MS Stag Hound was a Type C2-SU-R refrigerated diesel motor powered cargo ship built by Sun Shipbuilding for United States Lines. She was sunk by Italian submarine Barbarigo on 3 March 1943. All hands were rescued by an Argentine ship.
| History | |
|---|---|
| Name | SS Stag Hound |
| Owner | United States Lines[1] |
| Port of registry |  New York[2] |
| Builder | |
| Yard number | 204[3] |
| Launched | 18 October 1941[3] |
| Completed | September 1942[3] |
| Fate | Sunk by Barbarigo, 3 March 1943[1] |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | {Type C2-SU-R ship |
| Tonnage | 6,165 GRT[3] |
| Length | 453 ft 3 in (138.15 m)[2] |
| Beam | 63 ft 2 in (19.25 m)[2] |
| Draft | 27 ft 5 in (8.36 m)[2] |
| Propulsion | 1 × 5-cylinder diesel engine, 870 hp (650 kW)[2] |
| Speed | 15.5 knots (28.7 km/h)[3] |
| Crew | 10 officers, 49 men, 25 Naval Armed Guardsmen[1] |
| Armament |
|
Career
editStag Hound was laid down at Sun Shipbuilding of Chester, Pennsylvania.[3] Constructed under a United States Maritime Commission contract (MC hull number 116) on behalf of United States Lines of New York,[3][4] she was launched on 18 October 1941.[3] After Stag Hound's September 1942 completion, she was registered at New York and armed with one 5-inch (130 mm) and one 3-inch (76 mm) deck gun and six machine guns, and took on fourteen Naval Armed Guardsmen to man the guns.[1]
On 28 February 1943, Stag Hound departed New York for Rio de Janeiro with a 5,800-long-ton (5,893.072 t) cargo that included dynamite, trucks, gas, and steel. At 19:15 on 3 March, near position 16°44′S 36°33′W / 16.733°S 36.550°W, Stag Hound was struck by two torpedoes launched by Barbarigo. The torpedoes destroyed the steering gear and the ship's antenna, and the ship's master, Harold T. McCaw, ordered the fatally damaged vessel abandoned. The ship's 10 officers (including McCaw), 49 men, and 25 Naval Armed Guardsmen boarded two lifeboats and one life raft ten minutes after the attack. Barbarigo launched a coup de grâce that hit the still-floating ship, causing her to sink stern-first at 19:50, 35 minutes after the initial attack. After 25 hours in the water, all hands were rescued by the Argentine steamer SS Rio Colorado and were landed at Rio de Janeiro on 8 March.[1]
Notes
edit- ^ a b c d e f Browning, p. 187. Browning refers to the ship as Staghound, which contradicts other sources styling of the name as Stag Hound.
- ^ a b c d e Lloyd's Register of Shipping. Register of Ships (1943–44 ed.). London: Lloyd's Register of Shipping. Scan of page "Sta" (pdf) hosted at Plimsoll Ship Data Archived 2012-02-18 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 6 July 2009.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "Stag Hound (2241559)". Miramar Ship Index. Retrieved 6 July 2009.
- ^ Colton, Tim. "Sun Shipbuilding, Chester PA". Shipbuildinghistory.com. The Colton Companies. Archived from the original on 16 March 2015. Retrieved 6 February 2015.
References
edit- Browning, Robert M. (1996). U.S. Merchant Vessel War Casualties of World War II. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-55750-087-8. OCLC 32310902.