USAT Dorchester
Encyclopedia
USAT Dorchester was a United States Army Transport ship that was sunk by a torpedo from a German U-boat
U-boat
U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...
on February 3, 1943, 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...
. It was sailing to Greenland
Greenland
Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...
as part of a naval convoy.
The loss of the ship became especially famous because of the story of the death of four Army chaplains, known as the "Four Chaplains
Four Chaplains
The Four Chaplains, also sometimes referred to as the "Immortal Chaplains," were four United States Army chaplains who gave their lives to save other civilian and military personnel during the sinking of the troop ship USAT Dorchester during World War II. They helped other soldiers board lifeboats...
" or the "Immortal Chaplains," who all gave away their life jackets to save others before they died.
Service history
The ship was built as the SS Dorchester, one of three identical ships built for the Merchants and Miners Transportation Company by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company. Launched on 20 March 1926, she carried up to 314 passengers and a crew of 90 along the East coast between Miami and BostonBoston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
.
Requisitioned by the Army, she was converted to a troopship by the Atlantic, Gulf and West Indies Steamship Company in New York, and fitted with additional lifeboats and life rafts, as well as four 20 mm guns, a 3"/50 caliber gun fore, and a 4"/50 caliber gun aft.
The USAT Dorchester entered Army service in February 1942, crewed by many of her former officers, including her master initially, and a contingent of Navy Armed Guards
United States Navy Armed Guard
United States Navy Armed Guard units were established during World War I in an attempt to provide defensive firepower to merchant ships in convoy or merchant ships traveling alone...
to man the guns and to handle communications.
Loss
On January 23, 1943, Dorchester left New York harbor.In February 1943, Convoy SG-19 left St. John's, Newfoundland, bound for the Army Command Base at Narsarsuaq
Narsarsuaq
Narsarsuaq is a settlement in the Kujalleq municipality in southern Greenland. It had 158 inhabitants in 2010. There is a thriving tourism industry in and around Narsarsuaq, whose attractions include a great diversity of wildlife, gemstones, tours to glaciers, and an airfield museum...
in southern Greenland
Greenland
Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...
. SG-19 consisted of six ships: Dorchester, two merchant ships (SS Lutz and SS Biscaya) that were leased by the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
from the Norwegian
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
government-in-exile, and their escorts, the small United States Coast Guard
United States Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven U.S. uniformed services. The Coast Guard is a maritime, military, multi-mission service unique among the military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency...
cutters , (both 165 feet), and (240 feet).
During the early morning hours of 3 February 1943, at 12:55 a.m., Dorchester 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 by German U-boat
U-boat
U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...
. The damage was severe, boiler power was lost, and there was inadequate steam to sound the full 6-whistle signal to abandon ship, and Dorchester sank by the bow in about 20 minutes. Loss of power prevented the crew from sending a radio distress signal, and no rockets or flares were launched to alert the escorts. A severe list prevented launch of some port side lifeboats, and some lifeboats capsized through overcrowding. Survivors in the water were so stiff from cold they could not even grasp the cargo nets on rescue vessels. The crew of the Escanaba employed a new "retriever" rescue technique whereby swimmers clad in wet suits swam to victims in the water and secured a line to them so they could be hauled onto the ship. By this method, Escanaba saved 133 men (one died later) and Comanche saved 97 men of the 904 aboard Dorchester.
Life jackets offered little protection from hypothermia
Hypothermia
Hypothermia is a condition in which core temperature drops below the required temperature for normal metabolism and body functions which is defined as . Body temperature is usually maintained near a constant level of through biologic homeostasis or thermoregulation...
, which killed most men in the water. Water temperature was 34 °F (1.1 °C) and air temperature was 36 °F (2.2 °C). When additional rescue ships arrived on 4 February "hundreds of dead bodies were seen floating on the water, kept up by their life jackets."
Notable passengers and crew
The American writer Jack KerouacJack Kerouac
Jean-Louis "Jack" Lebris de Kerouac was an American novelist and poet. He is considered a literary iconoclast and, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Kerouac is recognized for his spontaneous method of writing, covering topics such as Catholic...
served on the Dorchester, where he befriended an African-American cook named "Old Glory," who died when the ship sank after the torpedo attack. Kerouac would have also been on the ship during the attack, but for a telegram he received from coach Lou Little
Lou Little
Lou "Luigi Piccolo" Little was an American football player and coach. He served as the head coach at Georgetown College, now Georgetown University, from 1924 to 1929 and at Columbia University from 1930 to 1956, compiling a career college football record of 151–128–13...
, asking him to return to Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
to play football.
The Four Chaplains
Dorchester is best remembered today for four of the Army officers among the military personnel being transported overseas for duty: the Four ChaplainsMilitary chaplain
A military chaplain is a chaplain who ministers to soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines and other members of the military. In many countries, chaplains also minister to the family members of military personnel, to civilian noncombatants working for military organizations and to civilians within the...
who died because they gave up their life jackets to save others. These chaplains included Methodist
Methodism
Methodism is a movement of Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations, claiming a total of approximately seventy million adherents worldwide. The movement traces its roots to John Wesley's evangelistic revival movement within Anglicanism. His younger brother...
minister George L. Fox, Reformed Church in America
Reformed Church in America
The Reformed Church in America is a mainline Reformed Protestant denomination in Canada and the United States. It has about 170,000 members, with the total declining in recent decades. From its beginning in 1628 until 1819, it was the North American branch of the Dutch Reformed Church. In 1819, it...
minister Clark V. Poling, Roman Catholic priest John P. Washington and Rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
Alexander B. Goode. Congress established February 3 as "Four Chaplains Day" to commemorate this act of heroism, and on July 14, 1960, created the Chaplain's Medal for Heroism
Chaplain's Medal for Heroism
The Chaplain's Medal for Heroism is a decoration of the United States Congress which was authorized by an act of Congress on July 14, 1960. Also known as the Chaplain's Medal of Honor and the Four Chaplains' Medal, the decoration commemorates the actions of the Four Chaplains who gave their lives...
, presented posthumously to the next of kin of each of the chaplains by Secretary of the Army Wilber M. Brucker at Fort Myer
Fort Myer
Fort Myer is a U.S. Army post adjacent to Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. It is a small post by U.S...
, Virginia on January 18, 1961.
Commemoration on US Postage
In 1948 the U.S. Post OfficeU.S. Post Office
U.S. Post Office may refer to the United States Post Office Department or to the United States Postal Service . The term may also refer to individual buildings, many of which have historical or architectural significance. Some noted examples of U.S...
issued a commemorative stamp
Commemorative stamp
A commemorative stamp is a postage stamp, often issued on a significant date such as an anniversary, to honor or commemorate a place, event or person. The subject of the commemorative stamp is usually spelled out in print, unlike definitive stamps which normally depict the subject along with the...
in honor of the heroism and sacrifice of the chaplains. It was designed by Louis Schwimmer, the head of the Art Department of the New York branch of the Post Office. This stamp was highly unusual, because at that time U.S. stamps were not normally issued in someone's honor until at least 10 years after his or her death.
The stamp went through three revisions before the final design was chosen. None of the names of the chaplains were included on the stamp, nor were their faiths (although the faiths had been listed on one of the earlier designs): instead, the words on the stamp were "These Immortal Chaplains...Interfaith in Action." Another phrase included in an earlier design that was not part of the final stamp was "died to save men of all faiths."