SS Dorothy Phillips

SS Dorothy Phillips was a 2,119-ton cargo ship that was attacked during World War II. The Japanese submarine I-23 fired at her on December 24, 1941. Dorothy Phillips was damaged in the attack off the coast of Monterey, California. In the attack the ship's rudder was damaged and the ship could not steer and ran aground. Dorothy Phillips was built in 1918 by Albina Engine and Machine Works in Portland, Oregon. The attack helped put fear into the West Coast of the United States and started the Battle of Los Angeles. SS Emidio and SS Larry Doheny were also attacked and sank off the west coast.^[1][2][3][4]

History
United States
Name	Point Loma (1918–1937) Dorothy Phillips (1937–1946) Karen Olson (1946–1957) Rio Tigre (1957–1961)
Namesake	Point Loma Dorothy Phillips Rio Tigre
Owner	USSB (1918–1923)
Builder	Albina Engine & Machine Works, Portland
Yard number	1
Laid down	18 April 1917
Launched	3 November 1917
Christened	Margit
Completed	7 March 1918
Identification	US Official Number 216021 Call sign LJSB
Fate	Broken up, 1962
General characteristics
Tonnage	2,119 GRT 1,289 NRT 3,270 DWT
Length	251.0 ft (76.50 m)
Beam	43.5 ft (13.26 m)
Depth	18.1 ft (5.52 m)
Installed power	279 nhp, 1,200 ihp (890 kW)
Propulsion	Albina Engine & Machine Works 3-cylinder triple expansion
Speed	9.5 knots (17.6 km/h; 10.9 mph)
Armament	During WWII 1 × 5-inch (127 mm)/38-caliber gun 1 × 3-inch (76 mm)/50-caliber gun

Dorothy Phillips was built by Albina Engine & Machine Works in a shipyard along the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon, United States, for a Scandinavian shipping line and was requisitioned by the Emergency Fleet Corporation during World War I as Point Loma.^[5] In 1937, she was sold and renamed Dorothy Phillips. In 1946, she was sold and renamed Karen Olson. In 1957, she was sold and renamed Rio Tigre. In 1962, she was scrapped.

See also

• Attack on Pearl Harbor
• List of shipwrecks in 1941
• California during World War II
• SS Barbara Olson

References

1. militarymuseum.org, SS Dorothy Phillips
2. vesselhistory SS Dorothy Phillips
3. The H. W. McCurdy Marine History of the Pacific Northwest, by Gordon R. Newell, Pages 423, 541
4. Panic on the Pacific: How America Prepared for the West Coast Invasion, By Bill Yenne
5. McKellar, Norman L. "Steel Shipbuilding under the U. S. Shipping Board, 1917-1921, Part I, The Requisitioned Ships" (PDF). Steel Shipbuilding under the U. S. Shipping Board, 1917-1921. ShipScribe. Retrieved 13 February 2021.

External links

• Media related to Albina Engine & Machine Works at the Oregon Historical Society