USS Vandalia (IX-191)

USS "Vandalia" (IX-191), a twin-screw, steel-hulled tanker, was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named for Vandalia, the name of three cities in the United States that is also used poetically for various regions.

As "Walter Jennings", her construction was completed in 1921 by the Federal Shipbuilding Company of Newark, New Jersey, for the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey and she served under the aegis of Standard Oil through the 1920s and 1930s. Allocated to the Navy by the Maritime Commission's War Shipping Administration in late 1944, the ship was renamed "Vandalia" on 18 October 1944, being designated as unclassified miscellaneous vessel IX-191. She was accordingly taken over from the War Shipping Administration on 23 December 1944 and was commissioned on the same day, Lieutenant R. P. Morrison, USNR, in command, at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

"Vandalia" departed Pearl Harbor on 27 February 1945 for Eniwetok in the Marshall Islands and made port on 11 March. Routed to Saipan with a Mariana Islands-bound convoy, "Vandalia" developed an engine casualty and was forced to reverse course and turn back to Eniwetok for repairs. The vessel got underway on 18 March but was rerouted on 23 March to Ulithi in the Carolina Islands. Entering the harbor at her destination two days later, she proceeded to her assigned berth, remaining there into the summer as station tanker at Ulithi.

She subsequently shifted to Buckner Bay, Okinawa, to serve as storage tanker there in September. On 9 October, a particularly heavy and violent typhoon swept over Okinawa. "Vandalia" ran aground at 1518 coming to rest about convert|200|yd|m from Miyegusuku Lighthouse on Naha Island and sinking rapidly. The convert|140|kn|km/h|sing=on winds lashed the ship, and heavy seas pounded the old tanker unmercifully. One engine failed, and the ship went out of control, carried along with the fury of the typhoon, as the ship's force determinedly tried to pump out the engine room, fire room, and after compartments. She came to rest listing to starboard, and the danger immediately confronting the commanding officer, Lieutenant John F. Auge, USNR, was that of the ship capsizing. Accordingly, Auge gave the order to abandon ship, which was done by 0740 on 10 October. There were no casualties.

Auge observed that the ship appeared to be damaged beyond economical repair but nonetheless stationed a guard on board to prevent pilferage. A guard was retained on board until 20 November when, after stripping her of whatever remained of value, "Vandalia" was decommissioned and abandoned.

Struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 5 December 1945, the tanker was eventually purchased by the China Merchants and Engineers, Inc., for scrap, on 31 December.

ee also

See USS "Vandalia" for other ships of the same name.

References