SS ''President Coolidge'' was an American luxury
ocean liner
An ocean liner is a type of passenger ship primarily used for transportation across seas or oceans. Ocean liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes (such as for pleasure cruises or as hospital ships). The ...
that was completed in 1931. She was operated by
Dollar Steamship Lines until 1938, and then by
American President Lines until 1941. She served as a troopship from December 1941 until October 1942, when she was sunk by
mines in
Espiritu Santo
Espiritu Santo (, ; ) is the largest island in the nation of Vanuatu, with an area of and a population of around 40,000 according to the 2009 census.
Geography
The island belongs to the archipelago of the New Hebrides in the Pacific region ...
in the
New Hebrides
New Hebrides, officially the New Hebrides Condominium () and named after the Hebrides in Scotland, was the colonial name for the island group in the South Pacific Ocean that is now Vanuatu. Native people had inhabited the islands for three th ...
(now
Vanuatu
Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (; ), is an island country in Melanesia located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, east o ...
) at the
Espiritu Santo Naval Base
Naval Advance Base Espiritu Santo or Naval Base Espiritu Santo, most often just called ''Espiritu Santo'', was a major advance Naval base that the U.S. Navy Seabees built during World War II to support the Allied effort in the Pacific. The base ...
, part of current-day
Vanuatu
Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (; ), is an island country in Melanesia located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, east o ...
. ''President Coolidge'' had a
sister ship
A sister ship is a ship of the same Ship class, class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They o ...
, , completed in 1930 and lost when she ran aground in a
typhoon
A typhoon is a tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere and which produces sustained hurricane-force winds of at least . This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, accounting for a ...
in 1937.
History
Building
Dollar Lines ordered both ships on 26 October 1929.
[ The ]Newport News Shipbuilding
Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS), a division of Huntington Ingalls Industries, is the sole designer, builder, and refueler of aircraft carriers and one of two providers of submarines for the United States Navy. Founded as the Chesapeake Dry Dock ...
and Drydock Company of Newport News, Virginia
Newport News () is an Independent city (United States), independent city in southeastern Virginia, United States. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 186,247. Located in the Hampton Roads region, it is the List of c ...
built the two ships, completing ''President Hoover'' in 1930. The keel for ''President Coolidge'' was laid 22 April 1930 and the ship was delivered 1 October 1931. They were the largest merchant ships built in the United States up to that time. Each ship had turbo-electric transmission, with a pair of steam turbo generator
A turbo generator is an electric generator connected to the shaft of a turbine (water, steam, or gas) for the generation of electric power. Large steam-powered turbo generators provide the majority of the world's electricity and are also u ...
s generating current that powered propulsion motors on the propeller
A propeller (often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon a working flu ...
shafts. Westinghouse built the turbo generators and propulsion motors for ''President Coolidge'' but General Electric
General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston.
Over the year ...
built the turbo generators and propulsion motors for ''President Hoover''.[
In the ''President Coolidge'' twelve ]Babcock & Wilcox
Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises, Inc. is an American energy technology and service provider that is active and has operations in many international markets with its headquarters in Akron, Ohio. Historically, the company is best known for their stea ...
superheater type water tube boilers provided steam for main and auxiliary power. Main power was generated by two Westinghouse 10,200 kilowatt turbine generator sets that normally each drove two 400 volt Westinghouse 13,200 horsepower synchronous motors directly connected to the two screws. If necessary the linkages were present so both motors and screws could be driven by either one of the two generator sets.
Only the boiler feed and main lubricating pumps, driven directly from the steam turbines, were not electrical. Those included everything from cargo winches and other ship's auxiliary machinery to 365 Westinghouse stateroom fans. The 180 ship's auxiliary motors ranged from a tenth horsepower to the 13,250 horsepower main motors. The ship had refrigerated cargo space. ''President Coolidge'' was initially designed for 350 first class, 150 "special" or intermediate class passengers with space for 1,260 passengers of all classes and a crew of 300.[
The ship was launched on 21 February 1931 after Mrs. Calvin C. Coolidge broke a bottle of water that came from a brook on the Coolidge farm in Vermont on the bow.][
]
Pre-war service
''President Hoover'' and ''President Coolidge'' ran between San Francisco
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
and Manila
Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...
via Kobe
Kobe ( ; , ), officially , is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. With a population of around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's List of Japanese cities by population, seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Port of Toky ...
and Shanghai
Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...
, and some round the World voyages that continued from Manila via Singapore
Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...
, the Suez Canal
The Suez Canal (; , ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, Indo-Mediterranean, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia (and by extension, the Sinai Peninsula from the rest ...
, the Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...
, New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
, the Panama Canal
The Panama Canal () is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Caribbean Sea with the Pacific Ocean. It cuts across the narrowest point of the Isthmus of Panama, and is a Channel (geography), conduit for maritime trade between th ...
and thence back to San Francisco.
''President Hoover'' and ''President Coolidge'' were aimed at holiday makers seeking sun in the Pacific and Far East. Passenger luxuries included spacious staterooms and lounges, private telephones, two saltwater swimming pools, a barbers' shop, beauty salon, gymnasium and soda fountain. ''President Coolidge'' broke several speed records on her crossings between Japan and San Francisco.
In December 1937 ''President Hoover'' ran aground on the Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...
ese coast and was declared a total loss. Dollar Steamship Lines was increasingly in debt, and in June 1938 ''President Coolidge'' was arrested for an unpaid debt of $35,000.[ She was released in bond for a final trans-Pacific voyage, and then Dollar Lines was suspended from operation.][ In August 1938 the ]United States Maritime Commission
The United States Maritime Commission was an independent executive agency of the U.S. federal government that was created by the Merchant Marine Act of 1936, which was passed by Congress on June 29, 1936, and was abolished on May 24, 1950. The co ...
reorganised the company as American President Lines, which then ran the former Dollar Lines fleet until the Second World War.
In March 1939 ''President Coolidge'' was the last ship to sight the custom-built Chinese junk ''Sea Dragon'', built and sailed by American explorer Richard Halliburton
Richard Halliburton (January 9, 1900Declared death in absentia, presumed dead after March 24, 1939) was an American travel writing, travel writer and adventurer who, among numerous journeys, swam the length of the Panama Canal and paid the lowes ...
, before she disappeared in a typhoon
A typhoon is a tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere and which produces sustained hurricane-force winds of at least . This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, accounting for a ...
some west of the Midway Islands
Midway Atoll (colloquial: Midway Islands; ; ) is a atoll in the North Pacific Ocean. Midway Atoll is an insular area of the United States and is an unorganized and unincorporated territory. The largest island is Sand Island, which has housi ...
.
World War II
As relations between Japan and Britain deteriorated in 1940, ''President Coolidge'' helped to evacuate US citizens from Hong Kong
Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...
. As Japanese aggression expanded, ''President Coolidge'' took part in evacuations from other parts of east Asia.
In 1941 the threat of war increased and the US War Department began to use ''President Coolidge'' for occasional voyages to Honolulu
Honolulu ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean. It is the county seat of the Consolidated city-county, consolidated City and County of Honol ...
and Manila. In June 1941 ''President Coolidge'' became a troopship, reinforcing garrisons in the Pacific. On December 7, 1941 Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and on December 19 ''President Coolidge'' evacuated 125 critically injured naval patients from Hawaii, cared for by three hastily assigned Navy nurses and two Navy doctors from the Philippines that were already among passengers being evacuated from the war zone that had now reached Hawaii. The ship reached San Francisco on 25 December.
On 12 January 1942 the first large convoy, including the large former ocean liners ''President Coolidge'' and , to Australia after Pearl Harbor departed the United States carrying troops, supplies, ammunition and weapons, including P-40
The Curtiss P-40 Warhawk is an American single-engined, single-seat, all-metal fighter-bomber that first flew in 1938. The P-40 design was a modification of the previous Curtiss P-36 Hawk which reduced development time and enabled a rapid entr ...
fighters intended for the Philippines and Java with fifty of the planes carried by ''President Coolidge'' and ''Mariposa''. Arriving Melbourne on 1 February in ''President Coolidge'', along with supplies and munitions not intended for transshipment beyond Australia, were the officers, known as the "Remember
Pearl Harbor" (RPH) Group, selected to form the staff of the US Army Forces in Australia (USAFIA) as the command structure for what was to be the Southwest Pacific Area was evolving.[
''President Coolidge'' performed these military duties in her pre-war civilian condition. Only in early 1942 was she hastily converted into a troopship. Many of her civilian fittings were either removed for safe keeping or boarded over for their protection. Her accommodation was reorganized to provide capacity for 5,000 troops.][ Guns were mounted on her, she was painted haze gray and the ]War Shipping Administration
The War Shipping Administration (WSA) was a World War II emergency war agency of the US government, tasked to purchase and operate the civilian shipping tonnage the United States needed for fighting the war. Both shipbuilding under the Maritime C ...
assigned her to the US Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...
.[)]
After her conversion, ''President Coolidge'' resumed service in the South West Pacific theatre. In the spring of 1942, escorted by the cruiser ,
she took Manuel Quezon
Manuel Luis Quezon y Molina (, , , ; 19 August 1878 – 1 August 1944), also known by his initials MLQ, was a Filipino lawyer, statesman, soldier, and politician who was president of the Commonwealth of the Philippines from 1935 until his d ...
, President of the Philippines from Melbourne to San Francisco.
In her first few months of service ''President Coolidge''s ports of call included Melbourne
Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
, Wellington
Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...
, Auckland
Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...
, Bora Bora
Bora Bora (French language, French: ''Bora-Bora''; Tahitian language, Tahitian: ''Pora Pora'') is an island group in the Leeward Islands (Society Islands), Leeward Islands in the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific. The Leeward Islands comprise the we ...
, and Suva. On October 6, she left homeport of San Francisco for New Caledonia
New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...
and the New Hebrides. Embarked were the 172nd Infantry Regiment, 43rd Division, and a harbor defense unit intended to protect the airfield at Espiritu Santo that was providing bomber support for forces at Guadalcanal
Guadalcanal (; indigenous name: ''Isatabu'') is the principal island in Guadalcanal Province of Solomon Islands, located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, northeast of Australia. It is the largest island in the Solomons by area and the second- ...
.
Loss
A large military base and harbor had been established on Espiritu Santo and the harbor was heavily protected by mines. Information about safe entry into the harbor had been accidentally omitted from the ''President Coolidge''s sailing orders and, on her approach to Santo on 26 October 1942, Captain Henry Nelson, fearing Japanese submarines and unaware of the mine fields, tried to enter the harbor through the largest and most obvious channel. The ship struck a mine, which exploded near the engine room and, moments later, hit a second mine near her stern.
Knowing that he was going to lose the ship, Nelson ran her aground and ordered the troops to abandon ship. Not believing it would sink, troops were told to leave all of their belongings behind, under the impression that they could conduct salvage operations over the next few days.
Over the next 90 minutes, 5,340 men from the ship got safely ashore. There was no panic as they disembarked, and many even walked ashore. However, the captain's attempts to beach the ship were thwarted by a coral reef
A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in group ...
. The ''President Coolidge'' listed heavily on her side, sank stern first, and slid down a slope into the channel.
There were only two casualties in the sinking. The first was Fireman Robert Reid, who was working in the engine room and was killed by the first mine blast. The second, Captain Elwood Joseph Euart, 103rd Field Artillery Regiment, had safely left ''President Coolidge'' when he heard that there were still men in the infirmary who could not get out. He returned through one of the sea doors and successfully rescued the men, but was then unable to escape himself and went down with the ship. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his heroic actions. A memorial to Euart is situated on the shore near the access points to the ''Coolidge''.
In 2013, Euart's body was reportedly located by a local dive guide. A message was sent to the Australian High Commission, which passed it on to US authorities in Hawaii. An American recovery team arrived in February 2014 and, working with local operators, they found Euart's remains after 73 years, still with his dog tags and personal items, lying in deep silt in the bottom of the wreck. Subsequent DNA testing of the remains matched with Euart's relatives. His family was advised that the US military would perform a full military funeral service and that he would be buried with his parents.
The loss of critical equipment being carried by the ''President Coolidge'' forced the redistribution of scarce local stores and, combined with loss of the ship when transport was critically short, delayed the deployment of the 25th Division from Hawaii to the war theater, complicating logistics during the crisis at Guadalcanal
Guadalcanal (; indigenous name: ''Isatabu'') is the principal island in Guadalcanal Province of Solomon Islands, located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, northeast of Australia. It is the largest island in the Solomons by area and the second- ...
.[ The ''President Coolidge'' also carried carried of the anti-malarial drug ]quinine
Quinine is a medication used to treat malaria and babesiosis. This includes the treatment of malaria due to ''Plasmodium falciparum'' that is resistant to chloroquine when artesunate is not available. While sometimes used for nocturnal leg ...
which was, at that time, the entire stock of quinine held by the US.[p. 191 Cline, Dennis ''Skeeter Beaters: Memories of the South Pacific, 1941-1945'' DeForest Press, 2002]
Official inquiries
There were three official inquiries surrounding the cause of the sinking. The first preliminary Court of Inquiry convened 12 November 1942 aboard the destroyer tender
A destroyer tender or destroyer depot ship is a type of depot ship: an auxiliary ship designed to provide maintenance support to a flotilla of destroyers or other small warships. The use of this class has faded from its peak in the first half of ...
on the orders of Admiral Halsey. The Court of Inquiry recommended additional charges be laid against Captain Nelson. The matter was referred to a military commission which convened in Nouméa
Nouméa () is the capital and largest city of the French Sui generis collectivity, special collectivity of New Caledonia and is also the largest Francophone city in Oceania. It is situated on a peninsula in the south of New Caledonia's main i ...
, New Caledonia on 8 December 1942. This commission acquitted Captain Nelson of guilt.
From the Commission of Inquiry it emerged that Merchant Marine vessels were not given all available tactical information, most notably regarding the placement of mines. This would have prevented the sinking. This outcome displeased the Navy Department, so Nelson was referred to a US Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the armed forces of the United States. It is one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, mi ...
Investigation Board on his return to the United States on 6 February 1943. However, this Investigation Board took no further action.
Salvage
After the war, items such as the propeller blades, bunker oil, brass casings of shells, electric motors, junction boxes and copper tubing were salvaged from the ship. Earthquakes have since collapsed some sections of the wreck, which now rests on her port side with her bow at a depth of and her stern at .
Protected wreck and dive site
In 1980 Vanuatu
Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (; ), is an island country in Melanesia located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, east o ...
won independence from France and Britain, and on 18 November 1983, the government of the new republic declared that no salvage or recovery of any artifact would be allowed from ''President Coolidge''.
Since then the ship has been used for recreational diving
Recreation is an activity of leisure, leisure being discretionary time. The "need to do something for recreation" is an essential element of human biology and psychology. Recreational activities are often done for enjoyment, amusement, or pleasur ...
. Divers see a largely intact luxury cruise liner and a military ship. They can swim through numerous holds and decks. There are guns, cannons, Jeeps, helmets, trucks and personal supplies, a beautiful statue of "The Lady" (a porcelain relief of a lady riding a unicorn) chandeliers, and a mosaic tile fountain. Coral grows around, with many creatures such as reef fish, barracuda, lionfish, sea turtles and moray eels.
''President Coolidge'' is a somewhat accessible shipwreck due to the relatively shallow site, easy beach access, and visibility. The depths involved mean that, with care and decompression stop
To prevent or minimize decompression sickness, divers must properly plan and monitor decompression. Divers follow a decompression model to safely allow the release of excess inert gases dissolved in their body tissues, which accumulated as ...
s, recreational divers can explore large parts of the wreck without specialized equipment. The massive size of the wreck, combined with the gradual downward slope, mean that care must be taken monitoring depth, as the diver's horizontal frame of reference may be skewed, preventing awareness of the continual gradual descent.
References
Sources and further reading
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External links
* Naval History and Heritage Command photos
SS ''President Coolidge'' listing before sinking
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Audio-visual media
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{{DEFAULTSORT:President Coolidge
1931 ships
Maritime incidents in 1937
Maritime incidents in October 1942
Ships built in Newport News, Virginia
Ships sunk by mines
Turbo-electric steamships
Ocean liners
World War II merchant ships of the United States
World War II shipwrecks in the Pacific Ocean