The Tuscania Monument On Islay Island-- Part 2: The Sinking of the HMS Otranto

Eight months later, on October 8, 1918, was carrying troops from New York to Glasgow when it collided with the steamship HMS Kashmir in a heavy storm.

Over 400 of the American troops and British crew were lost.  Many of them were buried at the military cemetery at Kilchoman.  This cemetery has the Kilchoman Cross dating to the 1300s.

--DaCoot

The Tuscania Monument on Islay Island; American Monument on Oa

From the Welcome to Islay site.

The American Monument sits atop a 429-foot high cliff on the Oa Peninsula and was erected in 1920 by the American Red Cross.  It was designed by architect Robert Walked and commemorates the loss of two troopships, the Tuscania and Otranto in 1918.

It overlooks the exact spot where the Tuscania was sunk and is built in the shape of a lighthouse.  You can see it from most parts of the island of Islay.

--Cooter

100th Aero Squadron of World War I

From Wikipedia.

Part of the U.S. Army in World War I.  Ordered to the Western Front and boarded the SS Tuscania 23 January 1918.  Torpedoed 5 February and ship sunk but most of the 100th rescued.

Reformed in England as assigned as Day Bombardment Squadron for long-range bombing attacks on roads, railroads and massed troop formations.

However, just before its first scheduled combat mission the war ended with the 1918 Armistice.  Returned to the States in June 1919 and demobilized.  The group was never reactivated.

--DaCoot

SS Tuscania-- Part 5: American Units Aboard the Ship When Sunk

100th Aero Squadron

158th Aero Squadron

213th Aero Squadron

32nd Infantry Division

20th Engineer Battalion

357th Infantry

165th Depot

--Cooter

SS Tuscania-- Part 4: A Mount St. Helens Connection

One of the military men on the Tuscania was Harry Randall Truman who died in the 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens in Washington State.  He was a member of the 100th Aero squadron.  He survived the sinking and because of his audacious and independent nature, received several injuries while serving in Europe.

Despite warnings of the impending eruption of the volcano, Truman refused to go to safety and remained at his Mount. St. Helens Lodge on Spirit Lake and died in the eruption.

Reading the account of him in Wikipedia he was quite a character.

--Cooter

SS Tuscania Sunk By U-Boat-- Part 3: Sunk By the UB-77

On 5 February 1918, the convoy the Tuscania was in was spotted by the UB-77 during daytime and then stalked until early evening.  The German submarine fired two torpedoes and the second one struck.  The Tuscania sank in four hours, nearly three years to the day of its maiden voyage.

Many of the drowned washed up on the shore of Islay Island,.Scotland, and are buried there.  After the war, many of them were reinterred in the Brookwood Military Cemetery.

In 1919, the United states built a memorial on the island.

--Cooter

SS Tuscania Sunk By German Torpedo-- Part 2

The ship, an ocean liner, was launched in 1914 and began carrying passengers between New York City and Glasgow, Scotland.  It made the news when it rescued the passengers and crew of the burning Greek steamer SS Athinai on 20 September 1915.

In 1916, the Tuscania was refitted as a troopship and in one trip across the Atlantic in March 1917 evaded a German submarine and a suspected merchant cruiser.

On 24 January 1918, the Tuscania departed Hoboken, New Jersey, with a crew of 384 and 2,013 Army personnel.

--Cooter

SS Tuscania Sunk in 1918 During World War I-- Part 1

From Wikipedia.

Back in February I wrote about the sinking of the SS Tuscania on February 6, 1918, after being torpedoed by a German submarine with the loss of 267 of the 2,179 American soldiers it was transporting to Europe.  In the last post I wrote about the DeKalb soldier, James Ellwood Lewis witnessing it.

Here is some more information about the Tuscania.

Was a luxury liner of the Cunard Line subsidiary Anchor Line.  Named after Tuscania, Italy.  Launched 4 September 1914.  Sunk Feb. 5, 1918.

It was 14,348 tons, 567 feet long, 66.4 foot beam.  Mounted a 4-inch naval gun mounted in October 1916.

Torpedoed by the U-77 while transporting American troops to Europe.  Two hundred and ten died.

--DaCoot

DeKalb Soldier Sees the Sinking of the Tuscania

From the March 28, 2018, MidWeek  "Looking Back."

1918, 100 Years Ago.

"  The sinking of the Tuscania was viewed by one DeKalb soldier, James Ellwood Lewis, who has written meager news to the effect that he was with the convoy of the ill-fated ship."

--Cooter

World War I Chronology, February 2018: Another U-Boat Sinking of a Troopship

FEBRUARY 1--  U.S. Army Air Service is formed.  By the war's end, there are 45 squadrons with 740 planes and 800 pilots.

FEBRUARY 6--  British troopship Tuscania is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine off Ireland, killing 267 of 2,179 Doughboys aboard of the 32nd Infantry Division.

FEBRUARY 16--  2nd Balloon Co. moves into position on the French Front.  The Balloon Section makes 5,866 ascents in France during the war.

--Cooter