SS Santa Elisa
| Career | |
|---|---|
| Name: | SS Santa Elisa |
| Owner: | Template:USMC[1] |
| Operator: | Grace Line[1] |
| Port of registry: | 22x20px Wilmington, Delaware[2] |
| Builder: |
Federal Shipbuilding[3] Kearny, New Jersey |
| Yard number: | 179 |
| Launched: | 29 May 1941 |
| Completed: | July 1941 |
| Fate: | sunk by German E boat, 13 August 1942[1] |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | {[Type C2-G ship]] |
| Tonnage: | 8,379 GRT |
| Length: | 439 ft 0 in (133.81 m)[2] |
| Beam: | 63 ft 2 in (19.25 m)[2] |
| Draft: | 27 ft 5 in (8.36 m)[2] |
| Decks: | three decks |
| Propulsion: | 2 General Electric steam turbines, geared to a single screw propeller[2] |
| Speed: | 15.5 knots (28.7 km/h)[3] |
| Crew: | 11 officers, 45 sailors, 10 Naval Armed Guardsmen (83 total)[1] |
| Armament: |
unknown, but included 20 mm (0.79 in) guns |
SS Santa Elisa was a refrigerated cargo ship built for the United States Maritime Commission by Federal Shipbuilding of Kearny, New Jersey in 1941. Operated by the Grace Line, Santa Elisa was a member of Convoy WS 21S from Newport, England, for Malta as a part of Operation Pedestal. After she straggled from the convoy, she was attacked and torpedoed by the Italian motor boats MAS 557 and 564 25 nautical miles (46 km) southeast of Cape Bon, Tunisia on on the night of 12/13 August 1942. MAS 557 strafed the vessel with her .51 Breda machine gun, killing four British army gunners, while the second motorboat launched a 450 mm torpedo that struck Santa Elisa on the starboard side near the No. 1 cargo hatch at about 05:17. The ship's cargo of aviation gasoline burst into flames. Santa Elisa eventually sank at approximately 07:17 on 13 August near position 36°20′N 11°28′E / 36.333°N 11.467°ECoordinates: 36°20′N 11°28′E / 36.333°N 11.467°E, and 28 survivors were rescued by HMS Penn and landed at Malta.[4][5]
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Browning, p. 199.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Lloyd's Register of Shipping. Register of Ships (1940–41 ed.). London: Lloyd's Register of Shipping. Scan of page "S" (pdf) hosted at Plimsoll Ship Data. Retrieved 4 July 2009.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 ""2240800" (Santa Elisa)" (subscription required). Miramar Ship Index. R.B. Haworth. http://www.miramarshipindex.org.nz. Retrieved 4 July 2009.
- ↑ Greene & Massignani, page 254
- ↑ Woodman, page 430-431
References
- Browning, Robert M. (1996). U.S. Merchant Vessel War Casualties of World War II. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 9781557500878. OCLC 32310902.
- Greene & Massignani, Jack & Allessandro (1999). The Naval War in the Mediterranean 1940-1943. London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 1885119615.
- Woodman, Richard (2000). Malta Convoys 1940-43. London: John Murray. ISBN 0719557534.
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