SS Liberator

7720

Previous Names: Wichita, USS Liberator (ID 3134)

Torpedoed by U-332, March 19, 1942

Depth 110 feet

History of the Ship

The SS Liberator was built in San Francisco by the Bethlehem Ship Building Company, which was originally known as Union Brass and Iron Works when they began operation in 1885.  They became the largest shipyard on the West Coast and produced hundreds of vessels until closing in the 1980's.  Produced by this yard were a wide range of vessels, to include submarines and warships, tugs and barges, plus scores of merchant vessels such as the Liberator.  Built in 1918, the Liberator was the 151st hull from this builder and the name of the ship during the build process and first launching was "Wichita".  The "Wichita" was launched on March 24, 1918 and remained at the yard for completion and fitting out.  

The ship apparently never sailed under the Wichita name as she was acquired by the U.S. Shipping Board and assigned to the U.S. Navy on July 2, 1918.  She was immediately commissioned the USS Liberator (ID 3134) and prepared for military transport service due to World War I.  The ship was given a very interesting paint scheme (World War I type 5, design B, dazzle camouflage; shown in the photo to the right) and then she set sail for the Panama Canal.  The new Navy vessel headed to New York where she arrived on August 7, 1918.  She was immediately loaded and joined a convoy on August 13th carrying war supplies and cargo across the Atlantic.  Her first crossing took 15 days and the USS Liberator discharged her first cargo in Brest, France.  This transport work continued until the fighting stopped in November of 1918 and then USS Liberator took on another important role.  She was returned to the US, then quickly converted into a troop transport ship and USS Liberator made five round trips from Europe bringing the Doughboys home from France.  A photo of her in St. Nazaire is shown below - notice the troopship layout with the rows of portholes in her hull.  Her work for the war effort was over and she was now surplus Government property.

The USS Liberator was decommissioned from the US Navy in October of 1919 in Hoboken, NJ, and returned to the U.S. Shipping Board.  The ship apparently sat in the Government surplus inventory until 1933 when she was sold off to the Lykes Brothers Steamship Company of New Orleans, LA.  The Lykes Brothers kept the name of the ship the same, but since she was no longer a Government vessel, it lost the USS designator and now became simply SS Liberator.  Converted back to a cargo vessel, the SS Liberator was operated by Lykes Brothers out of Galveston, TX carrying bulk cargo on coastwise routes.  This was the service the ship was in at the time of her sinking.

Sinking of the SS Liberator

At dawn March 19, 1942, the SS Liberator was approaching the area of Cape Hatteras carrying a load of 11,000 tons of sulfur from Galveston, TX, bound for New York city and the crew and ship's master were very tense.  The ship had a very harrowing experience the night before just to the South, in the area of Cape Lookout.  The ship's crew had used the stern mounted 4" gun to fire upon what they believed to be a submarine, hitting this target with two rounds from the cannon then escaping into the night.  Unfortunately, the SS Liberator had fired upon not a submarine but the USS Dickerson, a US Navy Destroyer, killing several men and wounding many others to included the Dickerson's Captain, who later died of his wounds.

By 1015am the ship was passing the Diamond Shoals Buoy making 9.5 knots and using a zig-zag course to avoid being an easy target for U-boats.  At this location the Liberator was joined by two other overtaking Northbound vessels, the freighter Chester Sun and the tanker SS Esso Baltimore, which were both cutting across the bow of the Liberator.  Just as the buoy was passed the Liberator changed course and a terrific explosion occurred.  A torpedo struck the port side of the ship at the engine room destroying the engine spaces, the decks above, and killing the five men on duty in the engine room.  

The ship slowed to a stop and Captain Albin Johnson mustered the crew on deck, finding the five men of the engine room watch missing.  Captain Johnson ordered an abandon ship and the 31 surviving crewmen fled in two lifeboats.  They saw the ship sink in less then 25 minutes after abandoning her, about 1040am.  Their rescue was not long in coming as the Navy Tug USS Umpqua came along at 1125am and took them all aboard and delivered them to Morehead City, NC the next day.

The German U-boat U-332 (Liebe) had fired a single torpedo, which struck the port side aft.  It is possible the torpedo was meant for the Esso Baltimore, a much more valuable target, and the Liberator a victim of unlucky timing and bad aim.  The U-boat Commander, Johannes Liebe, was also responsible for sinking the Tanker Australia three days earlier.  Later in the war, the U-332 was attacked by aerial bombardment from RAF Squadron 461 on May 2, 1943, near Cape Finisterre, Spain, and sunk with the loss of all hands.  The U-332 was under command of Oberleutenat zur See Eberhard Huttemann at the time of it's sinking.

Captain Albin Johnson went on to be the Master of another vessel, the Liberty ship SS John Penn, and had the misfortune to be shipwrecked once more.  While enroute to Archangle, Russia, his ship was struck by torpedoes from Luftwaffe aircraft and sunk in the Barents Sea on September 13th, 1942.  He survived this assault and continued to serve in the Merchant Marine for the remainder of the war.  This is not atypical of the men of the Merchant Marine as many went back to sea after narrow escapes with death.  Without this dedication to service, the allies may not have been victorious.

The account of the shelling of the Dickerson and sinking of the SS Liberator was written about in great detail by an unknown U.S. Naval historian for the "Fifth Naval District War Diary".  The account related by this historian was compiled from official sources and interviews from survivors just after the events occurred.   It was transcribed directly from the microfilm records of the War Diary and is presented on this web site here.  It is well worth reading for you to get a full understanding of the event to include the attack against the USS Dickerson.

Diving the Shipwreck

The SS Liberator now rests a short distance from the outer Diamond  Shoals, not far from the Point Shoals Nun Buoy and not too far from the Australia wreck which was also sunk by the U-332.  The sea conditions are very similar to those encountered on any of the wreck sites near the shoals, changeable water conditions and periods of high current.  We have visited the Liberator many times and find the conditions vary with each visit.  The "standard" summer conditions are blue water with a SW current and generally good visibility.  However, sometimes the current can exceed 2 knots and make the diving difficult or impossible and on many occasions the water is Labrador and therefore cooler and greener with lower visibility and the photos shown here were in the green water conditions.

The bow section lays about 35 feet away from the amidships section, with the actual bow pointing towards the amidships piece.  One anchor is visible in the side of the bow and the anchor chain is still neatly stored into chutes behind the winches.   Overall, this section is about 75 feet long from where it was sheared off the rest of the ship to where the actual bow ends by burrowing into the bottom.  From this bow section some of the lettering of the ship's name was recovered leading to a positive identification of this wreck site.  Many incorrect wreck listings have the location of the Liberator listed as the wreck site of the Venore.  This site is definitively the SS Liberator and the Venore has not yet been located.

The third section is not as large as the other two and also appears to be laying on it's beam.  The three sections are arranged into what amounts to a rough triangle with a small debris field scattered just down current behind them and this area contains lumps of the sulfur that was the Liberator's cargo.  In the past I have seen various other items in this debris but in the most recent dives to this site, the debris field appears to be sanded over.  There is no section that appears to be the actual stern of the vessel, nor any large machinery present at this site.  

Though some wreck guides state the shipwreck site is heavily damaged, large sections are fairly intact and easily recognized as ship components and rise some 25 feet from the bottom.  The SS Liberator is not dived as often as other more widely known wrecks that lay nearby and this is unfortunate as she contains wide range of sea life and no doubt some good artifacts await discovery.

Some further information on the Liberator event and photos of the USS Dickerson can be found on Paul Hudy's BFDC/NC WreckDiving web site here.