MS West Honaker

MS "West Honaker" was a diesel-powered cargo ship of the deep. [, "Unicoi", ]

On 26 August, she began her second voyage to Sydney, [s first voyage in the South African service was planned for November, [cite news | title = Shipping news and activities at Los Angeles Harbor | work = Los Angeles Times | date = 18 October 1929 | page = 21 ] but upon her arrival from New York to begin the service,"West Honaker" had continued sailing from New York for the Roosevelt Company through October. See, for example: cite news | title = Shipping and mails | work = The New York Times | date = 25 March 1929 | page = 51 ] it was discovered that she had cracks in her engine mountings and her cylinder head. "West Honaker" made her way to San Francisco, where parts had to be fabricated for the $100,000 repair that kept her out of service until March 1930. [cite news | last = Cave | first = Wayne B. | title = New cargo line gets bad start | work = Los Angeles Times | date = 1 December 1929 | page = A12 ]

"West Honaker" departed on her long-delayed maiden voyage for the Pacific–South Africa Line in mid March, [cite news | last = Cave | first = Wayne B. | title = Shipping news and activities at Los Angeles Harbor | work = Los Angeles Times | date = 11 March 1930 | page = 8 ] and began a second voyage for the line in late October. [cite news | last = Drake | first = Waldo | title = Shipping news and activities at Los Angeles Harbor | work = Los Angeles Times | date = 22 October 1930 | page = A12 ] "West Honaker"'s service continued uneventfully until early 1932. On 2 March of that year, "West Honaker" collided with steamer "Ernest H. Meyer" in a snowstorm on the lower Columbia River, near Astoria, Oregon. Both ships suffered damage, but neither needed assistance to reach Portland. [cite news | title = Marine casualties | work = The Times | date = 3 March 1932 | page = 23 ] "West Honaker" had just finished undergoing general repairs in drydock in Portland prior to the collision, which caused about $30,000 in damages. [cite news | title = News of ships and sailings at Pacific ports | work = Los Angeles Times | date = 7 March 1932 | page = A9 ] The USSB filed suit against the Portland Steamship Company for the cost of repairs, which were completed by mid March. [cite news | title = News of ships and sailings at Pacific ports | work = Los Angeles Times | date = 19 March 1932 | page = 7 ]

In mid-June, the bareboat charters of the three USSB vessels still sailing for Pacific–South Africa—"West Honaker", "West Cusseta", and "Crown City"—were cancelled. At the end of each ship's voyage in progress, the ships were returned to the USSB. At the time of the announcement, "West Honaker" was in South African waters. The "Los Angeles Times" reported that preferential tariffs for British-flagged ships for lumber from British Columbia—a major cargo carried by the line—were responsible for the termination. [cite news | last = Drake | first = Waldo | title = Shipping news and activities at Los Angeles Harbor | work = Los Angeles Times | date = 14 June 1932 | page = 11 ] It's not known when "West Honaker" completed her final trip, but in late June she was still shown in South Africa by a notice in "The New York Times". [cite news | title = Shipping and mails | work = The New York Times | date = 25 June 1932 | page = 29 ] After this mention, "West Honaker" disappears from contemporary news accounts. By 1939, "West Honaker" had been laid up in a reserve fleet in the James River. cite news | author= Associated Press | title = Laid-up cargo ships to be reconditioned | work = The New York Times | date = 7 June 1940 | page = 14 ]

World War II

In June 1940, the USMC|first=long opened bidding for the reconditioning of ten laid up cargo ships, which included "West Honaker". According to the "Los Angeles Times", the USMC, a successor to the USSB, was forced to act because of a "critical shortage" of U.S. Navy auxiliary ships. [cite news | last = Drake | first = Waldo | title = Shipping news and activities at Los Angeles Harbor | work = Los Angeles Times | date = 5 June 1940 | page = A13 ] The Maryland Drydock Company of Baltimore was the low bidder for "West Honaker", offering to recondition her for $77,777. [cite news | title = Maritime Commission contracts | work = The Wall Street Journal | date = 11 June 1940 | page = 2 ]

On 3 November, with her reconditioning complete, "West Honaker" sailed from New York. After transiting the Panama Canal a week after her departure, she headed for Brisbane, Australia, where she arrived on 13 December. After then calling at Sydney, Melbourne, Port Pirie, and Adelaide through 8 January 1941, "West Honaker" called at Melbourne and Sydney before departing for the United States on 18 January.cite web | title = Port Arrivals/Departures: West Honaker | url = http://convoyweb.org.uk/ports/index.html?search.php?vessel=WEST+HONAKER~armain | work = Arnold Hague's Ports Database | publisher = Convoy Web | date = | accessdate = 2008-09-16 ] Loaded with a cargo of wool intended for uniforms, blankets, and overcoats for the military, [cite news | title = Raw wool imports flood hub; defense demand a big factor | work = The Christian Science Monitor | date = 15 February 1941 | page = 12 ] "West Honaker" arrived at New Bedford, Massachusetts, on 3 March.

From late March to mid August, "West Honaker" made another, almost identical Australian circuit, adding a stop in Fremantle to her Australian itinerary. Almost immediately after her return to Boston, she began a third trip to Australia. After she arrived in Brisbane on 29 October, she made stops in Sydney and Melbourne. From Sydney she made a round trip to Nouméa, New Caledonia, and sailed from there to Wellington, New Zealand, where she arrived on 11 December, four days after the Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor that propelled the United States into World War II.

"West Honaker" departed Wellington on 13 December and arrived at Boston on 28 February 1942. From Boston, she sailed to New York via Philadelphia. After sailing from New York on 29 April, "West Honaker" experienced some unspecified trouble, and was towed in to Baltimore on 4 June. After spending almost three weeks in that port, she headed for Cape Town via Trinidad. She departed Cape Town on 24 August and sailed to Bushire, Abadan, Bandar Abbas, and Colombo over the next three months. After making a round trip to Calcutta from late November to late December, "West Honaker" arrived at Wellington on 26 January, sailing for New York via the Panama Canal three days later.

"West Honaker" took on a load of grain and then proceeded in convoy from Boston to Halifax in early May, and on to Belfast Lough. [cite AHCD | convoytype = SC | convoynumber = 130 | accessdate = 2008-09-16 ] After making a circuit to Avonmouth and Milford Haven, "West Honaker" sailed from Belfast Lough for New York on 25 June. She made one additional transatlantic roundtrip beginning in late August, carrying a cargo of explosives on her outbound trip, [cite AHCD | convoytype = SC | convoynumber = 140 | accessdate = 2008-09-16 ] and returning in late October. "West Honaker" sailed 28 November from New York for Nuevitas, Cuba, and returned via Key West, Florida, in late December. Sailing again for the Caribbean on 6 February, she visited Guantánamo Bay and Antilla before her 28 February 1944 return to New York. At some point within the next month, "West Honaker" arrived at Boston.

Final voyage

Though her crew did not know it at the time, "West Honaker" had been selected to become one of the blockships for the Allied invasion of France, then in the planning stages.cite web | last = Poropat | first = Cesar | title = The Corncob Fleet on D-Day | url = http://members.aol.com/poropat/corncob.htm | work = Beyond the Palisades | publisher = Bruce Poropat | year = 2000 | accessdate = 2008-09-16 This webpage consists of excerpts from Cesar Poropat's privately published 2000 book, "Beyond the Palisades".] Blockships dispatched from Boston, like "West Honaker", were loaded with "tons of sand and cement" before their final U.S. departures.cite news | last = Stone | first = Leon | title = Bay State ship sacrificed to Normandy aid | work = The Christian Science Monitor | date = 18 November 1944 | page = 5 ] "West Honaker" sailed from Boston on 25 March 1944 as a part of Convoy BX-101 to Halifax and, from there, Convoy SC-156 to Cardiff. In his book "Beyond the Palisades", Cesar Poropat, "West Honaker"'s chief engineer, reports that after the ship's cargo was discharged, the ship was suddenly boarded by shipyard workers who proceeded to cut holes in "strategic places" and then placed "mysterious packs" positioned around the hull. The crew suspected, correctly, that these packs were explosives and that the ship was being prepared for sinking. Though there is no specific mention of this occurring on "West Honaker", other blockships selected for the Normandy beachhead had their existing antiaircraft weapons moved higher on the ship and were supplemented by additional guns.

Poropat tells that after the shipyard workers departed, the crew were told to pack all of their personal belongings—save for toiletries and one change of clothes—to be sent ashore. Each crewman was also issued a backpack with K-rations, a special life preserver, and survival equipment. "West Honaker" departed Cardiff on 24 April for Oban where she arrived on 5 May. She was now a part of the "corncob" fleet, the group of ships intended to be sunk to form the "gooseberries", [Richard, [http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/NAVEXOS_P-474C.htm Glossary of U.S. Naval Code Words: C] .] shallow-water artificial harbors for landing craft. [Richard, [http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/NAVEXOS_P-474G.htm Glossary of U.S. Naval Code Words: G] .] Once at Oban, Poropat reports that the ship's crew was told of their mission, but to preserve secrecy, they were not permitted to leave the ships.

After spending five weeks at Oban—Poropat called it "the longest and most tedious five weeks" of his life—"West Honaker" finally moved out, sailing south through the Irish Sea to Poole. "West Honaker" was a part of the third "corncob" convoy which sailed from Poole on the night on 7 June, the day after the D-Day landings, [" [http://www.convoyweb.org.uk/misc/index.html?yy.php?convoy=CORNCOB.3!~miscmain Convoy CORNCOB.3] ". "Arnold Hague Convoy Database". ConvoyWeb. Retrieved 15 September 2008.] and consisted of what one author called the "dregs of the North Atlantic shipping pool". [Howe, p. 1.] Poropat relates that the corncob ships crossed the English Channel under cover of darkness and, stripped of all unnecessary equipment, carried no radios, having only a signal lamp (with a spare bulb) for communication.

Around midnight 7/8 June, during the slow voyage across the Channel, a German airplane hit "West Honaker" with two skip bombs.Askew, p. 180.] Because the ship, already prepared for a fast sinking for the blockship duties, began taking on water, a large portion of the crew, including Chief Engineer Poropat, abandoned ship. After drifting in the Channel for most of the rest of the moonless night, they were later rescued by a British trawler and returned to the UK. In the meantime, the master of the ship was able to keep "West Honaker" in the convoy headed to Utah beach.

Once at the designated location, the ships were put into position and scuttled over the next days, under heavy German artillery fire. [Howe, p. 3.] Naval Armed Guardsmen manned the guns on all the gooseberry ships to protect against frequent German air attacks.Askew, pp. 179–80.] All the while, harbor pilots—about half of the New York Bar Pilots Association, according to one source—carefully positioned the ships. [cite web | last = Crichton | first = Tom | coauthors = T. Horodysky, ed. | title = The Useful Death of the MV Galveston | url = http://www.usmm.org/galveston.html | work = American Merchant Marine at War | publisher = T. Horodysky | date = 4 April 2004 | accessdate = 2008-09-16 ] "West Honaker" was sunk on 10 June about convert|400|yd|m off the beach, but continued to serve as an antiaircraft platform manned by Navy gun crews until 14 June, and by Army crews after that date. "West Honaker"'s naval gunners were awarded a battle star for participation in the Normandy Landings.

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