SS John Witherspoon

History
United States
Name	John Witherspoon
Namesake	John Witherspoon
Owner	War Shipping Administration (WSA)
Operator	Seas Shipping Co., Inc.
Ordered	as type (EC2-S-C1) hull, MCE hull 31
Awarded	14 March 1941
Builder	Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyard, Baltimore, Maryland[1]
Cost	$1,177,161[2]
Yard number	2018
Way number	5
Laid down	10 December 1941
Launched	4 March 1942
Sponsored by	Miss Grace Rose Culleton
Completed	23 April 1942
Fate	Sunk by German submarine U-255, 6 July 1942
General characteristics [3]
Class and type	Liberty ship type EC2-S-C1, standard
Tonnage	10,865 LT DWT 7,176 GRT
Displacement	3,380 long tons (3,434 t) (light) 14,245 long tons (14,474 t) (max)
Length	441 feet 6 inches (135 m) oa 416 feet (127 m) pp 427 feet (130 m) lwl
Beam	57 feet (17 m)
Draft	27 ft 9.25 in (8.4646 m)
Installed power	2 × Oil fired 450 °F (232 °C) boilers, operating at 220 psi (1,500 kPa) 2,500 hp (1,900 kW)
Propulsion	1 × triple-expansion steam engine,  (manufactured by General Machinery Corp., Hamilton, Ohio) 1 × screw propeller
Speed	11.5 knots (21.3 km/h; 13.2 mph)
Capacity	562,608 cubic feet (15,931 m3) (grain) 499,573 cubic feet (14,146 m3) (bale)
Complement	38–62 USMM 21–40 USNAG
Armament	Varied by ship Bow-mounted 3 inches (76 mm)/50 caliber gun Stern-mounted 4 inches (102 mm)/50 caliber gun 2–8 × single 20 millimeters (0.79 in) Oerlikon anti-aircraft (AA) cannons and/or, 2–8 × 37 millimeters (1.46 in) M1 AA guns

SS John Witherspoon was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after John Witherspoon, a Scottish-American Presbyterian minister and a Founding Father of the United States. Politically active, Witherspoon was a delegate from New Jersey to the Second Continental Congress and a signatory to the United States Declaration of Independence. Later, he signed the Articles of Confederation and supported ratification of the Constitution. In 1789 he was convening moderator of the First General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America.

John Witherspoon was laid down on 10 December 1941, under a Maritime Commission (MARCOM) contract, MCE hull 31, by the Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyard, Baltimore, Maryland; sponsored by Miss Grace Rose Culleton, the daughter of J.C. Dulleton, the resident MARCOM plant auditor, and was launched on 4 March 1942.^[1][2]

She was allocated to Seas Shipping Co.Inc., on 23 April 1942.^[4]

John Witherspoon had set out from Baltimore, on her maiden voyage, in June 1942. She sailed from Hvalfjordur, Iceland, on the afternoon of 27 June 1942, with 8,575 LT (8,713 t) of ammunition and tanks aboard, for Arkhangelsk, in Convoy PQ-17. At 16:38, on the afternoon of 6 July 1942, John Witherspoon was struck by a torpedo fired from the German submarine U-255, at 72°05′N 48°30′E / 72.083°N 48.500°E / 72.083; 48.500. The torpedo struck her starboard side between holds #4 and #5. A minute later another torpedo struck beneath the bridge. All eight officers, 31 crewmen, and 11 Armed guards abandoned ship at this time, with one crewman falling overboard and drowning. At 16:55, another two torpedoes struck the port side amidships, this caused her to brake in two and sink within minutes. U-255 approached the lifeboats to question the captain, John Stewart Clark, about her cargo, afterwards offering food and water to the survivors and directions to the nearest land.^[5]

The merchant ship El Capitan, picked up 19 of the survivors on 8 July, with HMS La Malouine (K46) picking up the rest of survivors on 9 July.^[5] With El Capitan being attacked on 9 July, the survivors were once again forced to abandon ship, this time being rescued by HMS Lord Austin (FY220).^[6]