The Loss of the HMS Otranto October 1918

The Loss of the HMS Otranto October 1918. . Prelude to Disaster , On September 19, 1918, 574 Coastal Artillery Corps (CAC) officers and troops from the surrounding Georgia counties, including Chatham, set out by train from Tybee Island to New York under the command of 2nd Lt. Sam Levy. Their destination was the Western European Front and entry into World War I. In New York they boarded the British troopship, HMS Otranto, a converted luxury liner and armed merchant raider. The Otrano was loaded with more than 1,025 British and American servicemen, including 701 US soldiers bound for port in Ireland and ultimately the battlefields of France., Tragedy Strikes , On Sunday, October 6, 1918, while in 40-foot seas, during a sever storm off the Isle of Islay, Scotland, the HMS Otranto collided with another British troopship, the HMS Kashmir. Despite orders to stand clear, multiple rescue attempts were made by the HMS Mounsey under the command of Lieutenant Francis Craven. Lieutenant Craven was able to rescue 590 men, including more than 300 American troops. Many more men attempted rescue only to be washed from the decks of the pitching destroyed and were drowned or crushed between the two ships before the Mounsey ceased its rescue attempts. Three hours after the collision, the Otranto struck a reef less than a mile off the rocky shore, broke in half and sank. Less than 20 of the remaining men onboard were able to swim ashore., Aftermath , The final death toll was 470 US and British servicemen, including one American officer and 357 American enlisted men. It was the single greatest loss of life in troop transport during the war. Of the American casualties, more than 130 were from Georgia. Among the dead were 11 men from Chatham County and dozens more from surrounding counties, especially Screven County and Berrien County., One month later, on November 11, 1918, the armistice was signed in Paris ending World War I., Captions , (Second row, left to right) , . 2nd Lt. Samuel E. Levy , . Above: Troops drill on Fort Screven's Parade Ground , (Bottom left) , . The burial service . This historical marker is in Tybee Island in Chatham County Georgia