Wreck of USS Partridge (ATO-138)
France /
Basse-Normandie /
Graye-sur-Mer /
World
/ France
/ Basse-Normandie
/ Graye-sur-Mer
France / World / Basse-Normandie / Calvados / Caen / Bretteville-sur-Laize
Second World War 1939-1945, military, shipwreck, tugboat, United States Navy
USS Partridge was laid down in May 1918 as a Lapwing Class Minesweeper and commissioned into US Navy service as a member of the Atlantic Fleet in June 1919. Originally intended to help counter the enormous minefields laid by the German Navy during the First World War, the Partridge instead saw no service during the conflict which ended seven months before she commissioned.
Assigned to the US Pacific Fleet shortly after her shakedown cruise, the Partridge operated on a rotational basis out of San Diego, Honolulu and the Cavite Navy Yard in the Philippines during the interwar period. Based at San Diego when the Attack on Pearl Harbor took place, the Partridge and her crew promptly steamed for Honolulu to aid in salvage efforts on the damaged US Battleship Fleet, and remained at Pearl Harbor through June 1942. Returning stateside and joining the US Atlantic Fleet, the Partridge underwent a conversion from a Minesweeper to a Fleet Ocean Tug at the Charleston Navy Yard lasting until September after which she began operations in the Caribbean Sea Frontier. Performing towing, salvage, rescue and escort duties in the Caribbean Sea and along the US East and Gulf Coasts for two more years, Partridge and her crew were ordered to proceed at once for England in May 1944, where their towing and salvage capabilities were going to be needed in the upcoming Allied Invasion of France.
Based at Portsmouth as the final stages of the Allied build-up took place, the Partridge and her crew remained behind as the US and Allied Invasion Fleet stood out of harbor and successfully established a beachhead at Normandy on June 6th, 1944, though the success came at a heavy cost in both men and material. By June 10th and with the Allied beachhead all but secured, the Partridge and several other tugs stood out of Portsmouth bound for Normandy where they would begin salvage operations on the multitude of beached, sunk and otherwise disabled ships littering the area. Crossing the English Channel in convoy with several other ships and landing craft, the Partridge was closing on her assigned operating area off Utah Beach when reports were flashed through the Allied anchorage that a group of German Torpedo Boats, or E-Boats, had been picked up on the radars of Picket Destroyers shortly before 0200hrs. While the reports stated the E-Boats were heading away from the area, the realization that there were torpedoes already in the water came to the forefront when ships across the US anchorage began exploding. Included among them was the Partridge; struck on her Port side at 0200hrs exactly.
The Partridge’s wooden hull, designed to have no influence on Magnetic Mines, was decimated by the explosion of the German torpedo which slammed into it and within minutes the Veteran ship was listing heavily to Port and had gone dead in the water. Her surviving crew quickly abandoned ship onto life rafts as their ship's decks went awash and within 35 minutes of the torpedo's impact the USS Partridge had sank at this location at 0235hrs on June 11th, 1944.
www.navsource.org/archives/11/02016.htm
Assigned to the US Pacific Fleet shortly after her shakedown cruise, the Partridge operated on a rotational basis out of San Diego, Honolulu and the Cavite Navy Yard in the Philippines during the interwar period. Based at San Diego when the Attack on Pearl Harbor took place, the Partridge and her crew promptly steamed for Honolulu to aid in salvage efforts on the damaged US Battleship Fleet, and remained at Pearl Harbor through June 1942. Returning stateside and joining the US Atlantic Fleet, the Partridge underwent a conversion from a Minesweeper to a Fleet Ocean Tug at the Charleston Navy Yard lasting until September after which she began operations in the Caribbean Sea Frontier. Performing towing, salvage, rescue and escort duties in the Caribbean Sea and along the US East and Gulf Coasts for two more years, Partridge and her crew were ordered to proceed at once for England in May 1944, where their towing and salvage capabilities were going to be needed in the upcoming Allied Invasion of France.
Based at Portsmouth as the final stages of the Allied build-up took place, the Partridge and her crew remained behind as the US and Allied Invasion Fleet stood out of harbor and successfully established a beachhead at Normandy on June 6th, 1944, though the success came at a heavy cost in both men and material. By June 10th and with the Allied beachhead all but secured, the Partridge and several other tugs stood out of Portsmouth bound for Normandy where they would begin salvage operations on the multitude of beached, sunk and otherwise disabled ships littering the area. Crossing the English Channel in convoy with several other ships and landing craft, the Partridge was closing on her assigned operating area off Utah Beach when reports were flashed through the Allied anchorage that a group of German Torpedo Boats, or E-Boats, had been picked up on the radars of Picket Destroyers shortly before 0200hrs. While the reports stated the E-Boats were heading away from the area, the realization that there were torpedoes already in the water came to the forefront when ships across the US anchorage began exploding. Included among them was the Partridge; struck on her Port side at 0200hrs exactly.
The Partridge’s wooden hull, designed to have no influence on Magnetic Mines, was decimated by the explosion of the German torpedo which slammed into it and within minutes the Veteran ship was listing heavily to Port and had gone dead in the water. Her surviving crew quickly abandoned ship onto life rafts as their ship's decks went awash and within 35 minutes of the torpedo's impact the USS Partridge had sank at this location at 0235hrs on June 11th, 1944.
www.navsource.org/archives/11/02016.htm
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Partridge_(AM-16)
Nearby cities:
Coordinates: 49°30'0"N -0°29'59"E
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