Looking for history of merchant marine ships SS Plaudit and SS Harry Luckenbach during WWII

Question

I am looking for history on the use of merchant marine ships by the US Navy in the Atlantic during WWII. Two ships in particular. The SS Plaudit and SS Harry Luckenbach.

Alex Daverede · Answer

Tom, It looks like neither ship served in the U.S. Navy during World War II.&#160; The Plaudit sailed under the Panamanian flag for the War Shipping Administration.&#160; German submarine U-181 sank the Plaudit on 8 November 1942. The only Navy connection to the freighter was the provision of a U.S. Navy Armed Guard to protect the ship.&#160; The Harry Luckenbach sailed under the U.S. flag during the war, again under the auspices of the WSA. U-91 torpedoed the Harry Luckenbach on 17 March 1943.&#160; The ship also carried an Armed Guard detachment.&#160; Both ships acted as freighters and took their cargoes where needed as part of merchant convoys. Now the Luckenbach did have a Navy role; however, this took place in the aftermath of World War I.&#160; After her completion in 1919, the ship was commissioned as USS Sol Navis and assigned to the Navy&#8217;s Cruiser and Transport Force.&#160; Built as a freighter, Sol Navis was equipped with temporary berthing to transport troops back from Europe after the Armistice.&#160; The Sol Navis was decommissioned later in 1919 and sold to the Luckenbach Shipping Company in 1920. I hope you find this information useful. A. J.

Rachael Salyer · Answer

Dear Tom Boyer, &#160; Thank you for posting your request on History Hub! &#160; In addition to the helpful information provided by Mr. Daverede, we searched the National Archives Catalog and located the series Armed Guard Files, 1934&#8211;1946 in the Records of the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations (Record Group 38) that includes records related to the SS Plaudit and the SS Harry Luckenbach during World War II. We also searched the series&#160; Armed Guard Logs, 1943-1945 in the Records of the Bureau of Naval Personnel (Record Group 24), but we were unable to locate any records related to the Plaudit or Harry Luckenbach in this series. These records have not been digitized. Please contact the National Archives at College Park - Textual Reference (RDT2) at archives2reference@nara.gov for access to these records. &#160; We also located the World War II War Diaries, Other Operational Records and Histories, ca. 1/1/1942 - ca. 6/1/1946 in the Records of the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations (Record Group 38) that contains 4 references to the "SS Plaudit" and 9 references to "Harry Luckenbach" during World War II. These records have been digitized and may be viewed online using the Catalog.&#160; Please keep in mind that the Catalog does not always list files in chronological order. &#160; In addition, the Official Merchant Logbooks from 1910 to 1980 in the Records of the U.S. Coast Guard (Record Group 26) may include the logbooks of the SS Plaudit and SS Harry Luckenbach during World War II. For more information about these records, please contact the reference unit listed in the series description. &#160; You may experience a delay in receiving an initial acknowledgment as well as a substantive response to your reference request from RDT2 or other NARA reference unit. We apologize for this inconvenience and appreciate your understanding and patience as we balance mission-critical work and the safety of our staff during the pandemic. Please check NARA&#8217;s web page about COVID-19 updates for the latest information. &#160; We hope this is helpful. Best of luck with your research! &#160;

Alex Daverede · Answer

Tom, Unfortunately those citations come from the 1996 Guide to Records of the National Archives , the bane of NARA staff since its publication.&#160; The records are not organized in the record stacks as listed in the Guide , so they are really not helpful to researcher or archivist.&#160; Rachael has cited the correct record series to search; the only other thing to do would be to head to College Park and check the finding aids for the series in the Textual Research Room and pull the appropriate records.&#160; NARA&#8217;s digitization project will take a long time, even if funding can be sustained, so there will be limits to remote archival research for some time to come. I hope you can find the time to visit College Park.&#160; An in-person visit can resolve a lot of the confusion associated with records organization.&#160; The expertise is there and is much clearer than can be done by pounding on a keyboard.&#160; That&#8217;s the best I can come up with. A. J.

Jason, National Archives · Answer

The &ldquo;Record Group 24.2.2 Logs:&#160; Operational and signal logs of U.S. Navy armed guard units aboard merchant vessels, 1943-45&#8221; are the Armed Guard Logs, 1943&#8211;1945 mentioned by Rachael.&#160; We both checked our finding aid for this series, but could not find listed Armed Guard Logs for these ships.&#160; &#160; The vessel movement cards are in Records Relating to Merchant Shipping and Convoys, 1941&#8211;1948 . The following are all the records we could find relating to these ships, sinkings of Merchant Marine ships, and convoys sailing from New York. &#160; These records are NOT available online. Please email the reference units for more information. &#160; National Archives at College Park - Textual Reference ( Archives2reference@nara.gov ) Record Group 38:&#160; Records of the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations Record Series:&#160; Armed Guard Files, 1934 - 1946 File Unit:&#160; Harry Luckenbach 06/09/36 File Unit:&#160; Harry Luckenbach 04/15/42 - 04/07/43 File Unit:&#160; Plaudit 05/15/42 - 12/23/42 - Panamanian vessel, sank after torpedoed by sub in Indian Ocean Record Series:&#160; Records Relating to Merchant Shipping and Convoys, 1941&#8211;1948 Record Group 24:&#160; Records of the Bureau of Naval Personnel Record Series:&#160; Casualty Information Reports, 1941&#8211;1960 Record Group 178:&#160; Records of the U.S. Maritime Commission Record Series:&#160; Central Correspondence Files, 1936 - 1950 File Unit:&#160; 901-936 Harry Luckenbach (SS) (No. 218157) (Ex- Sol Navia) National Archives at New York ( newyork.archives@nara.gov ) Record Group 26:&#160; Records of the U.S. Coast Guard Record Series:&#160; Official Logbooks of Merchant Vessels, 1942 - 1989 File Unit:&#160; Harry Luckenbach Record Group 181:&#160; Records of Naval Districts and Shore Establishments Record Series:&#160; Ship Locator Cards, 1942&#8211;1945 Record Series:&#160; Convoy Signal Logs, 1942 - 1945 Record Series:&#160; Convoy Route Instructions, January 23, 1942&#8211;May 22, 1945 Record Series:&#160; Convoy Sailing Orders, 1941 - 1946 Record Series:&#160; Route Instructions, 1941 - 1946 National Archives at Washington, DC - Textual Reference ( Archives1reference@nara.gov ) Record Group 41:&#160; Records of the Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation Record Series:&#160; Records of the Assistant Director, 1934 - 1942 File Unit:&#160; SS Harry Luckenbach Station Bills Record Group 26:&#160; Records of the U.S. Coast Guard Record Series:&#160; Records Relating to Merchant Vessel Casualties During World War II, 1941&#8211;1950 Record Series:&#160; Reports Concerning the Sinking of Merchant Vessels During World War II, 1938&#8211;2002

Alex Daverede · Answer

Tom, I did not work with muster rolls during my NARA years, so I&#8217;ll defer to my former colleagues as to the extent of their Armed Guard holdings. There is a website for Armed Guards that provides a variety of information.&#160; Here is an entry for the Plaudit: https://www.armed-guard.com/panama.html#plau The website has not been updated in a while, so there&#8217;s no telling how much longer it will be up. Again, good luck on the research! A. J.

Alex Daverede · Answer

Tom, I looked at a Norwegian website dealing with World War II merchant ship casualties here: https://www.krigsseilerregisteret.no/en/skip/422353 Its ship history mentions torpedo attacks and whether the attacked ship sank (&ldquo; Senket&#8221; is the term in Norwegian).&#160; I figured if the website listed torpedo attacks in that fashion, then the Plaudit may not have been attacked in August&mdash;there&#8217;s no mention of an attack in August.&#160; To me the timing is off.&#160; The ship is on the South Atlantic run.&#160; If she was torpedoed in August, I&#8217;m not sure the repair capacity was available in that part of the world in the summer of 1942, at least in time to be ready for another cargo run in November.&#160; So the Plaudit may not have been torpedoed in August.&#160; The Navy-Marine Corps Medal is not usually a combat award.&#160; It usually is awarded for bravery displayed in saving the lives of others.&#160; So Burr could have won the medal in saving lives in Plaudit &#8217;s crew or his own Armed Guard detachment.&#160; There could have been a man overboard incident, a gangway falling in the water, an accident in handling cargo, or any of a hundred other ways seamen get hurt or killed aboard ship. A second point is that Burr may not have been aboard the Plaudit for the medal action&mdash;he could have been aboard another ship that was torpedoed, thus winning the medal.&#160; The Armed Guard muster rolls&mdash;if available&mdash;will clear that up. That&#8217;s the best I can come up with&hellip;. A. J.

Tom Boyer · Answer

Thanks for the reply. Sorry it took 10 months for me to read this. I was researching one of the US Navy officers assignd to the Luckenbach who was lost when she sank. He was a member of the armed guard placed aboard merchant ships to man the deck guns. Here is a link to the story I wrote about LT William A. Burr: 
 
 https://www.fold3.com/memorial/657802974/william-alfred-burr?xid=1945&_gl=1*jvv245*_gcl_au*NTA1MzQzMTQ1LjE3MDY5ODc3ODk.