|
S.E.Aruba Fly 'n Dive LG Smith blvd 1-A Aruba Tel. (297) 5881150 Fax (297) 5881150 |
|
|
NEWS
18 Jan 2009: Pedernales, the Phoenix of Aruba In the early morning hours of February 16, 1942 war reached the shores of Aruba, delivered by the German U boat U-156. With the detonation of the first torpedo the idea that the war might leave Aruba undisturbed was literally blown to pieces. The first victim was the Lake tanker Pedernales and more tankers would follow that night. In total 52 people (including a German submariner and four Dutch marines) lost their lives and five tankers in the region were sunk or damaged by several U-boats. The Pedernales however, despite the fact she was heavily damaged, was repaired and eventually returned to service, she more or less rose from the ashes. So when you dive the mid-section of the Pedernales you actually dive the remnants of the Phoenix of Aruba. On January 19, 1942 the German type IX-C (long range) U-boat U-156 commanded by the 33-year old Kapitanleutnant (commander) Werner Hartenstein left the concrete bunkers of Lorient (France) for its second war patrol and set course for the Dutch Antilles. U-156 was part of a group of five U-boats (included were also U-67, U-129, U-161 and U-502) known as the "Neuland Gruppe". Their objective was to disrupt oil transport en oil refining roughly in the area around the Dutch Antilles (Aruba and Curacao), Maracaibo (Venezuela) and Trinidad by attacking the refineries and oil tankers in a coordinated attack. The Lago refinery in Aruba was a main supplier of fuel for allied aircraft and therefore considered by the Germans a target of strategic importance. U-156 was designated to attack this refinery and its tankers.
kapitanleutnant Werner Hartenstein
On February 13, 1942 U-156 approached Aruba from the South and started a reconnaissance on its potential targets on the Western side of the island. The location of the refinery was identified as well as several tankers, including one at the Eagle pier, North of Oranjestad. The following two days the crew of U-156 practiced maneuvers and continued their observations. In the late evening of February 15, 1942 the U-156 approached the Lago refinery and the captain selected the targets: two lake tankers in front of the refinery, the Pedernales and the Oranjestad. SS Pedernales (international code signal GNGN) was a 4317 tons, 355 ft steam tanker built in 1938 in Italy at Cantiere Riunti dell Adriatico and owned by Lago Shipping Co. Ltd. (Esso) in London and had a crew of 26. Her master was Herbert McCall. SS Oranjestad was a 2396 tons steam tanker Built in 1927 in Northern Ireland (Belfast) at Harland & Wolff Ltd. and also owned by Lago Shipping Co. Ltd. (Esso) in London, she had a crew of 25. Her master was Herbert Morgan. Both ships were so called "lake tankers" with a flat bottom hull specially designed to be able to enter Lake Maracaibo (Venezuela) where the crude oil was taken in. Pedernales would be the first victim.
SS Pedernales
picture courtesy of www.aukevisser.nl
In the early morning of February 16, 1942 at 01.31 hrs (local time) the surfaced U-156 fired a single torpedo from one of the bow tubes at the Pedernales and hit her amidships. Pedernales was loaded with crude oil and caught fire immediately. Eight crew members died as a result of the explosion and the following inferno. Two minutes later, at 01.33 hrs a second torpedo was fired by U-156 from one of the bow tubes and hit the Oranjestad amidships. She also caught fire and sank approximately an hour later in front of the refinery in 300ft of water. 15 crew members died. After the initial attack the crew of U-156 was ordered to prepare the 105 mm deckgun to start shelling the refinery. The crew however, forgot the remove the watertight cap that was mounted on the barrel and as soon as the first shell was fired, the gun exploded leaving the gunnery officer and one of the sailors heavily injured (the gunnery officer lost a foot but survived, the sailor died hours later of his wounds). After firing a few rounds with the 37 mm deck gun commander Hartenstein decided to withdraw from his position and moved up North, leaving the refinery only slightly damaged. At 03.13 hrs U-156 fired three torpedos from her stern tubes at the 6452 tons Texaco owned American steam tanker Arkansas berthed at Eagle Pier. Only one of the torpedos hit the the Arkansas causing minor damage, one of the other G7-e torpedoes ended up on the beach where it exploded a day later when Dutch marines tried to defuse it, claiming the lives of four men. After the last torpedo attack the U-156 left the area in a northerly direction heading for the Island of Martinique. U-156 returned to Lorient on March 17, 1942.
Pedernales after the attack G7-e torpedo at eagle beach
pictures courtesy of www.lago-colony.com
Despite the fact that Pedernales was heavily damaged and burned fiercely she stayed afloat and drifted away from the location where she was hit. The following day she was located and tugboats towed her to shallow water where she was deliberately run aground to enable a salvage effort. The still intact front and aft section were separated from the damaged midsection and both were towed to the Lago drydocks where they were welded together. A make shift bridge was put on to the 124 ft. shorter hull and the ship sailed to Baltimore for further repairs. The midsection that was left was later on used as a target for shooting practice of the Dutch Navy. Aftermath: U-156 did a total of five war patrols sinking 20 ships for a total of 97.504 tons. In September 1942 U-156 was involved in the "Laconia incident" (which led to the order by the German command not to assist castaways anymore). On March 8, 1943 U-156 was taken by surprise by a PBY Catalina bomber East of Barbados. Four depth charges sunk the U-156. Despite the fact that some survivors were sighted from the plane no one was found by surface ships. All 53 crew members were lost. After repairs Pedernales returned to service again. Some sources suggest she returned to Aruba, some sources say she was part of the African campaign, more particularly Operation Torch which took place in November 1942. Records on allied convoys in 1942 and 1943 reveal however that Pedernales was in New York at that time. Between August 1942 and January 1943 Pedernales participated in five convoys and visited the ports of Curacao, Key West, New York and Guantanamo. She returned to Aruba on January 25, 1943. After the war Pedernales was renamed Esso Pedernales (1957) and Katendrecht (1958). She was scrapped in October 1959 in Rotterdam, Holland. Willem, January 2009 (The author has not been able to identify and/or contact the owners of some of the pictures used in this article. If you feel that the author is using data that should not belong in this article due to copyright violations please notify the author. The author of this article does not claim to be the owner of the information within and shall therefore remove all content that is copyrighted if the owner of the material requests so. Anybody who claims a copyright however should make it reasonably clear that such a copyright legally exists). [ back ]
|
|
 |
© S.E.Aruba Fly 'n Dive 2004-2010 |  |