View source for SS Pan Kraft

{{Redirect|SS New York (1919)|other ships of the same name|List of ships named New York}}
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|Ship image=WestAvenal.jpg
|Ship caption=''West Avenal'', sister ship to ''Pan Kraft''
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|Ship name=''Pan Kraft''
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|Ship operator=[[Waterman Steamship Company]]
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|Ship builder=[[Western Pipe & Steel]]
|Ship yard number=WPS Hull No. 11
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|Ship launched=July 2, 1919
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|Ship christened=''West Kader''
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|Ship acquired=December 31, 1919
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|Ship homeport=[[Wilmington, Delaware]]
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|Ship fate=Sunk by bombing, July 7, 1942
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|Ship tonnage=* {{GRT|5570}}
* {{NRT|3468}}
* {{DWT|8,800}}
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|Ship propulsion=[[Joshua Hendy]] 3-cylinder [[triple expansion engine|triple expansion]], {{convert|2800|ihp|lk=in|abbr=on}}
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'''''Pan Kraft''''' was a cargo ship built in 1919 by the [[Western Pipe and Steel Company]] of [[California]]. She was one of eighteen ships built by the company for the [[U.S. Shipping Board]]. After merchant service between the wars, she was to become one of the victims of [[United Kingdom|Great Britain]]'s disastrous [[Convoy PQ 17]] to [[Soviet Union|Russia]] during [[World War II]].

==Operational history==
''Pan Kraft'' was launched as ''West Kader'' on July 2, 1919, and delivered to the Shipping Board on December 31, 1919. She made her maiden voyage between [[Portland, Oregon|Portland]], [[Oregon]], and the [[Far East]] on January 8, 1920, and in August 1920 made a trip to [[Cork (city)|Cork]], [[Ireland]]. From April 1920 to April 1928, ''West Kader'' continued to operate from Portland, Oregon, to [[China]], [[Japan]], [[Russia]], the [[Philippines]], and [[Hong Kong]].

On June 4, 1928, ''West Kader'' was sold by the U.S. Shipping Board to the States Steamship Company of Portland, Oregon, who renamed her ''New York''. On September 10, 1936, the U.S.-flag [[cargo liner]] {{SS|Romance||2}} collided with ''New York'' at [[Boston, Massachusetts|Boston]], [[Massachusetts]], and sank without loss of life.<ref name=Times110936a>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Casualty Reports |date=11 September 1936 |page=23 |issue=47477 |column=E }}</ref>

''New York''{{'}}s [[home port]] remained Portland until 1937 when she was sold to the Everett Steamship Company of [[Mobile, Alabama|Mobile]], [[Alabama]], who renamed her ''Pan Kraft'' and home-ported her in Mobile.

''Pan Kraft'' was acquired by Pan Atlantic Steamship Corporation in 1939. Her home port remained Mobile, but after [[Waterman Steamship Company]] became manager of the vessel, her home port was changed to [[Wilmington, Delaware|Wilmington]], [[Delaware]].

===Convoy PQ 17===
Following the outbreak of World War II and the entry of the [[United States]] into the war, ''Pan Kraft'' was assigned a delivery of military equipment to the [[Soviet Union]] under the US-Soviet [[lend-lease]] agreement. With a deck full of planes and cargo holds full of crated aircraft, ''Pan Kraft'' made the first leg of her journey from [[New York City]] to [[Hvalfjordur]], [[Iceland]], where she joined with other merchant vessels and a [[Royal Navy]] escort to form [[Convoy PQ 17]]. The convoy departed for the [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] port of [[Arkhangelsk]] on June 24, 1942.

On July 4, the commander of PQ 17's naval escort was informed that the German [[battleship]] {{ship|German battleship|Tirpitz||2}} was on course to intercept. He made the fateful decision to scatter the convoy, with disastrous results. German [[U-boat]]s and aircraft were able to pick off the isolated ships with ease, sinking 25 of the convoy's 36 merchant vessels and putting PQ 17 into the record books as the greatest Russia-bound convoy loss of the war.

''Pan Kraft'' was not to be one of the fortunate few to escape. On July 5 she was attacked in the [[Barents Sea]] by [[Junkers Ju 88]] bombers, and though she did not suffer a direct hit, her oil and steam lines were ruptured and she had to be abandoned. The British [[corvette]] {{HMS|Lotus|K130|6}} then attempted without success to sink the disabled vessel, but at 6:00 am on July 7, 1942, ''Pan Kraft'' finally sank after suffering an internal explosion.

Two more of the convoy's ships were sunk on the return journey.

==References==
<references />
* Mawdsley, Dean L. (2002): ''Steel Ships and Iron Pipe: Western Pipe and Steel Company of California, the Company, the Yard, the Ships'', [[Glencannon Press]] (for Associates of the National Maritime Museum Library), {{ISBN|1-889901-28-8}}, page 105.

{{Design 1019 ships}}
{{July 1942 shipwrecks}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pan Kraft}}
[[Category:Design 1019 ships]]
[[Category:Ships built in San Francisco]]
[[Category:1919 ships]]
[[Category:World War II merchant ships of the United States]]
[[Category:Ships sunk by German aircraft]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in July 1942]]
[[Category:Merchant ships sunk by aircraft]]