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EL OCCIDENTE
This 1:192 scale
(27" long) model of the El Occidente was commissioned by
The Mariners' Museum and Park - America's National
Maritime Museum
in 2018.
Other
sizes, other ships? Just let us know by clicking on this
link:
Commissioning.
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be stress free and easy.
SS El
Occidente was a cargo ship built in 1910. She was
one of four sister ships transported cargo and a limited
number of passengers for the Morgan Line. After
the United States entered World War I in April 1917, El
Occidente was acquired by the U.S. Army and converted to
carry horses and mules to France as USAT El Occidente.
On 2 February 1918, she
encountered two German submarines. In a 20-minute
gun battle, Naval Armed Guardsmen aboard El Occidente
fiercely exchanged fire with two U-boats, one on the
port and one on the starboard and destroyed the
periscope of one.
In August 1918, the ship was transferred to the U.S.
Navy as USS El Occidente and continued transporting
animals through the end of the war.
At the end of war, she was returned to the Morgan Line
in 1919 and reverted to her original name of SS El
Occidente. She sailed with them until June 1941,
when the entire Morgan Line fleet was purchased by the
United States Maritime Commission.
On 13
April 1942, while serving as a civilian cargo ship
during World War II, El Occidente was sunk by German
submarine U-435. At 01.29 hours on 13 April, the
El Occidente was hit by one or two torpedoes, nearly
breaking her in two. The vessel sank stern first
within two minutes, so fast that there was no time to
launch lifeboats. The survivors were forced to
jump overboard and were picked up by HMS Speedwell about
30 minutes later. Nine bodies were also picked up
and later buried at sea. The survivors were landed
at Reykjavik from where they were eventually repatriated
to the US aboard the American steam merchants Capulin
and Artigas. Nearly half of her crew members were
lost with her.
Learn more about the El
Occidente here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_El_Occidente
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