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The United States Navy Memorial

Navy Memorial Honoring the Men & Women of the Sea Services

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Dorchester

Ship Designation: 
-
Date Lost: 
Wednesday, February 3, 1943
U-Boat Attack off coast of Greenland
The Transport Ship Dorchester was torpedoed by U-223 while en convoy from New Foundland to Greenland. The torpedo struck the starboard side of the ship, opening a hole in the hull which flooded the engine room. The engines were destroyed as were two life boats. ... Orders to abandon ship were issued within three minutes. Dorchester sank within twenty five minutes. ... Two hundred and thirty survivors were later picked up by CGC Escanaba and CGC Comanche who continued their search into the darkness. ... Four U.S. Army chaplains, Father John Washington (Catholic), Reverend Clark Poling (Dutch Reformed), Rabbi Alexander Goode (Jewish) and Rev. George Fox (Methodist) were among the first on deck, handing out life jackets and assisting as they could. They were last seen by witnesses standing arm-in-arm on the hull of the ship. ... Six hundred and seventy-five were lost, making it the third largest US loss at sea of its kind during the war

Lost At Sea Log

Number of sailors in this log: 128

Name Service Branchsort descending
Chief Engineer James Ritter USMM
Steward Richard Schmoker USMM
Bos'n Odis Anderson USN
Sea 1c Don Estes USN
AeroM 1c Elliott Gifford USN
OC 3c Victoriano Garrido USN
EM 2c William Kretz USN
SC 2c William Lambert USN
Sea 2c William Mcdonnal USN
RM 2c James Mcclain USN
RM 3c Joseph Mangafreda USN
MM 1c Robert Lee USN
Sea 1c Garland Sutton USN
Sea 1c Carl Swanson USN
Sea 1c Ralph Taylor USN
SC 1c Franklin Stokes USN
Sea 1c Harold Stewart USN
Sea 1c Richard Streicher USN
Sea 1c John Strzyzkowski USN
GM 3c Daniel Patteson USN

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