Trying to find any data on this ship, USS Manargo. Apparently it was a troop transport, and was sunk on September 23, 1943. Not the MUnargo. which is the ship I usually get when searching. My dad was on it when it went down. His service records has the date when it was sunk but I want to know more about what happened and where. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks
No listing in DANFS. But there's no listing in DANFS for "Munargo", despite being AP-20. Are you certain about the "USS" part?
For some reason I can't get to this page right now: 1941: The Coast Guard and the Greenland Operations But it looks like it may have some info
" As soon as the negotiations with the Danish Minister were sufficiently advanced, President Roosevelt authorized the War Department to Bluie West 1 Narsarsuaq Greenland go ahead with preparations for building the airfields. During the following months various details were worked out. The Greenland force consisted of the Army transport USS Manargo, the troopship Chateau Thierry,the 21st Engineers battalion, a composite battery of the 62nd Coast artillery (AA), plus the necessary service troops. Colonel Benjamin Giles, Army Air Corps was in command. The Greenland force proceeded to Narsarssuak and construction on the major U.S. Army and Navy airbase, Bluie West I, began in July 1941. The infrastructure was erected, the grading was completed and the first runway was ready for use in February 1942. This airfield was one of the first to make use of steel matting in runway construction, an important engineering development that contributed greatly to winning the war, especially in the Pacific. Construction began on the airfield at Bluie West 8 at Sondre Stromfjord in October and this airfield was also completed in February 1942. The first Bulk shipment of aviation fuel arrived in June."
It's mentioned briefly in: http://www.marines.mil/Portals/59/P...ory of the 6th Marines PCN 19000310000_2.pdf Apparently she delivered some of the first Marines to Iceland
Great question. The documents say USS but I was suspect it may not be. And some of the posts below are indicating it may not be. Thanks everyone for your help!!! I will check out all the info below and keep digging. This is much more than I found. I'm really trying to find out the circumstances of her sinking. My dad was very reluctant to say much, obviously a bad ordeal. He finished his tour on the Quincy (II)
I wondered about that. It mentioned the sinking of one of the other transports ships later in the war, didn't understand why they would do that for one and not the other.
Actually I have several other accounts of the Manargo being in Iceland. Maybe they were both there, don't know but it looks like the Munargo was converted to a hospital ship in 43 : U.S. Navy which commissioned the ship USS Munargo (AP-20). She operated in the Atlantic Ocean for the Navy until returned to the War Department in 1943 for conversion into the Hospital ship USAHS Thistle. The ship I'm looking for info on is the Manargo, sunk in 1943. Thanks everyone for your additions!! Still nothing about where or how she was sunk.
I didn't see it on this list: Chronological List of U.S. Ships Sunk or Damaged during 1943 Not on this list either: List of US Navy ships sunk or damaged in action during World War II - Wikipedia It isn't on this list either: List of shipwrecks in September 1943 - Wikipedia but USS APc-35 sunk on the 22 might be a candidate. Here's some more info on it: Small Coastal Transport (APc) *** edit for *** More info on it at (or perhaps more of the same info):: HyperWar: USS APc-35 Sunken Ships World War II http://www.davidbruhn.com/images/APc and FS Hall of Valor.pdf
Thanks for doing all this research. According to my dad it went down quickly. He spent some time in the water awaiting rescue. I'm stuck here too. Its not on any lists I can find either. Makes no sense. Its on his Naval record. Ship, date sunk, etc. and...he told me about it shortly before he passed. But he did not share many details and I didn't push him. Now looking through some "Stuff" I find his naval record and discharge papers and ran across the Manargo sinking again. I have found on-line some personal naval accounts and an obituary mentioning being on board the Manargo. One sailing from a port in New York and one from Iceland. Thanks Again!!
It's possible that there was a typo in the records but it sounds like it would have to have been multiple typos. Date line issues could easily cause the date to be off a day or so but APc-35 was the only one I saw close to the 23 of September and it was beached if I got that right. If you could scan and post the documents here some might able to dig a bit more out of them. Could the month or year be wrong? The various lists of ships sunk by date don't leave much hope for finding anything other than what's been mentioned for September of 43. Some smaller craft lost only have a letter and number designation but they sometimes had names. Do you have any idea where he was when his ship was sunk (Pacific, Atlantic, Med, ...).
Thanks again. The only ship that comes close in spelling is the Munargo and it was not sunk. (converted to a hospital ship) I believe he spent most of his career in the pacific. I just looked at the discharge paper again and there is a notation I missed before. "lost in Jap Mine field" So it apparently hit a Jap mine. Its incredible we cant find the story. Thanks again!!
I looked through here: U.S. Merchant Ships Sunk or Damaged in World War II And didn't see much in the way of mined ships in 43. It has the rest of the war though so you might want to look and see if anything else is a possibility Here's a list of ships sunk by mines, but again I don't see anything that looks like a likely candidate even with typos. U.S. Merchant Ships Sunk or Damaged in World War II .