SS Andrew G. Curtin

SS Andrew G. Curtin was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after Andrew G. Curtin, an American lawyer and politician. He served as the 15th governor of Pennsylvania, during the American Civil War, helped defend his state during the Gettysburg campaign, and oversaw the creation of the National Cemetery and the ceremony in which Abraham Lincoln delivered his famous Gettysburg Address.

Andrew G. Curtin was laid down on 9 December 1942, under a Maritime Commission (MARCOM) contract, MCE hull 934, by the Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyard, Baltimore, Maryland; she was sponsored by Mrs. Warren R. Roberts, and was launched on 18 January 1943.^[1][2]

She was allocated to Calmar Steamship Corp., on 31 January 1943.^[4]

On 26 January 1944, while in Convoy JW 56A to Murmansk, Russia from Loch Ewe, Scotland, she was struck by a torpedo fired from U-716, in her forward hold on the starboard side. She was struck at 00:22, ordered to abandon at 00:30, and sunk at 03:00. The torpedo struck between the #2 and #3 hold which caused the deck to crack ahead of the #3 hold. Andrew G. Curtin had been carrying 9,000 long tons (9,100 t) of general cargo, steel and deck cargo of two locomotives and two PT Boats. Her ship crew consisted of eight officers, one radioman, and thirty-four unlicensed sailors, and a gun crew of one officer and twenty-seven enlisted seamen. Two of the ships crew were drowned and one of the gun crew died in the explosion. The survivors made it to lifeboats or rafts and were picked up by HMS Inconstant.^[5] The wreck is at 73°25′N 25°16′E / 73.417°N 25.267°E / 73.417; 25.267^[4]