San Pablo (ship, 1915)

**San Pablo (ship, 1915)** p1
Ship data
Ship type	Banana freighter
Owner	United Fruit Company (UFCO), Boston
Shipyard	Workman & Clark , Belfast hull number 343
Launch	May 1915 ; Commissioning: June 27, 1915
Whereabouts	sunk off Santa Rosa Island, Florida
Ship dimensions and crew
length	315.2 foot m ( Lüa )
width	44.2 feet m
Draft	Max. 28.8 feet m
measurement	3305 GRT
Machine system
machine	Triple expansion steam engine
Machine ; performance	2300 hp
Top ; speed	15 kn kn (Err km / h)
Transport capacities
Transport capacities
Others
Others

The San Pablo was an American banana freighter ( English : Banana boat , fruiter ) of the United Fruit Company (UFCO) of the Second World War in 1942 in Costa Rica by the German submarine U 161 lying sunk at the wharf and after his elevation in 1944 was sunk again as a target ship in a joint operation of the OSS and the USAAF off Florida . The wreck , popularly referred to as the "Russian freighter", is now a popular diving object and was examined underwater archaeologically in 2013 and 2016 .

history

Use from 1915 to 1942

The San Pablo sailed under the British flag, but was owned by the United Fruit Company (UFCO) in Boston . It has been proven that it was between New York City and Boston and the Caribbean ports of Puerto Limón ( Costa Rica ), Havana ( Cuba ), Santa Marta ( Colombia ), Puerto Barrios ( Guatemala ), Kingston ( Jamaica ), Port Antonio (Jamaica ) between 1915 and 1926 ) and Bocas del Toro ( Panama ). From this time, a marine casualty is known on December 14, 1920, when she stumbled upon a rock while leaving Havana. Details are not known, but apparently it was only slightly damaged.

By 1932 at the latest, the San Pablo was operated by the Balboa Shipping Company and has since been sailing under the Panamanian flag. The background for the flag change was possibly the global economic crisis . However, the freighter was still active in the UFCO's fruit transport and apparently operated from New Orleans from 1939 .

Sunk by U 161 in 1942

Map of Costa Rica

U-161 bombs

In June / July 1942 the San Pablo was on a transport from New Orleans to Puerto Limón / Costa Rica. The Costa Rican government under Dr. Rafael Ángel Calderón Guardia had declared war on the German Reich and Italy on December 11, 1941 after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th. The country was not directly affected by acts of war until July 1942, so no blackout measures were taken. However, there had already been domestic political tensions in the course of 1941, as German and Italian merchant ships lying in the Pacific port of Puntarenas were viewed in the context of a fifth column of the Axis powers .

When the San Pablo lay at the pier in Puerto Limón on Thursday, July 2, 1942, around 8 p.m. , she was attacked with two torpedoes by the German submarine U 161 lying in front of the port . Since the steamer was loading, the bulkheads were open so that the San Pablo quickly took water and sank to the bottom of the harbor basin in a short time. 24 people were killed in the attack, with the exception of one American seaman , all of the victims were Costa Rican dock workers, mostly of Jamaican origin.

The news of the attack attracted international attention, as Puerto Limón is located relatively close to the port of Colón at the east entrance of the strategically important Panama Canal . A protest rally called by the government took place in the Costa Rican capital, San José , on July 4, 1942, at which President Calderón also appeared and promised to cleanse the country of the fifth column. The rally degenerated into violence, during which 123 buildings were attacked and partially looted by German, Italian and Spanish residents, and 76 people were injured in street fighting. The government then announced that it would not tolerate any new demonstrations of any political orientation.

Project "Javaman" and final sinking in 1944

In January 1943, the "San Pablo" was lifted, makeshift repairs and towed by the tug Crusader to Tampa / Florida on March 6 , where the tow arrived on March 28. On September 10, 1943, however, the ship was declared a total loss and apparently from this point on it was prepared for the "Javaman" project, which was operated jointly by the OSS and the USAAF; the United States Navy was not involved.

The “Javaman” project was intended to test how small motor boats laden with explosives could be used against sea targets by remote control from aircraft . For this purpose, a total of three motor boats were tested in three trials. On August 11, 1944, the San Pablo was used as a target ship . A motorboat loaded with around 2.5 t of explosives was steered onto the ship by remote control by a Boeing B-17 off Pensacola and detonated, whereupon the San Pablo sank immediately.

Investigation of the wreck in 2013 and 2016

The wreck of the San Pablo was known among scuba divers in Florida before 2013 as the "Russian freighter" and was a popular diving object. It is 85 feet off Santa Rosa Island, Florida / Pensacola. In 2013 and 2016 the wreck was submerged and scientifically examined by underwater archaeologists from the UWF archeological field school. The wreck itself has completely crumbled, the chimney and boiler of the steam engine are relatively well preserved .