I am trying to find the service history of ships my uncle sailed on. He was an armed guard. He died in 1969, so I cannot ask him. I have learned from his service record the names of two ships he was assigned; Rufus Dawes and either John Sergent or John Sergeant (it's spelled both ways in his records). Any assistance would be great. Thank you.
Re: Ship service histories
Posted by bill rochester on August 30, 2013, 11:59 pm, in reply to "Ship service histories"
Tim, I can't tell you anything about service history, but I do know something about Rufus C. Dawes who one of the ships was named for. My wife Sue Dawes Rochester is a great-niece of Rufus Dawes (the brother of her paternal grandfather, Henry M. Dawes). Rufus was named for his father Rufus Dawes, who fought at Gettysburg and in many other civil war battles as the commander of the Sixth Wisconsin Iron Brigade. We returned recently from a Dawes family reunion in Ohio and soon will visit Gettysburg to visit the site of that history. There is much detail on the internet about Rufus, Sr. and son Rufus, so though that part might interest you. I hope the ships were kind to your uncle and he lived a long and happy life.
Bill, Thank you for the information. The Civil War connection is very interesting. I also had an ancestor in the war and I am active with the Sons of Union Veterans. Their national website can be found at www.suvcw.org.
My uncle passed away in 1969 at an early age, 51. He had no children. My mom (his sister) will be 82 this year and these "missing pieces" in his life are very good for her and she has been now sharing many things which she had really forgotten about. She just recently put her hands on a small gift he brought back for her from Italy in 1946. It had been packed away in her personal items so many years ago she nearly forgot she had it. We had a good talk about it and many other things. My mom was his baby sister.
Well thank you for your post, and I hope you get to Gettysburg soon. I recommend a guided tour conducted by the park service. Our guide was excellent and well worth the cost.
SS RUFUS C. DAWES (note full name) was built in 110 days by St. John's River Shipbuilding, Jacksonville, FL, between May and September 1943. She was scrapped in Tacoma, WA, in 1968. See http://shipbuildinghistory.com/history/shipyards/4emergencylarge/wwtwo/stjohnsriver.htm and scroll to hull number 12. Also see http://www.mariners-l.co.uk/LibShipsR.html and scroll to the name of the ship. The ship was named after Rufus C. Dawes (1867-1940), president of the Chicago World's Fair in 1933, and president of the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago 1934-1940. (I know, big deal.)
SS JOHN SERGEANT (the correct spelling) was built in 61 days between July and September 1942 by the Bethlehem Fairfield Shipyard, Baltimore, MD. Interestingly she was under construction in the same shipyard at the same time as was SS JOHN W. BROWN, one of only two surviving, operational Liberty ships and aboard which I serve as a volunteer crewman. JOHN SERGEANT was completed two weeks before JOHN W. BROWN. JOHN SERGEANT survived the war and in 1956 was converted to a experimental gas turbine-powered configuration. (All Liberty ships originally had triple expansion steam engines fueled by oil.) See https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B2KS6sfqM0fOSU5TR0E1dFBTTmlDeVp0a1AzZkFxdw/edit?pli=1 for information about this experiment. She was scrapped in Portsmouth, VA, in 1972. See http://shipbuildinghistory.com/history/shipyards/4emergencylarge/wwtwo/bethfairfield.htm and scroll to hull number 2050 (JOHN W. BROWN is hull number 2062). Also see http://www.mariners-l.co.uk/LibShipsJo.html#JohnH and scroll to the name of the ship. The ship was named after John Sergeant (1799-1852), a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania 1815-1823 and 1837-1841, and an unsuccessful candidate for Vice President in 1832.
The Armed Guard crew of SS JOHN SERGEANT received battle stars (for participation in battles with the enemy) in November 1942 (landings in Algeria and Morocco), July 1943 (invasion of Sicily), and August-September 1944 (invasion of southern France). See http://usmm.org/battlestar.html and http://usmm.org/battle-g-m.html.
Of greater interest to you, of course, is the whereabouts of each ship during the war, and particularly while your uncle served in each. For this, go to ConvoyWeb (http://convoyweb.org.uk/hague/index.html), an excellent website that records the convoys in which ships sailed, ports of origin and destination, applicable dates, and sometimes a small amount of additional detail about individual ships although nothing about the crew. At ConvoyWeb do a "Ship Search" using the (correct) name of each ship. Presumably you know from his service record when your uncle sailed in each ship so you should be able to match up those dates with the results of your Ship Searches to determine where he was at various times. I did searches for each ship and found that both crossed the Atlantic several times into the Mediterranean and/or to Britain. You can also search for each ship at a different website, Warsailors.com (http://warsailors.com/search.html), which is similar to ConvoyWeb. ConvoyWeb is more comprehensive but Warsailors sometimes has more detail on individual convoys and individual ships. I found information on both ships at Warsailors.
And there's always the good old Google search. Use the full and correct name of the ship and add the "SS" (meaning steamship) designation so as to avoid searching for the men of the same name. You never know what else you might find.
If you want to obtain your own photographs of the two ships, see http://www.usmm.org/photosource.html for sources of photographs of World War II-era merchant ships. Your best bet is Mr. Hultgren, since his collection focuses on Liberty ships; both of the above ships were Liberty ships. I know enough about his collection to know that he apparently has images of both ships. I understand he charges $10 for an 8x10 print. Mr. Hultgren is quite elderly but at last report he was still actively managing his collection.
Good luck.
Ron Carlson, Webmaster Armed Guard / Merchant Marine website www.armed-guard.com
Ron, I contacted Mr. Hultgren; a very neat fellow. His collection is incredible sounding and he is still active with helping others locate information on Liberty & Victory Ships. He had photos of both ships as well as a ship my father sailed on going to Germany in 1948/49. He has no internet access but asked me to share with you his updated address which is 5005 Zuck Road, Lot #32, Erie, PA 16506-4973. His fee for a photo is $15 now. He told me he is only 1 of 4 or 5 collectors worldwide left. He said at one time there were about 100. A very incredible fellow. Thanks for sharing him with me. Tim
I'm pleased to hear that you have been able to obtain the photographs of interest to you. Thank you for the contact information for Mr. Hultgren, which I have passed on to the webmaster of the page on which you found his name. I'm glad to know that he continues to be active in managing his collection.
Ron Carlson, Webmaster Armed Guard / Merchant Marine website www.armed-guard.com
Ron, I can't say thank you enough for the information. I really appreciate it, and so will my 81+ year old mom. It was her brother who served on these ships. He never had children and after he died the family lost contact with his estranged wife. I recently obtained his service records and this additional info may help her put together some of the pieces of his time in the Navy. Thank you for your devotion to this website and providing information. God bless Tim Tim