View source for MS City of Rayville

{{Short description|Unitied States Naval Vessel}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=
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{{Infobox ship career
|Ship name=''City of Rayville''
|Ship namesake=either [[Rayville, Louisiana]], or [[Rayville, Missouri]], or both
|Ship owner=
|Ship operator=
|Ship registry={{flagicon|United States}} [[Tampa, Florida|Tampa]]
|Ship route=
|Ship ordered=
|Ship builder=*[[Oscar Daniels Company]]
*[[Tampa, Florida]]
|Ship original cost=
|Ship yard number=8
|Ship laid down=
|Ship launched=April 1920
|Ship sponsor=
|Ship completed=January 1921
|Ship maiden voyage= 
|Ship in service=
|Ship out of service=
|Ship fate=Sunk by [[naval mine]], 8 November 1940, off [[Cape Otway]], Australia.
|Ship notes=
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
|Ship type=[[Design 1027 ship]]
|Ship tonnage={{GRT|5910}}
|Ship length={{convert|122.5|m|ftin|abbr=on}}
|Ship beam={{convert|16.5|m|ftin|abbr=on}}
|Ship draft=
|Ship depth=
|Ship hold depth=
|Ship propulsion=*1 × [[triple-expansion steam engine]] (as built)
*1 × 6-cylinder [[Busch-Sulzer]] [[diesel engine]] (by 1930)
|Ship speed={{convert|11|knots|km/h}}
|Ship crew=38
|Ship notes=
}}
|}
The '''SS ''City of Rayville''''', also referred to as the '''MV''' and/or '''MS ''City of Rayville''''' was a 5883-ton American [[steamship]]. She was built in 1920 by [[Oscar Daniels Company|Oscar Daniels & Co.]] of [[Tampa, Florida]].<ref name="www.lighthousedepot.com">{{Cite web |url=http://www.lighthousedepot.com/digest/Storypage.cfm?storykey=870 |title=www.lighthousedepot.com |access-date=4 October 2006 |archive-date=11 March 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070311003620/http://www.lighthousedepot.com/digest/Storypage.cfm?storykey=870 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite VHD shipwreck|126|MS City of Rayville}}</ref> It was the first American vessel sunk by enemy action in [[World War II]].

== Sinking ==
The  SS ''City of Rayville'' was the first American vessel sunk during [[World War II]], sunk by a German [[Sea mine|mine]] off the coast of southern Australia.

Over three nights in November 1940, the German minelaying ship ''[[:de:Storstad (Schiff, 1925)|Passat]]'', a captured Norwegian tanker, had strategically planted 110 sea mines in [[Bass Strait]], a busy trade route between [[Tasmania]] and [[Victoria (Australia)|Victoria]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Long before Darwin attack our coast was a battleground |url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/long-before-darwin-attack-our-coast-was-a-battleground-20141112-9rmn.html |website=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]] |accessdate=17 June 2020 |date= 4 April 2009 |author= Bridie Smith}}</ref> This field of mines had already claimed the British steamer {{SS|Cambridge|1916}} less than 24 hours previously off [[Wilsons Promontory]].<ref>
{{cite book
 |last=Gill
 |first=G. Hermon
 |title=Royal Australian Navy 1939–1942
 |url=http://www.awm.gov.au/histories/second_world_war/volume.asp?levelID=67910
 |series=[[Australia in the War of 1939–1945|Australia in the War of 1939–1945. Series 2&nbsp;– Navy]]
 |year=1957
 |page=271
 |publisher=[[Australian War Memorial]]
 |location=Canberra
 |url-status=dead
 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090525001721/http://www.awm.gov.au/histories/second_world_war/volume.asp?levelID=67910
 |archivedate=2009-05-25
}}
</ref>

On 8 November 1940, ''City of Rayville'' sailed into the [[Bass Strait]] with a cargo of 1,500 tons (37,520 bars) of [[Port Pirie, South Australia|Port Pirie]] lead.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.lightstation.com/index.php?page=history&subpage=rayville_found |title=www.lightstation.com, article 2 |access-date=4 October 2006 |archive-date=11 March 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070311221456/http://www.lightstation.com/index.php?page=history&subpage=rayville_found |url-status=dead }}</ref>  At 7:47 pm the ship hit one of the mines. The explosion was powerful enough to rip out the [[foremast]], as [[Shrapnel shell|shrapnel]] and ingots of lead rained down on the ship's decks.

The 38 crew members were able to safely abandon the vessel in lifeboats, although one mariner (James Bryan of Norfolk, Virginia)<ref name="www.lighthousedepot.com"/> re-entered the vessel to find his personal items and subsequently drowned. The vessel sank, bow first, in 35 minutes.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.lightstation.com/index.php?page=history&subpage=rayville |title=www.lightstation.com, article 1 |access-date=4 October 2006 |archive-date=13 March 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070313175236/http://www.lightstation.com/index.php?page=history&subpage=rayville |url-status=dead }}</ref>
A period news account listed the victim as Third Engineer Mac B. Bryan, of [[Randleman, North Carolina|Randleman]], North Carolina.<ref>Associated Press, "U.S. To Return Survivors Of Lost Freighter", ''Chicago Daily Tribune'', Chicago, Illinois, Monday 11 November 1940, Volume XCIX, Number 271, page 2.</ref>

The lightkeeper stationed at [[Cape Otway|Cape Otway Lightstation]] witnessed the sinking, and three boats from [[Apollo Bay]] went in search of survivors. The ship's lifeboats were found, and successfully towed back to Apollo Bay, arriving at dawn, 9 November 1940.

This preceded the [[attack on Pearl Harbor]], in December 1941, by more than a year, and resulted in the death of the first US seaman in World War II.

== Wreck ==
The site of the wreck is approximately {{convert|14|km|mi|sp=us}} south of [[Cape Otway]], with the vessel at a depth of {{convert|70|m|ft|sp=us}}. The wreck's general location had been known since 2002, but it was finally pinpointed using advanced sonar equipment.

==Commemoration==
In memory of this event, a group of villas in the little village of [[Apollo Bay]] ({{convert|15|km|mi|sp=us}} from Cape Otway), is named ''Rayville Boat Houses''. Moreover, the villas themselves are baptized according to the names of the local fishermen who rescued the victims: Lincoln Allen, Les Barrand, Harry Blyth, Bill Burwood, Roy Fisk, Jock Muir, Bill Ovens, James Slater and Len Stephens.<ref name="www.rayville.com.au">{{Cite web |url=http://www.rayville.com.au/apollo-bay#history |title=www.rayville.com.au |access-date=12 August 2013 |archive-date=5 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130905152012/http://www.rayville.com.au/apollo-bay#history |url-status=dead }}</ref> These villas have been built by Ross Stephens, one rescuer's father.

==References==
<references/>

==External links==
* {{cite web|url=https://www.scubadoctor.com.au/divesite.htm?site=City-of-Rayville|title=City of Rayville Dive Site|publisher=The Scuba Doctor|date=}}

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{{Design 1027 ships}}
{{November 1940 shipwrecks}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:City of Rayville}}
[[Category:Design 1027 ships]]
[[Category:Ships built in Tampa, Florida]]
[[Category:1920 ships]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in November 1940]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks of Victoria (state)]]
[[Category:World War II shipwrecks in the Pacific Ocean]]
[[Category:Ships sunk by mines]]
[[Category:Ships built by the Oscar Daniels Shipbuilding Company]]