Ohio
Ohio enters Grand Harbour.
Undoubtedly the most famous convoy to Malta was Pedestal
& perhaps the most famous ship in the convoy was the Ohio,
commanded by Captain D.W.Mason.
She belonged to the Texas Oil Company & was an American tanker on loan
to the British.
Ohio was an oil tanker of some 9,514 tons.
Her cargo was 11,500 tons of kerosene & fuel oil. On the 13th August she
was attacked & hit by a bomb. Later she was near missed by 2 parachute
mines. A German dive bomber (Stuka) was hit with fire from the Ohio
& the Ashanti & crashed into the
side of the tanker. Another bomber was also hit in the attack & crashed
onto Ohio's deck. The explosions blew
out the boilers & she came to a stop. Penn
& Ledbury stayed with Ohio
as protection.
At dusk she was hit by torpedo which wrecked the steering gear & shipboard
communications. She had a large hole in the main deck & the pumproom was
exposed to the sea. Bulkheads were badly damaged & tank lids buckled &
open. The crew fought the fires & the engineers tried to get the engines
back on line.
By the morning of the 14th she was under way again in the tow of Rye.
Penn & Bramham
were lashed to the sides with Ledbury
helping to steer from behind. An escort of minesweepers - Hebe,
Hythe & Speedy
joined but again they were attacked by bombers & the Ohio
was hit by another bomb which nearly finished her insight of the harbour.
Eventually on Saturday 15th August they made Grand Harbour where the Ohio
was moored & her cargo discharged. She was later moored in Rinella Bay
but broke in two & settled on the bottom in shallow water. Each half was
made watertight & one half was used as a base for small naval units &
the other as a store. After the war on the 19th September 1946 the front half
was towed out to sea 10 miles from the entrance to Grand Harbour & was
sunk by gunfire from HMS Virago.
The stern half was taken out 2 weeks later & sunk with explosive charges.
It is interesting that the crews of the destroyers which towed Ohio
into harbour were awarded salvage money. An Ordinary Seaman on the Bramham
was awarded £2 12s 6d.
|
HMS Bramham &
HMS Penn
lashed to Ohio
& nursing her towards Grand Harbour. |
Wheel of Ohio currently residing in the Malta National War Museum |
Unknown ship (possibly a troop landing ship) in the foreground but the photo is interesting as Ohio can be seen on the right in Rinella Bay
Photo of Ohio in first resting place
References
| Malta Convoys. | David A. Thomas. |
| Pedestal. The Malta Convoy of August 1942. | Peter C. Smith. |