SS Benjamin Contee

The SS Benjamin Contee was an American Liberty Ship built in 1942 by Delta Shipbuilding in New Orleans, Louisiana, as part of the Emergency Shipbuilding Program for World War II. She was named after Benjamin Contee, an American Episcopal priest and statesman from Maryland who served in the Revolutionary War and the U.S. House of Representatives. The ship was 441 feet long, 56 feet wide, carried 9000 tons of cargo, and had a top speed of 11 knots. During World War II, the Benjamin Contee operated as a troop transport and cargo ship under the War Shipping Administration. She participated in convoy ON-187, traveling from Liverpool to Halifax, Nova Scotia, and later in convoy SC-155, which transported slower ships from Halifax to Liverpool. On August 16, 1943, while transporting 1,800 Italian prisoners of war from El Alamein, Egypt, to Oran, Algeria, the ship was hit by a Nazi German aerial torpedo near Bone, Algeria. The attack killed 264 POWs and injured 142, but the crew and guards survived unharmed. Despite severe damage to cargo holds No. 1 and No. 2, the ship continued to Bone for temporary repairs and later underwent permanent repairs at Gibraltar. In 1944, due to her reduced speed after repairs, the Benjamin Contee was assigned to support the Normandy landings as part of a sea breakwater in the Mulberry Harbour off Utah Beach. She was scuttled on June 8, 1944, and declared a complete loss on July 16, 1944, after being damaged by severe storms. Captain ...