USS Felix Taussig (Id. No. 2282) at anchor in 1918 or 1919, dressed overall and painted in pattern camouflage.
History
United States
NameFelix Taussig
OwnerCrowell & Thurlow Steamship Company
BuilderNewport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, Newport News, Virginia
Launched1917
Completed1917
IdentificationOfficial number 214726[1]
Fate
United States
NameFelix Taussig
NamesakePrevious name retained
Acquired29 August 1918
Commissioned31 August 1918
Decommissioned26 April 1919
IdentificationHull number: ID-2282
Fate
Italy
NameAta
Acquired1948
FateScrapped 1953
General characteristics
(as U.S. Navy cargo ship)
TypeCargo ship
Tonnage
Displacement12,925 long tons (13,132 t) (normal)
Length410 ft 6 in (125.12 m)
Beam55 ft 1 in (16.79 m)
Draft27 ft 6 in (8.38 m)
PropulsionOne 2,200 ihp (1,600 kW) vertical triple expansion steam engine, three single-ended boilers, one shaft
Speed11 knots (20 km/h; 13 mph)
Capacity406,600 sq ft (37,770 m2) (cargo)[1]
Complement62
Armament

USS Felix Taussig (ID-2282) was a cargo ship in commission in the United States Navy from 1918 to 1919. She saw service during World War I. Prior to her U.S. Navy service, she operated as the American commercial cargo ship SS Felix Taussig under charter to the United States Army. During this service she mistakenly sank the U.S. Navy submarine chaser USS SC-209 in the deadliest friendly fire incident involving the U.S. Navy of World War I. Felix Taussig returned to commercial service after World War I, first as SS Felix Taussig from 1919 to 1948, then from 1948 until 1953 under the Italian flag as SS Ata.

Construction and early service

Felix Taussig, ca. 1917, probably upon completion.

SS Felix Taussig was constructed in 1917 by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company at Newport News, Virginia, as a commercial cargo ship for the Crowell & Thurlow Steamship Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[2] The Emergency Fleet Corporation requisitioned her for World War I service, and she was chartered by the United States Army. She was armed for war service and began hauling cargo from the United States to Europe.

On 12 May 1918, an Imperial German Navy submarine fired torpedoes at Felix Taussig. She took evasive action and avoided the torpedoes. She then sighted the submarine, and U.S. Navy gunners on board Felix Taussig fired four rounds at it, claiming a hit with their last shot. For the action, the commander of her gun crews, Chief Gunner's Mate Henry R. Chambers, received the Navy Cross.[3]

During the predawn hours of 27 August 1918, Felix Taussig was in the Atlantic Ocean south of Long Island, New York, nearing the end of a voyage from Bordeaux, France, to New York City, while a U.S. Navy force consisting of the destroyer USS Patterson and 11 submarine chasers were patrolling the area in search of German submarines, with the submarine chasers proceeding in a scouting line. At 02:40, Felix Taussig sighted the submarine chaser USS SC-209 on her port beam, headed in the same direction. SC-209 drew ahead of Felix Taussig and then crossed her bow. SC-209 was operating without running lights, and in the darkness Felix Taussig's crew mistook her for a German submarine. Her 3-inch (76.2 mm) forward gun fired four rounds, and her 4-inch (102 mm) after gun fired one. After the third shot, SC-209 turned on her running lights to identify herself as friendly, but the last shots were fired before the gunners aboard Felix Taussig received the order to cease firing. The second and fourth 3-inch rounds struck SC-209, and SC-209 caught fire and sank in only three minutes at 40°08′N 073°12′W / 40.133°N 73.200°W / 40.133; -73.200 (USS SC-209) with the loss of two officers and 16 enlisted men. The submarine chaser USS SC-188 rescued SC-209's five survivors, four of whom were wounded. Patterson and two other submarine chasers searched the area but found no more survivors. Felix Taussig stood by to render assistance until Patterson directed her to continue her voyage to New York City. Patterson carried the wounded survivors into New York Harbor for transfer to the U.S. Navy hospital ship USS Comfort. The sinking of SC-209 was the U.S. Navy's largest loss of life in a single friendly fire incident during World War I.[4][5][6]

United States Navy service

Felix Taussig on 20 October 1943.
Ata

The U.S. Navy acquired Felix Taussig on 29 August 1918, assigned her the identification number 2282, and commissioned her on 31 August 1918 as USS Felix Taussig.

Assigned to the Naval Overseas Transportation Service and using Philadelphia as her departure port, Felix Taussig made three voyages to France — two to Brest and one to Bordeaux and St. Nazaire — between 17 September 1918 and 1 April 1919. She carried provisions and general cargo for the U.S. Army to France and returned to Philadelphia in ballast, although she did carry some passengers on her last voyage. At Philadelphia on 26 April 1919, she was decommissioned, transferred to the United States Shipping Board,[2] and returned to the Crowell & Thurlow Steamship Company.

Later career

The ship returned to commercial service as SS Felix Taussig. During World War II, she was among 37 merchant ships escorted by eight warships in Convoy TAG 18,[7] a TAG convoy operating in the Caribbean on the route Trinidad-Aruba-Guantanamo Bay.[8] During its 2-8 November 1942 transit, the convoy came under attack by the German submarines U-129 and U-160, which sank six ships.[7] Felix Taussig′s embarked United States Navy Armed Guard received the American Campaign Medal with a battle star for service during the convoy battle.[9]

Felix Taussig remained in service under the American flag until 1948, when she was sold to Italian interests. Renamed Ata, she then operated under the Italian flag until she was scrapped in 1953.

Honors and awards

References

Footnotes

Bibliography

  • This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
  • Department of the Navy: Naval Historical Center: Online Library of Selected Images: U.S. NAVY SHIPS -- USS Felix Taussig (ID # 2282), 1918-1919. Originally, and later, S.S. Felix Taussig (American Freighter, 1917). Later renamed Ata
  • Hague, Arnold (2000). The Allied Convoy System 1939–1945. ISBN 1-86176-147-3.
  • Rohwer, J.; Hummelchen, G. (1992). Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-105-X.
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