Page 36: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (August 2004)

65th Anniversary Edition

WWII Memories

The First Voyage of the S.S. Michael Moran

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By Captain Bill Carroll

I first went aboard the S.S. Michael

Moran in the middle of August, 1944, while she was still in the shipyard in

Portland. Me. where she was built. She was operated by Moore McCormack

Lines, a company with whom I had sailed before. I signed on as Third

Mate; this would be my fourth Liberty

Ship.

From Portland we sailed down to

Boston where we loaded military cargo for a destination unknown.

Most of the crew were down-easters.

Capt. George Blanthorn was Master, a real gentleman with a good sense of humor. The First Mate was a Mr.

Marshall, an older man who had flown with the French Escadrill in WWI. The

Second Mate was Mr. Pease.

I can still picture some of the rest of the crew; the Radio Operator and some of the engineers; but. I have long since forgotten their names. I remember that the Third Engineer came from

Kleinsfeltersville, Pa. Its claim to fame being that that was the longest name on a post office in the U.S. His claim, not mine. (It's funny what one remembers after 60 years.)

Left is Bill Carroll circa 1944; Right is Capt. Bill Carroll today.

For the purpose of camouflage, all ships were painted battleship grey; com- pany colors stowed for the duration.

However, we were not long out of

Boston when our good Captain, an old

Moore McCormack company man. had the Mate paint the three inch band

The Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers

Maritime Reporter and Engineering News on 65 years of service to the maritime industry, and on two years of a successful partnership with us on the SNAME Maritime Technology Expo. 601 Pavonia Ave., Suite 400

Jersey City, New Jersey 07306 (201) 798-4800 www.sname.org

Circle 260 on Reader Service Card around the stack dark green and on either side the Mormac logo, a circular, white background with a red "M" in the center. He also had the Mate stencil the name "Little Mike" on the bow of each of our four lifeboats. I never sailed with another skipper who was that audacious.

We were in a pretty good size convoy as we headed out across the Atlantic; 50 to 70 ships or more. By this time, the submarine threat had diminished to some extent and I don't recall any inci- dents other than some depth charges being dropped on the other side of the convoy. There was a Midget Carrier in the column next to us. They carried a couple of Bi-planes which would take off every morning to reconnaissance the area for submarines and raiders.

Our first landfall was Land's End,

England and we were the first convoy to take this route through the English

Channel since the beginning of the war.

We proceeded up the channel to

Southend, located at the mouth of the

Thames River which leads to London.

There we dropped anchor, awaiting orders.

O A "computer bug" is .5 first identified and

V named by LT Grace

Murray Hopper while

H1 she was on Navy 0) active duty in 1945.

USS Nautilus (SSN- 571), the first nuclear- powered submarine, casts off lines and sends message "under- way on nuclear power" 38