Naval battle during the Second World War
Action of 6 June 1942
|
---|
Part of the
Battle of the Atlantic
of
World War II
|
A liberty ship of the same type as the SS
Stanvac Calcutta
(error, this is not what the Stanvac Calcutta looked like, for the ship was of a similar type to a
T2 Tanker
)
|
Date
| 6 June 1942
|
---|
Location
| |
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Result
|
German victory
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|
Belligerents
|
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Germany
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United States
|
Commanders and leaders
|
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Horst Gerlach
|
Gustav Karlsson
†
Edward Anderson
|
Strength
|
---|
Auxiliary cruiser
Stier
|
Liberty ship
Stanvac Calcutta
|
Casualties and losses
|
---|
2 wounded
Stier
damaged
|
17 killed
14 wounded
37 captured
Stanvac Calcutta
sunk
|
|
---|
1939
1940
1941
1942
1943
1944
1945
|
The
action of 6 June 1942
was a
single ship action
fought during
World War II
. The
German
raider
Stier
encountered and sank the
American
tanker
SS
Stanvac Calcutta
while cruising in the
South Atlantic Ocean
off
Brazil
.
Background
[
edit
]
Stanvac Calcutta
was a 10,170 ton
tanker
with a crew of forty-two
merchant mariners
and nine
armed guards
aboard. The ship was commanded by Gustav O. Karlsson and the guards by
Ensign
Edward L. Anderson. Throughout World War II merchant ships were lightly armed and out of the six to be attacked by German raiders, only
Stanvac Calcutta
and
Stephen Hopkins
offered serious resistance and both were sunk. When Ensign Anderson was assigned to the ship he was responsible for finding armaments and it proved to be difficult. Anderson acquired one 4-inch (102 mm)/50-caliber
naval gun
salvaged from
World War I
and an 5 in (127 mm)/25-caliber
anti-aircraft gun
from the same era to arm his ship.
Stier
was heavily armed, she was under the command of Captain
Horst Gerlach
and mounted six 150-millimetre (6 in) guns, one 37 mm (1.5 in) gun, two 20 mm (0.79 in) cannons and two
torpedo tubes
. Captain Karlsson left
Montevideo
on 29 May 1942 headed north along the coast for
Caripito
,
Venezuela
.
Action
[
edit
]
A week after leaving Montevideo at 10:12 am on 6 June, the American ship was 500 miles (800 km) east of
Pernambuco
, Brazil; weather was overcast and the sea rough. Suddenly gunfire was heard and the Americans observed
Stier
sailing out of a squall and quickly heading towards
Stanvac Calcutta
almost head on and signaling the Americans to cut their engines. The Germans apparently believed the tanker was an unarmed merchantman. Beforehand Captain Karlsson and Ensign Anderson had planned a course of action for defending the vessel. As soon as the Germans were spotted,
Stanvac Calcutta
turned to the side to bring her guns to bear and when the raider closed to an estimated 3,500 yards (3,200 m), Ensign Anderson ordered his gunners to open fire. In succession the armed guards fired five shots with the aft 4-inch gun and several rounds of the bow anti-aircraft gun. The last of the five shells struck and disabled a 150 mm gun aboard
Stier
just before it began delivering broadsides of four cannons and
machine gun
fire.
Merchant sailors were trained and used to man the anti-aircraft gun; it fired continually throughout the battle though it misfired a few times because of old ammunition. In fifteen minutes of fighting, the
Stanvac Calcutta
was struck several times in the bridge and elsewhere, killing Captain Karlsson and a few other men. After hitting the
Stier
, the guards manning the 4-inch gun were reported to have been encouraged and continued firing accurately until shrapnel damaged their weapon. The sights were destroyed but the Americans continued shooting until the ammunition on deck was exhausted. At this time Ensign Anderson ordered two men to retrieve more ammunition from below deck, though as soon as they left, Captain Gerlach maneuvered his ship for a torpedo attack. When lined up,
Stier
fired one torpedo and it dove into the water and headed straight for
Stanvac Calcutta
where it detonated on the port side. Water began flowing in and the vessel started listing. A number of additional men were killed in the torpedo explosion and when it was clear that the American ship could not be saved, Ensign Anderson ordered the survivors to abandon ship and he began to lower life rafts.
While operating the crank, Anderson was hit in the back by a piece of shrapnel, paralyzing his legs, but he continued to lower the boat and after looking around to see if anybody else needed help, the ensign slipped over the side into an oil slick. With a broken leg, Anderson swam over to a wounded officer in the water and attempted to pull him to one of the life rafts but the man died of his wound first, and a few moments later the Germans lowered boats and began rescuing the Americans. The Germans fired 148 shells and one torpedo while
Stanvac Calcutta
fired only twenty-five; hundreds of machine gun rounds were also expended by both sides.
Aftermath
[
edit
]
Sixteen merchant sailors and armed guards were killed in action, thirty-seven prisoners were taken, of whom fourteen were wounded, one armed guard died later aboard
Stier
. Two Germans were wounded and
Stier
continued raiding for 4 months, sinking only two more ships before being sunk by
Stephen Hopkins
in a mutually-destructive battle.
[3]
SS
Stanvac Calcutta
was one of the few World War II merchant ships to be awarded the
Merchant Marine Gallant Ship Citation
. Ensign Anderson was promoted to the rank of
lieutenant commander
before leaving the navy sometime after the war. The American prisoners were eventually turned over to the
Japanese
.
[4]
See also
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- Gleichauf, F. Justin (2003).
Unsung sailors: The Naval Armed Guard in World War II
. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press.
ISBN
1-55750-420-2
.
8°40′57″S
26°26′5″W
/
8.68250°S 26.43472°W
/
-8.68250; -26.43472