THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA

SENATE RESOLUTION

INTRODUCED BY BREWSTER, APRIL 27, 2011

INTRODUCED AND ADOPTED, APRIL 27, 2011  

A RESOLUTION

Recognizing April 29, 2011, as the 68th anniversary of the

torpedoing of the SS McKeesport.

WHEREAS, April 29, 2011, marks the 68th anniversary of the

torpedoing of the SS McKeesport, an action which launched one of

the most violent North Atlantic battles of World War II; and

WHEREAS, The SS McKeesport was officially launched on March

9, 1919, at the shipyards of the Federal Shipbuilding and

Drydock Company at Kearney Point, New Jersey; and

WHEREAS, Miss Eleanor Roberts Cornelius, daughter of National

Tube Works General Manager William A. Cornelius, was the sponsor

for the SS McKeesport and christened the ship to signify its

first launch; and

WHEREAS, A freight vessel, the SS McKeesport was operated by

the American Hampton Roads Line through the 1920s and 1930s, and

was one of many freighters pressed into government service

during World War II as part of the United States merchant

marine; and

WHEREAS, The SS McKeesport's finest hour came in 1940 when,

as the first so-called mercy ship sent to Europe by the Red

Cross and the American Friends Service Committee, it delivered

$1 million in emergency food and supplies to Marseilles, France,

to aid refugees who had fled the advancing German army; and

WHEREAS, Relief workers reported that the arrival of the SS

McKeesport had prevented starvation for an estimated one million

men, women and children in refugee camps; and

WHEREAS, In April 1943, the SS McKeesport was one of 43 ships

in convoy ONS-5, westbound from Liverpool to New York and

carrying 2,000 tons of sand ballast when the convoy encountered

what renowned naval historian Samuel Eliot Morison later called

an unprecedented number of German U-boats in the shipping lane;

and

WHEREAS, The crews of the British warships accompanying the

merchant vessels did their best to protect the convoy, but at

dawn on April 29, 1943, the German submarine U-258 fired on the

SS McKeesport, inflicting a mortal wound; and

WHEREAS, In his epic history of United States naval

operations, Mr. Morison writes that the SS McKeesport's crew,

under the command of United States Naval Reserve Ensign Irving

H. Smith, "stood by their guns until ordered to abandon ship,"

but were unable to spot the U-boat and return fire; and

WHEREAS, Miraculously, the SS McKeesport's captain, Oscar

John Lohr, and the majority of his 11-man crew, 31 other men and

a Navy armed guard gun crew of 25 survived the attack, with on-

board merchant seaman John A. Anderson being the only casualty;

and

WHEREAS, The ensuing battle lasted several days and by the

end of May 1943, with the help of the British Admiralty, the

German fleet lost 47 U-boats and withdrew from the North

Atlantic, resulting in the first major victory of convoy escorts

over U-boats; therefore be it

RESOLVED, That the Senate recognize the 68th anniversary of

the torpedoing of the SS McKeesport and honor those on board the

SS McKeesport, those who came to its defense and those involved

in the rescue effort who served with courage and distinction.