Wreck of USS YO-159

 Second World War 1939-1945, shipwreck, United States Navy

Laid down in August 1943 as a concrete non-self propelled fuel oil barge at Concrete Ship Constructors Inc. at National City CA, USS YO-159 was acquired by the 11th Naval District in October 1943 and towed to Pearl Harbor where she was manned and placed into US Navy service.

After outfitting at Pearl Harbor, the YO-159 and her 13 man crew were given their orders to report to the US Navy base at Espiritu Santo Island in the Solomons on January 1st, 1944. Assigned to an Australia-bound convoy, the YO-159 was placed under tow and departed Pearl Harbor on January 10th, bound for her new homeport. Four days out of Pearl and with less than 300 miles to her destination, the YO-159 was sighted by the Japanese Submarine RO-42, which was patrolling the sea approaches to the American base. Thinking the 3,000 ton YO-159 to be 10,000 ton Fleet Oiler, the Japanese Sub Commander quietly made his approach to the slowly moving barge and lined up his shot.

The telltale sonar sound of a torpedo sounded alarms throughout the YO-159's convoy as lookouts strained to sight the inbound fish from their sonarmen's reports. Aboard the YO-159, the crew were still making their way to their general quarters stations when the first of two torpedoes slammed into the YO-159's concrete hull, cracking it from keel to tanktop amidships. The fully-laden barge began to leak out her cargo of oil through the gaping hole in her side, which quickly caught fire from severed electrical lines. With only limited firefighting apparatus aboard ship, YO-159's crew were quickly overwhelmed by the intensity of the oil fire encircling their ship and were forced to abandon the YO-159 before it was totally surrounded by burning fuel. As convoy escorts executed depth charge attacks on the fleeing Japanese Submarine, the crew of YO-159 were quickly rescued by a Destroyer Escort which had closed to render assistance.

With the YO-159 now adrift, aflame and abandoned, the Convoy Commander ordered the YO-159 sunk as a hazard to navigation. Taken under fire for over 20 minutes, the battered hull of YO-159 slowly began to settle wreathed in a lake of burning oil as the convoy continued onward towards Espiritu Santo. Patrols the next morning found no traces of the YO-159 aside from a small oil slick, indicating her sinking during the night of January 14th, 1944 in this general area.

www.navsource.org/archives/14/12159.htm