SS Irish Oak was an Irish-operated steamship that was sunk in the North Atlantic during World War II by a German submarine. As the West Neris, she had been built in the United States and operated by the US Shipping Board. In 1941, she was chartered by Irish Shipping Limited to transport wheat and fertilizer from North America to Ireland. Sailing as a clearly marked neutral vessel and not in convoy, she was nonetheless torpedoed and sunk by on 15 May 1943 midway between North America and Ireland with the crew being rescued.
There were then both conflicting reports that she had not, and allegations that she had, warned a nearby convoy of the presence of a U-boat. The British nationality of her captain became an issue in the June 1943 Irish general election, there were diplomatic exchanges between the United States and the Republic of Ireland and questions raised in the British House of Commons. In Germany, the U-boat's captain received a mild reprimand.
Construction Southwestern Shipbuilding of San Pedro, California, was organized in 1918 to build cargo ships for the United States Shipping Board. As Yard No. 11, the ship was built to Design 1019, launched on 24 August 1919 and completed in December 1919. Her gross register tonnage was 5,589 tons, length , with a beam of , and a depth of .
Propelled by a triple expansion steam engine built by the Llewellyn Iron Works of Los Angeles with cylinders of , and bore and stroke, the ship could go .
West Neris West Neris had been built for the United States Maritime Commission (USMC) and operated by the United States Shipping Board (USSB),Spong, page 29 her port of registry being New Orleans.
In 1928, she was sold to the Mississippi Steamship Company. She was sold back to the USSB in 1933. With the abolition of the USSB, she was transferred to the United States Shipping Board Bureau in 1935, and laid up in New Orleans. During this period the ship was neglected and the condition of her engine deteriorated. In 1937 she was transferred to the United States Maritime Commission. On 26 September 1941 she was chartered to Irish Shipping Ltd, through United States Lines at £3,245 per month.
Irish Oak Background At the outbreak of World War II, Ireland had very few ships,Forde, page 1Fisk, page 272 and the United States instructed its ships not to enter the "war zone". Acting for the Irish government, Minister Frank Aiken negotiated the charter of two oil-burning steamships from the US Maritime Commission's reserve fleet.Dwyer, page 107 These were the West Neris and the West Hematite. Two Irish crews travelled to New Orleans to take over the ships, doing so on 9 September 1941.Forde, page 40
The West Neris was renamed Irish Oak, and the West Hematite was renamed .Coogan, page 255 Both were chartered by the government-owned Irish Shipping Limited (ISL) and managed by the Limerick Steamship Company, with their port of registry changed to Dublin. The Irish Oak was captained by Matthew Moran of Wexford, the Irish Pine by Frank Dick of Islandmagee with Samuel McNamara of Belfast as chief engineer.
Initial sailing, convoys and delays Destined to carry wheat and phosphate fertilizer, both ships sailed initially from New Orleans for St. John's, Newfoundland, in October 1941 to take on cargoes of wheat bound for Ireland. Since insurers like Lloyd's of London charged higher premiums for ships not in convoy, the Irish Oak and the Irish Pine were painted wartime camouflage in preparation for sailing in convoy. Irish Pine joined Convoy SC 56 and arrived in Dublin on 11 December 1941. In contrast, Irish Oak experienced a number of serious mishaps and setbacks: Chief Engineer R. Marsh, of Dublin, suffered a heart attack and was hospitalised in New Orleans; another engineer, O'Keefe of Dún Laoghaire, was severely burned in a boiler room blow-back and hospitalised in St. John; and a locally recruited Greek replacement engineer caused difficulties, was reported to the Canadian authorities by the captain and jailed.
Initially, Irish Oak sailed with Convoy SC 52, which departed from Sydney, Nova Scotia, on 29 October 1941. On 3 November, the convoy was attacked by and and lost four ships, turned back for Sydney and arrived on 5 November. However, neglect had left the Irish Oak in poor condition. Ships from SC 52 were merged with Convoy SC 53, and Irish Oak sailed with it but had to return to Sydney. Her next attempt was with Convoy SC 55, which departed Sydney on 16 November 1941 and arrived at Liverpool on 5 December. However, engine problems struck again, and she was towed to St. John, New Brunswick. Irish Oak remained in St. John for four months while efforts were made to repair her engine. Eventually she had to be towed to Boston for repairs. The voyage from New Orleans to Dublin - including repairs - took nine months: Irish Oak berthed in Dublin on 6 July 1942.Forde, page 41
Out-of-convoy sailings The crew of the Irish Oak became acutely uneasy after her engine failed, and she was left behind by SC 55, dead in the water to wait for a tugboat. That and the experiences of other Irish ships, especially in OG 71, the "Nightmare Convoy" in August 1941, resolved Irish crews and owners to sail as neutrals, out of convoy.Forde, page 86 Thereafter, Irish ships were clearly marked and fully lit, usually sailed out-of-convoy on a direct course and always answered SOS calls for assistance. Irish ships rescued 534 men; but they lost 20% of their seamen.Share, page 101
Irish Shipping Limited built up its fleet to 15 ships.Coogan, page 251 Two ships were lost, Irish Oak, and Irish Pine, with 33 lives. The ISL ships alone saved some 166 lives.
Stornest At 04:44 on 14 October 1942, in very bad weather, Irish Oak received a distress call from the British ship Stornest, a straggler from convoy ONS 136, torpedoed by . Irish Oak answered the call and altered course. Six minutes later, Stornest radioed Irish Oak of abandoning ship in life-rafts since they had lost their lifeboats in the heavy seas. Irish Oak continued to relay Stormests SOS and spent ten hours to search for survivors in a westerly gale. The rescue tug Adherent, the anti-submarine trawler Drangey and two corvettes from convoy ONS 137 joined the search to no avail. Stornest lost her crew of 29 and ten gunners at sea.
A week later Captain Matthew Moran was fatally injured while boarding at the Dublin quayside when the gangway collapsed beneath him.Forde, page 50 He was replaced by Captain Eric Jones (see Crew).
Encounter with U-650 On 14 May 1943, Irish Oak was en route from Tampa, Florida, to Dublin with a cargo of 8,000 tons of phosphate fertiliser. Smoke from an allied convoy was visible ahead in the distance, and Irish ships then generally sailed out of convoy.
At 2.23 p.m., German U-boat came alongside. There was no contact or exchange between the vessels. They continued alongside each other all afternoon. At nightfall, Irish Oak turned on her lights in accordance with her neutral status. Apparently satisfied, U-650 departed during the night.Forde, page 57 Irish Oak continued sailing astern of Convoy SC 129.
As it happened, on the same day, U-642 reported that an aircraft carrier (the escort carrier HMS Biter with the 5th Escort Group) was joining the convoy. In fear of the aircraft, the stalking U-boats were ordered to "break off operations against convoy".
Torpedoed As dawn broke the next morning, 15 May 1943, a torpedo hit Irish Oak at 8:19am (12:19 German Summer Time). Two torpedoes were launched. One missed, and the other struck her port side and exploded.
At the time, which submarine had launched the torpedoes was uncertain. Its periscope remained visible as lifeboats were lowered. The submarine waited until the lifeboats were well clear before firing a coup de grâce at 9:31 a.m. Irish Plane, Irish Rose and Irish Ash responded to the SOS. The survivors were located by Irish Plane at 4:20 p.m.
Irish Oak lies in position , almost midway between Newfoundland and Ireland.
Landfall The survivors landed at Cobh on 19 May.Forde, page 58 They were welcomed by Samuel Roycroft, a director of both the Limerick Steamship Company and of Irish Shipping Limited. They lunched at the Imperial Hotel, Cork.Forde, page 91 On arrival in Dublin on 21 May, they were welcomed by Peadar Doyle, the Lord Mayor, and were hosted to lunch at Leinster House, home of Dáil Éireann (the Irish Parliament), on 24 May.Higgins, page 10
It was common practice for crews' wages to be stopped when a ship was sunk. The famed Labour leader James Larkin raised the issue of the survivors' treatment in the Dáil. Citing the crew member who was told by the Labour exchange to "go and get his record card", which was lost when Irish Oak sank, he suggested for the Dáil to ask the German Consul-General to send a submarine to retrieve it.
Aftermath British Which submarine had sunk Irish Oak was unknown at the time. The survivors knew only that it was unlikely to have been U-650.Higgins, page 9 In the British House of Commons, Sir William Davidson called for a formal protest because Irish Oak had not warned the convoy, and Douglas Savory called for an end of coal exports to Ireland.
No official action was taken. Ireland was exporting food to Britain at the time. Also, Paul Emrys-Evans revealed that the convoy knew about the U-boat; the British stance was that as it already knew of the presence of both Irish Oak and U-607, there was no need for Irish Oak to have warned the convoy.
Irish During World War I, the South Arklow Lightvessel Guillemot, operated by the Commissioners of Irish Lights, had given warning of a U-boat. In consequence, on 28 March 1917, UC-65 surfaced, ordered the crew into its lifeboat and sank the Guillemot. Against that background, the sinking of Irish Oak became a hotly-debated issue.
The Irish government's stance was that Irish Oak had not warned the Allied convoy of a U-boat presence, as stated by Éamon de Valera in the Dáil and by Irish Shipping Limited. De Valera went on to say that it was "no business of Irish ships to give any information to anyone".
A rumour to the contrary was picked up by the Irish Labour Party. James Everett asked, "Was information given to the British convoy that a submarine was sighted the night before?" Discussion in the Dáil during the runnup to the general election focused on the possibility that a warning had been transmitted, and demands were made to know the nationality of the captain, a British subject:
Bill Norton: "Would the Taoiseach state the nationality of the master of the ship?" Éamon de Valera: "I do not know it." James Hickey: "I think the Taoiseach should take a deep interest in finding out the nationality of the captains of our ships." William Davin: "Is the Taoiseach aware that a recommendation was submitted that Irish nationals should get preference for these ships?" Norton, Hickey and Davin were Labour Party members.
Luke Duffy, secretary of the Labour Party, said that the "government was guilty of duplicity and near belligerency behind a facade of neutrality. They had placed foreign nationals on the bridge of Irish ships...".Forde, page 59 The party issued an advertisement condemning the "criminal conduct of the Fianna Fáil Government in sending brave men to their doom on the Irish Oak".
Responding to allegations that Irish Oak had acted in such a way as to endanger her neutral status, Irish Shipping Limited stated: "...whether... any information had been conveyed to a British convoy that a submarine had been sighted. The company states in the most explicit manner that there is no foundation whatever for the suggestion contained in the question. No such message was sent.