Battered, bruised, torn and sinking to the very last, the grand SS Ohio – the fastest and largest tanker in the world – limped into Grand Harbour loaded with 11,500 tons of kerosene and diesel to a rapturous welcome from the bastions yesterday morning.
Looking at the ship as she was straddled by British Navy destroyers and tugs to prevent her from floundering, she looked a very sorry, but very welcome sight. Other ships arrived in Malta the day before yesterday, bringing much needed grain, but the Ohio had a harrowing extra day at sea, all the time pursued, bombed and torpedoed by Axis forces.
The tanker plodded in at about 9.30am, making a steady 4.5 knots – a far cry from her top speed of 16 knots (she had actually made 19 knots during her sea trials). The crew of the SS Ohio, we understand, abandoned ship and returned to the stricken, yet charmed vessel, going far beyond the call of duty. Men from other ships were also ferried onto the Ohio for the final part of her journey
The exhausted sailors were stunned by the welcome they received from the bastions, with thousands of Maltese waving makeshift flags and banners, accompanied by a brass band playing Rule Britannia. It was indeed moving to see Captain Dudley Mason take the salute on his ship’s bridge, even though parts of it were practically underwater by the time it got into docking position.
Contact was first made with the SS Ohio by Maltese tugs at about 6.30am this morning. Spitfires and Hurricanes have been flying overhead in pattern all morning and sources have divulged that the Luftwaffe did not give up hope of severing Malta’s supply lines till the last minute.
We do not have an accurate account of how many times the SS Ohio was hit, but we have reproduced some sailors’ logs further on in this article.
What happened next was sheer mechanics. As soon as the vessel moored alongside the dock, stevedores hooked up pipes, and the Ohio started to discharge her 10,000 tons of fuel. As the oil flowed out, Mason received a message from Burrough, the convoy commander: “To Ohio… stop… I’m proud to have met you… message ends.” Mason (who can be sure to be tipped for a George Cross for this mission) read out the message and walked to the other side of the bridge. Just then the last of the oil flowed out.
The exhausted crew were immediately whisked away from the ship, against the will of some of them who wanted to stay and make sure that the ship’s cargo was safely disgorged. The numerous injured were taken for treatment. Although all the men had an eerie vacant look in their eyes, one could tell that they were intensely moved by what they saw on the bastions, many commenting that they would make it a point to return to Malta in the future to re-live the feelings they had just experienced. To the crews of the Pedestal Convoy – Malta is grateful and we mourn the loss of your comrades.
We have compiled a log of the traumatic five days these heroes spent at sea:
August 10 1942
Convoy Pedestal, consisting of 59 warships and 14 merchant ships, puts to sea, entering the Mediterranean in heavy fog. 18 Italian and three German submarines await them. Behind them are 784 Axis aircraft, 23 motor torpedo boats, and the heavy ships of the Italian fleet. The Axis knows the British are coming, because of their agents in Spain, who have a full view of Gibraltar harbour. In addition, the convoy’s destination, despite the secrecy, is well-known to Gibraltar stevedores.
August 11 1942
At high noon in the Mediterranean, the German U-73, under Kapitanleutenant Helmut Rosenbaum, spots HMS Eagle approaching. U-73 evades detection and holds fire until 500 yards off, then launches four torpedoes. All four explode on the Eagle’s portside, and the carrier, her bulkheads cracking open, slowly rolls over to her portside. Lt. Hugh Popham, sitting in a Hurricane on Indomitable’s flight deck, turns to see “smoke and steam suddenly pour from HMS Eagle. All that remained of her was the troubled water, a spreading stain of oil, and the clustered black dots of her ship’s company.” Eagle sinks in less than eight minutes. Of the ship’s company of 1,160 – 900 are saved, including her skipper, Capt. L.D. Mackintosh. Shortly after, the destroyer HMS Wolverine rams and sinks the Italian submarine Dagabur. At sunset, the first air attack comes in – 36 German planes that do no damage. HMS Furious launches her Spitfires, which reach Malta, then returns to Gibraltar, mission accomplished.
August 12 1942
Convoy Pedestal plods on through the Mediterranean. The Luftwaffe attacks at dawn, but British Sea-Hurricanes chase them off. At noon, 100 Axis bombers come back and into a terrific barrage, that includes Rodney’s 16-inch guns. Bombs damage the merchant ship Deucalion, which later sinks. Later that afternoon, British radar picks off the Italian submarine Cobalto. The British pepper it with depth charges, and the sub surfaces near the destroyer Ithuriel, which crunches into the Cobalto’s conning tower.
British tars leap aboard the battered sub to seize her crew and papers, but it starts to sink beneath their feet. The British hustle 41 Italians onto Ithuriel, which must limp back, with crushed bows, to Gibraltar. At nightfall, the convoy steers for Skerki Channel, known as “Bomb Alley,” and the Luftwaffe returns with 80 bombers, joined by 20 Italian machines. The German planes swoop down amid some of the fiercest AA shot of the war. The Germans torpedo the destroyer HMS Foresight, blasting off her rudder and screws. She has to be sunk by her own forces. More bombs hit the carrier Indomitable, starting fuel fires. The Luftwaffe loses seven aircraft. The only operational carrier left is Victorious. As night falls, Syftret, according to plan, withdraws the battleships and carriers, which cannot operate in “Bomb Alley.” The big ships leave at 7pm, and the Luftwaffe attacks minutes later. German Ju 88s torpedo Nigeria, the cruiser HMS Cairo and the Ohio, sending a pillar of flame into the air above mast height. The British Sailors charge into the fire with extinguishers while bombs continue to fall, and quell the blazes. Burrough transfers his flag to the destroyer Ashanti, while sending his flagship home with three destroyers. On Almeria Lykes, an unexploded torpedo mine is caught on the bridge. A sailor calmly saws away at the silk strands, and the mine tumbles peacefully into the water. As soon as order is restored, the Luftwaffe returns for another shot at the convoy. Ohio’s fires are out, but engine power will take another half hour to restore. Her main steering position is also knocked out, and Mason must conn his ship from after steering, without gyro or magnetic compass. Ohio has a 24-foot hole in her pumproom, with massive tears. Yet her welded hull remains intact. Had she been built with rivets, she would be sunk. Mason learns his ship’s steering gear is not working, but the rudder can be moved by operating the valve on the steering engine at the after end of the poop. Movement orders to this station must be given by phone from the bridge. The tanker staggers on. Meanwhile 100 Ju 88s and He 111s pound the convoy. AA gunners blaze away. On Almeria Lykes, a gunner says, “Get a bucket of water, bud, this barrel’s melting and there are more planes coming.” The Germans put a torpedo through Brisbane Star, and the merchantman staggers out of the convoy. More bombs hit the freighter Empire Hope, igniting her aviation petrol, and the crew has to abandon ship. Next to get hit is Clan Ferguson – by bombs. A mushroom of flame, black smoke and flying debris gushes from her. The Italian submarine Alagi (after torpedoing and damaging the cruiser Kenya) picks up 53 surviving members of her crew. The clocks on all ships turn over to midnight.
August 13 1942
Convoy Pedestal rounds Cape Bon and meets a new enemy, eight Italian and two German motor torpedo boats (MTBs), which knife out of the dark in two waves just after midnight. Two Italian boats press to within 50 yards of HMS Manchester, then smack the ship with torpedoes. The cruiser’s steering locks her into a circle, her engine rooms flood, and all lights and power go out. The cruiser staggers to a halt, and the crew abandons ship. The ship is scuttled as the decision turns out to have been premature. Another MTB jumps the American Santa Elisa, spraying it with bullets, killing gunners at their post. Another E-boat swoops in during the fight and torpedoes Santa Elisa on the starboard side, exploding the ship’s fuel with a roar. Fire engulfs the freighter.
The Almeria Lykes is hit by a torpedo on the portside of her No. 1 hold, that splits the ship in two. She is abandoned. A little later, German E-boats pounce on the British freighters Wairangi and Glenorchy, and sink both of them. The British are down to two cruisers (one damaged) and seven destroyers to escort six merchant ships. The Brisbane Star has straggled away from the convoy.
The all-important Ohio is “sailing like a yacht” despite a massive hole in her port side. All crews are exhausted from the heat and strain as dawn breaks 170 miles from Malta, bringing with it scores of Luftwaffe dive bombers.
The Luftwaffe attacks at 8am, hurling 12 Ju 88s on the freighter Waimarama. Bombs hit direct aft and forward, igniting 100 octane aviation fuel stowed on the bridge deck. Waimarama explodes with a roar, disappearing in a sheet of flame and clouds of billowing smoke, as her cargo of shells and other combustibles is set off. Debris showers nearby ships and the sea is a mass of fire. Eighty of the ship’s crew of 107 die. The Luftwaffe returns at 9.25am, with 60 Ju 87s.
The Stukas peel off and attack Ohio at mast height, but only score a near-miss. One Ju 87 crashes into Ohio’s starboard bridge and explodes – but her bomb does not. 20 Ju 88s return later that morning, and score a hit on Ohio’s starboard side, knocking out the power and boiler fires. Hard-working engineers use fuel starter torches to re-light the boilers, and Ohio is doing 16 knots within 20 minutes –only to get hammered by more bombs that also damage the electric fuel pumps. These hits finally stop the engines. Mean-while, the rest of the convoy struggles on. Bombs sink SS Dorset. Italian torpedo bombers damage Kenya. As the convoy comes close to Malta, RAF Spitfires swoop in to break up enemy air attacks. The Ohio is joined by destroyers Penn and Ledbury, which start towing the battered tanker with 10-inch manila rope. Not only is Ohio immobile, but she is unable to defend herself as her 20mm Oerlikon cannon are all damaged from heavy use. The Luftwaffe tries again at 1.30, and a Ju 88 drops its bomb just before flak destroys the plane.
The order to abandon Ohio
The bomb rips open Ohio. Capt. Mason orders his exhausted crew to abandon ship. Destroyer and tanker crews, having gone without sleep for three days, are near the limits of their endurance. Ledbury’s captain boosts morale by ordering a rum issue. By 4pm, the lead ships of Pedestal are under Malta’s fighter cover. Burrough turns his warships west to tend to Ohio, while the Port Chalmers, Rochester Castle and Melbourne Star enter Malta’s Grand Harbour at 6.18pm to the cheers of the Maltese lining the ramparts. Malta now has food to sustain the siege, but the critical oil is still 70 miles away, on a sinking ship. On Penn, Capt. Mason sees Burrough’s ships coming, and knows he has more resources to bring his ship to Malta.He asks for volunteers from his crew to go back aboard Ohio, and the weary merchant sailors do so, checking valves and steering gear, stopping leaks. Mason removes his ship’s rudder and auxiliary steering gear. The ship will be hand-steered to Malta. But at 6.30pm the Luftwaffe comes back for one more try, and scores a bomb hit that explodes on the boiler tops, blowing most of the engine room to pieces. Ohio has broken her back. Mason again gives the order to abandon ship. That evening, Mason and Lt. Cdr Swain, the Penn’s skipper, discuss the situation. Ohio is flooding, but Mason is determined to get her oil to Malta. “We’ll do everything we can,” Swain says. They come up with a new plan to save the tanker
August 14 1942
Shortly after midnight, 60 miles from Malta, Penn and the minesweeper Rye try to tow Ohio to Malta, doing 4.5 knots. But at 1am, the tow is broken, and the British have to try again. HMS Branham suggests the tanker be moved by towing alongside. Mason and some of his crew finally get some sleep. HMS Ledbury turns up to assist with the tow, and sends sailors on board to hook in cables.
They return to the destroyer with one large typewriter, two 20mm Oerlikon guns, 12 magazines, a number of field telephones, and a large megaphone with SS Ohio stamped on it. Mason also goes on board and inspects the tanks. His ship is holding better than he expected. Joined by three more minesweepers, the Ohio struggles on. But at 10.45am, six Ju 88s swing in. Massed British guns fell one bomber, and the rest release too early. Three more echelons of Germans come in, but 16 Spitfires from Malta sight the enemy, and shake up the German formation. The Germans toss a 1,000-kg bomb at the Ohio, which misses. She has 45 miles to go.
That afternoon, the air is full of Spitfires, which screen off German aircraft, but the U-boat menace remains. The tanker’s life at sea may be measurable in hours or even minutes, as she struggles along at a steady five knots. Crewmen stagger about like sleepwalkers, nodding off at their stations. At dusk, lookouts spot Malta’s cliffs, and the force squeezes into the mine-swept channel off Delimara Point. The King’s Harbour Master arrives in the tug Robert to take charge of the final part of the tow. As the ship staggers in, Maltese coastal defences spot an enemy U-boat, and scare it off with 9.2-inch shells. The battle is not over yet – shortly after that, enemy MTBs sweep in from the northeast. British coastal defences light up searchlights. At the last moment, the Axis E-boat commander decides the certainty of destruction by 9.2-inch guns is not worth the risk, and the E-boats withdraw.
August 15th, 1942
Dawn breaks over SS Ohio with her still plodding towards the entrance to Grand Harbour. All her escorts are jammed with wounded sailors from various sunken ships. At 6am, Malta tugs arrive to handle the final tow into Grand Harbour. There, the exhausted Ohio crew is stunned to see the harbour’s ramparts jammed with Maltese people and a brass band playing Rule Britannia. Mason takes the salute on his ship’s bridge.