SHIP NOTES:
Source: Gentile, Gary, Shipwrecks of North Carolina: From Diamond Shoals North, Gary Gentile Productions, 1993
Name: LIBERATOR Type: freighter
Date Sunk: 3/19/1942 Cause: Torpedoed by U-552
Size (ft.): 410 x 56 x 29 Tonnage: 7720 tons
Propulsion: Oil-fired steam Location: LORAN: 26888.7/40218.8
SHIP HISTORY; (Gentile, Hickam, Hoyt, Moore)
The SS Liberator was sailing enroute from Galveston, Texas to New York, carrying 11,000 tons of sulphur. She was traveling alone approximately 3 miles west of Diamond Shoals. She carried a 4 inch deck gun as protection against u-boats. At 1019 EWT, a torpedo struck the port side on the aft end of the engine room. The engine room was demolished and 5 crew members were killed in the explosion. The ship sank 21 minutes later. The 31 survivors were picked up by the USS UMPQUA (ATO-25) at 1125 EWT. They were taken to Morehead City, North Carolina.

The night before, on the evening of March 18th, while rounding Cape Lookout, the gun crew of the Liberator mistakenly fired 2 shots in to the bridge of the USS DICKERSON (DD-157). The Dickerson was on anti-submarine patrol and running blacked-out and steaming at nearly full speed. The friendly fire killed 3 crew of the destroyer instantly. The commanding officer, Lieutenant Commander J.K. Reynold was mortally wounded and died 10 minutes before the Dickerson docked safely the next morning at the Norfolk Navy Yard in Portsmouth, Virginia. This was approximately the same time the Liberator was being torpedoed and sunk by the U-332.

The crew of the Liberator later reported that before their own sinking, they had engaged a u-boat in battle and and sunk the German submarine.
USS Dickerson as APD-21, circa 1943 (8)
USS Dickerson
DIVING NOTES:
Diving Depths: 90-120 ft.
Current: similar to the Australia
Visibility: similar to the Australia
Summer Temperature: similar to the Australia
Points of Interest: n/a
Fish/Animal Life: similar to the Australia
Description: I have not yet dived the Liberator. Given it's close proximity to the wreck of the Australia, I would suspect diving conditions would be very similar.

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