prime Minister Winston Churchill from President Roosevelt for a voyage to Malta (Operation Pedestal.)
After transfer she got a new British crew of 77 men including 19 gunners, and in the King George Dock her armament was increased with 1 40mm Bofors gun and 6 – 20mm Oerlikons.
Then she sailed for loading to Dunglass, where she loaded 13.500 ton oil including 8.900 ton fuel oil, 2.000 tons kerosene, and 2.000 tons diesel-oil.
02 August 1942 she sailed from her anchorage in convoy WS 21 S. The convoy was under command of Admiral E.N.Syfret on board HMS NELSON.
The following story I found in the book Eagle Fleet by W.E. Lucas. Published in 1955.
Quote.
The OHIO was a 14.000 ton tanker belonging to the Texas Oil Company and on loan to the Ministry of War Transport, who placed her under Eagle Oil management.
She was picked for a special and particularly hazardous job: she was to form part of a special convoy for the relief of hardpressed Malta. This vessel carrying 13.000 tons of petroleum products was one of the fastest tankers then afloat. Her vital and desperated job called for a specially selected crew from the company’s officers and men. The matter was urgent.
Captain D.W. Mason, the youngest Master in the fleet was chosen for command. Mr. J. Wyld, a man of exceptional engineering experience was Chief engineer. The other officers and crew were all men of known and tried steadiness. A naval liaison officer and twenty-three special gunners were added. Such was the ship’s company that Captain Mason mustered in the Petty Officers messroom on the day the OHIO sailed from her homeport.
The momentous mission upon which they were embarked was made clear to the assembled company. Before Captain Mason dismissed his officers and crew he read them a letter from the First Lord of the Admiralty.
Before you start on this operation the First Sea Lord and I are anxious that you should know how grateful the Board of Admiralty are to you for undertaking this difficult task. Malta has for some time been in great danger. It is imperative that she should be kept supplied. These are her critical months and we cannot fail her. She has stood up to the most violent attack from the air that has ever been made, and now she needs your help in continuing the battle. Her courage is worthy of yours.
Before Captain Mason dismissed his officers and crew he read them a letter from the First Lord of the Admiralty.
Before you start on this operation the First Sea Lord and I are anxious that you should know how grateful the Board of Admiralty are to you for undertaking this difficult task. Malta has for some time been in great danger. It is imperative that she should be kept supplied. These are her critical months, and we cannot fail her. She has stood up to the most violent attack from the air that has ever been made, and now she needs your help in continuing the battle. Her courage is worthy of yours.
We know that Admiral Syfret will do all he can to complete the operation with success, and that you will stand by him according to the splendid traditions of the Merchant Navy.. We wish you all God Speed and Good Luck.
The convoy slipped through the Straits of Gibraltar under cover of darkness on Saturday night, August 8 1942. To the north and south lights twinkled on the Spanish and North African shores. Though night hid the convoy for the moment from the view of prying eyes, its presence in the Mediterranean was already know in Berlin and Rome.
The sawn of August 9 broke fair, the smooth waters of the Mediterranean were flicked with the rosy blush of a rising sun. For two days the OHIO ploughed on with her steady 15 knots - she was one of a flock of ships shepherded by a warlike screen of destroyers, cruisers and battleships, and five aircraft carriers. Then in the forenoon of the third day, August 11, it came with breathtaking swiftness; a column of water rising well above her topmast, shrouded the aircraft carrier HMS EAGLE, lying one mile and a half off the OHIO's starboard quarter. The first column was succeeded by a second and then a third. Almost before the watchers on the tanker could believe it the carrier heeled over, her planes cascading from her deck and she was gone.
That afternoon enemy bombers appeared.
The battle was now on. The escorting aircraft carriers HMS VICTORIOUS, INDOMITABLE, ARGUS and FURIOUS turned into the wind and their fighters took off to intercept the raiders. Thirty-nine enemy planes were shot down, but others succeeded in piercing the protective screen; dive-bombers and highlevel bombers dropped their bombs amongst the convoy. The OHIO often hidden from view by great cascades of water as bombs fell around her, ploughed on unscathed. A cargo ship on her port bow was hit amidships and had to be abandoned. The enemy attack developed in intensity as evening drew on. Against the great red ball of the setting of the sun the sky was black with the smoke of bursting anti aircraft shells and pierced by the flickering lights of tracer bullets: smoke and flames belched from the stricken cargo ship; above it all there was the din of continuous gunfire, the wail of sirens and the answering deep hoot from merchantmen's whistles.
The fourth day dawned calm and serene. But soon the enemy planes were over again and the ships in the convoy were fighting back. Escort vessels were twisting and turning as they dropped their depth-charges where submarines were reported. In the late afternoon a signal was received by all ships that a concentration of U-boats was expected that night. As dusk fell an explosion staggered the OHIO. Flames and a deluge of water shot up to masthead height. The Chief officer D.H.Gray, who had just finished his watch but was still on the bridge, recalls: When the torpedo struck the ship shook violently, the steering gear broke and all communication with the engine-room and the after end of the ship was cut off, with the exception of the telephone which was still working. There was now a large gaping hole in the main deck, the pumproom was completely open to the sea, bulkheads were torn and tank lids were open and buckled. A fire was blazing in the pumproom. A death-like silence had fallen on the engine room. With perfect discipline the crew mustered on deck and set to extinguished the fires which were spreading. The bombers continued to attack the crippled ship. But as they swooped in at masthead level they were met by a devastating barrage from the tanker,s Oerlikons and Bofors. As the men worked, near misses sent cascades of water over the decks. Below in the engine-room the engineers toiled heroically to get the engines turning again.
As the officers and men struggled to bring life back to the OHIO lying helpless on the calm Mediterranean waters. Admiral Burrough from HMS ASHANTI hailed her: 'I've got to go on with the rest of the convoy. They need you badly'. From Captain Mason, who was down with the crew fighting the fires, came the reply: ' Don't worry, sir we'll do our best'.
The ship ahead of the OHIO had been hit and was ablaze from stem to stern. The rest of the convoy had steamed on, and the OHIO was alone to meet her fate. Somehow Chief Engineer Wyld and his staff got the engines restarted; somehow her steering was made function. By 6 am on the fifth morning, with a gaping hole in her port side and making 16 knots, the OHIO rejoined the convoy and took station at the end of the line. The wounded tanker now became the target for the enemy air attack. Hour after hour throughout the day the gunners stood at their stations, fighting off, in the intense heat, a never-ending German attack. Parachute mines crashed into the sea on her port and starboard quarters. By 9am that morning amongst the debris on her decks a Stuka lay straddling the poop and a JU 88 cluttered her foredeck. At 10 am two sticks of bombs, three on each side, lifted the vessel clean out of the water. At 10.30 am her engines coughed to a stop, her two electric fuel pumps out of commission. Within half an hour by some miracle of engineering ingenuity she was under way again, crawling slowly through the water at three to four knots. Wave after wave of enemy planes now swooped down on her, to be turned away by the deadly and accurate fire of the OHIO's anti-aircraft guns.
At 11.30 am the port boiler blew out. There was noting for it but to ask for help from one of the escorting destroyers. A few minutes later the other boiler had gone. For six hours desperate and fruitless attempts were made to get the OHIO under tow. Just before dusk came the whistling of a falling bomb. There was a heavy crash then the shattering roar of an explosion; the bomb burst in the boiler room.
But the end of the long-drawn-out ordeal was now approaching. Beau-fighters and Spitfires from Malta were beginning to give cover. The convoy's escort ships were now steaming past the OHIO on their way back to Gibraltar.
The semaphore on the Admiral's ship was seen flashing. It was a message from the Senior Officer Cruiser Fleet to Captain Mason of the OHIO. It read; 'I'm proud to have know you'.
But the tanker was not home yet. When the sixth morning dawned the attempts at towing were still unsuccessful. At 8 am the enemy air attack continued. At 9 am a near miss carried away the rudder and holed the vessel aft. By 10.30 am with two destroyers alongside and one ahead ( the HMS LEDBURY, HMS PENN and HMS RYE) the OHIO was at last underway again. But she was settling by the stern. The water was gaining at the rate of six inches a hour. While the destroyer and the tanker's gunners fought off enemy attacks the OHIO's crew were working desperately to keep the ship afloat.. At 8 o'clock that evening Malta came in sight - naval tugs arrived to complete the last lap of the voyage. The last day dawned; it was Saturday, August 15. The OHIO was entering Malta Harbour, two days late. There were bands on the quayside, dense crowds of people were there, waving flags and handkerchiefs. Signals were flashing one from the Vice-Admiral, Malta. It read: 'I am very glad to see you and your fine ship safely in harbour after such a hazardous and anxious passage. Your cargo will be invaluable for the war effort.' Another message received from the Admiralty in London read briefly ' Splendid work; well done'.
Well done it was, though the great ship was now no more than a useless hulk, 11.000 tons of oil had been brought safely through - oil which was to enable Malta to defend herself and play her vital part in the great events which were now fast developing. When Captain Mason received his George Cross personally from King George VI it was not only a reward for the Master of the OHIO recognizing his own personal indomitable courage but also that of every member of his crew. Together they had set a standard of valour which ranks high in the storey of naval warfare. Chief Engineer Wyld, whose dogged perseverance, skill and courage had managed to keep the engines turning long after they might have been justly abandoned, received the high decoration of the DSO, one of the first to be awarded to an officer of the Merchant Marine. In addition, five DSC's and seven DSM's were given to other officers and men of the OHIO's crew who had earned special citations.
Unquote
One crew and one gunner were lost.
After arrival she was grounded on her berth to avoid that she was breaking in two parts.
At the end of the war her superstructure was rebuilt and used by a unit of the Yugoslavia troops.
After the war she was declared a total loss, and on 19 September 1946 the two halves of the OHIO were towed to sea by the Admiralty and sank by gunfire from HMS naval ships gunfire in deep water off Malta.
Malta 1992 50c sg923, scott801. 2005 Lm1 sg?, scott?
Source: Watercraft Philately Vol 42 page 11. Sea Breezes. Lloyds War Losses, the Second War.
OHIO tanker
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D. v. Nieuwenhuijzen
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