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China Arrow - (1920-1942)
"China Arrow".
( Photo Collection John Curdy )
Profile Plan for "China Arrow".
"China Arrow", broadside view of the docked vessel.( Photo Collection Percy Loomis )
"China Arrow", broadside view under way.( Photo Collection Percy Loomis )
"China Arrow", broadside view under way.( Photo Collection ELDREDGE, ELWIN M. )
"China Arrow" starboard side view of ship underway.( Photo Collection John L. Lochhead )
"China Arrow", starboard side view of ship underway, December 22nd, 1941.( Photo Collection US Coast Guard )
China Arrow
LOA 485'2", Beam 62'6", Depth 39'6", 13,395 DWT, 99,742 bbls
Quadruple expansion engine 51" stroke 3200 lHP, 10.6 knots
Launched 2 September and commissioned 1 October 1920 at Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation, Quincy, Massachusetts.
CHINA ARROW was given a shakedown cruise in domestic trade; then, all nuts and bolts tight, she went around to the west coast via the Panama Canal and lifted combination case and bulk oil out of San Francisco for all the market ports of the Far East, including Vladivostok, USSR.
This lasted until 1929, followed by domestic service along the US east coast and between the coasts. As late as 1940, however, CHINA ARROW delivered five cargoes of oil to Vladivostok and narrowly escaped being in the Japanese Pacific at the time of Pearl Harbor.
There were no more trans-Pacific voyages after US entry into WWII, but no spot on the high seas was safe for oil tankers in early 1942. CHINA ARROW, in home Waters abreast of Winter Quarters Lightship, Was torpedoed, shelled and sunk by a U-boat on 5 February.
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Additional information Starke & Schell registers :
CHINA ARROW - 1920 USA 1Q (aft) (11)
8,403 GRT for Standard Transportation Co., Inc., New York 468.3 x 62.7
Tanker build by Bethlehem SB. Corp., Quincy, Mass. (10) #1385 220680
1931 - Standard-Vacuum Transportation Co., Inc., New York
1935 - Socony-Vacuum Oil Co., Inc., New York
Torpeddoed shelled and sunk by U 103, 5 Feb 1942, in 37.44N-73.18W (off Winter Quarter L.V.),
voyage Beaumont - New York, residual fuel oil.
The Miramar Ship Index for "CHINA ARROW"
IDNo:
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2220680
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Year:
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1920
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Name:
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CHINA ARROW
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Keel:
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Type:
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Tanker
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Launch Date:
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02.09.1920
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Flag:
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USA
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Date of completion:
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10.20
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Tons:
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8403
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Link:
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-
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DWT:
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Yard No:
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1385
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Length overall:
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Ship Design:
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LPP:
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142.7
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Country of build:
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USA
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Beam:
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19.1
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Builder:
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Bethlehem SB Corp.
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Material of build:
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Location of yard:
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Quincy
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Number of screws/Mchy/Speed(kn):
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1Q-11
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Subsequent History:
Disposal Data:
Torpedoed and sunk by (U-103) 37.44 N / 73.18 W on 05.02.1942.
[ Voyage Beaumont-New York, residual fuel oil ]
History:
ON
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LR/IMO
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ID
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Year
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Name
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Tons
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Change
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Registered Owner
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220680
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2220680
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1920
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CHINA ARROW
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8403
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Standard Tptn Co Inc.
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220680
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2220680
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1920
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CHINA ARROW
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8403
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1931
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Standard-Vacuum Tptn Co Inc.
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220680
|
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2220680
|
1920
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CHINA ARROW
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8403
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1935
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Socony-Vacuum Oil Co Inc.
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Additional information from Uboat.net :
Name: China Arrow
Type: Steam tanker
Tonnage: 8.403 tons
Completed: 1920 - Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corp, Quincy MA
Owner: Socony-Vacuum Oil Co Inc, New York
Homeport: New York
Date of attack: 5 Feb, 1942
Nationality: American
Fate: Sunk by U-103 (Werner Winter)
Position: 37.44N, 73.18W - Grid CA 5868
- See location on a map -
Complement: 37 (0 dead and 37 survivors).
Convoy: -
Route: Beaumont, Texas - New York
Cargo: 81.773 barrels of fuel oil
History: -
Notes on loss: At 18.08 hours on 5 Feb, 1942, the unescorted and unarmed China Arrow (Master Paul Hoffman Browne) was
hit by two torpedoes from U-103, while running on a zigzag course and blacked out off Winter Quarter Shoals. The first struck the
starboard side between the #8 and #9 tanks, the other between tanks #9 and #10. The explosion blew fuel oil 125 feet into the air
and over the length of the vessel. Fire immediately broke out in these tanks. The live steam firefighting equipment smothered the
blaze in tanks #9 and #10 but could not put out the fire in the #8 tank. The nine officers and 28 crewmen on board abandoned ship
in three lifeboats 25 minutes after the hits.
The U-boat surfaced and fired 15 to 20 shells into the waterline of the burning tanker, which sank by the stern at 19.30 hours. The
men in the lifeboats were spotted by a US Navy aircraft 57 hours after the attack. A Catalina flying boat of the US Coast Guard
landed near the boats and the men were later picked up by the US Coast Guard cutter USS Nike (WPC 112), which took
them to the Coast Guard Station in Lewes, Delaware.