Kittanning

| Name | Kittanning | ||
| Type: | Turbine tanker (T-2 class) | ||
| Tonnage | 10.195 tons | ||
| Completed | 1943 - Sun Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co, Chester PA | ||
| Owner | Keystone Shipping Co, Philadelphia PA | ||
| Homeport | Wilmington | ||
| Date of attack | 4 Jul, 1944 | Nationality: | |
| Fate | Damaged by U-539 (Hans-Jürgen Lauterbach-Emden) | ||
| Position | 09.55N, 79.27W - Grid EL 2394 - See location on a map - | ||
| Complement | 74 (0 dead and 74 survivors). | ||
| Convoy | |||
| Route | Majuro, Marshall Islands - Cristobal (4 Jul) - Aruba | ||
| Cargo | Water ballast | ||
| History | Completed October 1943 1955 the ship was renamed Lyric and in August 1965 broken up at Bilbao. | ||
| Notes on loss | Between 16.31 and 17.06 hours on 4 Jul, 1944, U-539 fired torpedoes at a tanker convoy and reported four tankers with 26.000 tons torpedoed. According to the xB-Dienst one of these tankers was the American Hollywood (5498 tons). However, the only ship hit was the unescorted Kittanning, which was torpedoed three times about 40 miles northeast of Cristobal. The Kittanning (Master Raymond J.S. Chambers) had left port at 13.30 hours, but soon thereafter the third assistant engineer fell and seriously injured himself and the master decided to return to Cristobal. At 16.31 hours, just after the ship changed course back at 14.5 knots, a torpedo struck on the starboard side at the #6 tank. At 16.46 hours, a second torpedo hit the #7 tank on the same side abaft the midships house and the ship swung hard right. The explosions opened a hole 65 feet long and 20 feet high and flooded five tanks, causing a 35° list to starboard. At 17.00 hours, the ten officers, 39 crewmen and 25 armed guards (the ship was armed with one 5in, one 3in and eight 20mm guns) abandoned ship in four lifeboats, but two boats swamped in the choppy seas and squally weather. A coup de grāce, fired at 17.06 hours, struck on the port side at the #4 tank under the midship house, causing the tanker to right herself and float on an even keel. The U-boat had reported another torpedo fired at 18.49 hours, but it seems that it had missed. | ||
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