SS Robert Rowan
{{short description|World War II Liberty ship of the United States}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2021}}
| {{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image | Ship image = LC-USZ62-80640 (22643805608).jpg | Ship caption = Robert Rowan on 11 July 1943 }} {{Infobox ship career | Hide header = | Ship country = United States | Ship flag = {{USN flag|1947}} | Ship name = Robert Rowan | Ship namesake = Robert Rowan | Ship ordered = | Ship awarded = | Ship builder = North Carolina Shipbuilding Co. | Ship original cost = | Ship yard number = | Ship way number = 1553 | Ship laid down = 5 March 1943 | Ship launched = 6 April 1943 | 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 off Sicily, 11 July 1943
| Ship notes = | Ship badge = }} {{Infobox ship characteristics | Hide header = | Header caption = | Ship class = Liberty ship | Ship tonnage = | Ship displacement = {{convert|14245|LT|MT}}{{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=7 May 2012}} | Ship length = *{{Convert|441|ft|6|in|abbr=on}} o/a | Ship beam = {{Convert|57|ft|abbr=on}} | Ship height = | Ship draft = {{Convert|27|ft|9|in|abbr=on}} | Ship depth = | Ship hold depth = | Ship decks = | Ship deck clearance = | Ship power = | Ship propulsion = *Two oil-fired boilers
| Ship speed = {{Convert|11|kn|lk=in}} | Ship range = {{Convert|20000|nmi|abbr=on}} | Ship endurance = | Ship boats = | Ship capacity = {{convert|10856|MT|LT|0|abbr=on}} deadweight (DWT) | Ship troops = | Ship complement = | Ship time to activate = | Ship sensors = | Ship EW = | Ship armament = Stern-mounted 4-inch/50-caliber gun deck gun for use against surfaced submarines, variety of anti-aircraft guns | Ship armor = | Ship notes = }} |
SS Robert Rowan was an American Liberty ship built in 1943 for service in World War II. Her namesake was Robert Rowan, an American politician.
Design
{{Main|Liberty ship}}
Like other Liberty ships, she was {{convert|441|ft|m}} long and {{convert|56|ft|m}} wide, carried 9000 tons of cargo and had a top speed of {{convert|11|kn|km/h}}. Most Liberty ships were named after prominent deceased Americans.{{cite web |url=http://www.usmm.org/libertyships.html#anchor446731 |title=Liberty Ships built by the United States Maritime Commission in World War II |work=usmm.org |year=2008 |accessdate=10 May 2012 |archive-date=9 May 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509091805/http://www.usmm.org/libertyships.html#anchor446731 |url-status=dead }}
Construction and career
The keel of the ship was laid on 5 March 1943. Few months later the North Carolina Shipbuilding Company launched in Wilmington under the name Robert Rowan christened by Jean A. Huske from Fayetteville, NC and commissioned later that year.Miramar Ship Index
She was delivered to the Isthmian Steamship Company on 13 April. Her maiden voyage started on 14 May 1943 at Hampton Roads, Virginia to Oran as part of convoy UGS-8A. She was sent on to Gela, Sicily to support the invasion of Sicily (Operation Husky). She arrived at Gela 11 July 1943 with a cargo of ammunition and 334 soldiers of the 18th Infantry. She also carried 14 U.S. Navy personnel, 32 U.S. Navy armed guards, and 41 crewmen. During the battle of Gela the Rowan was hit by three 500 kg bombs. Just before 14:00 hrs German Junkers Ju 88 bombers appeared overhead and attacked the ships in the bay. One bomb passed through the ship, but the other two exploded in the holds. Because of the nature of the cargo the ship was abandoned without any attempt to put the fire out. All 421 men on board safely evacuated the ship and were picked up by PT boats and transferred to nearby destroyers. Within twenty minutes the fire reached her munitions with a tremendous explosion tearing the ship in half. The burning ship came to rest on an even keel and burned for two days. The destroyer USS McLanahan tried to sink the ship because the fires lit up the area during the night, but this failed as the water was too shallow. The hulk lay in the waters off Gela until 1948 when it was sold and scrapped.
Gallery
File:LC-USZ62-98980 (19642428220).jpg|Explosion of SS Robert Rowan off Sicily
File:80-G-180986.jpg
File:SC180476.jpg
References
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Robert Rowan}}
Category:Ships built in Wilmington, North Carolina
Category:Maritime incidents in July 1943
Category:World War II shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea
Category:Ships sunk by German aircraft
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