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The FReeper Foxhole Remembers the Pedestal Convoy and the SS Ohio (8/11-15/1942) - Nov. 3rd, 2004
www.usmm.org ^

Posted on 11/02/2004 10:54:39 PM PST by SAMWolf



Lord,

Keep our Troops forever in Your care

Give them victory over the enemy...

Grant them a safe and swift return...

Bless those who mourn the lost.
.

FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer
for all those serving their country at this time.


.................................................................. .................... ...........................................

U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues

Where Duty, Honor and Country
are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.

Our Mission:

The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans.

Welcome to "Warrior Wednesday"

Where the Freeper Foxhole introduces a different veteran each Wednesday. The "ordinary" Soldier, Sailor, Airman or Marine who participated in the events in our Country's history. We hope to present events as seen through their eyes. To give you a glimpse into the life of those who sacrificed for all of us - Our Veterans.

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Operation Pedestal
and
the SS Ohio Save Malta


In mid-1942, the war was going badly for the Allies. During the first six months U-Boats sank 3,250,000 tons of shipping in the Atlantic (an average freighter was 7,000 tons). Rommel rolled through Northern Africa, threatening the Suez Canal, but stopped 35 miles short of Alexandria, Egypt, because of a shortage of supplies. The Nazi war machine reached Stalingrad, with plans to head through the Caucasus for the Middle East oil fields. The Allies had Gibraltar, Malta, and Egypt. The Axis controlled France, Italy, Yugoslavia, Greece, and most of northern Africa. A few countries were neutral (Turkey), or pro-Axis (Spain).



Malta's strategic airfield was key to holding the Mediterranean, but food and oil had to get through past German and Italian bombers. The 250,000 Maltese and 20,000 British defenders were dependent on imported food and oil.

In September of 1941, 8 of 9 merchant ships arrived in Malta bringing 85,000 tons of supplies.

A February 1942 convoy of 3 ships from Alexandria was unsuccessful -- no supplies reached Malta.



A March 1942 convoy of 3 merchant ships plus a Navy oiler, was accompanied by 4 cruisers and 16 destroyers, while another cruiser and its covering force sailed from Malta to meet them. This escort succeeded in keeping an Italian battleship carrying nine 15-inch guns, 3 cruisers and 10 destroyers away from the convoy, but the freighters faced Germans bombers near Malta. One ship was sunk just 20 miles from Malta. The oiler sank within 8 miles of Malta. The remaining two ships arrived to cheers by the Maltese, but were sunk in the harbor with only a fraction of their cargo unloaded.

SS Ohio and SS Kentucky


Great Britain had no tankers capable of 16 knots, so President Franklin Delano Roosevelt turned over the SS Kentucky and SS Ohio to Britain for use in supplying Malta.


SS Ohio in peacetime colors


The tanker SS Ohio was launched on April 20, 1940 at Sun Shipbuilding Yard in Chester, Pennsylvania for Texas Oil Company (now Texaco). In anticipation of war and due to unofficial conversations between the American military and the oil company, the Ohio was the largest tanker built at that time. At 9,263 tons, 485 feet long, she and her sister ships, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Colorado, Montana, Georgia, Delaware, Indiana held 170,000 barrels of oil. With 9,000 shaft horsepower Westinghouse turbine engines, they were rated at 16 knots, but in sea trials Ohio made 19 knots.


HMS Indominatable and HMS Eagle in a photo taken from HMS Victorious during Operation Pedestal 10-15 Augaust 1942.


A June 1942 convoy sent 6 ships including SS Kentucky, escorted part way by a battleship, 2 aircraft carriers and 4 cruisers east from Gibraltar, Simultaneously, 11 merchant ships escorted by 8 cruisers and 40 others headed west from Alexandria. The capital ships withdrew before the narrow channel between Sicily and Africa, leaving the anti-aircraft cruiser HMS Cairo and 13 escorts. The results: 6 merchant ships sunk, 3 damaged, 7 turned back to Alexandria, 2 supply ships arrived in Malta; British Navy - 5 cruisers damaged, 4 destroyers sunk and 1 damaged. No fuel oil got through.



Operation Pedestal in August 1942 was the final effort to supply Malta before she was forced to surrender.

14 merchant ships: Almeria Lykes (C3, US), Brisbane Star, Clan Ferguson, Decaulion, Empire Hope, Dorset, Glenorchy, Melbourne Star, Ohio, Port Chalmers, Rochester Castle, Santa Elisa (C2, US), Waimarama, Wairangi 9 merchant ships sunk, 3 damaged
5 arrive in Malta
2 battleships: Nelson, Rodney turned back as planned
4 aircraft carriers: Victorious, Indomitable, Eagle, Furious 1 aircraft carrier sunk, 1 damaged, 1 turns back as planned
7 cruisers: Phoebe, Sirius, Charybdis, Nigeria, Kenya, Manchester, Cairo 2 cruisers sunk, 2 turned back as planned
33 destroyers 1 destroyer sunk, 4 damaged
2 tugs, 4 corvettes, 4 minesweepers and 7 motor launches from Malta  
The timeline of their passage through the Mediterranean:

August 10-11 night


OPERATION PEDESTAL - EMPIRE HOPE AND WAIMARAMA IN THE CENTRE OF THE PICTURE


  • Entered Gibraltar in heavy fog
August 11


HMS Eagle sinks


  • 4 torpedoes from German U-73 sink carrier Eagle, 260 men lost, all but 4 planes lost
  • Carrier Furious flies off 36 planes for Malta, turns back as planned. Destroyer rams and sinks Italian submarine.
  • 40 German bombers attack convoy

OPERATION PEDESTAL. UNDER ATTACK. 1942.


August 12



  • 20 Junker 88s attack convoy
  • Submarine attacks
  • 100 German & Italian planes attack - Deucalion sunk by aerial torpedo; dud hits carrier Victorious
  • Italian submarine forced to surface by depth charges
  • 30 Junker 87s, attack, carrier Indomitable hit three times; destroyer Foresight damaged by aerial torpedo and had to be sunk
  • Cruisers Cairo and Nigeria torpedoed by Italian submarines: Cairo abandoned, Nigeria returns to Gibraltar
  • Ohio torpedoed by Italian submarine and on fire. Manages 13 knots after repair.
  • 20 Junkers 88s attack. Gunners on Almeria Lykes shoot down 2 planes. Empire Hope bombed, high octane gas on fire, abandoned and sunk by escort. Clan Ferguson hit and explodes, Italian sub rescues 53 survivors. Brisbane Star crippled by aerial torpedo. Cruiser Kenya damaged by torpedo from Italian submarine.

A torpedo hits the Ohio


August 13



  • Passed through minefields between Africa and Sicily around midnight. 8 Italian torpedo boats make 15 attacks: cruiser Manchester hit, sinks by evening; Santa Elisa (US) hit by torpedo, entire ship on fire and abandoned; Almeria Lykes (US) torpedoed, sinks immediately; British Wairangi and Glenorchy torpedoed, on fire, no survivors from Glenorchy; Rochester Castle torpedoed but keeps going. It is now 4 AM.
  • Fighters from Malta fired on by convoy because communications out. 12 Junkers 88s attack. Waimarana hit, aviation gas on deck bursts into fire, ship explodes and sinks, 80 of 107 crew killed. Wreckage starts fires on Melbourne Star.
  • 60 Stuka dive bombers attack, focus on Ohio. Near-miss buckles plates and forward tank fills with water. Junkers 88 crashes onto Ohio. Junkers 87 bounces off the water, crashes onto Ohio. Ohio avoids mines, torpedoes and circling torpedoes, 2 bombs straddle her, lift her out of the water. Boilers blown, she is dead in the water at 10:50 AM.
  • Dorset disabled by 3 near misses, engine room flooded, high octane gas on fire, abandoned. 12 Italian torpedo bombers attack, Port Chalmers catches torpedo in paravane (submerged floats meant to catch mines). Bomb nearby sets Kenya's forward engine room on fire; fire put out. Fighters from Malta provide some air cover.
  • Rochester Castle, Port Castle, Melbourne Star steam on to meet escort from Malta, reach Grand Harbour in Valetta at 6 PM.
  • Junkers 88 attacks on Ohio. Destroyer tries to tow Ohio, but Ohio wants to go sideways. Ohio nearly split in two as bomb hits in same area as torpedo. Crew abandons ship. Italian torpedo bombers attack.


August 14


The heavily damaged Brisbane Star arrives in La Valetta


  • Brisbane Star arrives Malta
  • Frederick Larsen, Jr., third mate and Francis Dales, Cadet-Midshipman from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, crew members on the Santa Elisa volunteer to man guns on Ohio during tow. [Text of Distinguished Service Medal Citation below] Weight of Ohio keeps breaking tow lines. Constant air attacks by 20 bombers. Bomb destroys rudder and makes hole in stern of Ohio. Decks awash. Finally, successfully towed while "sandwiched" by two destroyers.

Two destroyers "sandwich" Ohio as she is towed in the Grand Harbour


August 15


Ohio towed in the Grand Harbour.


  • Ohio arrives Grand Harbour 9:30 AM to cheering crowds. The convoy is known as "Il-Konvoj ta Santa Marija" because it arrived on St. Mary's feast day, according to our correspondent in Malta.
August 17



  • Germany reports that all the tankers in a recent Mediterranean convoy were sunk and not one of the transports reached their destination in Egypt.
In August 1942, 35% of Axis convoys to North Africa did not get through. In September, Allied forces sank 100,000 tons of Axis shipping, including 24,000 tons of fuel destined for Rommel, leaving him desperately short of supplies during his assault at El Alamein on October 26, 1942.



TOPICS: VetsCoR
KEYWORDS: captdudleymason; convoys; francisadales; fredericklarsen; freeperfoxhole; hmsledbury; malta; mediterranean; operationpedestal; royalnavy; ssohio; usnavy; veterans; warriorwednesday
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To: The Mayor

Afternoon Mayor.

No more "second chances" for the Libs. ;-)


61 posted on 11/03/2004 2:44:03 PM PST by SAMWolf ( "John Kerry: He knows where he stands...sort of…kind of…perhaps…maybe not.".)
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To: U S Army EOD
Afternoon EOD.

Seamen are an amazing lot and England is second to none with a grand seagoing tradition.
62 posted on 11/03/2004 3:00:02 PM PST by SAMWolf ( "John Kerry: He knows where he stands...sort of…kind of…perhaps…maybe not.".)
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To: Valin
1979 63 Americans taken hostage at US Embassy (Teheran, Iran)

In September, Khomeini's government decided it was time to end the matter. There was little more advantage to be gained from further anti-American, anti-Shah propaganda, and the ongoing sanctions were making it harder to straighten out an already chaotic economy.

Despite rumors that Carter might pull out an "October Surprise" and get the hostages home before the election, negotiations dragged on for months, even after Republican Ronald Reagan's landslide victory in November. Carter's all-night effort to bring the 52 hostages home before the end of his term, documented by an ABC television crew in the Oval Office, fell short; the Iranians released them minutes after Reagan was inaugurated.

And we're supposed to listen to Carter on foreign policy matters???

63 posted on 11/03/2004 3:04:12 PM PST by SAMWolf ( "John Kerry: He knows where he stands...sort of…kind of…perhaps…maybe not.".)
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To: Matthew Paul
In today's interview he called the US President a very good friend of Poland, who truly understands the meaning of the allies and their our sacrifice in the war on terror.

If America was to be founded in Europe, it would have been the Poles who founded it. Poland - The America of Europe. ;-)

64 posted on 11/03/2004 3:05:54 PM PST by SAMWolf ( "John Kerry: He knows where he stands...sort of…kind of…perhaps…maybe not.".)
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To: alfa6; Valin

I was thinking of posting the same thing, but I knew someone would have covered it by now. :-)


65 posted on 11/03/2004 3:06:48 PM PST by SAMWolf ( "John Kerry: He knows where he stands...sort of…kind of…perhaps…maybe not.".)
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To: Valin

Buh-Bye Daschole!

66 posted on 11/03/2004 3:08:07 PM PST by SAMWolf ( "John Kerry: He knows where he stands...sort of…kind of…perhaps…maybe not.".)
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To: Professional Engineer

Afternoon PE. Great Flag-O-Gram and comment for today.


67 posted on 11/03/2004 3:08:47 PM PST by SAMWolf ( "John Kerry: He knows where he stands...sort of…kind of…perhaps…maybe not.".)
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To: bentfeather

Afternoon Feather.


68 posted on 11/03/2004 3:09:00 PM PST by SAMWolf ( "John Kerry: He knows where he stands...sort of…kind of…perhaps…maybe not.".)
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To: Matthew Paul

The old Europe doesn't know the difference between being an American Lackey and being an American Ally. Besides france is just upset because Poland refuses to be a french lackey like most of the rest of the EU.


69 posted on 11/03/2004 3:11:32 PM PST by SAMWolf ( "John Kerry: He knows where he stands...sort of…kind of…perhaps…maybe not.".)
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To: PAR35

Operation Hercules
The original plans for the invasion of Malta were hatched in 1941 and was part of Hitler's grand Mediterranean strategy which included operation Mercury and Felix.

The invasion was planned to take place in 1942, with a combined air and sea borne assault. The primary objectives being the airfields that the RAF were using as a base for bombers and attack aircraft to intercept German supply ships destined for North Africa and the resupply of the Afrika Korps.

The airborne assault was to be made by men of the 1st Parachute Division with reinforcements from the 4th & 5th Parachute Regiments under the command of Major von der Heydte. This force was also to include men of the Italian Folgore and Superba airborne division's.

The whole seaborne element of the operation was dependant on ships of the Italian Navy, which had suffered already during the war at the hands of the Royal Navy, at places like Cape Matapan and Cape Spartivento. Hitler believed that they would be reluctant to go into action against them again.

General Kurt Student and Field Marshall Albert Kesselring persuaded Hitler that Malta had to be seized due to the disruption to badly needed supplies destined for North Africa.

Then fate took a hand and Rommels Afrika Korps took Tobruk in June 1942, Hitler then decided to postpone Hercules, not wanting to lose any hard to replace forces.

Hitler was also leery of any more major airborne assaults after Crete.


70 posted on 11/03/2004 3:17:14 PM PST by SAMWolf ( "John Kerry: He knows where he stands...sort of…kind of…perhaps…maybe not.".)
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To: E.G.C.

It was a late night here too. I need a nap.


71 posted on 11/03/2004 3:17:54 PM PST by SAMWolf ( "John Kerry: He knows where he stands...sort of…kind of…perhaps…maybe not.".)
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To: PAR35

To say Malta's air defences were small at the beginning of WWII would be an under statement.

The total air power on Malta consisted of 4 Gloster Gladiator biplanes. These were packed in crates & left at Kalafrana flying boat base by HMS Glorious which left to join the Norwegian campaign. In fact, there were enough parts to make up 8 biplanes but the Navy wanted 4 back to join the aircraft carrier HMS Eagle.

The remaining 4 were assembled, 3 were to be used on operations with the reamaining 1 kept in reserve.

After assembling the biplanes the Royal Navy decided on having them back for work in Alexandria, so they were taken apart for re-packing.

Following talks between Air Commodore Maynard & the Royal Navy it was decided to leave the biplanes on Malta & they were re-assembled.

Their first use in combat came at 0649 on the 11th of June 1940 when 10 Italian Savoia Marchetti 79 bombers bombed Grand Harbour. No aircraft were shot down in this encounter.

On the 7th raid of the day the Gladiator's drew blood by shooting down a Macchi 200 fighter. Although the biplanes were slower than the Italian fighters they were more manouverable.

Flying Officer John Waters nicknamed the aircraft 'Faith, Hope & Charity'.

Three bladed propellers were fitted in place of the usual two to give the biplanes a faster rate of climb. Other parts were later used from a Swordfish.

Superchargers were left on maximum during the climb after take off (which was against orders) so they could gain height faster. This put extra strain on the engines & 2 of them blew pistons. Maintenance crews converted Blenheim bomber engines to fit the Gladiators.

Faith, Hope & Charity fought for 17 days without relief & played a fundamental role in fooling the Italian intelligence into thinking Malta had a substantial fighter defence.

72 posted on 11/03/2004 3:22:31 PM PST by SAMWolf ( "John Kerry: He knows where he stands...sort of…kind of…perhaps…maybe not.".)
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To: Matthew Paul

Thank you Matt. A good day for our country.


73 posted on 11/03/2004 3:23:37 PM PST by SAMWolf ( "John Kerry: He knows where he stands...sort of…kind of…perhaps…maybe not.".)
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To: Professional Engineer

LOL! Good!


74 posted on 11/03/2004 3:24:01 PM PST by SAMWolf ( "John Kerry: He knows where he stands...sort of…kind of…perhaps…maybe not.".)
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To: bentfeather

Thanks Feather, got my mood just right. :-)


75 posted on 11/03/2004 3:24:23 PM PST by SAMWolf ( "John Kerry: He knows where he stands...sort of…kind of…perhaps…maybe not.".)
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To: SAMWolf
Historians claim that one state, Ohio with its cargo of 20 tons of electoral votes for President and domestic use was responsible for saving America from having to surrender in November 2004.

How do you pick these topics, SAM? :^)

76 posted on 11/03/2004 3:42:05 PM PST by Samwise (This day we fight! For all that you hold dear on this good Earth, I bid you stand, Men of the West!)
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To: Matthew Paul

Thanks Matt. It's a good day!


77 posted on 11/03/2004 3:46:12 PM PST by snippy_about_it (Fall in --> The FReeper Foxhole. America's History. America's Soul.)
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To: Professional Engineer

Forbes dead in Ohio. LOL!


78 posted on 11/03/2004 3:46:36 PM PST by snippy_about_it (Fall in --> The FReeper Foxhole. America's History. America's Soul.)
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To: bentfeather

Yeah. Good song, thanks feather.


79 posted on 11/03/2004 3:47:04 PM PST by snippy_about_it (Fall in --> The FReeper Foxhole. America's History. America's Soul.)
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To: Professional Engineer

We've been swamped. Phone man in today, drop ceiling dude continuing his work. Exterior sign should be put up tomorrow. Ordering inventory continues on my part, trips to Home Depot and building coordination by Sam continues. Whew. I'm glad the election isn't going to drag on!


80 posted on 11/03/2004 3:57:28 PM PST by snippy_about_it (Fall in --> The FReeper Foxhole. America's History. America's Soul.)
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