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1942 president warfield and her sisters worked a packet route on the chesapeake bay between norfolk virginia and baltimore maryland she was built as a coal burner but in 1933 she was converted to oil fuel in 1934 her code letters were superseded by the new call sign kgqc 8 president warfield was modernised with the installation of a fire sprinkler system in 1938 and wireless direction finding and ship to shore telephone in 1939 9 second world war edit on july 12 1942 the war shipping administration wsa acquired president warfield and several other us east coast packet ships for the british ministry of war transport having been built only for service in the relatively sheltered waters of the chesapeake bay president warfield needed to be altered to cross the north atlantic safely her superstructure was cut back and a turtle back covering was built onto the forward end of her superstructure to withstand heavy seas she was fitted with cargo ship masts and derricks she was fitted with one three inch 12 pounder gun on her stern as main armament plus four 20mm anti aircraft guns she was repainted in plain gray 10 11 12 the alterations increased president warfield s tonnages to 4 273 grt and 2 611 nrt 13 in september 1942 president warfield sailed to britain via boston halifax nova scotia and st john s newfoundland from boston onward she was escorted in convoys coast lines of liverpool england provided british merchant navy crews for president warfield and the other coastal packet ships to bring them from the us to britain a crew commanded by captain jr williams took over president warfield and on september 21 1942 she left st john s in convoy rb 1 to liverpool 14 convoy rb 1 edit hms veteran one of convoy rb 1 s escorts which was sunk with all hands as the convoy dispersed convoy rb 1 officially comprised eight merchant ships escorted by two royal navy destroyers hms vanoc and veteran on the afternoon of september 25 a u boat wolf pack attacked the convoy about 800 nautical miles 1 500 km west of ireland u 216 fired a spread of four torpedoes two of which hit rb 1 s commodore ship the 4 989 grt packet ship boston sinking her with the loss of 17 of her crew hms veteran 15 and the packet ships new bedford and northland rescued 49 survivors 16 the 3 117 grt packet ship southland twice sighted a periscope but each time drove off the submarine with rapid fire from her 12 pounder gun 16 a torpedo was fired at president warfield but the packet boat quickly turned parallel to it and the torpedo passed by about 30 feet 9 m off her port beam two minutes later president warfield sighted a submarine near her port quarter and opened fire with her 12 pounder hms veteran joined in the action with depth charges 17 just before midnight u 96 fired a spread of two torpedoes hitting boston s 4 989 grt sister ship new york which was the vice commodore s ship 38 men were killed the survivors abandoned ship and an hour and a half later u 91 sank her drifting hulk 18 hms veteran stopped to rescue survivors but u 404 torpedoed the destroyer sinking her with all hands in the early hours of september 26 19 the convoy dispersed but the attack continued late on the evening of september 26 u 619 torpedoed the steamship yorktown sinking her with the loss of 18 men two days later the destroyer hms sardonyx rescued 42 survivors 20 president warfield escaped further attack and reached belfast northern ireland independently other surviving ships from the convoy reached derry and greenock 21 the convoy lost a total of three packet ships one destroyer and 131 men but the other five ships safely reached the british isles posthumous decorations were awarded to some of the officers lost 21 in may 1943 the master and chief engineer of each of the five surviving ships including captain williams and his chief engineer was made an obe 22 european war service edit from belfast president warfield continued to england where she moored in the river torridge at instow on the north coast of devon there she served as a combined operations training and barracks ship for the royal marines and commandos she provided accommodation for 105 officers and 500 other ranks 21 in july 1943 the british government returned president warfield to us control 21 on may 21 1944 she was commissioned into the us navy as uss president warfield with the pennant number ix 169 in july she served as a station and accommodations ship off omaha beach on the coast of normandy 11 after service in england and on the seine in france she arrived at norfolk virginia july 25 1945 she left active navy service on september 13 was struck from the us naval vessel register on october 11 and was returned to the war shipping administration on november 14 11 she then spent about a year moored in the james river where she was one of many ships laid up as surplus after the end of the war 9 jewish refugees edit after world war ii about 250 000 european jews were living in displaced persons camps in germany and austria zionist organizations began organizing an underground network known as the brichah escape in hebrew which moved thousands of jews from the camps to ports on the mediterranean where ships took them illegally to palestine this was part of the aliyah bet immigration that began after the war 23 at first many made their way to palestine on their own later they received financial and other help from sympathizers around the world the ships were crewed mostly by volunteers from the united states canada and latin america 24 under aliyah bet more than 100 000 people tried to illegally migrate to palestine 25 the british government opposed large scale immigration displaced person camps run by american french and italian officials often turned a blind eye to the situation with only british officials restricting movement in and out of their camps citation needed in 1945 the british government reaffirmed its 1939 policy limiting jewish immigration which it adopted after a quarter of a million european jews arrived fleeing nazism and palestine s arab population rebelled the british government deployed naval and military forces to turn back the refugees more than half of 142 voyages were stopped by british patrols and most intercepted migrants were sent to internment camps in cyprus the atlit detention camp in palestine or to mauritius about 50 000 people ended up in camps more than 1 600 drowned at sea and only a few thousand reached palestine of the 64 vessels that sailed in aliyah bet exodus 1947 was the largest she carried 4 515 passengers 26 the largest ever number of illegal immigrants to palestine the story received much international attention thanks in large part to dispatches from american journalist ruth gruber the incident took place near the end of aliyah bet and toward the end of the british mandate after which britain withdrew from palestine and the state of israel was founded historians say exodus 1947 helped unify the jewish community of palestine and the holocaust survivor refugees in europe as well as significantly deepening international sympathy for the plight of holocaust survivors and rallying support for the idea of a jewish state 27 28 one called the story of the exodus 1947 a spectacular publicity coup for the zionists 29 voyage preparations edit john stanley grauel yaakov oron garbash and aryeh kolomeitzev later kole aboard president warfield before she sailed to europe on november 9 1946 the potomac shipwrecking company of washington d c bought president warfield from the wsa 11 for 8 028 the company was acting for the haganah jewish paramilitary organization and two days later sold her for 40 000 to the weston trading company of new york which was a haganah front organization zionist supporters in baltimore funded her purchase 30 haganah transferred her to mossad lealiyah bet the branch of haganah that ran aliyah bet citation needed haganah spent another 125 000 to 130 000 repairing overhauling and modifying the ship for her voyage to palestine 31 britain had recently announced that it would begin deporting illegal immigrants to cyprus rather than atlit mossad lealiyah bet responded by deciding that migrants should resist capture president warfield was deemed well suited for this because she was relatively fast sturdy enough to not easily capsize made of steel which would help her to withstand ramming and was taller than the royal navy destroyers that would be trying to board her 32 four members of the crew aboard president warfield in baltimore on the right is second officer william bernstein who was killed in july 1947 when the royal navy boarded the ship president warfield was also chosen because of her derelict condition it was risky to put passengers on her and it was felt clarification needed this would either compel the british authorities to let her pass the blockade because of the danger or damage britain s international reputation citation needed for months teams of palestinian jews and americans worked on exodus 1947 in order to make it harder for british forces to her take over metal pipes designed to spray out steam and boiling oil were installed around the ship s perimeter lower decks were covered in nets and barbed wire her engine room boiler room wheelhouse and radio room were covered in wire and reinforced to prevent entry by british soldiers 33 president warfield off cape hatteras north carolina in february 1947 on her abortive first attempt to reach france haganah re registered president warfield under the honduran flag of convenience on february 25 1947 she left baltimore for marseille but she ran into bad weather in the virginia capes and then a heavy sea about 75 nautical miles 139 km east of diamond shoals her forward hold began to leak and she radioed the united states coast guard for help the tanker e w sinclair picked up her distress message found president warfield and stood by the coast guard cutter uscgc cherokee arrived to tow her back to safety but the weather eased and president warfield was able to reach norfolk va under her own power 31 after her damage was surveyed in norfolk president warfield spent a fortnight in philadelphia being repaired she then sailed via the azores to porto venere in italy where she was refitted and bunkered in july 1947 she arrived at sète on the south coast of france 34 voyage to palestine edit jewish refugees on a train on their way to sète to embark on president warfield as a packet boat president warfield had been certificated to carry 540 passengers in the war she had been converted to provide berths for 605 troops but more than 4 500 jewish refugees arrived in sète 34 haganah issued them with 2 000 forged passports with visas for colombia with which french immigration officers allowed them to embark on president warfield each passport was used more than once in the same boarding with a crewman collecting them and passing them back to refugees still waiting in the queue haganah secured the immigration officers co operation with bottles of alcohol and a group of jewish young women to keep them occupied 35 according to israeli historian aviva halamish the ship was never meant to sneak out toward the shores of palestine but rather to burst openly through the blockade by dodging and swiftly nipping through beaching herself on a sand bank and letting off her cargo of immigrants at the beach the ship was too large and unusual to go unnoticed even as people began boarding the ship at the port of sète near montpellier a royal air force aircraft circled overhead and a royal navy warship waited a short distance out at sea 32 hms mermaid which shadowed exodus 1947 on the first part of her voyage to palestine president warfield left sète sometime between two and four in the morning of july 11 1947 36 claiming to be bound for istanbul 37 she carried 4 515 refugees including 1 600 men 1 282 women and 1 017 young people and 655 teenagers 34 38 palmach haganah s military wing captain ike aronowicz was her captain 39 and haganah commissioner yossi harel commanded the operation 40 the ship was manned by a crew of some 35 volunteers mostly american jews 41 all aliyah bet ships were renamed with hebrew names designed to inspire and rally the jews of palestine on july 17 mossad lealiyah bet renamed the ship exodus 1947 and in hebrew yetz iat sic tasbaz or yetzi at eiropa tashaz flight from europe 5707 after the biblical jewish exodus from egypt to canaan and the refugees raised a flag with the star of david the name was proposed by israeli politician and military figure moshe sneh who at the time was in charge of illegal migration for the jewish agency the name was later described by israel s second prime minister moshe sharett then shertok as a stroke of genius a name which by itself says more than anything which has ever been written about it 42 hms cheviot which relieved hms mermaid as the ship left port the sloop hms mermaid and raf aircraft shadowed her later the destroyer hms cheviot relieved mermaid 36 each day during the voyage the royal navy ship shadowing her came within hailing distance of exodus 1947 and asked whether she was carrying any migrants to palestine instead of answering the question exodus 1947 responded by playing one of edward elgar s pomp and circumstance marches over her public address system 43 exodus 1947 carried enough supplies to last two weeks passengers were given cooked meals hot drinks soup and one liter of drinking water daily they washed in salt water the ship had only 13 lavatories a british military doctor inspecting the ship after the battle said that it was badly over crowded but that hygiene was satisfactory and the ship appeared well prepared to cope with casualties several babies were born during the week long journey one woman paula abramowitz died in childbirth her infant son died a few weeks later in haifa 44 interception edit hms childers seen from exodus 1947 during the journey the people aboard exodus 1947 prepared to be intercepted the ship was divided into sections crewed by different groups and each practiced resistance sessions 45 her defences were augmented with sandbags around her wheelhouse and chicken wire along her upper decks small arms were issued to key personnel as exodus 1947 neared palestinian territorial waters her royal navy escort was increased to five destroyers and two minesweepers led by the light cruiser hms ajax 46 at about 0200 hrs on july 18 about 20 nautical miles 40 km from the palestinian coast two royal navy destroyers came alongside exodus 1947 one either side converged on her and jammed her between them the destroyer hms childers struck exodus 1947 s port side holing on her saloon deck above the waterline exodus 1947 released her liferafts to fall onto the decks of the two destroyers the destroyers dropped gangways onto exodus 1947 and sent a boarding party of 50 royal marines armed with clubs and tear gas onto the packet boat 47 helmeted members of the royal ...
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