# Yellowstone



## Gibdan (Apr 28, 2004)

Hi I am looking for information about the collision of the grain carrier Yellowstone and the Battouta in the Strait of Gibraltar in the late 70's. Does anyone have any recollections, pictures or links to any site which may have??

Many thanks & regards from the Rock

Daniel


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## john shaw (Jun 23, 2006)

from The Ships List

Marine Perch 1945 built by Kaiser Corp., Richmond, California | Standard ship type C4-S-A3, 1946 chartered from United States Maritime Commission, 1946 transferred to American Export Lines,1948 returned to owner, 1948 laid up, 1965 converted into a bulk carrier renamed Yellowstone, 1978 sank after collision off Gibraltar. 12,410

also mentioned at http://openweb.tvnews.vanderbilt.edu/1978-6/1978-06-12-ABC-3.html


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## Ron Beaupre (Aug 9, 2005)

YELLOWSTONE
At 1107 on June 12, 1978, the U.S. bulk carrier SS YELLOWSTONE and the Algerian freighter M/V IBN BATOUTA collided during a dense fog in the Mediterranean Sea about 14 miles southeast of Gibraltar. Five crewmen on the YELLOWSTONE died and two were injured. On the following morning the ships were separated, and after the remaining crew of the YELLOWSTONE were deployed to rescue ships at the scene, the ship was put under tow. Shortly thereafter, the ship sank stern first. Although the IBN BATOUTA sustained major bow damage, none of the crew was injured. The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the failure of the master of the YELLOWSTONE to properly use the ship's radar, which led to his crossing the bow of the IBN BATOUTA in an effort to prevent a collision in a close-quarters situation. Contributing to this accident were the excessive speed of both vessels in a dense fog; their failure to avoid a close-quarters situation; and the failure of the IBN BATOUTA to sound fog signals, to have the engine ready for immediate maneuver, and to use the bridge-to-bridge radiotelephone to establish a safe passing maneuver.


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## kewl dude (Jun 1, 2008)

I sailed the 6,000 HP Yellowstone in 1976. I knew the Captain and several others having sailed with them on other Oriental Exporters/Ogden Marine ships. 1960s the company name was Oriental Exporters owned by Ogden Corporation. The company name was changed to Ogden Marine but the O on the stack did not need to be changed.

The same Captain sunk her. I believe he was around 30. He was a California school ship grad and rather on the arrogant assertive manner. C4's were fast and he liked to go fast they routinely had 16 knot voyage contracts and could go much faster.

The only time I ever opened one up I was 2 A/E on the Ogden Marine 6,000 HP Albany, we were going up the Saigon River, when we were attacked with Chinese anti-tank rockets by Charlie. I was on watch and the captain called down and asked if we were going as fast as we could. I told him per orders we were 60 RPM. He asked if we could faster and I said yes. He said he wanted to go as fast as we could.

I went back to my F/WT Ernie Lacunza and told him to pull out those big tips we never used we were going to open her up. As Ernie excitedly got burners changed I slowly opened nozzles on the block. At one point we had a fuel pressure problem so I dashed down and started the other electric fuel oil pump. 

When we got her opened up we still had fuel pressure problems so I dashed down and started the steam recip fuel oil pump. When the pump reached the end of its stroke we would emit a large cloud of black smoke. Later the boys on the bridge told me they thought I was purposely laying those smoke clouds.

We had been in an eight knot convoy, the old man swung out on the port side and zoomed past them all. Vung Tau to Newport could take 6 - 8 hours, we did it in one hour forty minutes flat.

When we going through Saigon the bos'n had his guys get some empty five gallon pails and pick up all these rocket duds that littered our deck. Five buckets were filled and the captain put the buckets in the kneehole of his desk. Luckily our cargo was pallets of bagged cement since we took twenty rockets through the port side of our hull. When we were discharging the cargo they would find a few broken bags where rockets had exploded in our hold.

The Army sent some welders down and they welded shut the entry holes.

Anyway after the officials got done with their conversation with our Master, he slid back from his desk and pulled out a bucket and asked "what do you want us to do with these?"

EVACUATE THE MIDSHIP HOUSE RIGHT NOW!!!!!

Explosive demolition folks were called and they packaged them in thick cloth packages and carried them all away. At payoff we each got a $300 attack bonus -- only one was allowed per voyage regardless the number of attacks. The Fed taxed them at the highest tax rate so we each got $106 cash.

Attached two tiny pictures of Ogden Marine ships in 'Nam. These were taken by troops of the Army Transportation Corp that operated Newport and they are on their website. The name of the troop who took Albany-20101125-BC5.jpg was on the site and I emailed with him. He was there during my time on Albany September 3, 1969 - August 10, 1970 and the picture likely is Albany. Pictured she is in the LST slip and that is where we unloaded our cement cargo.

Which because the Army over-estimated how much cement they needed the whole 16,000 tons was bull dozed into the river behind us.

Greg Hayden


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## kewl dude (Jun 1, 2008)

I just remembered I have a picture of Yellowstone I found somewhere on the net.

Attached
c4-YELLOWSTONE.jpg (35.1 KB)

Greg Hayden


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## kewl dude (Jun 1, 2008)

Here is what Yellowstone looked like when first built.

Attached

c4.jpg (28.0 KB)

Greg Hayden


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## tunatownshipwreck (Nov 9, 2005)

Going that fast on the Mekong must have left a lot of sampans up on the river banks.


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## kewl dude (Jun 1, 2008)

re: Going that fast on the Mekong must have left a lot of sampans up on the river banks.

Could be but I have no idea I was down in the basement.

Greg


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## Astra (Mar 18, 2007)

The attached thumbnail ( upper left ) of an Ogden Marine ship at Newport, Saigon is for sure of Mohawk. 

Similar were, Albany, Missouri, James and Yellowstone. 

Regards.


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## Aurora Dave (Jun 12, 2018)

Hi I was on one or the Royal Navy ships Hms Aurora that attened the Yellowstone on her final day.
Dave


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## R.A. (Sep 14, 2020)

My father was one of the men injured during the collision.


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## F. W. Cole (Nov 11, 2020)

R.A. said:


> My father was one of the men injured during the collision.


I was 3rd AE on the Yellowstone when the collision happened, working in the engine room. 3 of my shipmates in the engine room lost their lives, I and another engineer managed to escape out the stack. A British Navy sub surfaced right next to us after the collision, and sent over damage control and first aid teams. I was able to take a few pictures of the ships and lifeboat before we were taken off, and still have the pictures, not the film


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## Ed Barnes (Feb 24, 2021)

I believe my dad (Tom Barnes) was Chief Engineer that day. I have always wondered about the details of the collision. I was 10 when it happened. Yesterday I started really digging and found a Redditt forum for merchant marines. I described the accident and someone sent me this link from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine:

NASEM Link

My wife is an absolute PhD when it comes to Googling. She was the one who led me here and found a link to the official report of the accident:

Official Accident Report

I had been told growing up that the freighter in question was Turkish and not Algerian and that it was the other guy's fault. Aside from that, the details I remembered were accurate as far as where the accident occurred, where his ship was impacted, the role the Royal Navy played in rescue, and that the Yellowstone sank after the other ship was pulled away. I didn't even know the name of the ship until yesterday. I also knew men died that day, his men, but didn't know how many until yesterday. If any family members are reading this, please accept my condolences.

Anyone know what happened from a legal standpoint? I vaguely remember my dad having to travel to New York to testify about the accident.


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## F. W. Cole (Nov 11, 2020)

Ed Barnes said:


> I believe my dad was Chief Engineer that day. I have always wondered about the details of the collision. I was 10 when it happened. Yesterday I started really digging and found a Redditt forum for merchant marines. I described the accident and someone sent me this link from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine:
> 
> NASEM Link
> 
> ...


I had only been on the ship about 10 days, joining in Duluth, we were headed for Tunisia with a load of grain. It was the captain's first trip as skipper. I think the other ship was at fault, and the Yellowstone had the right of way, I;m not certain, We were headed east in a heavy fog, and the other ship was going south to north, from Africa towards Gibraltar, more or less. They hit us on the stbd side, in the aft part of the ship, at the stack, so they were approaching from our starboard side. I know we tried to raise them on the radio, I was later told there was no one on the bridge of the other ship. I was very fortunate to escape, as the 2 engine crew that were working with me both died in the collision.


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## Ed Barnes (Feb 24, 2021)

F. W. Cole said:


> I had only been on the ship about 10 days, joining in Duluth, we were headed for Tunisia with a load of grain. It was the captain's first trip as skipper. I think the other ship was at fault, and the Yellowstone had the right of way, I;m not certain, We were headed east in a heavy fog, and the other ship was going south to north, from Africa towards Gibraltar, more or less. They hit us on the stbd side, in the aft part of the ship, at the stack, so they were approaching from our starboard side. I know we tried to raise them on the radio, I was later told there was no one on the bridge of the other ship. I was very fortunate to escape, as the 2 engine crew that were working with me both died in the collision.


Am I correct that my father was chief?

BTW, he passed away in '07 after having routine hip surgery. I believe he transferred to tankers after the collision and ran a route from Texas to California and back, and occasionally to Port Everglade.


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## F. W. Cole (Nov 11, 2020)

Ed Barnes said:


> Am I correct that my father was chief?
> 
> BTW, he passed away in '07 after having routine hip surgery. I believe he transferred to tankers after the collision and ran a route from Texas to California and back, and occasionally to Port Everglade.


I think he was, though I couldn't say for sure, I hadn't had much time to get to know people, and it was a long time ago.


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## F. W. Cole (Nov 11, 2020)

Ed Barnes said:


> I believe my dad (Tom Barnes) was Chief Engineer that day. I have always wondered about the details of the collision. I was 10 when it happened. Yesterday I started really digging and found a Redditt forum for merchant marines. I described the accident and someone sent me this link from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine:
> 
> NASEM Link
> 
> ...


FYI- I was going through some boxes and found the MEBA newspaper with a picture of the MEBA engineers from the shop on the front cover after we returned to NY, and your dad was the chief engineer, and was in the picture.


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## Graham Stewart (5 mo ago)

F. W. Cole said:


> I was 3rd AE on the Yellowstone when the collision happened, working in the engine room. 3 of my shipmates in the engine room lost their lives, I and another engineer managed to escape out the stack. A British Navy sub surfaced right next to us after the collision, and sent over damage control and first aid teams. I was able to take a few pictures of the ships and lifeboat before we were taken off, and still have the pictures, not the film


I was in HMS Aurora and we came to assist the Yellowstone that day. I was a member of the party transferred to the ship with pumps and equipment to try and save the ship. I remember having to Carry buckets of diesel up ladders to the back of the bridge to keep a generator running !! We were on ther many hrs until we had to get off as the ship started to sink whilst under tow. 
A sad loss of the ship and those crew that died on there.


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## shibleequreshi2000 (2 mo ago)

Gibdan said:


> Hi I am looking for information about the collision of the grain carrier Yellowstone and the Battouta in the Strait of Gibraltar in the late 70's. Does anyone have any recollections, pictures or links to any site which may have?? Many thanks & regards from the Rock Daniel


 Did some work repairing and painting work with my father on SS Yellowstone in 1977-1978 when she visited port of Karachi Pakistan delivering grain. Captain was very rude and arrogant guy always have tooth pick in his mouth (Can't remember his name but he had some Greek background). Port captain name was Donald Evens he was my father's friend for long time. Trying to find some pictures of other ships own by Ogden Marine. These are the other ship visited Karachi Pakistan. SS Potomac, SS Columbia, SS Mississippi, SS Missouri, SS Allegheny and SS Wilmington. If you have any pictures of these ships please email me @ [email protected]. Thanks for our help in advance.


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