SS Samuel Heintzelman

SS Samuel Heintzelman (MC hull number 651) was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. Named after Samuel Heintzelman, a United States Army general, the ship was laid down by the California Shipbuilding Corporation at Terminal Island in Los Angeles, and launched on 27 August 1942.^[2] It was operated by Coastwise Line.

A Liberty ship at sea
History
United States
Name	Samuel Heintzelman
Namesake	Samuel Heintzelman
Builder	California Shipbuilding Corporation, Terminal Island, Los Angeles
Yard number	134
Laid down	27 August 1942
Launched	30 September 1942
Fate	Sunk on 9 July 1943 by U-511
General characteristics
Class & type	Type EC2-S-C1 Liberty ship
Displacement	14,245 long tons (14,474 t)[1]
Length	441 ft 6 in (134.57 m) o/a 417 ft 9 in (127.33 m) p/p 427 ft (130 m) w/l[1]
Beam	57 ft (17 m)[1]
Draft	27 ft 9 in (8.46 m)[1]
Propulsion	Two oil-fired boilers Triple-expansion steam engine 2,500 hp (1,900 kW) Single screw
Speed	11 knots (20 km/h; 13 mph)[1]
Range	20,000 nmi (37,000 km; 23,000 mi)
Capacity	10,856 t (10,685 long tons) deadweight (DWT)[1]
Complement	42 merchants and 27 US Armed Guards
Crew	81[1]
Armament	Stern-mounted 4 in (100 mm) deck gun Variety of anti-aircraft guns

Samuel Heintzelman was en route from Fremantle, Australia, to Colombo, Ceylon without a convoy, carrying 5,644 tons of ammunition. On 9 July 1943, the ship was torpedoed by a German submarine U-511, causing it to explode and sink. The entire crew of 42 merchant sailors, 27 US Navy Armed Guard members, and six passengers were lost. The ship sank near the Maldives in the Indian Ocean, at 9°S 81°E. It had been scheduled to arrive in Colombo, Sri Lanka on 14 July 1943, before continuing to Karachi, Pakistan and Calcutta, India.^[3][4]

All the missing crew were declared dead on January 7, 1946. Later, Heinz Rehse, a crew member of U-511, reported the date and location of the sinking of the SS Samuel Heintzelman. On September 30, 1943, wreckage from Samuel Heintzelman washed ashore on Diego Garcia Island, an atoll just south of the equator in the central Indian Ocean.^{[5][6][7][8][9][10][11]}

See also

• List of Liberty ships (S–Z)
• SS E. A. Bryan
• SS Quinault Victory
• Port Chicago disaster