President Coolidge
|
|||||||||||||||
|
President
Coolidge went down 26.October 1942 with a cargo of
soldiers and military material meant as reinforcements to
the invasion of Gualdalcanal. In early October 1942 she
left San Francisco under the command of Captain Nelson
with course toward New Caledonia. She carried 5092
soldiers from 43.Infantry division and their equipment. In
the morning 26.October she arrived at the eastern part of
Segond Channel outside Espiritu Santo. This part of the
ship lane had been mined, but information about this minor
detail was not given to President Coolidge. After several
misunderstandings with a guard boat, she sailed on and hit
two mines. Captain Nelson immediately gave the order to
beach the ship and at 10:00 she was anchored up on the
nearby bank. The soldiers were ordered to abandon ship,
but without their equipment. At 10:55 she rolled over on
her port side and sank together with all the equipment of
the Infantry division. The wreck rest on a depth of 15 to
70 meter.
|
|||||||||||||||
 Picture: President Coolidge Courtesy of Leslie Godfrey  Picture: "Abandon ship" 43.Infantry Division leaving President Coolidge Public Domain 
|
|||||||||||||||