SS AMY LOWELL

The Amy Lowell (1875-1925) was named after a woman that was a poet and a critic.  Amy Lowell didn't become a poet until she was years into her adulthood; then, when she died early, her poetry (and life) were nearly forgotten -- until gender studies as a discipline began to look at women like Lowell as illustrative of an earlier lesbianism. She lived her later years in a "Boston marriage" and wrote erotic love poems addressed to other women.

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The SS Amy Lowell a freighter was built at the California Shipbuilding Corporation with and Emergency Hull No 734.  The Keel was laid on February 28th, 1943.  Her hull hit the water on March 27, 1943, and delivered April 10th, 1943 to the operator: Seas Shipping Co. Inc.  Following her postwar service she entered the James River Reserve Fleet on June 8th, 1946 and was withdrawn on March 4th, 1947.

SS Amy Lowell

1947 April....the Amy Lowell was sold to Det Forenede D/S A/S and displayed the Denmark flag....her name was changed to Nevada.

SS Nevada (ex-Amy Lowell)

1948 June 6th....On this morning the Nevada was about 21 miles east of Baccalieu Island when she struck an iceberg.  At the time she was bound from Wabana, Bell Island, Newfoundland to Europe.  The damage to the bow of the Nevada was estimated at approximately $35,000, but luckily there was no personnel casualties.  She made port at St. Johns, Newfoundland unassisted. 

1951 April the Nevada lost her propeller about 2 mi. off Uto Light (Aalborg, Denmark to Buenos Aires).

1959 she was sold to White Sea Maritime Ltd. and displayed the Liberia flag and changed her name to White Sea.

1960 she was sold again to United White Shipping Co. Ltd. again displaying the Liberia flag and retained the  name White Sea.

1967 March 11th arrived for scrapping.....the buyer was Shipbreakers, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

                                                                   

Author: Bud Shortridge

USS WAHOO (SS-238)

FOUND !!!:

Wreckage of Legendary

WW II

USS WAHOO (SS-238)

Like most of her 51 sisters lost in WW II, the exact location of the wreckage of the Navy's champion ship killer, USS Wahoo (SS-238), remained unknown for more than 60-years until an international recovery team recently confirmed its exact position in the Western Pacific.

In my opinion this article is extremely interesting......you wish to give this one a go....just click on the title below:

USS WAHOO WRECKAGE FOUND

Hope you enjoy the article

TWELVE MONTHS ON THE GALLANT YARD

THE CIVIL WAR MEMOIR OF 

HERBERT CARLETON

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This particular article I run across in the Library.....I did not write this article but after reading it I thought it may be of great interest to the many that has a desire to know what took place for a new 'sailor' aboard a ship 'USS Circassian' in the Civil War era.

This 'article' is from one of the few Civil War Naval diaries that still is in print.

Herbert Carleton dictated his story to a fellow member of G.A. R. Post Ten in Worcester, Massachusetts.  The memoirs were written in pencil on the back of wrapping paper.

If you'd care give this one a go....just click: HERE


Hope you enjoy the article.

THE JUNYO MARU....WHAT HAPPENED ???

A callous disregard for the rules of war doomed the Allied prisoners on a Japanese merchantman to death at the hands of their own countrymen.

During WW II 70,000 or more allied prisoners of war and conscripted Asian laborer were moved in Japanese merchant ships across the vast expanse of the occupied East. These vessels were called “hell ships,” and with good reason. POWs and slave laborers were crammed into stinking holds, filthy with coal dust, congealed sugar syrup and horse manure left over from previous voyages. Without water, or nearly so sick, abuse and neglected, they baked in unimaginable heat inside their steel prisons.

Many died. Some went mad. Others were murdered. Some of the cruelty they experienced was extraordinary even for prisoners of the Japanese. On one ship jammed with prisoners in blazing heat, the water lowered into the holds was far too little and, one POW remembered, “foul and polluted, covered with a thick, greenish scum.” Two more containers sent down from the deck contained only seawater and urine. “You are bred like rats,” the ship’s interpreter sneered, “and you will die like rats.”

Hey folks if you'd like give this a go....all you need to do is just click: HERE   which is a link to the full article...Hope you enjoy!!!

THE "CITY OF FLINT"

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An interesting ship history if you'd care to give it a read....just click on 

THIS

and it will take you right to the history of this sinking.

Hope you enjoy!!

THE NORTH ATLANTIC AND THE LIBERTY

This is an article that is in two parts....more or less due to its length.  I've wanted to do this article for a good long time...but pretty much hedged on it due to time that I've devoted to it...just in getting it down on a white sheet of paper.

This is an all true story...there is no goodie things in here just to make it sound good...what you read is all true blue....some of it will make you cringe if you put yourself in the place of the seamen in these situations.

This article is chuck full of Liberty ship events....sinking's...damage...encounters with U-boats that if you really put yourself in these guys shoes it will just scare the living hell out of you.  There are stories where the crew didn't wait for the order from the captain to abandon ship...they just went ....on their own doing...sometimes it was ok...but most it was not...so read the event and asked yourself..."what would I have done"

Then another thing that may bowl you over and that is the "rule of the sea"....and most generally that is to always help a ship or seamen in distress.  Well this more or less still holds true in war ....the U-boat would torpedo the Liberty ship...the ship would sink...the U-boat on most occasions would surface and offer food, medical supplies to the survivors....and pretty much point them toward the nearest land mass.

Then there are some overly sad events when a torpedo strikes as Liberty that is carrying 4,000 tons of explosives....and the explosion is view from 40 miles away....there is no piece of that ship bigger that your fist....of which rains down on the entire convoy.....and you know what the out come of that can be.

So...if you care to give this one a tumble....I think it'll be one of those that you pretty much don't wish to give up until you read it all.....

At the end of Part I....you can click to get to the "Conclusion" or Part II.

If you wish to give this one a read...just click: HERE

Hope you enjoy

SCUTTLE-BUTT....JUNE-JULY-AUGUST

Here is my latest in "Scuttle-Butt" news of a nautical & Navy perspective.  As many of you well know I produced one of these..."so called newsletter" so us old salts here my home town meet at the local watering hole to discuss old tales of our sea life.  Actually we set around and try to tell the longest lie....that way we can order more beer.....now don't that make a great deal of sense?

Anyway folks this particular issue has some new news worthy items...[short stories] as well as items of interest...that you may know about then again you may not.  In other words it is a gathering of hopefully interesting items...that I hope will hold the readers interest.  Some of these items readers has sent to me....and I've included them in the issues....as well as what I've come upon when doing research on different subject matter.

If you'd care to give this Scuttle-Butt Newsletter a going over well just click the title below:
SCUTTLE-BUTT....JUNE-JULY-AUGUST

Hope you enjoy the newsletter

cshortridge@comcast.net  cshortridge73@gmail.com

TRAGIC LAST VOYAGE OF GENERAL SLOCUM

This article has been published before....but I'm always receiving request for it to be sent out to readers and so I decided to post it so that all could read about such a tragic event.

This "Tragic Event" took place in New York....and it took place on a ferry...so named General Slocum.  A Lutheran Church group....about 1375 men, women and children going to and annual picnic....of New York's "Little Germany"....it was the big event of the year for all.

But, unfortunately it didn't turn out that way.....in fact it was the most tragic event of the century....just try and wrap your mind around this......955 died....and well over 175 injured and it happen right before the eyes of others...more or less unable to help.

So....here is the events of what was suppose to be a super nice event.....but turned out to be the loss of 100's of lives....men, women and children.  Just click on the title to read.

TRAGIC LAST VOYAGE OF GENERAL SLOCUM 

This is just one of the 100's of funeral's due to the "General Slocum" tragic event.

USS REUBEN JAMES

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Every once in awhile....I like to offer to readers of nautical history the 'why' of a ships name...and along with this many do not realize that not only just one ship happens to be blessed with the name, others as well.  So the name for the most part carry's forth.

Well no better example of this ...is the USS Reuben James.

This is just a short article ....with some excellent pictures of the ships that carried the name of Reuben James that may enlighten the many times the name is carried on well into the future warships that make up our U.S. Navy Fleet.

If you'd care to give this 10 minute article a go you can click on the title below.

USS REUBEN JAMES

Hope you enjoy!

TWELVE MONTHS ON THE GALLANT YARD

THE CIVIL WAR MEMOIR OF

HERBERT CARLETON

This particular article I run across in the Library.....I did not write this article but after reading it I thought it may be of great interest to the many that has a desire to know what took place for a new ‘sailor’ aboard a ship

“USS Circassian” in the Civil War era.  This ‘article’ is from one of the few Civil War Naval diaries that still is in print.  

Herbert Carleton dictated his story to a fellow member of G.A. R. Post Ten in Worcester, Massachusetts. The memoirs were written in pencil on the back of wrapping paper.

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This is the story of a lad that heard about a pending war....still too young to go to sea without his fathers permission...he was all dead set on the sea and ships.....but his father would not "bless his desire for the sea."
Well in the early 1860's while attending a trade school he "volunteered" to enlist....still needing his fathers permission....and still his father say "NO WAY!!!"...this lad figured out a way....and to sea he went.

This is his story

Click: TWELVE MONTHS ON THE GALLANT YARD

Hope you enjoy the article

THE SINKING OF THE BLOCK ISLAND

Kapitanleutnant Detlev Krankenhagen could barely believe his good fortune. Thanks to the drifting patches of fog he had easily maneuvered U-549 through Task Group 21.11's outer ring of destroyer-escorts. Finding himself virtually in the middle of one of the most feared American antisubmarine hunter-killer teams prowling the Atlantic, Krankenhagen blinked his eyes in disbelief. Squarely in front of submerged U-549, a near-new type IX-C boat, was the flat-decked silhouette of an aircraft carrier in his periscope’s cross-hairs. 

After days of being relentlessly stalked by the American hunter-killer teams of aircraft and surface warships, the tables had suddenly reversed. Now it was U-549's turn to become the hunter, rather than the prey.

“Range 2,200 meters....closing fast on bearing 249 degrees,” Krankenhagen growled in a voice pitched with excitement. The bows of alignment with his target - the approach angle of both vessels - hunter and hunted, accidental as it was, could not have been better for a sure-shot kill. But U-549's skipper was not taking any chances.

  

“Prepare to fire tubes one, three and four,” he ordered. Sweeping the attack periscope’s optical snout across the horizon in the fading twilight he searched for signs of the carrier’s escorting screen of destroyers. No, the fast darkening sky revealed no other ships bearing down on them; no pesky carrier planes in sight. For once, Krankenhagen’s luck was holding.  The squat, low-lying escort carrier USS Block Island (CVE-21) was his for the taking.  From the corner of his eye he watched the torpedo’s final setting crank into the S-3 computer.

Raising his hand in readiness, the captain noted that the time was 2013 hours, the date May 29, 1944. He squinted into the periscope. “Torpedoes, fire!” He calmly ordered, confident that at so close a range the deadly trio of “tin fish” would run straight and true toward their objective.

If your wanting to know what actually took place after all of the above...well just click: HERE
and it'll all be laid out for you...  Not a pretty picture of events....but unfortunately it is what happens in a war.

Hope you enjoy the article.

CLARKS DARING SECRET MISSION TO THE YALU RIVER

It is not often that you come across a guy that just seems to have a way about him that somehow deserves the word "HERO" somehow attached when you introduce him to a person or a group.

Now here is a guy that "just couldn't get enough" of working behind the lines in the Korean conflict...  No I've never met Eugene Clark...which is the individual that this article is all about....but...I have come into play with individuals that has this persons make up....these guys are awesome!!!!

They simply excel in taking on super dangerous situations....and on top of that it is more or less "matter-of-fact" to them....they speak of it as "Actually it was no big deal...just another days work"...  Hmmmmmm...well ok...but tell you what buddy...."I tip my hat to you"

So...here is the short story of Lieutenant Eugene Clark...believe me if he had been born a generation later, he would have been a bigger than life hero....he was really into hazardous spy missions deep behind enemy lines in Korea ....which actually would have made him the perfect role model for a Rambo-style Hollywood super hero!!!!!

Ok...so you want to know more about this guy....well here is the short version.

Just click HERE to give this one a go!!!

Now...there really is another part to this "Clark story"...and that will be in the next article following this one....which I do believe will give you more of an insight on just how awesome this guy was.

Hope you enjoy....and I encourage you to leave a comment ...good, bad, or whatever....  Hey  I write as a hobby...and yes I do make mistakes....but I just enjoy offering it all to whomever wishes to give the article a few minutes of there time.....hopefully they can skip over the imperfections of my writing style.

Enjoy!

SCUTTLE-BUTT [SOME 'OLD'...AND SOME 'NEW' NAVAL CHIT & CHAT]

Well I am very well aware that the above don't seem to fit entirely on this space.....so "shoot me at dawn" if that is what it takes....but actually what I was attempting to do is get most of the picture above 'shoe-horned' into the space that was provided.

I have in the past produced what I call a "Scuttle-Butt" type of news letter.  Every so often about once every couple of months or so a bunch of us senior "Salts" that had past naval careers...get together at the local watering-hole...and talk about "old times at sea"....

So I got to producing a "Scuttle-Butt" ....which started out as a catch-all for "old items of interest" as well "as new things that was happening in the U.S. Navy"....the more we talked ....the longer we stayed at the local watering hole...and my Lord....the beer and or wine we indulged in...  Pretty soon we had other watering holes inviting our group to use there facilities....with a "DISCOUNT" on all the beer and wine..us old men of the sea could take on in one afternoon.  Let me tell you....so far we've all enjoyed ourselves.

Anyway due to other articles I've been writing I haven't been keeping up to date on producing this latest in "News and Goings on of the U.S. Navy".....so I will correct that slight defect in my writing schedule...

Anyway here is one of a a few past "Scuttle-Butt" pages...and I'll dig around and post the others that I have.

I'll try and do better folks.....you'll just have to forgive me....

[Actually if you care to...let me know what you think of this "Scuttle-Butt" page....should I keep producing or not??....and don't spare the horses with your opinion and or comment...I'm a big boy...so just tell me like it is....I really would appreciate it.....or leave a comment on site ....either way...works for me]

So if you wish to read about a past "Scuttle-Butt" just click

HERE

  

Hope you enjoy the tid-bit of news

NELSON AT TRAFALGAR

You know folks....I read about a good many 'sea battles'...old battles...such as back in the late 1700's and 1800's....as well as what I'd call more recent battles....WW I & WW II....and I've come across some fairly gruesome sea battles....but this particular battle that is the subject of this article....kind of made the hair on the back of my neck stand out.

I really got engrossed in the material that I gathered up and to put the article on this blog of mine....I just can't imagine how these men...and some women could face this type of fighting....I mean we are talking "hand-to-hand" as well as large cannons shooting shot and chains at point blank range into the decks of the enemy....WOW!!!....this just blows me away!!!

So...I know there are parts of this Sea engagement that you may have some trouble following ...but stick with it  if you can...because this is some "heavy stuff"....

Here is Destiny as well as history that converged during 1805 on a small sector of ocean as Horatio Nelson earned undying glory amid the specter of blazing cannons and gun smoke.  Oh yes Lord Horatio Nelson achieve a victory at Trafalgar....but it was to be his last and most profound battle at sea.....actually when you look at the scope of Nelson's brilliant career...it was a fitting end to a most unlikely Naval hero.

Now this is a "TWO" part article....so you can read "Part 1" and then go fill your coffee cup, sherry glass, or some darn good port wine...before diving into "Part 2"

Just click on the below which will take you right to the article.

PART ONE

PART TWO

Hope you enjoy the article