USAT Dorchester
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USAT Dorchester was a United States Army Transport, sunk when part of a naval convoy during World War II. In February 1943, Convoy SG-19 left St. John's, Newfoundland, bound for the Army Command Base at Narsarsuaq in southern Greenland. SG-19 consisted of six ships: Dorchester, two merchant ships leased by the United States from the Norwegian government-in-exile, D/S (Diesel Ship) Lutz, and D/S Biscaya. They were escorted by three small United States Coast Guard cutters: Comanche (WPG-76), Escanaba (WPG-77) (both 165 feet), and Tampa (WPG-48) (240 feet). On the night of 3 February 1943, the ship was torpedoed by U-223. The damage was severe, and Dorchester sunk in under 15 minutes, taking about 600 men with her out of a total crew of 902.
Dorchester is best remembered today for the story of the Four Chaplains who went down with her.
See USS Dorchester for commissioned United States Navy warships of this name.