An item reported that the US Admiralty admitted that the two large American transports George Elliott (1) and Gregory (2) were sunk in the waters around the Solomon Islands. The number of victims was however kept secret. Further more was the loss of three merchant ships announced which were sunk by submarines of the Axis powers. De newspapers De Gooi- en Eemlander and Dagblad van Rotterdam both dated 3 October confirmed this item. The newspaper Dagblad van het Oosten dated 1 October also confirmed the loss but supplied much more details. Two items were published. The first referred to a special tiding received from Washington by the British news service reporting that in the Southern part of the Pacific two American transports were sunk, one by torpedoes and the other by gunfire. The second item reported that the George P. Elliott (the former City of Los Angles) was set into fire on 8 August when she was attacked by a Japanese torpedo plane and was given up with just small personnel losses. The small auxiliary transport Gregory was sunk by hostile gunfire off Guadalcanar. Mostly of the men on board were saved.
Notes
1. The USS George F. Elliot (AP-13), a so-called Heywood-class transport build in 1918 as the steamship City of Los Angeles at the shipyard of the Bethlehem Steel Corporation at Alameda, California for account of the United States Shipping Board (the USSB), purchased by the US Navy and commissioned on 19 October that year as the USS Victorious. Stricken on 25 February a year later she was given back to the USSB and became in 1931 property of the Baltimore Mail S.S. Company which take her in service as the City of Havre and was lengthened with 67 feet and made suitable to transport passengers. In 1938 she became property of the Panama Pacific Lines and retained her original navy. Just two years later she was purchased by the US navy on 30 October and on 10 January 1941 commissioned as the navy transport USS George F. Elliott. With a displacement of 7,630-16,400 (full load) tons were her dimensions as the 507’x 56’x 29’9” or 155 x 17 x 9,07 metres. The steam turbine and four boilers supplied 9,500 shp allowing a speed of 10,5 knots. Her crew numbered 350 men and she was armed with 1-5” gun, 4x1-3” guns and 8-0.50 machineguns.
2. She was originally a so-called four stacker of the Wickes-class destroyers with as pennant DD-82 and fitted out as a high speed transport with the pennant APD-3 and commissioned on 4 November 1940. Her displacement was 1,191 tons with as dimensions 96 x 9,4 x 2,8 metres or 314’4”x 30’1” x 9’2” with a speed of 35 knots. Her crew numbered 141men while the original armament consisted of 4-4” guns, 1-3” guns and 4x3-21” torpedo tubes. Just after the First World War on 7 July 1922 decommissioned and became part of the reserve. She was laid down at the Fore River Shipyard at Quincy, Massachusetts on 25 August 1917, launched on 27 January a year later and commissioned the same year on 1 June.
