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NavSource Online: Army Ship Photo Archive
Lost to enemy action, 7 December 1941

USAT Cynthia Olson

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons


Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - Combat Action Ribbon (retroactive 7 December 1941) - American Defense Service Medal (with bronze star in lieu of transport clasp)
Bottom Row - American Campaign Medal - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal - World War II Victory Medal
Freighter:
  • Laid down in 1918 as the Cargo ship SS Coquina for the United States Shipping Board (USSB) at Manitowoc Shipbuilding, Manitowoc, WI.
  • Launched, 30 November 1918
  • Completed, 1918 and delivered to the War Shipping Administration
  • Purchased in 1925 by Pillsbury-Curtis Co.
  • Purchased in 1931 by Los Angeles Steamship Co.
  • Purchased in 1934 by California Steamship Co.
  • Purchased in 1935 by Matson Navigation Co.
  • Sold in 1940 to Oliver J. Olson & Co., renamed SS Cynthia Olson
  • Chartered by US Army Transportation Corps in August 1941
  • Final Disposition, sunk by gunfire, 7 December 1941, at 33.42N - 145.29W by Imperial Japanese Navy Submarine IJN I-26 with no survivors, USAT Cynthia Olson was the first US merchant ship lost in World War II with her entire crew
    Specifications:
    Displacement 1,280 net tons, 2,153 gross tons
    Length 251'
    Beam 44'
    Draft 23'
    Speed unknown
    Complement
    Officers unknown
    Enlisted, unknown
    Troopship Passenger Capacity unknown
    Cargo Capacity unknown
    Cruise Radius unknown
    Propulsion
    One Triple expansion steam engine
    Single shaft, 1,250shp
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		Size Image Description Source
    Cynthia Olson
    302202502    		 54k SS Cynthia Olson underway, circa 1940, location unknown.
    Bowling Green State University - Historical Collections of the Great Lakes    		  
    Cynthia Olson 77k SS Cynthia Olson moored pierside, circa 1940 and location unknown.
    Photo from US Naval Memorial collection    		  
    There is no history record for USAT Cynthia Olson available at NavSource
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    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
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    Last Updated 12 March 2021