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Identification Numbered Ships Photo Archive

Broad Arrow (ID 2503)



Civilian call sign (1919):
Love - Jig - Quack - Tare
Broad Arrow Class Tanker:

  • Built by the New York Shipbuilding Co., Camden, NJ
  • Launched 22 December 1917
  • Acquired by the Navy 12 March 1918
  • Delivered 17 March 1918 and commissioned the same day
  • Decommissioned 24 February 1919 at Brooklyn, NY and transferred to the United States Shipping Board
  • Torpedoed and sunk 9 January 1943 by the German submarine U-124 off the coast of Suriname at position 07°35'N, 55°45'W while en route from Port of Spain, Trinidad to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The
    Broad Arrow (Master Percy Louis Mounter) in station No. 31, Convoy TB-1, was struck on the port side by the first torpedo at the after magazine. The explosion tore open the entire after end of the
    vessel and she flooded rapidly and settled by the stern. The explosion probably killed seven of the eight armed guards on board. Moments later the second torpedo struck forward of amidships and set the cargo on fire, so that the tanker lit up the entire convoy. All hands standing on watch on the bridge (including the master) and in the engine room were killed by the explosions. She began to settle more evenly and sank stern first at 0700 hours. The survivors of the eight officers and 31 men abandoned ship within five minutes without orders in two lifeboats and two rafts. Some men stranded on the burning tanker and in the water, because the lifeboats were launched with only a few men in it. Three officers, 22 crewmen and one armed guard were picked up by USS PC-577 about ten hours later and landed them at Paramaribo, Suriname the next day. The Second Mate died on board and the Pumpman died from burns in the hospital. Both were buried in Paramaribo.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 17,862 t.
  • Length 485'
  • Beam 62' 6"
  • Draft 26' 6"
  • Speed 11 kts.
  • Complement 76
    World War II - 47
  • Armament: One 5"/40 mount and one 6 pounder
    World War II - one 5"/40 mount and two .30 cal. machine guns
  • Propulsion: Three single-ended boilers, one 3,200ihp verticle quadruple-expansion steam engine, one shaft.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Broad Arrow 84k Photographed 27 March 1918, soon after entering Navy service
    U.S. Navy photo NH 65100-A    		 Naval Historical Center
    Commanding Officers
    01LCDR George E. Haines, USNRF18 March 1918
    02LCDR John Chambers, USNRFNovember 1918
    03Master Percy Louis Mounter9 January 1943 (Sunk)
    Courtesy Joe Radigan
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships History:

    Broad Arrow

    Broad Arrow is a mark, shaped like a barbed arrow, placed on British Government property.

    Broad Arrow (No. 2503), a tanker, was launched 22 December 1917 by New York Shipbuilding Co., Camden, N. J.; acquired by the Navy 12 March 1918; and commissioned 18 March 1918, Lieutenant Commander G. E. Haines, USNRF, in command.

    Assigned to the Naval Overseas Transportation Service, Broad Arrow carried oil and aircraft parts to France between March 1918 and February 1919. On 24 February 1919 she was decommissioned at Brooklyn and turned over to the Shipping Board.

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