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PLANES ON DECK
SS. "Dartmouth"
DURING World War II the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, in addition to acquiring 23 large ocean-going tankers built under
contract, purchased 7 from the United States Maritime Commission. Six of the latter were turbo-electric vessels; the Dartmouth, last of the seven, was turbine propelled. She was delivered on April 9, 1943.
Under time charter to the War Shipping Administration, the new member of the Esso tanker fleet sailed from Baltimore April 13 on her first voyage; she was commanded by Captain Daniel H. Larsen and her engineroom was in charge of Chief Engineer Daniel C. Dunn. By V-j Day, less than two and a half years later, the Dartmouth had rendered important war service in the North Atlantic, the Mediterranean, and the western Pacific.
Her first cargo - 124,776 barrels of 80 octane motor fuel loaded at Beaumont, Texas - was transported to the Mediterranean and discharged at Oran and nearby Arzeu, in Algeria, within a few days after Allied forces captured Tunis and Bizerte on May 7, 1943. During the critical last half of that year the Dartmouth took three cargoes of gasoline to the United Kingdom; totaling 15,699,054 gallons, they were one ship's contribution to the supply base for the greatest invasion in history.
In March, 1944, three months before D-Day in Normandy, the vessel disdtarged a mixed cargo of petroleum products at Avonmouth, terminal for the port of Bristol, England. On the same trip, she delivered at Avonmouth a significant deck cargo - fifteen Army pursuit plane assemblies for nine P-47s (Thunderbolts) and six P-51s (Mustangs). -
Not long afterward, the tanker unloaded an identical deck cargo - nine P-47s and six P-51s - at Casablanca.
In the latter half of 1944 and up to V-J Day, the Dartmouth carried fuel oil for the U. S. Navy and bunkered many of our combatant ships at far distant bases in the Pacific.
The SS Dartmouth was built in I943 by the Bethlehem-Sparrows Point Shipyard, Inc., at Sparrows Point, Md. She is a sistership of the Esso Annapolis (second vessel so named) and the Essa Hartford. The Esso Harrisburg, lost july 6, 1944, was also a sistership.
A single-screw vessel of 16,543 deadweight tons capacity on international summer draft of 30 feet, 1/8 inch, the Dartmouth has an overall length of 501 feet, 7 3/4 inches, a length between perpendiculars of 487 feet, 6 inches, a moulded breadth of 68 feet, and a depth moulded of 37 feet. With a cargo carrying capacity of 181,136 barrels, she has an assigned pumping rate of 6,000 barrels an hour.
Her turbine engine, supplied with steam by two water-tube boilers, develops 7,700 shaft horsepower and gives her a classification certified speed of 15 knots.
In an interview for this history, Chief Mate John W. Bozarth, who served on the Dartmouth from March 9, 1944 to June 28, I945, gave a factual account of the tanker's war service during that period. When Chief Mate Bozarth joined the Dartmouth at New York the vessel had put in to load fifteen knocked down Army planes on deck before continuing her voyage to England with a mixed cargo of motor gasoline and Pool vaporizing oil lifted at Aruba between February 20 and 22, 1944.
In Convoy to England and Casablanca
To quote the chief mate:
“On the trip to England we were in a 20-ship convoy, of which one vessel, the tanker Seakay (second vessel of that name; owned by the Keystone Tankship Corporation) was sunk on March 17 in the northeast Atlantic. We discharged our oil and deck cargo at Avonmouth, returned to New York, and on April 22 proceeded unescorted to Aruba, arriving on the 27th.
“At Curacao the Dartmouth joined a convoy bound for Casablanca, Morocco, and our skipper, Captain William Mello, was made commodore. At Casablanca we delivered the fifteen knocked down Army pursuit planes which we had taken on deck before leaving New York, and went to Oran, in Algeria, where we discharged gasoline. Our return convoy stayed together as far as the Grenadines, just south of the Windward Islands, where we split up, some ships going to Trinidad and others to Caripito. The Darlmouth proceeded along the Venezuelan coast to Curacao, arriving May 31.
“At Curacao we loaded 97,000 barrels of special Navy fuel oil and sailed on June 1 for Cristobal; we transited the Panama Canal and arrived on June 30 at Morobe, New Guinea, to which we had been diverted by radio for Navy orders. We left Morobe
on July 3 for Langemak Bay, near Finschhafen, to receive further instructions.
"Departing from the Finschhafen area under new orders, we were escorted by the Australian corvette Lithgow to Hollandia, on Humboldt Bay, where we arrived July 5. The Lithgow was only a 12 knot ship and with our 15 knots we spent a good bit of the trip to Hollandia slowing down for our escort. At Hollandia we fueled the U. S. destroyers Swanson (DD 443) and Roe (DD 418), the destroyer escort Lovelace (DE 198) , HMAS Bishopdale, and the merchant steamship Alcibiades. We also discharged into the USS Victoria (ex George G. Henry), which left for Biak Island, to the west, on July l2.”
In view of the amazing experiences of the George G. Henry, which fueled American warships of our Asiatic Fleet in the early critical days of 1942, it seems timely to interrupt Chief Mate Bozarth’s story at this point. The chapter on the George G. Henry tells her history only to April 15, 1942, when the Navy commissioned her as the USS Victoria, but she was in the thick of things throughout the war. Biak, at that time, was a hot spot. On July 2, 1944, just ten days before the USS Victoria left Hollandia after
being fueled by the Dartmouth, an amphibious attack force, under the command of Rear Admiral (later Vice Admiral) Daniel E. Barbey, had supported a landing on nearby Noemfoor Island, southwest of Biak, by troops under the overall command of General Douglas MacArthur.
Melbourne to Abadan
Chief Mate Bozarth further reported:
“We left Hollandia on ]uly 12 for Langemak Bay, where we received orders to proceed to Melbourne, Australia. On the way, we passed through that historic place of danger for seamen - the China Straits, off the southeast extremity of New Guinea. We took on water and stores at Melbourne between july 22 and 25. It was winter down there. The temperature got down to 40 degrees and people had open fires in their homes."
From Melbourne the Dartmouth sailed for Abadan, in the Persian Gulf, arriving on August 15. In 21 days the vessel had covered 7,205 sea miles at an observed speed of 14.26 knots.
“At Abadan," Mr. Bozarth said, "we loaded 99,119 barrels of special Navy fuel oil, returned to Sydney for stores, and proceeded to Milne Bay. New Guinea, where we fueled the USS Arayat (AO 134), the American merchant ships John C. Clayton, James Wallace, and William Allen While, and the Australian merchant vessel Taroana. We discharged the rest of our cargo into Navy shore storage at Townsville, Australia, and left on October 1, returning through the Panama Canal to Aruba.
“At Aruba, we loaded special Navy fuel, 98,818 barrels, sailed October 31, and on December 5 arrived again at Hollandia, New Guinea, after receiving Navy orders at Langemak Bay. At Hollandia we discharged into the oilers USS Clyde (AO I44) and USS Suamiro (A0 49) .
“We returned to Balboa, loaded 98,267 barrels of Navy fuel, left on january 15, 1945, and between February 7 and ll at Seeadler Harbor, in the Admiralty group, fueled the tankers Benninglon (owned by Seamar Tankers Inc.) and Mission Purisima (owned by the War Shipping Administration) and discharged into Navy shore tanks on Los Negros lsland.
“We proceeded again to Seeadler Harbor, arriving on April 12, but unloaded only 27 cases of dry cargo for the Navy. On this trip we carried on deck an 85 foot Army crash boat loaded at Balboa, and in our tanks Navy fuel oil from Aruba (98,596 barrels). At
Manus we took on two Navy crash boats, 65 feet long, and one LCM, before sailing on April 14. At Kossol Anchorage, in the Palau Islands, the Dartmouth stayed one night for rerouting and then joined a convoy consisting of 8 or 10ships with 4 escorts, for Leyte.
“We arrived at San Pedro Bay, Leyte, on April 21 and unloaded our deck cargo. Then from May 5 through the 9th, the Dartmouth fueled the U. S. destroyers Frazier (DD 607), Sigourney (DD 643), and Johnston (DD 821); the destroyer escorts Woodson (DE 359), Major (DE 796), Cronin (DE 704), and Riley (DE 579); and the transport Stratford (AP 41) . We finished discharging into the Navy fuel oil barge YO I64 and the tanker Antelope Hills (owned by the War Shipping Administration).
"On May 12 we left Leyte in convoy for the Palaus, from which we continued without escort to Covenas, Colombia. There we loaded a cargo of Tibu crude oil (118,925 barrels), which we discharged at Paulsboro, N. J. Finally we reached New York on June 19, I945."
On V-J Day, September 2, 1945, the Dartmouth was en route from Ulithi atoll, in the Carolines, to Pearl Harbor.
The wartime transportation record of the Darlmouth, mainly on long foreign voyages, was in summary as follows:
The wartime masters of the Dartmouth were Captains Daniel H. Larsen, William Mello, and Olav Olsen. During the same period her engineroom was in charge of Chief Engineers Daniel C. Dunn, Fred F. Newton, James L. Yent, and George C. Brauner.
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