Merchant Mariners for the Gold

gCaptain ^ | March 6, 2020 | Sal Mercogliano

[artichokegrower]

The outbreak of the Second World War on the high seas was marked by the sinking of the British passenger liner SS Athenia on September 3, 1939. As passengers scrambled into lifeboats, the American freighter SS City of Flint, built at the Hog Island shipyard during the First World War, arrived on scene and rescued more than 200 survivors. The following month, while carrying cargo for Britain, the German pocket battleship Deutschland stopped and seized the vessel. The Germans sailed her to the neutral port of Murmansk for internment. City of Flint was eventually released, but the ship met its fate at the hands of the Nazi submarine U-575 on January 23, 1943. Out of a complement of 65, six died and one crewmember – Chief Cook Robert Daigle – was picked up by the submarine and spent the rest of the conflict as a prisoner of war.

[artichokegrower]

As President Donald Trump prepares to sign H.R. 5671 into law, and as the few remaining veterans gather from March 24-29 at the Maritime Conference Center in Linthicum Heights, Maryland for the AMMV 34th National Convention, it is appropriate that the nation give the recognition to these brave mariners for whom victory in World War Two was essential.

Bravo Zulu President Trump

[Paine in the Neck]

My Dad was on the City of Flint. Thanks for posting this.

[Don W]

Excellent article, but whether this writer is a professor or not, he is in dire need of a remedial English course.

[Rebelbase]

733 Merchant Marine cargo ships were sunk during WWII. Can you imagine a conflict today where that many ships would be sunk? It boggles my mind.