Sunk March 19th, 1942
The following narrative was written by unknown U.S. Naval historian for the "Fifth Naval District War Diary" and was transcribed directly from the microfilm records of this account. The account of this event was compiled from official sources and interviews from survivors cotemporaneous to the events occurrence and those sources are listed below.
TRAGEDY STALKS S.S. LIBERATOR AS AXIS CAMPAIGN RAGES
During the week ending March 21, 1942, the Axis submarine campaign
reached its peak in the waters of the Fifth Naval District.
And during this peak drive, there was witness in the last few hours of
the SS Liberator, a drama more strange than fiction, as the brave 7720 ton
American freighter, doggedly fought her way north only to succumb in the end to
an unseen lurking U-boat.
Bound for New York, the Liberator, owned by the Lykes Brothers Steamship
Company of New Orleans, and built in 1918, had departed from Galveston, Texas,
on March 12, 1942, with a cargo that included 11,000 tons of sulphur.
The ship was 410 feet long, and carried a crew of thirty six United
States citizens. Armed with one
four inch gun mounted aft, a four man United States Navy gun crew increased the
ship's complement to forty. On this
voyage no colors had been flown. Captain
Albin Johnson, and his crew, were aware of the hazards of war, and since the
departure from Galveston, strict precautions had been observed. At night the vessel remained completely blacked out, and
during the day the Liberator had zigzagged in accordance with United States Navy
standard pattern No. 5.
It was the misfortune of the Liberator that her operation schedule
should cause her to pass through the waters off Cape Hatteras at the peak of
Axis activity in that area. But
twice in the late evening of March 18, the Liberator was spared as the less
fortunate freighter
SS W. E. Hutton and the tanker
SS Papoose were torpedoed and sunk very
near to the freighter. All three
ships, while each steaming independently, chanced to be in the same general
vicinity at the time of the attacks. Distress
signals from both ships announced to Captain Johnson their fate.
Prior to evening of March 18, the long trip from Texas had been
uneventful. However, the approach
to the Cape Lookout area augured disaster and the nerves of the entire crew were
taut.
At 0100 March 19, two and one-half hours after the Papoose had been
attacked and as the Liberator passed nine miles off the Cape Lookout Light Buoy,
proceeding toward Diamond Shoals Buoy at a speed of approximately ten knots,
Frank Camillo, coxswain, USN, captain of the Armed Guard Crew, observed through
a telescope a "dark object" 2500 yards off the port quarter.
Immediately, Camillo prepared his gun for action, and as the object
appeared to gain on the Liberator, it was identified as a "submarine".
Estimating the range as 2100 yards, one round was expended which Camillo
believed hit the "conning tower of the submarine". A mass of sparks, flashes and flames flew from the
"conning tower". The
first shot had been well fired.
A minute later as the "submarine" was dimly visible in the
shadows, the Armed Guard crew expended the second round, which they believed was
as well aimed as the first, as a mass of sparks lighted the target as the shell
exploded on the starboard side of the "submarine", just below the
"conning tower". After
this shot, three lights appeared over the "conning tower" for a second
or two, and then a flare was fired which landed about 1000 yards astern of the
Liberator. The flare, "a very
bright white light", burned for about five minutes and turned into a red
glow as it burned out. Camillo and
the other members of the Liberator's gun crew were quite positive in their
description of the "submarine", describing it as 175 to 200 feet long,
with a sharp pointed bow, conning tower, and a gun near the stern.
Only two rounds were expended, as after the second hit, they observed the
"submarine" to "turn over on its starboard side and go
down".
At no time did the Liberator or the "submarine" attempt to
exchange recognition signals, and both ships remained completely blacked out.
Other members of the Liberator crew confirmed the opinion of Camillo that
a "conning tower" was seen in the darkness.
The two shots had been fired between 0105 and 0110, March 19, and after
the target was seen to disappear, the Liberator continued on her zigzag course
toward Diamond Shoals Buoy, elated at the performance of the gun crew, grateful
to have escaped the doom expected from the "submarine".
They were completely unaware that the "dark object",
identified as a "submarine", was in reality the USS Dickerson, on
which they had fired with disastrous results.
The freighter had been picked up by the radar gear on the Dickerson, 3600
to 4000 yards off the starboard bow of the destroyer.
Both vessels proceeding on the same course, the Dickerson at 15 knots,
and gradually the range narrowed. No
recognition was attempted as it was believed the on the bridge of the destroyer
that the unidentified merchantman was friendly, and the use of the blinker light
would have disclosed the ship's position in the darkness.
When the Dickerson was approximately 2000 yards astern off the port
quarter of the Liberator, a shrapnel shell suddenly struck the starboard side of
the Dickerson's bridge, passing through the railing on the wing of the bridge,
the chart room, and finally exploding in the radio shack. Three men on the Dickerson were killed outright, and seven
others were injured, including Lieutenant Commander J. K. Reybold, Commanding
Officer, who later died, ten minutes before the ship docked at the Norfolk Navy
Yard, Portsmouth, Virginia, at 1235. The
Liberator's fire was not returned as it was believed by Lieutenant F. E. Wilson,
Executive Officer, that the unidentified freighter was a friendly vessel.
Tragedy still stalked the Liberator as the dawn of March 19 found the
ship approaching the area of Cape Hatteras.
A moderate wind, force 3, from the north northwest fanned a moderate sea,
and daylight brought good visibility. All
morning long, a base course of 085 true was followed as the speed of 9.5 knots
moved the vessel toward her destination. Captain Johnson continued to zigzag. At 1015, the Diamond Shoals Buoy was passed three miles abeam
to starboard, and two other ships were identified in the general vicinity; an
unidentified freighter, and the loaded SS Esso Baltimore, both moving northward,
and at this time, cutting across the bow of the Liberator.
Captain Johnson was on the bridge with his first and fourth mate.
A lookout was also stationed on the bridge with the officers, and Camillo
with his gun crew continued to provide the stern lookouts.
There was no intimation that the tragic sequel of the early morning
hours was to take place at this time, and Captain Johnson felt more secure in
the presence of the other ships ahead of him.
The Liberator had just changed her course as the buoy was passed, when a
violent explosion about twenty feet below the water-line rocked the ship.
Occurring on the port side in the after spaces of the engine room, the
detonation completely destroyed the engine room and the deck above, demolishing
the No. 4 lifeboat on the port side aft. Without
power, the ship gradually came to a stop. Immediately,
Captain Johnson, sizing up the situation, ordered the crew to prepare to abandon
ship, as two lifeboats were launched. A
hurried muster of the crew disclosed that five members, on watch in the engine
room, were missing, and had apparently been killed instantly by the explosion.
The captain then placed all his confidential papers except Radio
Instructions 937 into a weighted canvass bag and threw them overside;
the thirty-five survivors quickly and without panic abandoned ship in two
lifeboats.
In the water, the thirty-five survivors recovered their composure from
the suddenness of the attack and the events of the preceding night, as the two
lifeboats drifted aimlessly in the vicinity of the stricken vessel.
Before leaving the ship, the radio operator had transmitted an SOS on one
of the ship's RCA transmitters, but he had not waited for an acknowledgement.
Twenty-five minutes after the attack, the survivors saw their ship settle
peacefully beneath the green surface of the Atlantic in position latitude 35-07
N, longitude 75-19 W, where the derelict is now believed to lay.
Rescue was not long in coming, and at 1125, scarcely one hour after
disaster had overtaken the Liberator, the USS Umpqua (an ocean going Navy tug)
arrived on the scene and recovered the survivors from the lifeboats.
All were taken promptly to Morehead City, North Carolina.
The story of the Liberator will always present a certain amount of
speculation and the word "if" cannot help but inauspiciously weave
throughout the tragedy. Unfortunately,
the Commanding Officer and men of the Dickerson died in vain, and despite every
human effort to safely bring his ship into New York, Captain Johnson lost the
battle. But why did the U-Boat
spare the newer and larger Esso Baltimore, which was only 300 feet ahead of the
Liberator when attacked? The tanker
was heavily laden with cargo. The
answer will never be known, but there is a clue.
On March 4, the fishing trawler Edith L. Hudgins, fishing in the vicinity
of the attack snagged an underwater object which broke part of the nets.
The trawler's captain suggested the possibility of a mine, since in seven
years of fishing, he had never experienced the same type of damage.
Also The U-boat was never seen, either before, during, or after the
attack, despite the excellent visibility of the day. Perhaps destiny, in retribution, had guided the Liberator
over the one vital spot, and had spared the Esso Baltimore.
SOURCES
1.
Summary Report of Sinking of SS Liberator, 1015 EWT, March 19, 1942.
2.
Interrogation statements by members of the merchant crew of SS Liberator,
most of these dated March 23, 1942. (B-5
file).
3.
Questionnaires filled out by survivors of Liberator sinking.
Another form from above (NNI 142, March 23, 1942).
Confidential. (B-5 file).
4.
Regular Navy Intelligence Report, NNI 142, March 23, 1942. Confidential.
(B-5 file).
5.
Memorandum dated March 21, 1942, from Coastal Information Section, 5th
Naval District, to D.I.O., subject; The possible sinking of SS LIberator through
contact with a mine. Confidential.
(B-5 file).
6.
Confidential memorandum for D.I.O., 5th Naval District, relating to
attack on USS Dickerson, dated March 21, 1942, and signed by Lieutenant Leslie
E. Riggins, USNR, with attached signed statements by members of Navy gun crew
aboard the SS Liberator. (B-5
file).
(This ends the transcript of the Naval War Record.)
Post Script
Actually, the Liberator had been the victim of a German U-boat.
The U-332 (Liebe) had fired a single torpedo, which struck the port side
aft. It is possible the torpedo was
meant for the Esso Baltimore, a much more valuable target, and the Liberator a
victim of unlucky timing and bad aim. The
U-boat Commander, Johannes Liebe, was also responsible for sinking the Tanker Australia
three days earlier. The
U-332 was later attacked by aerial bombardment from RAF Squadron 461 on May 2, 1943 near Cape
Finisterre, Spain, and sunk with the loss of all hands.
Send mail to
webmaster@divehatteras.com with
questions or comments about this web site.
Copyright © 2003 Dive Hatteras LLC
Last modified: January 19, 2012
All Information, Content and Photos contained on the DiveHatteras web site is property of and copyright by DiveHatteras LLC, Dave and Ann Sommers, unless otherwise noted and my not be used without permission.