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SS ''Ashkhabad'' was built in 1917 in Glasgow, Scotland and registered in Odessa, Russia. ''Ashkhabad'' was originally built as a freighter, but was converted to a tanker to carry fuel oil. The four hundred foot tanker was owned by the Soviet Union. On April 26, 1942, ''Ashkhabad'' left New York for Matanzas, Cuba and was being escorted by the Royal Navy trawler ''Lady Elsa''. At 9:50PM on April 29, 1942, ''Lady Elsa'' spotted a U-boat five hundred yards off the tanker's starboard beam. ''Lady Elsa'' fired a round but the submarine had already launched its torpedo. ''Ashkhabad'' was hit on the starboard side by a single torpedo launched by the German submarine . ''Ashkhabad''s gun crew fired three quick rounds at the submarine when it partially surfaced, but scored no hits. Captain Alexy Pavlovich gave the order to abandon ship. Two life boats and one raft holding forty-seven crew members (three of which were women) were rescued by ''Lady Elsa'' and taken to Morehead City, North Carolina. There were no injuries. 〔 (【引用サイトリンク】accessdate=October 10, 2015 )〕 At 10:00AM the next day, crew from HMT ''Hertfordshire'', a British trawler, boarded ''Ashkhabad'' and took valuable navigational equipment and clothing. The Russians returned to their ship at 3:00PM and discovered it had been looted. The next day the Russians returned to their ship in time to catch ''Hertfordshire''s crew removing more loose items from the ship. Once they were told the ship was not abandoned and salvage tugs were on the way, the British returned the items they had taken. 〔 ''Ashkhabad''s condition appeared to be stable and it could have been salvaged and refloated, however, word never got out that it was awaiting salvage. On May 3, 1942, , a destroyer, saw ''Ashkhabad'' and determined it was an abandoned ship which was a navigational hazard so they fired three rounds which caused the midship superstructure to catch fire. HMS ''St. Zeno'' saw the fire and went towards ''Ashkhabad'' and fired a shot at it under the authorization of the commanding officer of ''Hertfordshire'', who commanded all British trawlers at Morehead City. His explanation was that he considered ''Ashkhabad'' a menace to a large convoy expected in the area, so he authorized the firing to sink ''Ashkhabad'' to extinguish the fire. Some wonder whether the action was taken out of malice. Because of this series of military snafus, but the time the Navy salvage tug, Relief, got to ''Ashkhabad'', it was a total loss. 〔 ''Ashkhabad'' has become a popular dive site at a depth of 55 feet, close to the shoals which is an hour boat ride from the Beaufort inlet. Because it was blown up twice, the ship is very broken up, but the boilers, condensor and some ribs of the ship can still be seen. Deck plates and twisted beams are scattered around the soft, sandy bottom. 〔 (【引用サイトリンク】publisher=Discovery Diving )〕 ==References== * * * * 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「SS Ashkhabad」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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