- SS Pedernales
SS "Pedernales" was a
lake tanker of theWorld War II and post war eras. She was built in 1938 inMonfalcone ,Italy , and sailed under the British flag. "Pedernales" was severely damaged in a torpedo attack on16 February 1942 while anchored atAruba . The damaged ship was cut into three sections. The fore and aft sections were joined together and the ship made her way to Baltimore,Maryland , to be rebuilt. The middle section was left in Aruba and, after being used for a number of years as a target by Dutch gunners after the war, has become a scuba diving site. The rebuilt portion of the tanker, later renamed "Esso Pedernales" and "Katendrecht", was scrapped in 1959.Career
SS "Pedernales" was completed in September 1938 by
Cantiere Riuniti dell'Adriatico ofMonfalcone ,Italy .cite web | last = Helgason | first = Guðmundur | url = http://uboat.net/allies/merchants/1340.html | title = Allied ships hit: Pedernales | work = The U-boat War | publisher = Uboat.net | accessdate = 2008-07-10 ] She operated as a lake tanker, sailing fromLake Maracaibo inVenezuela to the the refinery atAruba .On the morning of
16 February 1942 , GermanU-boat "U-156", under the command of "Korvettenkapitän "Werner Hartenstein , commenced an attack on oil tankers at anchor inSan Nicolas Harbor inAruba as part of Operation "Neuland". Torpedoes fired from the U-boat sank tanker SS|Oranjestad and damaged "Pedernales" and the American tanker SS|Arkansas. "Pedernales" was beached by two tugs and abandoned.Later, the hulk was towed to the
Lago Dry Dock on Aruba where she was cut into three sections. The fore and aft sections were joined together and the ship made way under her own power to Baltimore, Maryland, where she had a new midsection installed, and continued her career.After the end of World War II, the tanker continued sailing under her same name until 1957 when she was renamed "Esso Pedernales". After another renaming the following year to "Katendrecht", she was scrapped at
Rotterdam in 1959.Wreck
The damaged middle section of "Pedernales" was towed away from the dry dock and was used for many years as a target by
Dutch Navy aircraft. The bombing practice scattered the remnants of the wreck into eight sections of wreckage. Portions of the wreck are a popular scuba diving attraction. The three largest sections of the wreck are used daily by local dive operators. The remnants rest in convert|25|ft|m of water at coord|12.57889|N|070.05833|W|display=inline,titleNotes
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