I just searched his name and this link came up. I guess they are ship names. I'm sure one of the other guys will be more helpful. I don't know anything about searching US records.
All Members Ship List
Regards
Russ
I just searched his name and this link came up. I guess they are ship names. I'm sure one of the other guys will be more helpful. I don't know anything about searching US records.
All Members Ship List
Regards
Russ
I dont either, maybe they will chine in..thanks so much
Interesting. I'm by no means a Naval expert but MV and SS I think are typically used for merchant ships. USS or HMS are for Navy ships. So was he in the merchant marine? No less hazardous
"Please", Thank You" and proper manners appreciated
My greatest fear is that one day I will die and my wife will sell my guns for what I told her I paid for them
"Don't tell me these are investments if you never intend to sell anything" (Quote: Wife)
Does the uniform offer any clues?
Regards
Russ
"Please", Thank You" and proper manners appreciated
My greatest fear is that one day I will die and my wife will sell my guns for what I told her I paid for them
"Don't tell me these are investments if you never intend to sell anything" (Quote: Wife)
The link I posted is for WW2 US Navy Armed Guard if that helps.
Regards
Russ
Here we go.
World War II US Navy Armed Guard and World War II US Merchant Marine
Regards
Russ
.....M/S PENNANT 43/44
.....S.S.MOBIL OIL 44
.....S.S.MALINKO 45
MS = Merchant Ship (civil)
SS = Steamship (civil)
USS = United States Ship
USNS = United States Naval Ship
....
U.S. Navy Armed Guard was a service branch of the United States Navy that was responsible for defending U.S. and Allied merchant ships from attack by enemy aircraft, submarines and surface ships during World War II. The men of the Armed Guard served primarily as gunners, signal men and radio operators on cargo ships, tankers, troop ships and other merchant vessels. Disbanded following the end of the war, the Armed Guard is today little known or remembered by the general public, or even within the Navy. But without the courage and sacrifice of the men of the Armed Guard, victory in World War II would have been much more difficult and taken much longer.
World War II US Navy Armed Guard and World War II US Merchant Marine
Guy H. Power
Awesome
Learn something everyday. Probally traded something for a combat souviner which was pretty common.
I tried to research this further but couldn't get anything positive so I contacted the Webmaster of the Armed Guard / Merchant Marine website, Mr Ron Carlson, to see if he could come up with anything, and he most certainly did!
Here is the information Ron provided, and it is posted here with his permission to do so.
Regards
Russ
"Thanks for your inquiry. I have found information about MS PENNANT and photographs of the ship and can even provide information about Ross C Dappen’s time aboard the ship.
Be aware that the Armed Guard website does not have listings of the names of anywhere near the total number of merchant ships that operated during World War II. There were literally thousands upon thousands of ships. U.S. Navy Armed Guard personnel sailed on more than 6,000 ships, some of which were under Allied flags, not just that of the U.S. As best I know there is no single online source of all the merchant ships of World War II. The fact you found no information about PENNANT on the Armed Guard website is unsurprising.
The story of the ship is quite interesting. When World War II began (and I’m talking about its beginning in Europe in 1939, not beginning point for the U.S. following the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941), there were a number of Allied merchant ships either in U.S. ports, en route to those ports, or which had recently left port. Many of those ships sought refuge in U.S. ports rather than returning to their home countries in Europe where they would have been confiscated for use by the Germans, as Germany invaded more and more of its European neighbors. Among the ships in question were some 40 Danish-flagged ships. Germany occupied Denmark in April 1940, after which time Danish ships had no safe home to which to return. On June 6, 1941, the U.S. Congress passed the Ship Requisition Act, authorizing the U.S. Coast Guard to seize some 84 voluntarily inactive foreign merchant vessels for the war effort, including the 40 Danish ships, even though the U.S. was not at war as of that date. Many of the foreign seamen remained with their ships, having no better place to go.
See Foreign Passenger and Cargo Ships Taken Over by U.S Maritime Commission during World War II for a discussion of the requisitioned foreign ships.
One of the Danish ships was named GRETA (or GRETE) MAERSK. (The Maersk shipping company still exists today with a huge fleet. You may recall the incident with MAERSK ALABAMA some years ago in which the ship was seized by Somalian pirates, with U.S. Navy Seals eventually recapturing the ship and her captain, Captain Richard Phillips.) As was the case with most or all requisitioned foreign ships, GRETA MAERSK was given a new name for her wartime service – PENNANT. GRETA MAERSK was also briefly named CRICAMOLA before becoming PENNANT. I don’t know what that was all about. Of the 40 Danish ships, 24 were lost during the war, but not PENNANT. Most of the Danish ships operated under the Panamanian flag but were operated by U.S. shipping companies.
From what I can find, it appears that PENNANT served as a troop transport primarily or exclusively in the Pacific Theater. Indeed, her prewar operations apparently were between Europe and Pacific destinations as well.
As to Ross Dappen, I found him on the subscription website Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com), which is used primarily as a genealogical research site. Ancestry.com has databases of the names of crew and passengers aboard merchant ships that arrived in certain U.S. ports of entry following a foreign voyage, over a period of many decades. He was aboard PENNANT during three consecutive voyages between San Francisco and Brisbane, Australia, and return in 1943. The first voyage began when the ship left San Francisco on or about April 13, 1943. She arrived and departed Brisbane on unspecified dates before returning to San Francisco on May 23, 1943. Then PENNANT again departed San Francisco on or about
June 8, 1943, destination Brisbane, returning to San Francisco on July 29, 1943. Finally PENNANT departed San Francisco on or about August 13, 1943, arrived Brisbane on an unspecified date, departed Brisbane on or about October 8, 1943, and arrived San Francisco on October 29, 1943. Since the third voyage was of considerably longer duration than the first and second voyages, it is possible that there may have been one or more additional ports of call during the third voyage but I can find no definitive indication of that. On all three voyages, Ross Dappen served as a seaman first class (S1/c) as part of a 38-man Armed Guard unit, including two officers. He was almost certainly a gunner on one of the ship’s defensive weapons, specifically 3- and 4-inch cannons and 20mm. mounted antiaircraft machine guns. The size of the Armed Guard detachment suggests a troop transport, which would have had more weapons than a typical cargo-carrying merchant ship. Armed Guard units on such ships were in the range of 25-28 men with one officer. I can find nothing of particular significance happening on any of the voyages. Most of the ship’s merchant marine officers and senior crew were Danish on all three voyages.
I hope the above is useful and interesting to you. If you have additional questions, please contact me again.
Best wishes.
Ron Carlson, Webmaster
Armed Guard / Merchant Marine website
www.armed-guard.com"
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