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Memories
of a Gallant Ship
Non-Fiction by Jean Paul Lacroix
The S. S.
Stephen Hopkins was not a sleek fast destroyer. Not a powerful
cruiser. She was an ugly duckling, a Liberty ship. One of
2,741 of that design. They were built during the early years of
World War II. These large slow moving cargo ships were used to
carry men and material.
They delivered
the goods where needed across every ocean and every sea all over the
world. These merchant ships were manned by crews of Merchant
Marines and US Navy Armed Guard Gunners.
On September
27, 1942, the Hopkins was homeward bound after unloading a vital cargo
of war supplies. Leaving a sea port in Africa, the crews were
happy and confident. They had lived up to their motto, "We
aim to deliver," and they did.
Suddenly, out
of the early morning mist, two enemy surface raiders appeared.
The Armed Guard Gunners were about to be tested.
The heavy guns
of the German raiders pounded away at the Hopkins' hull. Machine
guns sprayed her decks at close range. Navy gunners of the
Armed Guard unit traded shot for shot with the enemy in a running
battle.
Stern guns on
the Hopkins made hit after hit on the closing attackers, sinking one
and setting the other on fire. One by one Armed Guard gunners
were killed or wounded during the fierce exchange of gunfire.
With volunteer help from the merchant marine crew taking positions of
fallen Navy gunners.
The action was
continuous until a heavy shell from the enemy hit an ammunition
magazine. The explosion hurled shrapnel in all directions as men
hit the deck.
The Hopkins was
now ablaze from stem to stern. Her boilers exploded as she lay
helpless in the water.
Within minutes
the order came to abandon ship.
The
Hopkins went down taking one of the enemy raiders with her. The
other raider, damaged and on fire, slipped away after picking up their
own survivors.
41 shipmates of
a Liberty ship gave their lives that day. From her
original complement of 56 brave men only 15 survived in a lifeboat
after being adrift in the Atlantic for 30 days.
The "ugly
ducklings," as Liberty ships were often called, proved that Navy
gunners and Merchant Marine sailors were a hard combination to beat.
A lightly armed
cargo ship manned by brave sailors of different units had succeeded in
sinking a well-armed enemy raider that had been preying on unescorted
supply ships.
This courageous
action by her crew caused the S. S. Stephen Hopkins to be perpetuated
as a "Gallant Ship."
Dedicated to the US Navy Armed Guard and the Merchant Marine,
shipmates of WWII, especially those who lost their lives, and to their
families.
Copyright 1990 Jean Paul Lacroix. This article may be
reprinted free by anyone who includes the above dedication.
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