SS James Eagan Layne
 Launching of the James Eagan Layne
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | James Eagan Layne |
| Namesake | James Eagan Layne |
| Operator | US Navigation Company, New York City |
| Builder | Delta Shipbuilding Corporation, New Orleans, Louisiana |
| Yard number | 157 |
| Laid down | 23 October 1944 |
| Launched | 2 December 1944 |
| Completed | 18 December 1944 |
| Fate | Sunk on 21 March 1945 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Liberty ship |
| Tonnage | 7,176 tons |
| Length | 422.8 ft |
| Beam | 57 ft |
| Draft | 27 ft 9.25 in |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 11 to 11.5 knots (20 to 21 km/h) |
| Crew | 69 |
SS James Eagan Layne was a liberty ship. She was beached and sunk during the Second World War off Whitsand Bay, Cornwall, United Kingdom.
History
[edit]Voyages and sinking
[edit]She was built by the Delta Shipbuilding Corporation, New Orleans, Louisiana in 1944 and was operated by the United States Navigation Company, of New York City. She was named after the second engineer of the Esso Baton Rouge, who was killed when Esso Baton Rouge was sunk by Reinhard Hardegen's U-123 on 23rd February 1943.
The final voyage of the James Eagan Layne was in convoy BTC-103[1] to carry 4,500 tons of US Army Engineers' equipment from Barry, Wales, to Ghent, in Belgium.[2] She also carried motorboats and lumber as deck cargo. She was sighted on 21 March 1945, sailing 12 miles off Plymouth by U-399[3] and torpedoed on the starboard side between holds #4 and #5. She was badly damaged, but was taken in tow by tugs Flaunt and Atlas. She was beached in Whitsand Bay Cornwall, but subsequently settled on the bottom and was declared a total loss. There were no casualties amongst her crew of 69.[4]
As a wreck
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Some salvage was done at the time of her loss before the forward holds flooded and much of the cargo in the stern section was salvaged by an Icelandic firm in 1953 with further salvage work completed in 1967.[5]
The wreck has been a popular dive site for many years.[6][7] James Eagan Layne is situated 540 metres (1,770 ft) east of the wreck of HMS Scylla - in 22m of water with her bows at 50°19.602′N 4°14.714′W / 50.326700°N 4.245233°W. In June 2011, three divers got into difficulty on the wreck, resulting in one death.[8]
March 2015 is the 70th anniversary of the sinking of the James Eagan Layne. To celebrate this anniversary, the Liberty 70 Project was started with the aim of researching and documenting all aspects of the life of this vessel - wartime transport, shipwreck, commercial salvage, the classic UK wreck dive and artificial reef.[9]
References
[edit]- ^ [1] Convoy BTC-103 on uboat.net
- ^ The Liberty Ships, p83, L.A. Sawyer & W.H. Mitchell, ISBN 1-85044-049-2
- ^ Lost Patrols: Submarine Wrecks of the English Channel, p28, Innes McCartney, ISBN 1-904381-04-9
- ^ Great British Wrecks, p47, Kendall McDonald, ISBN 0-946020-07-8
- ^ UKHO Wreck Report #17655, UK Hydrographic Office
- ^ [2] DiverNet Wreck Tour: 62, The James Eagan Layne
- ^ Dive South Cornwall, p43, Richard Larn, ISBN 0-946020-25-6
- ^ "Diver dies after shipwreck rescue in Whitsand Bay". BBC News. BBC. 12 June 2011. Retrieved 12 June 2011.
- ^ [3] The Liberty 70 Project
External links
[edit]- The Liberty 70 Project
- Submerged
- FourthElement Archived 27 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- Liberty ships
- Wreck diving sites in England
- World War II shipwrecks in the English Channel
- Ships sunk by German submarines in World War II
- Steamships
- Cornish shipwrecks
- Ships built in New Orleans
- 1944 ships
- Maritime incidents in March 1945
- Ships sunk with no fatalities
- 1945 in England
- March 1945 events in the United Kingdom