USS Victoria (AO-46) Informations

USS Victoria (AO-46) was an oiler for the United States Navy in World War II, and the second ship to bear the name. She was built in 1917 as SS George G. Henry in San Francisco for the Los Angeles Petroleum Company. During World War I, the ship was requisitioned by the U.S. Navy and employed as USS George G. Henry (ID-1560). Between the two world wars and at the beginning of the second, she served as a civilian tanker, initially under American registry, but later under Panamanian registry.

The second USS Victoria was originally built in 1917 as the steel-hulled, single-screw tanker George G. Henry. Constructed at San Francisco, California, by Union Iron Works, the ship was chartered by the United States Navy from her original owners, the Los Angeles Petroleum Co., on 23 August 1918; and commissioned at New York City the same day, Lt. Comdr. George F. Weeden, USNRF, in command.

Designated Id. No. 1560, George G. Henry departed New York on 29 August 1918, bound for European waters carrying aviation gasoline and Army medical stores. After discharging that cargo at Le Havre, France, the tanker touched at Spithead and Plymouth, England, before setting out across the Atlantic on her way back to the east coast of the United States.

At 08:50 on 29 September, George G. Henry sighted the German submarine U-152 on the surface, 5,000 yards off her port beam, went to general quarters, and opened fire at once with her forward gun. Attempting to keep the submarine directly astern, the tanker steered a northerly course and brought her after gun to bear on the enemy.

George G. Henrys gunners at the after mount managed to hurl 21 rounds at the enemy, landing several shells close aboard and forcing the surfaced submarine to maneuver radically. At 09:05, U-152 managed to score a hit on the tanker. The German shell pierced the American ships after deck, damaging the steering gear and destroying the after magazine.

While flames enveloped the fantail, George G. Henry steered to bring her forward gun to bear while damage control parties fought the fires aft. Well-placed salvoes managed to keep the enemy away, while six smoke floats dropped over the side produced a dense, impenetrable smoke screen that shielded the tanker for some 20 minutes.

U-152, however, passed the weather side of that bank of smoke and renewed the action, landing shells close aboard. Shrapnel flailed the superstructure of the tanker, wounding 14 men. The after gun, though, still had some fight left. Its crew managed to get off two remaining rounds at 10:15. Ten minutes later, the submarine gave up the chase and broke off the action.

In subsequent reports, Comdr. Weeden credited his ships survival to Ens. George R. Thompson, USNRF, the head of the engine room force. Working amidst flames and acrid smoke, Thompson and his men remained below, working the vital machinery, allowing George G. Henry to maintain speed throughout the running battle. Three men under Thompsons command – members of the "black gang" – received honors: Chief Water Tender Hal Neargardt, USN, and Fireman First Class W. W. Reese received Navy Crosses and Fireman First Class W. T. Vail was awarded the Navy Distinguished Service Medal.

Having escaped one danger, George G. Henry encountered another before she reached New York. Shortly after midnight on 3 October 1918, about 110 miles (180 km) east of Cape Sable, she made an emergency turn to avoid an oncoming convoy, but to no avail. Her bow cut deeply into the collier Herman Frasch (ID-1617) forward of that ships poop deck. The latters bow rose perpendicularly, slipped back and crushed George G. Henrys port rail, hung suspended in the air for a few fleeting moments, and then slid off into the sea. George G. Henry immediately put over life rafts and boats, and with her searchlight beams sweeping the waves, searched for survivors. She picked up 65 men during the hunt which lasted until daybreak.

George G. Henry returned to New York on 6 October. After repairs at Shewens Dry Dock, Brooklyn, New York, George G. Henry shifted to Bayonne, New Jersey, where she loaded a cargo of ammunition, gasoline, and military stores between 7 and 11 November. On the latter day – the day that the armistice ending World War I was signed – the ship touched briefly at Staten Island, New York, before sailing for France.

George G. Henry made three peacetime voyages to French ports – Le Havre, Rouen, Pauillac, Furt, and Blaye – carrying cargoes of oil from New York and Louisiana. After completing her last Naval Overseas Transportation Service (NOTS) voyage upon arrival at New York on 5 May 1919, George G. Henry entered Shewens Dry Dock for voyage repairs three days later. There, she was decommissioned and returned to her owner on 21 May 1919, and her name was simultaneously struck from the Naval Vessel Register.

Over the next two decades, George G. Henry plied the trade routes of the Atlantic and Pacific, first under the colors of the Pan-American Petroleum and Transport Co. and then for the Standard Oil Co. In July 1940 — due to the restrictions of the Neutrality Act – the ship was sold to the Panama Transport Co., a subsidiary of Standard Oil of New Jersey, and continued operating under Panamanian registry.

Laid-up for two months at Solomons Island, Maryland, for repairs, she was placed in service between South American (Caribbean) oil ports, the east coast of the United States, and the Canary Islands. She made six voyages in 1939; 17 in 1940; and 19 in 1941.

Her Far Eastern voyage in 1941 proved eventful. On 28 April 1941, George G. Henry sailed from New York; she subsequently loaded a cargo of petroleum products at Aruba, in the Netherlands West Indies, early in May and – after discharging that cargo at Balboa, Canal Zone, and at the ports of Golfito and Quepos Point, Costa Rica — proceeded to San Pedro, California There, she loaded a cargo earmarked for Far Eastern ports. She touched at Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, to top off her own fuel bunkers and then pushed on to the Philippines, reaching Manila on 29 June, a little over two months out of New York.

Over the next six months, time-chartered to the Standard Vacuum Oil Company, George G. Henry carried oil from Balikpapan and Palembang, Dutch East Indies; Tarakan, Borneo; and Miri, Sarawak, to ports in the Philippines, to Shanghai, and to Hong Kong. Meanwhile, war clouds were thickening. In fact, as the tanker steamed toward Manila during the first few days of December 1941, Japanese invasion forces were already headed toward their jump-off points — their arrival timed to coincide with a diversionary strike to be launched against the ships of the United States Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii.

Oblivious to those events, George G. Henry arrived at Manila on 4 December 1941 with a cargo of 69,550 barrels (11,058 m3) of oil that had been taken on board at Palembang, Java, and at Tanjong Oeban, on Bintang Island, near Singapore. By 8 December 1941 (7 December east of the International Date Line), the tanker had already discharged the part of her cargo consigned for delivery at Manila and was preparing to leave that port for Cebu, in the southern Philippines, to discharge the remainder. That, however, was not to be.

As she stood out of the harbor area, George G. Henry received a signal from the Army signal station on the island of Corregidor, at the entrance of Manila Bay: "No ships are allowed to leave port". It was not long before the merchant seamen on board found out the reason for that order: Pearl Harbor had been attacked. The United States and Japan were at war.

Although in civilian colors at the outset of hostilities, George G. Henry had acquired a coat of "war gray" by 10 December. On that day, she lay anchored in Manila Bay when Japanese planes came over just after noon and bombed the Cavite Navy Yard, almost erasing it from the face of the map. During the raid, bombs splashed near the tanker, between George G. Henry and the Filipino freighter Sagoland. "The nearest explosion", wrote a member of the tankers crew later, "caused our ship to roll and vibrate as if she were breaking up on the rocks." Fortunately, the tanker emerged unscathed.

After that raid, it was obvious that Cavite and Manila Bay were not safe for surface ships. Hastily assembled convoys began heading southward, but George G. Henry remained behind where her vital cargo was needed. On 12 December – the day on which Japanese troops splashed ashore at Aparri and Vigan in northern Luzon and at Legaspi on the southeast coast of that island – George G. Henry was moored at Pier 7, the largest commercial pier in Manilas port area and an easily distinguishable landmark, to discharge her remaining cargo. By that evening, the tanker had pumped ashore 69,500 barrels (11,050 m3) of oil to storage tanks ashore. That task completed, George G. Henry returned to her anchorage to await further orders.

Two days later, her master, Capt. Jens G. Olsen, received the authorization to take George G. Henry south – provided that the escape be made at night. Thus, at sunset on 15 December, George G. Henry headed for the channel through the minefield that had been sown between Corregidor and the Bataan peninsula. She soon discovered, however, that the channel – supposedly lighted with three buoys – was dark. As she slowed, a strong current carried the tanker inexorably toward the deadly minefield. George G. Henry went full speed astern and got out of immediate danger but still found herself in a very perilous situation.

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