SS Mary Luckenbach (1919)
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SS ''Mary Luckenbach'', was a
cargo ship A cargo ship or freighter is a merchant ship that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's seas and oceans each year, handling the bulk of international trade. Cargo ships are usu ...
of the United States Navy. She was launched in 1918 and completed the following year by the
American International Shipbuilding Hog Islanders is the slang for ships built to Emergency Fleet Corporation designs number 1022 and 1024. These vessels were cargo and troop transport ships, respectively, built under government direction and subsidy to address a shortage of ships ...
Corp.,
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as USS ''Sac City'' (ID-3861).


Service history

The U.S. Navy commissioned USS ''Sac City'' on 6 January 1919. At the end of January 1919, the ship sailed from Norfolk, Virginia, with a cargo destined for
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, Uruguay. The ship arrived at Montevideo at the beginning of March 1919. She moved to the nearby port of
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, and loaded a private commercial cargo, which she took to
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. She sailed to New York City from Gibraltar in June 1919. ''Sac City'' was decommissioned on 17 June 1919 and transferred to the United States Shipping Board. She then entered commercial service as SS ''Sac City''. ''Sac City'' ran aground in the Scheldt at
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, Zeeland, the Netherlands, on 9 December 1926. She was refloated on 16 December 1926. On 11 March 1927, ''Sac City'' was steaming in
New York Harbor New York Harbor is at the mouth of the Hudson River where it empties into New York Bay near the East River tidal estuary, and then into the Atlantic Ocean on the east coast of the United States. It is one of the largest natural harbors in t ...
in dense
fog Fog is a visible aerosol consisting of tiny water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air at or near the Earth's surface. Reprint from Fog can be considered a type of low-lying cloud usually resembling stratus, and is heavily influ ...
when she collided with the Morgan Line cargo ship . ''El Sol'', inbound to
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with a $1,000,000 cargo of
pig iron Pig iron, also known as crude iron, is an intermediate product of the iron industry in the production of steel which is obtained by smelting iron ore in a blast furnace. Pig iron has a high carbon content, typically 3.8–4.7%, along with silic ...
, copper, and bales of cotton, was maneuvering into position to anchor to wait for the fog to lift when the collision occurred at about 07:45. ''Sac City'' hit a glancing blow to ''El Sol'', bounced off, and then struck ''El Sol'' a second time, ripping through ''El Sol's'' plating. ''Sac Citys bow had some slight damage, but ''El Sol'' sank quickly in about of water about a half-mile (800 m) south of the
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. Out of ''El Sol'''s crew of 45 men, 44 were rescued; the ship's carpenter, who could not swim, was last seen clutching the ship's rail as it went below the surface. ''El Sol'' settled on the bottom at a 45° angle with only the tops of her masts protruding above the surface. In hearings before the United States
Steamboat Inspection Service The Steamboat Inspection Service was a United States agency created in 1871 to safeguard lives and property at sea. It merged with the Bureau of Navigation in 1932 to form the Bureau of Navigation and Steamboat Inspection, which in 1936 was reorga ...
, the
captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
of ''Sac City'' and Captain Charles H. Knowles of ''El Sol'' both were cleared of wrongdoing in the collision, and the blame was laid on the heavy fog. During her subsequent commercial service, the ship was sold to the Black Diamond Steamship Company and renamed SS ''Black Falcon'' in 1932. She was later sold to the Luckenbach Steamship Co. of New York and renamed SS ''Mary Luckenbach'' in 1941. In September 1942, ''Mary Luckenbach'' was part of
Convoy PQ 18 Convoy PQ 18 was an Arctic convoy of forty Allied freighters from Scotland and Iceland to Arkhangelsk in the Soviet Union in the war against Nazi Germany. The convoy departed Loch Ewe, Scotland on 2 September 1942, rendezvoused with more ships an ...
, a convoy of 40 merchant ships under heavy escort transiting the Barents Sea en route Murmansk in the Soviet Union. On 14 September 1942 (some sources list 13 September), the convoy was west of North Cape, Norway, when ''Mary Luckenbach'' was attacked by several German Junkers 88 torpedo bomber aircraft and was hit by an
aerial torpedo An aerial torpedo (also known as an airborne torpedo or air-dropped torpedo) is a torpedo launched from a torpedo bomber aircraft into the water, after which the weapon propels itself to the target. First used in World War I, air-dropped torped ...
. The impact of the torpedo detonated the ship's cargo of 1,000 tons of TNT, vaporizing her along with her entire crew of 41 and the 24 personnel of the United States Navy Armed Guard assigned to her. Her sinking is described in the memoir of Robert Hughes, a gunnery officer on HMS ''Scylla''. The last known location of the ship was at .


References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mary Luckenbach (Ak-15) Hog Islanders Design 1022 ships 1918 ships Design 1022 ships of the United States Navy Maritime incidents in 1926 Maritime incidents in 1927 World War II auxiliary ships of the United States Ships sunk by German aircraft World War II shipwrecks in the Arctic Ocean Maritime incidents in September 1942 Ships lost with all hands Merchant ships sunk by aircraft