SS Fort Lee
Encyclopedia
SS Fort Lee was a T2 tanker
T2 tanker
The T2 tanker, or T2, was an oil tanker constructed and produced in large quantities in the United States during World War II. The largest "navy oilers" after the T3s at the time, nearly 500 of them were built between 1940 and the end of 1945....
built for the United States Maritime Commission
United States Maritime Commission
The United States Maritime Commission was an independent executive agency of the U.S. federal government that was created by the Merchant Marine Act of 1936, passed by Congress on June 29, 1936, and replaced the U.S. Shipping Board which had existed since World War I...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. The ship was assigned by the War Shipping Administration
War Shipping Administration
The War Shipping Administration was a World War II emergency war agency of the US Government, tasked to purchase and operate the civilian shipping tonnage the US needed for fighting the war....
for operation by the Bernuth Lembcke Co. and operated in the Atlantic
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
and Mediterranean
Mediterranean Theatre
The Mediterranean Theatre is the war zone covering the Mediterranean Sea. It has seen at least two wars spanning the whole of the sea:*Mediterranean theatre of World War I*Mediterranean, Middle East and African theatres of World War II...
early in its career.
Fort Lee was torpedo
Torpedo
The modern torpedo is a self-propelled missile weapon with an explosive warhead, launched above or below the water surface, propelled underwater towards a target, and designed to detonate either on contact with it or in proximity to it.The term torpedo was originally employed for...
ed and sunk by the German
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
Kriegsmarine
Kriegsmarine
The Kriegsmarine was the name of the German Navy during the Nazi regime . It superseded the Kaiserliche Marine of World War I and the post-war Reichsmarine. The Kriegsmarine was one of three official branches of the Wehrmacht, the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany.The Kriegsmarine grew rapidly...
submarine U-181
Unterseeboot 181
German submarine U-181 was a Type IXD2 U-boat of the German Kriegsmarine during World War II. The submarine was laid down on 15 March 1941 at the AG Weser yard at Bremen, launched on 30 December 1941, and commissioned on 9 May 1942 under the command of Kapitänleutnant Wolfgang Lüth...
in the Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...
on 2 November 1944. Nine men aboard Fort Lee were killed during the attack. Three of the four successfully launched lifeboats were rescued by other ships within two weeks. The fate of the fourth lifeboat, with 16 men aboard, was unearthed by researchers in 2000. The boat had drifted 2850 mi (2,476.6 nmi; 4,586.6 km) over 10 weeks before landing on Japan
Empire of Japan
The Empire of Japan is the name of the state of Japan that existed from the Meiji Restoration on 3 January 1868 to the enactment of the post-World War II Constitution of...
ese-held Sumba Island
Sumba
Sumba is an island in eastern Indonesia, is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands, and is in the province of East Nusa Tenggara. Sumba has an area of 11,153 km², and the population was officially at 611,422 in 2005...
with three men remaining. All three perished in custody of the Japanese.
Operational history
Fort Lee (MCUnited States Maritime Commission
The United States Maritime Commission was an independent executive agency of the U.S. federal government that was created by the Merchant Marine Act of 1936, passed by Congress on June 29, 1936, and replaced the U.S. Shipping Board which had existed since World War I...
Hull #327) was laid down on 24 October 1942 at Sun Shipbuilding in Chester, Pennsylvania
Chester, Pennsylvania
Chester is a city in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States, with a population of 33,972 at the 2010 census. Chester is situated on the Delaware River, between the cities of Philadelphia and Wilmington, Delaware.- History :...
; launched on 25 February 1943; and delivered on 15 March 1943.
After launching, Fort Lee initially operated in the Mediterranean
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
and Atlantic
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
. The ship departed New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
on 28 May 1943 for Gibraltar
Gibraltar
Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...
, arriving in mid-June. In July, Fort Lee left Gibraltar and steamed for Avonmouth
Avonmouth
Avonmouth is a port and suburb of Bristol, England, located on the Severn Estuary, at the mouth of the River Avon.The council ward of Avonmouth also includes Shirehampton and the western end of Lawrence Weston.- Geography :...
, which it reached later in the month. In mid-August, the tanker sailed from Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
and arrived at New York again on 28 August.
Sinking and rescue
In late October 1944, Fort Lee left AbadanAbadan
Abadan is a city in and the capital of Abadan County, Khuzestan Province, Iran. It lies on Abadan Island , from the Persian Gulf, near the Iraqi-Iran border. The civilian population of the city dropped to near zero during the eight-years Iran–Iraq War. In 1992, only 84,774 had returned to live...
, Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
, headed to Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, with of Navy Bunker C fuel as well as rubber and some ores. Some time on 1 November 1944, U-181
Unterseeboot 181
German submarine U-181 was a Type IXD2 U-boat of the German Kriegsmarine during World War II. The submarine was laid down on 15 March 1941 at the AG Weser yard at Bremen, launched on 30 December 1941, and commissioned on 9 May 1942 under the command of Kapitänleutnant Wolfgang Lüth...
under Kapitän zur See Kurt Freiwald spotted the tanker, sailing alone in a zig-zag pattern. After moving in a straight line path for a time, U-181 was able to get ahead of Fort Lee and in a position to fire upon her.
At 20:02 on 2 November 1944, U-181 fired a single torpedo that hit Fort Lee under the port quarter and destroyed her boilers, stopping her engines and flooding the fire room. Two men in the engine room were killed by the torpedo. At 20:18, as lifeboats #3 and #5 were being lowered into the water, a second torpedo hit the starboard quarter. Two men aboard Fort Lee were killed by the second blast. Lifeboat #3 was destroyed by this torpedo, killing 6 of 7 men aboard, and lifeboat #5 was broken in half, dumping its men into the ocean. Lifeboats #1, #2, #4, and #6 were successfully launched and recovered the survivors from #3 and #5. Fort Lee succumbed to the attack stern first at 21:10.
U-181 surfaced and intercepted the four remaining lifeboats, interrogating them as to cargo and destination. Although the crew refused to answer any questions, the U-boat’s skipper gave the Fort Lee crew a flare gun and flares, some blankets, food, and medicine, and allowed the boats to go on their way.
The four boats were traveling within sight of each other for several days before lifeboat #4 with 16 men aboard disappeared from sight on 5 November.
On 7 November, five days after the tanker went down, 16 men in lifeboat #2 — including Master of the Fort Lee, Ottar Andersen — were rescued by the British freighter MS Ernebank and landed at Fremantle
Fremantle, Western Australia
Fremantle is a city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle was the first area settled by the Swan River colonists in 1829...
on 14 November. Two days later, 9 November, American tanker SS Tumacacori rescued the 17 men in lifeboat #6 and landed them at Albany
Albany, Western Australia
Albany is a port city in the Great Southern region of Western Australia, some 418 km SE of Perth, the state capital. As of 2009, Albany's population was estimated at 33,600, making it the 6th-largest city in the state....
on 14 November. On 16 November, two weeks after Fort Lee went down, the men in lifeboat #1 were rescued by American Liberty ship
Liberty ship
Liberty ships were cargo ships built in the United States during World War II. Though British in conception, they were adapted by the U.S. as they were cheap and quick to build, and came to symbolize U.S. wartime industrial output. Based on vessels ordered by Britain to replace ships torpedoed by...
SS Mary Ball. The gunners on Mary Ball fired upon the lifeboat before identifying it. None of the 17 men aboard were injured. Mary Ball landed the survivors at Colombo
Colombo
Colombo is the largest city of Sri Lanka. It is located on the west coast of the island and adjacent to Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte, the capital of Sri Lanka. Colombo is often referred to as the capital of the country, since Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte is a satellite city of Colombo...
, Ceylon
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
on 24 November.
By February 1945, all of the survivors had returned to the United States.
Fate of lifeboat #4
For 57 years, the fate of lifeboat #4 and its occupants remained a mystery until Australian researcher Tom Hall discovered a reference to Fort Lee while researching JapaneseEmpire of Japan
The Empire of Japan is the name of the state of Japan that existed from the Meiji Restoration on 3 January 1868 to the enactment of the post-World War II Constitution of...
war crime
War crime
War crimes are serious violations of the laws applicable in armed conflict giving rise to individual criminal responsibility...
s committed against Allied
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
prisoners of war
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
(POWs) in what is now Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
.
The story, as pieced together by Hall and M. Emerson Wiles III, an employee of the U.S. Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
Central Identification Laboratory is that on 13 January 1945 — two-and-a-half months after Fort Lee went down — lifeboat #4, with only three men remaining, came ashore on the south side of Japanese-held Sumba
Sumba
Sumba is an island in eastern Indonesia, is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands, and is in the province of East Nusa Tenggara. Sumba has an area of 11,153 km², and the population was officially at 611,422 in 2005...
, 2850 miles (4,586.6 km) from where Fort Lee sank. One of the three men, Robert F. Lanning, a member of the Naval Armed Guard contingent aboard Fort Lee, was taken to Membora, on the north side of Sumba, where he died that same day.
The names and fates of the other two men from lifeboat #4 are not known. Japanese records suggest that both men died in a Naval
Imperial Japanese Navy
The Imperial Japanese Navy was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1869 until 1947, when it was dissolved following Japan's constitutional renunciation of the use of force as a means of settling international disputes...
hospital within two weeks. But native and POW accounts suggest that the two men survived much longer. One account claims that they were executed, along with other Allied POWs, during a rampage by Japanese officers in September 1945, a month after the surrender of Japan
Surrender of Japan
The surrender of Japan in 1945 brought hostilities of World War II to a close. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy was incapable of conducting operations and an Allied invasion of Japan was imminent...
.