Wreck of SS Stephen Hopkins

 Second World War 1939-1945, military, shipwreck, merchant marine / merchant navy vessel

Laid down in January 1942 at the Kasier Permanente #2 Shipyard in Richmond CA as the 7th Liberty ship built at the yard and launched only 102 days after her keel laying, Maritime Commission Hull #247 was christened as the SS Stephen Hopkins on April 14th, 1942 and put to sea with her first load of cargo on the 11th of May. Operated by the Luckenbach Steamship Company and crewed by 42 sailors and 15 armed guard members made up US Naval Reservists, the Hopkins steamed for Auckland by way of Bora Bora, then continued onward to call at Melbourne and Port Lincoln where she loaded her final load of cargo and set out for British South Africa.

Successfully transiting the Southern Indian Ocean, the Hopkins and her crew called at Durban and Cape Town where they offloaded the last of their Australian cargo and provisioned for the journey to their next destination. Ordered to Paramaribo, Dutch Guiana in mid-September, the Hopkins put to sea in ballast and began her long, slow crossing of the South Atlantic towards her next destination, her crew keenly aware that their presence in the Atlantic meant a drastically increased risk of attack from German Submarines known to be freely prowling the seas they were slated to transit. Several days out of Cape Town the Hopkins ran into a fog bank during the night of September 26th, warranting the posting of extra lookouts as she continued onward through the night and into the following morning.

The rising sun of the 27th brought little immediate relief from the thick fog, but by 0845hrs enough of it had burned off to allow many of the extra lookouts to be relieved from their posts however as many of the lookouts headed below decks the Hopkins’ bridge crew, consisting of her Captain, Chief Mate and one AB, sighted a pair of merchant ships lying alongside while stationary some 4000 yards off her Starboard Bow at 0852hrs. Immediately suspicious of the two vessels, the Hopkins’ Captain ordered his gun crews to their stations only moments before a thickly German-accented voice came over the ships radio set instructing her to heave to and come to a stop. Most certainly facing some sort of enemy ship, the Hopkins’ Captain was passing the order for his gunners to open fire when the nearest of the two mystery ships, the German Auxiliary Cruiser Stier, suddenly dropped down several hatches on its hull to expose a set of six large guns, ran up the German Naval Ensign and began firing.

With her armed guards immediately returning fire with her superstructure-mounted .50 caliber machine guns, the Hopkins was swung into a sharp turn to Port to reduce her broadside and allow her heavy armament, consisting of a single 4-inch gun mount on her Stern, to be brought to bear on her attackers. Seemingly catching the Germans by surprise, the Armed Guard gun crews succeeded in peppering the Stier about her superstructure with machine gun and 37mm cannon fire, while her 4-inch gun pumped round after round into the German ship’s hull at the waterline. Despite this fortuitous start to the sudden running battle, the Hopkins’ offensive stand was short-lived, as accurate fire from the Stier and her tender vessel Tannenfels began impacting the Hopkins, concentrated mainly on her superstructure area. As a running battle developed, the Hopkins’ engine room crew labored to raise as much steam as they could to get their ship moving, but her exposed propeller further cut back her already low speed and within minutes both German ships were closing on the stubbornly fighting ship and riddling her with increasingly accurate fire.

Despite the pounding she was taking by the small caliber guns aboard the Tannenfels and the 5.9-inch main guns aboard the Stier, Hopkins gun crews continued their fanatic defense of their ship, her forward gun crew continually sending 37mm rounds into the Tannenfels as her superstructure and Stern gun crew focused on the onrushing Stier, eventually scoring hits on the forward gun mount and sending several more rounds into her superstructure and engine room. The increasingly accurate German main battery and small caliber weapon fire began to take its toll among the unprotected crews in the gun tubs on the Hopkins, and in the space of five minutes she took direct hits in both her fore and rear gun tubs which killed or mortally injured every man stationed there and took several rounds in her bridge area which killed her Captain, First Mate and several gun crews. The momentary lack in fire allowed gunners aboard the Stier to send several 5.9-inch rounds into the Hopkins’ engine room, where they punctured steam mains which in addition to robbing the ship of propulsion scalded her entire engine room crew to death. Now continually pumping round after round into the hapless Liberty ships superstructure and hull, the Stier drew alongside the slowing Hopkins to finish her off when several intrepid crew re-manned her remaining machine guns and began raking the German raider’s deck with fire.

Seeing that the Hopkins’ 4-inch mount was not manned but operable, a 19 year-old Engine Cadet made his way aft and after clearing the bodies of the dead men who had previously manned the gun single handedly reloaded the weapon aimed it squarely for the Stier’s engine room and began sending round after round into the ship, taking her crew by surprise. Though the lone sailor was only able to get off five rounds before the mount was silenced for the last time by another direct hit from the Stier’s main guns, the rounds caused further damage to the raider’s already battered engine room, with at least one causing heavy damage to her steering system. A parting final salvo from the guns of the Stier signaled the end of the barely half-hour long battle, as an increasing list and rapidly growing fires aboard the Hopkins prompted the few crew still aboard ship to abandon her into the surrounding water or her sole remaining lifeboat. Left adrift and heavily aflame, the SS Stephen Hopkins slowly flooded and sank in this general area on September 27th, 1942, taking 38 of her crew with her to the bottom. Of her 19 surviving crew, 15 managed to survive the subsequent 2,200-mile, 31-day journey to Brazil in an uncovered lifeboat with little food and water.

For their efforts, the lost and surviving crew of the SS Stephen Hopkins succeeded in becoming the first American Vessel responsible for sinking German surface combatant during the war, as the damage they inflicted to the Auxiliary Cruiser Stier forced her scuttling at 1140hrs on the same day. For their roles in the action of September 27th, merchant mariners Captain Paul Buck, 2nd Engineer George S. Cronk, 2nd Mate Joseph Layman, Chief Mate Moczkowski, Engine Cadet Edwin Joseph O'Hara and Chief Steward Ford Stilson were awarded the Distinguished Service Medal and Navy reservist Lt(jg) Kenneth Martin Willett was awarded the Navy Cross.

www.usmm.org/hopkins.html