Photographed from the deck of the USCGC Comanche (WPG-76) as Nevada was foundering in the North Atlantic, circa 15-18 December 1943. Comanche was able to rescue twenty-nine of those on board Nevada, but thirty-four lost their lives during the abandonment of the storm-crippled ship
U.S. Navy Photo NH 66258

The 2 Nov. 2015 edition of Northen Nevada Business Weekly gives us the story of a Greenland Patrol rescue, “Army ship ‘Nevada,’ lost during World War II.”

It was December 1943, 200 miles South of Greenland. USAT Nevada was a small cargo ship, 221 feet long and a little over 2,000 tons. Unlike the Dorchester, torpedoed ten months earlier, USAT Nevada was sunk by a North Atlantic Gale. She became separated from convoy 5G-36. When she started taking on water, she sent out a MayDay. Comanche responded, but it took seven hours for her to get on scene.

Commanche found the ship abandoned and adrift. Even when survivors were located, the seas, exposure, and cold made recovery dangerous. Three were lost trying to transfer from a lifeboat to Comanche. Comanche crewmen in rubber suits rescued five from the icy water.

29 were rescued plus the ship’s mascot. 34 were lost or missing. Storis, Modoc and Tampa joined the search but found no more survivors.

USCGC Comanche (WPG-76); no caption/date/photo number; photographer unknown. Comanche, circa 1943, with her added war-time armament and camouflage.

Commanche was certainly not a first-rate escort. She was commissioned in 1934, 165 ft (50 m) in length, displaced 1,0005 tons, and with only 1,500 HP, had a maximum speed of 12.8 knots, usually less. She would sink no U-boats. At the time she may not have even been equipped with sonar, but at least the crews of the convoyed ships had reason to believe that, if they were sunk, the escorts would attempt to save them.