MS Sea Witch (1940)

MS Sea Witch[note 1] was a United States Maritime Commission type C2 cargo ship, the first of four pre-war hulls, built by Tampa Shipbuilding & Engineering Company, Tampa, Florida and delivered in July 1940.[2] The ship was of the basic C2 design, rather than the more numerous C2-S, C2-S-A1, C2-S-B1 types and four C2-T hulls delivered December 1941 through March 1942.[6] Sea Witch was one of the relatively few C2 types built with diesel engines.[6][7][8]

Sea Witch 5 August 1941 in Australian Waters
History
Name: Sea Witch
Owner: United States Maritime Commission
Operator: United States Lines[1]
Port of registry: New York
Builder: Tampa Shipbuilding & Engineering Company, Tampa, Florida[1][2]
Completed: July 1940[2]
Acquired: delivered 30 July 1940
Maiden voyage: 15 August 1940 from New York
Identification:
  • Official number: 239681[3]
  • Signal: WEVO[3]
Fate: Scrapped
General characteristics
Type: Maritime Commission type C2 cargo[2][4]
Tonnage: 6,021 GRT[1]
Length: 438 ft 3 in (133.6 m)[1]
Beam: 63 ft 2 in (19.3 m)[1]
Draft: 27 ft 5 in (8.4 m)[1]
Installed power: 2 300kw Westinghouse direct current generators driven by 2 direct-connected 6-cylinder 450hp Superior diesel engines.[5]
Propulsion: 2 x 9 cyl. Nordberg diesel engines each with 3155 brake horsepower at 225 rpm geared to 1 shaft[1][4][5]
Speed: 16[5]
Crew: 41[5]

Construction

Sea Witch was the first of eight C2 type motor ships of a series constructed by Tampa Shipbuilding & Engineering Company, Tampa, Florida powered by twin Nordberg diesels.[5] The ship was delivered to the U. S. Maritime Commission for sea trials 30 July 1940.[5]

Commercial service

The ship was delivered to United States Lines to operate under charter with option to purchase from the Maritime Commission for operation on the New York, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Hampton Roads and Savannah direct cargo service to Manila, Shanghai and Hong Kong by their American Pioneer Line intended to be the fastest direct cargo service between the United States' East Coast and the Far East.[5][9] On 15 August 1940 Sea Witch departed New York under the command of Captain Samuel Lee on her maiden voyage.[5] On 23 January 1941, after the ship exceeded all guarantees during her first voyage, United States Lines announced the ship would be purchased.[9]

War service

Sea Witch was requisitioned by the War Shipping Administration (WSA) on 26 January 1942 at Port Pirie, South Australia from United States Lines and allocated to the United States Army under a Transportation Corps agreement with United States Lines as operator.[10] Shortly thereafter Sea Witch successfully delivered fighter planes to Java in a failing effort to reinforce Allied forces there resisting the Japanese invasion of the Dutch East Indies.[4][11]

Sea Witch, with twenty-seven disassembled and crated P-40 fighters aboard, departed Fremantle, Australia on 22 February 1942 in Convoy MS.5 that was bound for Colombo, Ceylon with troops and supplies eventually destined for India and Burma.[12] The convoy was composed of Sea Witch, seaplane tender (and former aircraft carrier) USS Langley (carrying 32 assembled P-40s on her short flight deck), the Australian transports Katoomba and Duntroon, and the United States Army Transport Willard A. Holbrook, escorted by the light cruiser USS Phoenix. The convoy was loaded with troops, supplies and aircraft originally intended for the Philippines, that had been delivered to Australia earlier by SS Mariposa and SS President Coolidge, escorted by Phoenix.[12][13]

En route to Colombo Sea Witch and Langley were ordered to break with the convoy and proceed independently to deliver the aircraft to Tjilatjap in Java.[11][12][14] The two ships proceeded north separately, but Langley was attacked and sunk by Japanese land-based bombers on 27 February, despite being escorted by two American destroyers sent from Tilatjap. Sea Witch arrived at Tjilatjap on 28 February, even as the results of the Battle of the Java Sea had sealed the fate of the islands, and unloaded the aircraft. However, the still-disassembled aircraft were later destroyed by Allied forces to deny them to the enemy.[11] On departure for Australia the ship embarked forty refugee soldiers.[15]

The ship was listed as part of the original Southwest Pacific Area Command's (SWPA) in-theater fleet and is shown as one of seven ships in the United States Army Forces In Australia (USAFIA) fleet and one of three assigned for an indefinite period.[16] By late April 1942 General MacArthur reported he had twenty-eight vessels composed of twenty-one Dutch KPM ships and seven others including Sea Witch which was one of the vessels under WSA charter from the owners.[17] The need for large ocean voyage capable ships was acute and SWPA's need was for smaller, shallow draft vessels for operation in reef-strewn waters and poorly developed ports, and Sea Witch was detached from the SWPA fleet in March, though still operating in the region.[18] At some point the ship was converted to a troop transport with capacity for 1,907 troops.[4][7][10]

The ship departed Townsville, Australia on 2 September 1942 with Convoy P2 bound for Port Moresby, New Guinea, in company with the Australian troop ship Taroona, along with Convoy Q2 comprising two cargo ships Anshun and 's Jacob, escorted by HMAS Swan and HMAS Castlemaine. Q2 split off south of Port Moresby and proceeded east to Milne Bay where Anshun would be sunk.[19][20]

On 21 December 1942 the nature of the WSA charter was changed at San Francisco from Transportation Corps to a bareboat general agency agreement, still with United States Lines as operator, for more general service.[10] The ship was allocated by WSA to Army troop transport requirements.[4]

On 21 September 1943 Sea Witch departed Port Hueneme, California with over 1,000 officers and men of the 91st Naval Construction Battalion bound for Milne Bay, New Guinea and after a brief stop in Australia arrived on 21 October 1943 with the next five days spent unloading.[21][note 2]

Post war

Sea Witch was returned to the Maritime Commission 24 June 1946 and laid-up at James River Reserve Fleet having made her last voyage into the port of New York.[10] Sea Witch was sold from the reserve fleet to Dichmann, Wright & Pugh, Inc. on 25 April 1947 and that resold the ship to Caribbean Land & Shipping Corporation on 8 May 1947 at Hoboken, New Jersey.[10] The ship eventually was sold to the Swedish company Rederi AB Pulp and renamed Axel Salen sailing under the Swedish flag.[7] In 1951 the ship was sold and renamed Bastasen and again the same year renamed' Warszawa.[2]

See also

Footnotes
  1. Lloyd's and most references are clear the name is Sea Witch but what is clearly the same ship, particularly with regard to delivery of aircraft to Java, may be found in both DANFS and Gill's history as Seawitch. Gill uses Seawitch in his 1957 first volume and corrects it to Sea Witch in the 1968 second volume.
  2. The 91st Naval Construction Battalion history specifically mentions "left Port Hueneme on 21 September 1943 aboard the U.S. Army Transport Sea Witch" indicating long term Army allocation.

References
  1. Lloyd's 1943–44.
  2. Colton, T. & Tampa Shipbuilding.
  3. Merchant Vessels of the United States 1942, p. 271.
  4. Grover 1987, p. 19.
  5. Pacific Marine Review & 1940 (September), pp. 46–49.
  6. Colton, T. & C2 Cargo Ships.
  7. Karsten-Kunibert Krueger-Kopiske.
  8. American Merchant Marine at War.
  9. Pacific Marine Review & 1941 (February), p. 68.
  10. Maritime Administration Ship History & Sea Witch.
  11. Craven & Cate 1948, pp. 397–398.
  12. Gill 1957, pp. 601–602.
  13. Matloff 1953–59, p. 132.
  14. Morison 1947–62, p. 359.
  15. Morison 1947–62, p. 363.
  16. Masterson 1949, p. 320.
  17. Masterson 1949, pp. 324, 329.
  18. Masterson 1949, p. 351.
  19. Gill 1968, p. 171.
  20. Arnold Hague Convoy Database: Convoy P.2.
  21. 91st Naval Construction Battalion.

Bibliography
  • 91st Naval Construction Battalion, 91st Naval Construction Battalion—Historical Information (PDF), Washington, D.C.: Naval History And Heritage Command
  • American Merchant Marine at War. "United States Maritime Commission C2 Type Ships". ShipbuildingHistory. American Merchant Marine at War. Retrieved 15 December 2013.
  • Arnold Hague Convoy Database. "Convoy P.2". Arnold Hague Convoy Database. Convoy Web. Retrieved 15 December 2013.
  • Colton, T. (April 11, 2013). "Tampa Shipbuilding (TASCO), Tampa FL". ShipbuildingHistory. ShipbuildingHistory. Archived from the original on 31 October 2012. Retrieved 15 December 2013.
  • Colton, T. (March 12, 2010). "C2 Cargo Ships". ShipbuildingHistory. ShipbuildingHistory. Archived from the original on 17 December 2013. Retrieved 15 December 2013.
  • Craven, Wesley Frank; Cate, James Lea (1948). Plans and early operations, January 1939 to August 1942. The Army Air Forces In World War II. One. Washington, D.C.: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 091279903X. LCCN 83017288.
  • Gill, G. Hermon (1957). Royal Australian Navy 1939-1942. Australia in the War of 1939–1945. Series 2 – Navy. 1. Canberra: Australian War Memorial. LCCN 58037940. Archived from the original on 2009-05-25.
  • Gill, G. Hermon (1968). Royal Australian Navy 1939–1942. Australia in the War of 1939–1945. Series 2 – Navy. 2. Canberra: Australian War Memorial. LCCN 76454854. Archived from the original on 2013-09-27.
  • Grover, David (1987). U.S. Army Ships and Watercraft of World War II. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-766-6. LCCN 87-15514.
  • Karsten-Kunibert Krueger-Kopiske (2007). "The C2 Cargo Ship and his Subdesigns". Outboard Profiles of Maritime Commission Vessels. ShipbuildingHistory. Retrieved 15 December 2013.
  • Lloyds (1943–44). "Lloyd's Register" (PDF). Lloyd's Register (through PlimsollShipData). Retrieved 15 December 2013.
  • Maritime Administration. "Sea Witch". Ship History Database Vessel Status Card. U.S. Department of Transportation, Maritime Administration. Retrieved 1 June 2014.
  • Masterson, Dr. James R. (1949). U. S. Army Transportation In The Southwest Pacific Area 1941–1947. Washington, D. C.: Transportation Unit, Historical Division, Special Staff, U. S. Army.
  • Matloff, Maurice; Snell, Edwin M. (1953–59). The War Department: Strategic Planning For Coalition Warfare 1941-1942. United States Army In World War II. Washington, DC: Center Of Military History, United States Army. LCCN 53-61477.
  • Merchant Vessels of the United States 1942. Washington, D.C.: Department of Commerce and Labor, Bureau Marine Inspection & Navigation. 1942. p. 271. Retrieved 16 November 2018.
  • Morison, Samuel Eliot (1947–62), "XIX", The Rising Sun in the Pacific, History of United States naval operations in World War II, 3, Little, Brown, LCCN 47001571
  • "Tampa Delivers Sea Witch". Pacific Marine Review. 'Official Organ: Pacific American Steamship Association/Shipowners' Association of the Pacific Coast. Consolidated 1940 issues (September): 46–49. September 1940. Retrieved 17 September 2014.
  • "Sea Witch". Pacific Marine Review. 'Official Organ: Pacific American Steamship Association/Shipowners' Association of the Pacific Coast. Consolidated 1941 issues (February): 68. February 1941. Retrieved 18 September 2014.
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