View source for SS Samuel Heintzelman

{{short description|World War II Liberty ship of the United States}}

{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
| Ship image = Liberty ship at sea.jpg
| Ship caption = A Liberty ship at sea
}}
{{Infobox ship career
| Hide header = 
| Ship country = United States
| Ship flag = {{USN flag|1947}}
| Ship name = ''Samuel Heintzelman''
| Ship namesake = [[Samuel Heintzelman]]
| Ship owner = 
| Ship operator = 
| Ship registry = 
| Ship route = 
| Ship ordered = 
| Ship awarded = 
| Ship builder = [[California Shipbuilding Corporation]], [[Terminal Island]], [[Los Angeles]]
| Ship original cost = 
| Ship yard number = 134
| Ship way number = 
| Ship laid down = 27 August 1942
| Ship launched = 30 September 1942
| Ship sponsor = 
| Ship christened = 
| Ship completed = 
| Ship acquired = 
| Ship commissioned = 
| Ship decommissioned = 
| Ship in service = 
| Ship out of service = 
| Ship renamed = 
| Ship reclassified = 
| Ship refit = 
| Ship struck = 
| Ship reinstated = 
| Ship homeport = 
| Ship identification = 
| Ship motto = 
| Ship nickname = 
| Ship honors = 
| Ship captured = 
| Ship fate = Sunk on 9 July 1943 by ''U-511''
| Ship notes = 
| Ship badge = 
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
| Hide header = 
| Header caption = 
| Ship class = Type EC2-S-C1 [[Liberty ship]]
| Ship tonnage = 
| Ship displacement = {{convert|14245|LT|MT}}<ref name="davies">{{cite web |url=http://ww2ships.com/acrobat/us-os-001-f-r00.pdf |title=Liberty Cargo Ships |first=James |last=Davies |work=ww2ships.com |year=2012 |page=23 |accessdate=13 May 2012}}</ref>
| Ship length = *{{Convert|441|ft|6|in|abbr=on}} [[Length overall|o/a]]
*{{Convert|417|ft|9|in|abbr=on}} [[Length between perpendiculars|p/p]]
*{{Convert|427|ft|abbr=on}} [[Length at the waterline|w/l]]<ref name="davies"/>
| Ship beam = {{Convert|57|ft|abbr=on}}<ref name="davies"/>
| Ship height = 
| Ship draft = {{Convert|27|ft|9|in|abbr=on}}<ref name="davies"/>
| Ship depth = 
| Ship hold depth = 
| Ship decks = 
| Ship deck clearance = 
| Ship power = 
| Ship propulsion = *Two oil-fired boilers
*[[Triple-expansion steam engine]]
*{{Convert|2500|hp|abbr=on}}
*Single screw
| Ship speed = {{Convert|11|kn|lk=in}}<ref name="davies"/>
| Ship range = {{Convert|20000|nmi|abbr=on}}
| Ship endurance = 
| Ship boats = 
| Ship capacity = {{convert|10856|MT|LT|0|abbr=on}} [[deadweight tonnage|deadweight]] (DWT)<ref name="davies"/>
| Ship troops = 
| Ship complement = 42 merchants an 27 US Armed Guards
| Ship crew = 81<ref name="davies"/>
| Ship time to activate = 
| Ship sensors = 
| Ship EW = 
| Ship armament = *Stern-mounted [[4-inch/50-caliber gun|{{convert|4|in|mm|abbr=on}}]] [[deck gun]]
*Variety of [[anti-aircraft guns]]
| Ship armor = 
| Ship notes = 
}}
|}
'''SS ''Samuel Heintzelman''''' ([[United States Maritime Commission|MC]] hull number 651) was a [[Liberty ship]] built in the United States during [[World War II]]. Named after [[Samuel Heintzelman]], a United States Army general, the ship was laid down by [[California Shipbuilding Corporation]] at [[Terminal Island]] in [[Los Angeles]], and launched on 27 August 1942.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://shipbuildinghistory.com/history/shipyards/4emergencylarge/wwtwo/kcalifornia.htm |title=Kaiser California Shipbuilding |work=shipbuildinghistory.com |year=2011 |accessdate=13 May 2012 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120510113117/http://shipbuildinghistory.com/history/shipyards/4emergencylarge/wwtwo/kcalifornia.htm |archivedate=10 May 2012 }}</ref> It was operated by [[Coastwise Line]].

''Samuel Heintzelman'' was en route from [[Fremantle, Australia]], to [[Colombo, Ceylon]] with a cargo of 5,644 tons of [[ammunition]] without a convoy.  A [[German submarine U-511|German submarine ''U-511'']] [[torpedoed]] the ship on 9 July 1943, blowing the ship apart. The crew, 42 [[United States Merchant Marine|merchants]], 27 [[US Navy Armed Guard]] and six passengers were never found. The ship sank near the [[Maldives]] in the [[Indian Ocean]], at  {{coord|9|S|81|E}}). The ship was due to make port in [[Colombo]], [[Sri Lanka]] on 14 July 1943. From Colombo she was to continue to [[Karachi, Pakistan]] and [[Calcutta, India]].<ref>[https://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?17613 wrecksite.eu ''Samuel Heintzelman'']</ref><ref name=SH>{{cite web |url= http://uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/2998.html |title=Samuel Heintzelman |publisher=Uboat |accessdate=31 March 2012}}</ref>

All the missing crew were declared dead on January 7, 1946. Later a crew member of ''U-511'', Heinz Rehse, reported the day and place of the sinking of the SS ''Samuel Heintzelman''. Some ''Samuel Heintzelman'' wreckage parts were found on September 30, 1943 that had washed ashore on to the [[Diego Garcia]] Island, an atoll just south of the [[equator]] in the central Indian Ocean.<ref>[https://www.armed-guard.com/sunk.html armed-guard.com, Sunk]</ref><ref>[http://www.heintzelman.info/ heintzelman.info, About Samuel Heintzelman]</ref><ref>[http://heintzelman.info/crew.htm Samuel Heintzelman Crew]</ref><ref>[http://heintzelman.info/heintzelman.htm heintzelman.info, Samuel Heintzelman]</ref><ref>[http://www.usmm.org/armedguard.html usmm.org  killed]</ref><ref>[https://jdalager28.wordpress.com/2009/03/09/alton-dalager-goes-down-with-the-ss-samuel-heintzelman-1943/ Alton Dalager goes down with the SS Samuel Heintzelman, 1943, March 9, 2009]</ref><ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.mariners-l.co.uk/LibShipsS.html |title=Liberty Ships ("Samuel Heintzelman") |work=mariners-l.co.uk |year=2011 |accessdate=13 May 2012}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of Liberty ships (S–Z)]]
*[[SS E. A. Bryan|SS ''E. A. Bryan'']]
*[[SS Quinault Victory|SS ''Quinault Victory'']]
*[[Port Chicago disaster]]

==References==
{{reflist}}
{{refbegin}}
* [http://www.usmm.org/l/calship.html Liberty Ships built by California Shipbuilding Corp., Terminal Island, CA].
{{refend}}

==External links==

{{July 1943 shipwrecks}}
{{MARCOMships}}
{{WWII US ships}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Samuel Heintzelman}}
[[Category:Liberty ships]]
[[Category:Ships built in Los Angeles]]
[[Category:1942 ships]]


{{liberty-ship-stub}}