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NavSource Online: Identification Numbered Vessel Photo Archive

Atik (AK 101)



Q Ship false call sign:
Charlie - Sugar - Baker - Tare

ex-Carolyn (ID 1608)



Civilian call sign (1919):
Love - Charlie - Mike - Nan

Sunk 28 March 1942
Asterion Class Cargo Ship/Q-Ship:

  • Laid down 15 March 1912 as Carolyn at Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co., Newport News, VA for the A. H. Bull Steamship Line
  • Launched 3 July 1912
  • Delivered 20 July 1912
  • Assigned identification number ID-1608 during World War I but was not taken over by the Navy
  • Acquired by the Navy 12 February 1942
  • Commissioned USS Atik (AK-101), 5 March 1942 at the Portsmouth Navy Yard, Portsmouth, N.H. and converted to a Q-ship. The false name given to her was SS Vill Franca with a Portuguese registry
  • Sunk 28 March 1942 by German submarine U-123 at position 35° 38' N, 70° 14' W
  • Atik was awarded one battle star for World War II service

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 6,610 t.
  • Length 328' 2"
  • Beam 46' 1"
  • Draft 21' 6"
  • Speed 10 kts.
  • Complement 141
  • Armament: Four 4"/50 gun mounts (two concealed), four .50 cal. machine guns, four .30 cal. Lewis machine guns, two 20mm gun mounts, and six hedgehog projectors
  • Propulsion: One 1,200ihp triple expansion steam engine, one shaft
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    ID-1608 43k Joe Radigan
    ID-1608 52k SS Carolyn in merchant service displaying the funnel markings of her owner, the A. H. Bull Steamship Lines
    Shipscribe.com photo    		 Mike Green
    ID-1608 65k In port, circa 1917-1918, probably at the time she was inspected for possible U.S. Navy service.
    U.S. Navy photo NH 102438    		 Naval Historical Center
    Carolyn 217k SS Carolyn at Grays Harbor, Washington, April 1922. Ship on the right is SS Hankow Maru. She, too, would be lost in World War II, sunk off Oga Peninsula, Japan by USS Wahoo (SS 238), 9 October 1943 David Wright
    View the Atik (AK-101)
    DANFS history entry located at the Naval History and Heritage Command website
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