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USS Atik (AK-101)
Encyclopedia
USS Atik (AK-101) was a Q-ship
of the United States Navy
named for al-Atik, a double star in the constellation
Perseus
. Her twin sister ship
was .
The steel-hulled, single-screw steamer Carolyn was laid down on 15 March 1912 at Newport News, Virginia
, by the Newport News Shipbuilding
and Dry Dock Company, for the A.K. Bull Steamship Lines; launched on 3 July 1912, sponsored by Ms. Carolyn Bull (for whom the ship was probably named), a granddaughter of the shipping firm's owner, Archibald Hilton Bull (1847–1920), and delivered on 20 July 1912.
, she received a main battery of one 3 in (76.2 mm) and one 5 in (127 mm) gun, and a Navy armed guard detachment served in the ship from 28 June 1917-11 November 1918. During that time, too, the Navy gave her the identification number Id. No. 1608, but did not take her over for naval service.
Carolyn pursued her prosaic calling under the house flag of the Bull Line through the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. A dispatch dated 31 January 1942, expressed the Chief of Naval Operations
' desire that Evelyn and Carolyn "be given a preliminary conversion to AK (cargo ship) in the shortest possible time." A letter from the Chief of the Bureau of Ships elaborated on the "shortest possible time," when it stated on 12 February that the conversion and outfitting of the vessels was desired "by 1 March 1942." Acquired by the Navy from the Maritime Commission, Carolyn steamed to Portsmouth, New Hampshire
, where she was turned over to the Navy under a bareboat charter at 15:30 on 12 February 1942.
As could be expected, the process of converting two venerable tramp steamers into men-of-war was by no means complete; but, over the next few weeks, the two erstwhile "tramps" were given their main and secondary batteries and sound gear. Nevertheless, they appeared to be mere cargo ships. Carolyn became Atik, and was given a cargo ship hull number, AK-101; Evelyn became Asterion (AK-100). They were to use their old identities when communicating with friendly vessels and stations; if enemy ships should challenge, reply should be made in accordance with International Procedure, using the identification SS Vill Franca, of Portuguese Registry, callsign CSBT.
Atik (AK-101) was placed in commission at 16:45 on 5 March 1942, at the Portsmouth Navy Yard, Lieutenant Commander
Harry Lynnwood Hicks, USN, in command.
At the outset, all connected with the program apparently harbored the view that neither ship "was expected to last longer than a month after commencement of [her] assigned duty." Atiks holds were packed with pulpwood, a somewhat mercurial material. If dry, "an explosive condition might well develop and, if wet, "rot, with resultant fire might well take place." Despite these disadvantages, pulpwood was selected as the best obtainable material to assure "floatability."
Atiks mission was to lure some unsuspecting U-boat into making a torpedo
attack. According to the projected scenario, the submarine, having deemed the tramp unworthy of the expenditure of more torpedoes, would surface to sink the crippled foe with gunfire.
The plan presupposed that supporting forces would come to the rescue whenever a Q-ship ran into difficulties. In March 1942, though, there was no such reserve available. The commanding officer
s of the two ships were told that they could expect little help if they got into trouble. Every available combatant ship and plane was employed in convoy and patrol duties.
Following fitting out and brief sea trials, she and Asterion got underway on 23 March 1942. Soon after leaving port, Atik and Asterion went their separate ways. On the night of 26-27 March, she was cruising about 300 mi (482.8 km) east of Norfolk, Virginia
and Asterion was cruising some 240 mi (386.2 km) to the south of this area.
Atik had attracted the attention of , on her second war patrol off the eastern seaboard. The U-boat, on the surface, began stalking Atik at 17:00, and at 19:37 fired one torpedo from 700 yd (640.1 m) away which struck the ship on her port side, under the bridge. Fire broke out immediately, and the ship began to assume a slight list.
At 20:53, radio stations at Manasquan, New Jersey
, and at Fire Island, New York
, intercepted the distress message:
Two minutes later, a second distress message further amplified:
As U-123 proceeded around under her victim's stern, her captain, Kapitänleutnant Reinhard Hardegen
, noted one boat being lowered on the starboard side and men abandoning ship.
Because such attacks were a regular occurrences at this time and because all available surface craft were on patrol the dispatch from Carolyn produced no immediate action. The Duty Officer in the Control Room had not been informed as to the secret nature of Carolyn, and consequently his only action was to forward the dispatch to Commander-in-Chief, United States Fleet
(COMINCH).
"Carolyn" was not dead—yet. After U-123 turned to starboard, Atik gathered steerage way, paralleling her course by turning to starboard as well, and dropped her concealment, commencing fire from her main and secondary batteries. The first shell dropped short of the U-boat, as she made off presenting a small target; the others were off in deflection. A veritable hail of .50-caliber machine gun fire, though, ricochetted around the U-boat's decks as she bent on speed to escape the trap into which Hardegen had fallen. One bullet mortally wounded a midshipman standing watch on U-123s bridge.
Gradually, the U-boat pulled out of range behind the cover of a smoke screen emitted by her straining diesels, and her captain assessed the damage. As he later recorded, "We had been incredibly lucky."
U-123 submerged and again approached her opponent. At 21:29, the U-boat shot a torpedo into Atiks machinery spaces. Satisfied that this blow would be fatal, U-123 stood off and watched as Atik settled by the bow, her single screw now out of the water.
Once again, Atiks crew could be seen embarking in her boats, as their ship clung stubbornly to the surface. U-123 surfaced at 22:27, confident that Atik was no longer a threat, and continued to watch until 22:50, when a cataclysmic explosion blew her to pieces. Ten minutes later, U-123 buried her only casualty — the midshipman killed by the Q-ship's machine gun fire. Atiks entire crew perished — either in the blast or during the severe gale that blew up soon after the ship disintegrated.
Several hours after receiving the report of the SOS, an officer in Cominch Operations room phoned the Duty Officer and asked if the Commander, Eastern Sea Frontier (CESF), or the Chief of Staff had been notified. They had not. The Duty Officer was informed that they should be, immediately. Because CESF and his Chief of Staff were both in Norfolk on that particular night, the Duty Officer notified the Operations Officer at his home.
Early the next morning, an Army
bomber
was sent to search the area from which Carolyn had sent her distress message; the destroyer
and the tug
were sent to assist. The Army bomber returned without having sighted anything. The tug and the destroyer encountered such heavy weather that Sagamore was recalled on 25 March; Noa searched the area until fuel shortage compelled her to return to New York on 30 March. Other flights were unsuccessful until 30 March, when two Army planes and one PBY-5A Catalina
flying boat
out of Norfolk reported that they had sighted wreckage roughly ten miles south of the original reported position.
Asterion had intercepted the distress messages from Atik and proceeded directly to the area, Lieutenant Commander Legwen deeming his orders "sufficiently broad to proceed immediately to her assistance," but Asterion encountered difficulties with her steering gear, and only continued the search for 24 hours before being forced to put into Hampton Roads
for repairs.
The Norwegian
freighter SS Minerva was sighted in the vicinity, southbound for St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. On her arrival there, she was boarded and interrogation revealed that her crew had sighted no wreckage and had picked up no survivors.
Twelve days later, CESF reported all known details to COMINCH on the "suspected sinking of the SS Carolyn," and concluded: "...it is believed that there is very little chance that any of her officers and crew will be recovered. It is therefore recommended that if no further information is received by 27 April, they be considered lost and that next of kin be notified."
On 9 April, Radio Berlin reported that a U-boat had sunk an adversary. The Associated Press
distributed the announcement and it was printed in the New York Times the next day.
As of 2007, no other ships in the United States Navy have been named Atik.
Q-ship
Q-ships, also known as Q-boats, Decoy Vessels, Special Service Ships, or Mystery Ships, were heavily armed merchant ships with concealed weaponry, designed to lure submarines into making surface attacks. This gave Q-ships the chance to open fire and sink them...
of the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
named for al-Atik, a double star in the constellation
Constellation
In modern astronomy, a constellation is an internationally defined area of the celestial sphere. These areas are grouped around asterisms, patterns formed by prominent stars within apparent proximity to one another on Earth's night sky....
Perseus
Perseus (constellation)
Perseus is a constellation in the northern sky, named after the Greek hero Perseus. It was one of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy, and remains one of the 88 modern constellations defined by the International Astronomical Union...
. Her twin sister ship
Sister ship
A sister ship is a ship of the same class as, or of virtually identical design to, another ship. Such vessels share a near-identical hull and superstructure layout, similar displacement, and roughly comparable features and equipment...
was .
The steel-hulled, single-screw steamer Carolyn was laid down on 15 March 1912 at Newport News, Virginia
Newport News, Virginia
Newport News is an independent city located in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of Virginia. It is at the southeastern end of the Virginia Peninsula, on the north shore of the James River extending southeast from Skiffe's Creek along many miles of waterfront to the river's mouth at Newport News...
, by the Newport News Shipbuilding
Northrop Grumman Newport News
Newport News Shipbuilding , originally Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company , was the largest privately-owned shipyard in the United States prior to being purchased by Northrop Grumman in 2001...
and Dry Dock Company, for the A.K. Bull Steamship Lines; launched on 3 July 1912, sponsored by Ms. Carolyn Bull (for whom the ship was probably named), a granddaughter of the shipping firm's owner, Archibald Hilton Bull (1847–1920), and delivered on 20 July 1912.
History
For the next 30 years, Carolyn carried freight and passengers between the West Indies and ports on the eastern seaboard of the U.S. During World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, she received a main battery of one 3 in (76.2 mm) and one 5 in (127 mm) gun, and a Navy armed guard detachment served in the ship from 28 June 1917-11 November 1918. During that time, too, the Navy gave her the identification number Id. No. 1608, but did not take her over for naval service.
Carolyn pursued her prosaic calling under the house flag of the Bull Line through the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. A dispatch dated 31 January 1942, expressed the Chief of Naval Operations
Chief of Naval Operations
The Chief of Naval Operations is a statutory office held by a four-star admiral in the United States Navy, and is the most senior uniformed officer assigned to serve in the Department of the Navy. The office is a military adviser and deputy to the Secretary of the Navy...
' desire that Evelyn and Carolyn "be given a preliminary conversion to AK (cargo ship) in the shortest possible time." A letter from the Chief of the Bureau of Ships elaborated on the "shortest possible time," when it stated on 12 February that the conversion and outfitting of the vessels was desired "by 1 March 1942." Acquired by the Navy from the Maritime Commission, Carolyn steamed to Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Portsmouth is a city in Rockingham County, New Hampshire in the United States. It is the largest city but only the fourth-largest community in the county, with a population of 21,233 at the 2010 census...
, where she was turned over to the Navy under a bareboat charter at 15:30 on 12 February 1942.
As could be expected, the process of converting two venerable tramp steamers into men-of-war was by no means complete; but, over the next few weeks, the two erstwhile "tramps" were given their main and secondary batteries and sound gear. Nevertheless, they appeared to be mere cargo ships. Carolyn became Atik, and was given a cargo ship hull number, AK-101; Evelyn became Asterion (AK-100). They were to use their old identities when communicating with friendly vessels and stations; if enemy ships should challenge, reply should be made in accordance with International Procedure, using the identification SS Vill Franca, of Portuguese Registry, callsign CSBT.
Atik (AK-101) was placed in commission at 16:45 on 5 March 1942, at the Portsmouth Navy Yard, Lieutenant Commander
Lieutenant commander (United States)
Lieutenant commander is a mid-ranking officer rank in the United States Navy, the United States Coast Guard, the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Corps, with the pay grade of O-4 and NATO rank code OF-3...
Harry Lynnwood Hicks, USN, in command.
At the outset, all connected with the program apparently harbored the view that neither ship "was expected to last longer than a month after commencement of [her] assigned duty." Atiks holds were packed with pulpwood, a somewhat mercurial material. If dry, "an explosive condition might well develop and, if wet, "rot, with resultant fire might well take place." Despite these disadvantages, pulpwood was selected as the best obtainable material to assure "floatability."
Atiks mission was to lure some unsuspecting U-boat into making a torpedo
Torpedo
The modern torpedo is a self-propelled missile weapon with an explosive warhead, launched above or below the water surface, propelled underwater towards a target, and designed to detonate either on contact with it or in proximity to it.The term torpedo was originally employed for...
attack. According to the projected scenario, the submarine, having deemed the tramp unworthy of the expenditure of more torpedoes, would surface to sink the crippled foe with gunfire.
The plan presupposed that supporting forces would come to the rescue whenever a Q-ship ran into difficulties. In March 1942, though, there was no such reserve available. The commanding officer
Commanding officer
The commanding officer is the officer in command of a military unit. Typically, the commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latitude to run the unit as he sees fit, within the bounds of military law...
s of the two ships were told that they could expect little help if they got into trouble. Every available combatant ship and plane was employed in convoy and patrol duties.
Following fitting out and brief sea trials, she and Asterion got underway on 23 March 1942. Soon after leaving port, Atik and Asterion went their separate ways. On the night of 26-27 March, she was cruising about 300 mi (482.8 km) east of Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....
and Asterion was cruising some 240 mi (386.2 km) to the south of this area.
Action
At 19:45 (Eastern War Time, UT-4—note that some accounts use German Winter Time, UT+1) on the night of 26 March, the Duty Officer in the Joint Operations Control Room, Eastern Sea Frontier (ESF), was informed that an SOS had been picked up from an unidentified ship which had been torpedoed. Nothing further.Atik had attracted the attention of , on her second war patrol off the eastern seaboard. The U-boat, on the surface, began stalking Atik at 17:00, and at 19:37 fired one torpedo from 700 yd (640.1 m) away which struck the ship on her port side, under the bridge. Fire broke out immediately, and the ship began to assume a slight list.
At 20:53, radio stations at Manasquan, New Jersey
Manasquan, New Jersey
-Government:Manasquan is governed under the Borough form of New Jersey municipal government. The government consists of a Mayor and a Borough Council comprising six council members, with all positions elected at large. A Mayor is elected directly by the voters to a four-year term of office and only...
, and at Fire Island, New York
Fire Island, New York
Fire Island is one of the outer barrier islands adjacent to the south shore of Long Island, New York. It is approximately long and varies between broad. Fire Island is part of Suffolk County. It comprises a number of hamlets, census-designated places , and villages, all of which lie within the...
, intercepted the distress message:
- SSS SOS Lat. 36-00 N, Long. 70-00 W, Carolyn burning forward, not bad.
Two minutes later, a second distress message further amplified:
- Torpedo attack, burning forward; require assistance.
As U-123 proceeded around under her victim's stern, her captain, Kapitänleutnant Reinhard Hardegen
Reinhard Hardegen
Lieutenant Commander Reinhard Hardegen is a German U-boat Commander who sank 22 ships, amounting to sunk, ranking him as the 24th most successful Commander in World War II. After the war, he spent a year in British captivity before running a successful oil company and serving in Bremen's...
, noted one boat being lowered on the starboard side and men abandoning ship.
Because such attacks were a regular occurrences at this time and because all available surface craft were on patrol the dispatch from Carolyn produced no immediate action. The Duty Officer in the Control Room had not been informed as to the secret nature of Carolyn, and consequently his only action was to forward the dispatch to Commander-in-Chief, United States Fleet
United States Fleet
The United States Fleet was an organization in the United States Navy from 1922 until after World War II. The abbreviation CINCUS, pronounced "sink us", was used for Commander-in-Chief, United States Fleet. This title was disposed of and officially replaced by COMINCH in December 1941 . This...
(COMINCH).
"Carolyn" was not dead—yet. After U-123 turned to starboard, Atik gathered steerage way, paralleling her course by turning to starboard as well, and dropped her concealment, commencing fire from her main and secondary batteries. The first shell dropped short of the U-boat, as she made off presenting a small target; the others were off in deflection. A veritable hail of .50-caliber machine gun fire, though, ricochetted around the U-boat's decks as she bent on speed to escape the trap into which Hardegen had fallen. One bullet mortally wounded a midshipman standing watch on U-123s bridge.
Gradually, the U-boat pulled out of range behind the cover of a smoke screen emitted by her straining diesels, and her captain assessed the damage. As he later recorded, "We had been incredibly lucky."
U-123 submerged and again approached her opponent. At 21:29, the U-boat shot a torpedo into Atiks machinery spaces. Satisfied that this blow would be fatal, U-123 stood off and watched as Atik settled by the bow, her single screw now out of the water.
Once again, Atiks crew could be seen embarking in her boats, as their ship clung stubbornly to the surface. U-123 surfaced at 22:27, confident that Atik was no longer a threat, and continued to watch until 22:50, when a cataclysmic explosion blew her to pieces. Ten minutes later, U-123 buried her only casualty — the midshipman killed by the Q-ship's machine gun fire. Atiks entire crew perished — either in the blast or during the severe gale that blew up soon after the ship disintegrated.
Several hours after receiving the report of the SOS, an officer in Cominch Operations room phoned the Duty Officer and asked if the Commander, Eastern Sea Frontier (CESF), or the Chief of Staff had been notified. They had not. The Duty Officer was informed that they should be, immediately. Because CESF and his Chief of Staff were both in Norfolk on that particular night, the Duty Officer notified the Operations Officer at his home.
Early the next morning, an Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
bomber
Bomber
A bomber is a military aircraft designed to attack ground and sea targets, by dropping bombs on them, or – in recent years – by launching cruise missiles at them.-Classifications of bombers:...
was sent to search the area from which Carolyn had sent her distress message; the destroyer
Destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...
and the tug
Tugboat
A tugboat is a boat that maneuvers vessels by pushing or towing them. Tugs move vessels that either should not move themselves, such as ships in a crowded harbor or a narrow canal,or those that cannot move by themselves, such as barges, disabled ships, or oil platforms. Tugboats are powerful for...
were sent to assist. The Army bomber returned without having sighted anything. The tug and the destroyer encountered such heavy weather that Sagamore was recalled on 25 March; Noa searched the area until fuel shortage compelled her to return to New York on 30 March. Other flights were unsuccessful until 30 March, when two Army planes and one PBY-5A Catalina
PBY Catalina
The Consolidated PBY Catalina was an American flying boat of the 1930s and 1940s produced by Consolidated Aircraft. It was one of the most widely used multi-role aircraft of World War II. PBYs served with every branch of the United States Armed Forces and in the air forces and navies of many other...
flying boat
Flying boat
A flying boat is a fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a float plane as it uses a purpose-designed fuselage which can float, granting the aircraft buoyancy. Flying boats may be stabilized by under-wing floats or by wing-like projections from the fuselage...
out of Norfolk reported that they had sighted wreckage roughly ten miles south of the original reported position.
Asterion had intercepted the distress messages from Atik and proceeded directly to the area, Lieutenant Commander Legwen deeming his orders "sufficiently broad to proceed immediately to her assistance," but Asterion encountered difficulties with her steering gear, and only continued the search for 24 hours before being forced to put into Hampton Roads
Hampton Roads
Hampton Roads is the name for both a body of water and the Norfolk–Virginia Beach metropolitan area which surrounds it in southeastern Virginia, United States...
for repairs.
The Norwegian
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
freighter SS Minerva was sighted in the vicinity, southbound for St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. On her arrival there, she was boarded and interrogation revealed that her crew had sighted no wreckage and had picked up no survivors.
Twelve days later, CESF reported all known details to COMINCH on the "suspected sinking of the SS Carolyn," and concluded: "...it is believed that there is very little chance that any of her officers and crew will be recovered. It is therefore recommended that if no further information is received by 27 April, they be considered lost and that next of kin be notified."
On 9 April, Radio Berlin reported that a U-boat had sunk an adversary. The Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
distributed the announcement and it was printed in the New York Times the next day.
- The High Command said today that a Q-boat -- a heavily armed ship disguised as an unarmed vessel -- was among 13 vessels sunk off the American Atlantic coast and that it was sent to the bottom by a submarine only after a "bitter battle." (In the last war, Q-ships accounted for many submarines which slipped up on them thinking they were easy prey. When the submarines came into range, false structures on the Q-boats were collapsed, revealing an array of guns.)
- The Q-boat, the communiqué said, was of 3,000 tons and was sunk by a torpedo after a battle "fought partly on the surface with artillery and partly beneath the water with bombs and torpedoes."
As of 2007, no other ships in the United States Navy have been named Atik.