Auke Visser's Famous T - Tankers Pages     |   home
Index
Bloody Marsh
T2-SE-A1
This photo shows possibly the "Bloody Marsh".

BLOODY MARSH, T2-SE-A1
History :
Built by Sun Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co., Chester, Pennsylvania.
Yardnumber 318. UMSC No. 311. Official nr. 243649.
Keel laid 18-02-1943. Launched 29-05-1943. Completed 10-06-1943. Gr. 10195 t., Net. 6236 t., Dw. 16613 t. L.o.a. 159,57 m., Br. 20,78 m., Dr. 9,31 m. Engine: 2 steam turbines, manufactured by General Electric Company, Lynn, Massachussetts. 7240 B.h.p., 5401 kW. Speed 15 knots. 26 Tanks.
History:
BLOODY MARSH-1943 completed for United States War Shipping Administration, Cities Service Oil Company, New York, USA.
Additional Reports:
Reported Bloody Marsh torpedoed by the German submarine U-66, broke in two and sunk 2 Jul.1943 in position 31.33 N / 78.57 W., whilst on voyage from Houston, Texas to New York, with naval fuel oil. 3 crewmembers/gunners killed, 73 survived.
 
Additional information from Uboat.net :
Name
Bloody Marsh
Type:
Turbine tanker (T-2)
Tonnage
10.195 tons
Completed
1943 - Sun Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co, Chester PA
Owner
Cities Service Oil Co, New York
Homeport
Philadelphia
Date of attack
2 Jul 1943
Nationality: American
Fate
Sunk by U-66 (Friedrich Markworth)
Position
31° 33'N, 78° 57'W - Grid DB 62
- See location on a map -
Complement
777 (3 dead and 74 survivors)
Convoy
Route
Houston, Texas (28 Jun) - New York
Cargo
102500 barrels of Navy fuel oil
History
Completed in June 1943 for US Maritime Commission
Notes on loss
At 00.08 hours on 2 July 1943 the unescorted Bloody Marsh (Master Albert Harrison Barnes) was on her maiden voyage, when the ship´s torpedo indicator sounded after detecting the approach of a torpedo from U-66. The master ordered a course change to hard left, but 30 seconds later the torpedo struck the port side at the engine room, destroying the room completely, flooding the compartment and killing one officer and two men on watch below. The hull was ruptured on the port side from midship to the engine room. As the tanker settled slowly by the stern, gradually losing headway, the after gun crew reported a conning tower but could not open fire because the explosion had jammed the gun. The forward gun did not get into action because it could not be brought to bear.

Most of the ten officers, 40 men and 27 armed guards (the ship was armed with one 5in, one 3in and eight 20mm guns) left the ship in four lifeboats and three rafts, with the exception of the armed guard commander and three of his men. 20 minutes after the attack, a second torpedo struck the port side amidships, broke the ship in two and immediately sank the tanker about 75 miles east of Savannah, Georgia. The four armed guards jumped overboard as the water reached the after gun platform. At 06.00 hours, a Navy blimp sighted the survivors and signaled that help was on the way. USS SC-1048 picked them up at 09.00 hours and landed them at Charleston, South Carolina