SS ''Oliver Ellsworth'' was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after Founding Father Oliver Ellsworth, an American lawyer, judge, politician, and diplomat. He was a framer of the

United States Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the Supremacy Clause, supreme law of the United States, United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven ar ...

, a United States senator from Connecticut, and the third Chief Justice of the United States.

Construction

''Oliver Ellsworth'' was laid down on 31 March 1942, under a Maritime Commission (MARCOM) contract, MCE hull 42, by the

Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyard The Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyard of Baltimore, Maryland, was a shipyard in the United States from 1941 until 1945. Located on the south shore of the Middle Branch of the Patapsco River which serves as the Helen Delich Bentley Port of Baltimore, Ba ...

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was d ...

, Maryland; she was sponsored by Miss Frances T. Cwalina, an Honor Student at Benjamin Franklin Junior High School, Brooklyn, Maryland, and was launched on 22 June 1942.

History

She was allocated to A.H. Bull & Co., Inc., on 6 June 1942.

Sinking

''Oliver Ellsworth'' was just three months old when she was assigned to Convoy PQ 18, one of the Arctic convoys delivering supplies to the Soviet Union. She carried of ammunition and aircraft as deck cargo. She was commanded by her Master, Otto Ernest Buford. On 13 September 1942, , sighted the Convoy PQ 18, about southwest of

Spitsbergen Spitsbergen (; formerly known as West Spitsbergen; Norwegian: ''Vest Spitsbergen'' or ''Vestspitsbergen'' , also sometimes spelled Spitzbergen) is the largest and the only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipelago in northern Norw ...

, and fired a spread of three torpedoes at 09:52. One of the torpedoes struck the Soviet merchant ship and ruptured her boiler. The other two torpedoes missed her, but one of them hit ''Oliver Ellsworth'' which had had to steer hard to port to avoid ''Stalingrad''. The torpedo struck ''Oliver Ellsworth'' on her

starboard Port and starboard are nautical terms for watercraft and aircraft, referring respectively to the left and right sides of the vessel, when aboard and facing the bow (front). Vessels with bilateral symmetry have left and right halves which are ...

side between holds #4 and #5. After immediately securing the engines, the crew of eight officers, 34 crewmen, and 28 Armed guards quickly abandoned the stricken ship in four lifeboats, due to fear of their cargo of ammunition exploding. Because ''Oliver Ellsworth'' continued her forward momentum, both starboard lifeboats were swamped and one of her port lifeboats struck a raft and sank. Within an hour the rescue ship ''Copeland'' and the A/S trawler , had picked up all the survivors; they were later landed at Archangel. After the rescue, ''St. Kenan'' scuttled ''Oliver Ellsworth'' by firing several shells into the drifting wreck. She sank stern first near at 10:30. Out of a complement of 70, all had been rescued except for one armed guard who drowned.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Oliver Ellsworth Liberty ships Ships sunk by German submarines in World War II Ships built in Baltimore 1942 ships World War II shipwrecks in the Arctic Ocean Maritime incidents in September 1942