SS Fairport was a Type C2-S-E1 cargo ship built by Gulf Shipbuilding for the Waterman Steamship Company. She was sunk by U-161 on 16 July 1942. All hands were rescued by an American destroyer.
Fairport was laid down as the first ship constructed at Gulf Shipbuilding of Chickasaw, Alabama.[2] Constructed under a United States Maritime Commission contract (MC hull number 849) on behalf of the Waterman Steamship Company of Mobile, Alabama,[2][4] she was launched on 15 November 1941.[2] After Fairport's April 1942 completion, she was registered at Mobile and armed with a 4-inch (100 mm) deck gun and six machine guns, and took on fourteen Naval Armed Guardsmen to man the guns.[3]
On 13 July 1942, Fairport departed New York with convoy WS 4 for the Persian Gulf.[3] She was carrying a cargo of 8,000 long tons (8,128.375 t) of materiel which included a deck load of tanks,[5] (fifty-two tanks, eighteen self-propelled guns and other supplies) and also carried 66 passengers.[3] The convoy consisted of six other merchant ships and an escort of three destroyers; Fairport's station in the convoy was in position #12, the second ship in the port column.[3]
At 09:45 on 16 July,[3] near position 27°10′N 64°33′W / 27.167°N 64.550°W / 27.167; -64.550 or about 500 nautical miles (930 km) northwest of the Virgin Islands, Fairport was struck by two torpedoes launched by Korvettenkapitän Albrecht Achilles, the commander of U-161.[5] The first torpedo struck the cargo ship's #4 cargo hold on the port side, starting a fire that was quickly extinguished by inrushing seawater. The second torpedo struck ten seconds after the first, and opened a 30-by-25-foot (9.1 by 7.6 m) hole near the #1 hold. The engines were secured and the vessel ordered abandoned five minutes later. Fifteen minutes after the attack, Fairport sank by the stern.[3] All 123 persons aboard the ship (10 officers, 33 men, 14 Naval Armed Guardsmen, 66 passengers) were rescued by destroyer Kearny,[3] and landed at New York on 21 July.[5]
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