New Jersey Scuba Diving

Type:

shipwreck, tanker, Panama

Built:

1939, Germany

Specs:

( 493 x 65 ft ) 9577 tons

Sunk:

Wednesday January 14, 1942
torpedoed and shelled by U-123 - the first loss of World War II in U.S. waters

Depth:

280 ft, min 210 ft

The Norness is generally ignored by divers, because of the proximity of the much more tempting Andrea Doria. The U-123 went on to sink the Coimbra the next day.

Completed in May 1939 for Hamburger Walfang-Kontor GmbH, Hamburg. 1939 sold to Norway, renamed Norness and registered in Panama.

At 08:34 hours on 14 Jan 1942, the unescorted Norness was hit in the stern by one of two stern torpedoes from U-123 about 60 miles from Montauk Point, Long Island, and began listing to starboard. At 08:53 hours, a G7e was fired from a stern tube as coup de grace, hit the tanker underneath the bridge and the ship began settling on even keel, allowing the survivors to abandon ship in the starboard lifeboat and row away from the ship. The port lifeboat had capsized during the launch due to the heavy list and threw the occupants into the cold sea, drowning two Norwegian crew members. At 09:29 hours, the vessel was hit by a third torpedo in the engine room, after a second coup de grace had malfunctioned at 09:10 hours. Four minutes later the tanker sank by the stern in shallow waters, the bow remaining visible over the surface.

30 survivors were spotted in the afternoon by a blimp of the US Navy, which directed USS Ellyson (DD 454) and USCGC Argo (WPC 100) to them, while nine men were picked up by the American fishing boat Malvina. All survivors were landed at Newport, Rhode Island.

New York - Halifax - Liverpool
Cargo 12.222 tons of Admiralty fuel oil

Screening Level Risk Assessment Package