USS Manhasset (AG-47)

Manhasset (AG 47) was built by Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation, Sparrows Point, Maryland, in 1923 as merchantman Wilton; acquired by the U.S. Maritime Commission from her owner, Eastern Steamship Lines, Inc., in 1941; transferred under time charter to the Navy 2 January 1942; renamed Manhasset and reclassified from YAG-8 to AG-47 on 30 May 1942; converted for use as a weather patrol ship by Sullivan Drydock and Repair Corp., Brooklyn, New York; and loaned to the U.S. Coast Guard and commissioned 8 August 1942, Lt. Comdr. P. L. Stinson, USCG, in command.

Equipped with specialized meteorological instruments, Manhasset joined the weather patrol in the North Atlantic Ocean to gather vital weather information used in compiling forecasts for Allied European operations against the Axis. She braved the dangers of stormy seas and the menace of German U-boats while operating her assigned and isolated patrol areas out of Argentia, Newfoundland, and Boston, Massachusetts. She averaged about one patrol a month, usually about three weeks long.

Manhasset also patrolled and searched for German submarines. While cruising midway between Flemish Cap and Cape Farewell, Greenland, she depth charged a suspected U-boat, with no positive results, 27 April 1943. My father, Clarence A. White, was one of the Meteorologists on this ship. He was working for the government Weather Bureau in Evansville, Indiana, when the Coast Guard requested volunteers for their weather ships. As the USCG Manhasset being one In need, Dad volunteered. He has told me of this suspected U-boat attack on their ship. Everyone onboard had a job to do defending the ship. His was to "man" the .50 Caliber machinegun on deck. It was a tense time, he said, as the depth charges were all dropped hoping to destroy the enemy submarine thus saving their lives. They had a "sister" weather ship which was less fortunate than they were as it was sunk a few months later. Dad passed away on Veteran's Day, 11 November 2013 at the age of 102. The following week convoy ONS-5 (Outbound from Liverpool to Nova Scotia, Slow) steamed through her patrol station, and on 5 May she provided support during one of the largest convoy battles of World War II, the convoy included 43 merchant vessels, 7 escorts, 2 trawlers, and a fuel ship and was joined by other Allied ships as the battle progressed. Attacking them were members of three Wolfpacks, Specht, Meisel, and Amsel, including 58 U-boats.

The battle raged between late 4 May and early 6 May. Although the convoy lost 13 ships, the escorts sank five U-boats and repulsed the remainder. Occurring in "Black May," the month marking the dramatic decline in the U-boat effectiveness in WWII, when Allied efforts repulsed or sank most opposition, the Battle with ONS-5 was the final wolfpack attack against the northern merchant trade routes in the Battle of the North Atlantic.

As Manhasset patrolled near the British merchant ship Dolius, torpedoed and abandoned earlier in the day but still afloat, she made sound contact with a submarine late in the afternoon. She made six vigorous depth charge attacks and sighted first a periscope wake followed by an oil slick. However, she sighted no wreckage and broke off attack to guard the torpedoed ship after more than 2 hours of searching.

On 15 October 1945 she was decommissioned by the Coast Guard, and, on 16 October 1946, she was sold. Entered merchant service as Manahasset (Cia de Navigacion Maritima Cassipio SA, Panama), 1946. Wrecked on Sable Island, Nova Scotia, 4 July 1947. My father, Edgar Warren Stevanus USN was one of four weathermen on the Manhasset the last 18 or so months of the war. He was the only Navy person on an otherwise all Coast Guard crew. The weathermen worked in 2's, 12 hours on and 12 hours off seven days a week. Edgar Stevanus is a retired Postmaster and lives in Sugarcreek, Ohio. Edgar Stevanus died November, 2013 at age 94.

• This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
• NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive - USCGC Manhasset (WIX-276) – ex - USS Manhasset (AG-47) (1942 - 1943) - Manhasset (YAG-8) (1942)