USAT DORCHESTER

'USAT ''Dorchester''' was a United States Army Transport, sunk when it was part of a naval convoy during World War II. In February 1943, Convoy SG-19 left St. John's, Newfoundland, bound for the Army Command Base at Narsarsuaq in southern Greenland. SG-19 consisted of six ships: ''Dorchester'', two merchant ships leased by the United States from the Norwegian government-in-exile,
SS ''Lutz'', and SS ''Biscaya''. They were escorted by three small United States Coast Guard cutters: ''Comanche'' (WPG-76), ''Escanaba'' (WPG-77) (both 165 feet), and ''Tampa'' (WPG-48) (240 feet). On the night of 3 February 1943, the ship was torpedoed by German U-boat U-223. The damage was severe, and ''Dorchester'' sank in about 20 minutes, taking 675 men with her out of an onboard total of 904.
However, the crew of the ''Escanaba'' used a new "retriver" rescue technique -- swimmers clad in wet suits to swim to victims in the water and secure a line to them so they could be hauled onto the ship. By doing this Escanaba saved 133 men (one died later) and Comanche saved 97. ^[1]
''Dorchester'' is best remembered today for the story of the Four Chaplains who went down with her. In 1948 the US Postal Service issued a stamp to commemorate the sinking.
See USS ''Dorchester'' for commissioned United States Navy warships of this name.

Contents

References

References

1. Office of Public Affairs, U.S. Coast Guard. “Top Ten Coast Guard Rescues.” July 31, 2007, http://www.piersystem.com/go/doc/786/166402/

3. U.S.A.T Dorchester Files