Name USS Manhasset Acquired by the Navy in 1941 Weight 3,048 tons | Laid down date unknown Length 75 m Displacement 2.722 million kg | |
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Namesake an inlet of Long Island Sound on the coast of Long Island, New York Completed in 1923 as the cargo ship SS Wilton Commissioned 8 August 1942 as USS Manhasset (AG-47) Builder Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation | ||
USS Manhasset (AG-47/YAG-8) – later known as USCGC Manhasset (WIX-276) – was a commercial cargo ship leased by the U.S. Navy during World War II. She was armed with guns and depth charges and was used as a weather patrol ship, a convoy escort, and as a patrol craft. She experienced action in the dangerous North Atlantic Ocean, but returned home safely after war's end.
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Constructed in Maryland
Manhasset (AG 47) was built by Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation, Sparrows Point, Maryland, in 1923 as merchantman Wilton; acquired by the U.S. Maritime Commission from her owner, Eastern Steamship Lines, Inc., in 1941; transferred under time charter to the Navy 2 January 1942; renamed Manhasset and reclassified from YAG-8 to AG-47 on 30 May 1942; converted for use as a weather patrol ship by Sullivan Drydock and Repair Corp., Brooklyn, New York; and loaned to the U.S. Coast Guard and commissioned 8 August 1942, Lt. Comdr. P. L. Stinson, USCG, in command.
World War II operations
Equipped with specialized meteorological instruments, Manhasset joined the weather patrol in the North Atlantic Ocean to gather vital weather information used in compiling forecasts for Allied European operations against the Axis. She braved the dangers of stormy seas and the menace of German U-boats while operating her assigned and isolated patrol areas out of Argentia, Newfoundland, and Boston, Massachusetts. She averaged about one patrol a month, usually about three weeks long.
Manhasset also patrolled and searched for German submarines. While cruising midway between Flemish Cap and Cape Farewell, Greenland, she depth charged a suspected U-boat, with no positive results, 27 April 1943. The following week convoy ONI-5 steamed through her patrol station, and on 5 May she provided support during one of the most savage convoy battles of World War II.
The slow 43 ship convoy was attacked by U-boats between late 4 May and early 6 May. Although the convoy lost 13 ships during the hazardous passage from the United Kingdom to New York City, courageous escorts sank five submarines and repulsed the remainder. Never again did German submarines attack in such force.
As Manhasset patrolled near the British merchant ship Dolius, torpedoed and abandoned earlier in the day but still afloat, she made sound contact with a submarine late in the afternoon. She made six vigorous depth charge attacks and sighted first a periscope wake followed by an oil slick. However, she sighted no wreckage and broke off attack to guard the torpedoed ship after more than 2 hours of searching.
Transferred to the Coast Guard
Manhasset contained her weather station patrols during the rest of the war. The Navy transferred her to the U.S. Coast Guard 22 October 1943, and her name was struck from the Navy List 30 October 1943.
Post-war dispositioning
On 15 October 1945 she was decommissioned by the Coast Guard, and, on 16 October 1946, she was sold. Entered merchant service as Manahasset (Cia de Navigacion Maritima Cassipio SA, Panama), 1946. Wrecked on Sable Island, Nova Scotia, 4 July 1947. My father, Edgar Warren Stevanus USN was one of four weathermen on the Manhasset the last 18 or so months of the war. He was the only Navy person on an otherwise all Coast Guard crew. The weathermen worked in 2's, 12 hours on and 12 hours off seven days a week. Edgar Stevanus is a retired Postmaster and lives in Sugarcreek, Ohio. Edgar Stevanus died November, 2013 at age 94.