SS Fort Lee

SS Fort Lee was a T2 tanker built for the United States Maritime Commission during World War II. The ship was assigned by the War Shipping Administration for operation by the Bernuth Lembcke Co. and operated in the Atlantic and Mediterranean early in its career.

Fort Lee was torpedoed and sunk by the German Kriegsmarine submarine U-181 in the Indian Ocean on 2 November 1944. Nine men aboard Fort Lee were killed during the attack. Three of the four successfully launched lifeboats were rescued by other ships within two weeks. The fate of the fourth lifeboat, with 16 men aboard, was unearthed by researchers in 2000. The boat had drifted 2,850 miles (2,480 nmi; 4,590 km) over 10 weeks before landing on Japanese-held Sumba Island with three men remaining. All three perished in custody of the Japanese.

Operational history

Fort Lee (MC Hull #327) was laid down on 24 October 1942 at Sun Shipbuilding in Chester, Pennsylvania; launched on 25 February 1943; and delivered on 15 March 1943.

After launching, Fort Lee initially operated in the Mediterranean and Atlantic. The ship departed New York on 28 May 1943 for Gibraltar, arriving in mid-June. In July, Fort Lee left Gibraltar and steamed for Avonmouth, which it reached later in the month. In mid-August, the tanker sailed from Liverpool and arrived at New York again on 28 August.

Fort Lee

Fort Lee may refer to:

Fort Lee (Virginia)

Fort Lee, in Prince George County, Virginia, United States, is a United States Army post and headquarters of the U.S. Army Combined Arms Support Command (CASCOM)/ Sustainment Center of Excellence (SCoE), the U.S. Army Quartermaster School, the U.S. Army Ordnance School, The U.S. Army Transportation School, the Army Logistics University (ALU), Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA), and the U.S. Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA).

Fort Lee also hosts two Army museums, the U.S. Army Quartermaster Museum and the U.S. Army Women's Museum. The Army's Ordnance Museum has plans to establish a collection preservation site at Fort Lee. The fort was named for Confederate General Robert E. Lee. Fort Lee is also a census-designated place (CDP), with population 3393 at the 2010 census.

History

World War I

Just 18 days after a state of war with Germany was declared, the first Camp Lee was selected as a state mobilization camp and later became a division training camp.

In June 1917, building began and within sixty days some 14,000 men were on the installation.

Fort Lee (Salem, Massachusetts)

Fort Lee is a historic American Revolutionary War fort in Salem, Massachusetts. The site, located at a high point next to Fort Avenue on Salem Neck, is a relatively rare fortification from that period whose remains are relatively unaltered. Although there is some documentary evidence that the Neck was fortified as early as the 17th century, the earthworks built in 1776 are the first clear evidence of the site's military use. The site, of which only overgrown earthworks survive, was repaired at the time of the War of 1812 and the American Civil War, but was not substantially modified in those times, or overbuilt with more modern fortifications.

The property was federalized in 1867, and transferred to the City of Salem in 1922. The site was briefly rehabilitated at the time of the United States bicentennial in 1976, with trails and interpretive signs, but these were later removed, and the site has again become overgrown. The fort site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994.