SS Fort Mercer

SS "Fort Mercer" was a Type T2-SE-A1 tanker built by Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Co., at Chester, Pennsylvania in October 1945. SS "Fort Mercer" (hull number 534), was built under a Maritime Commission contract and launched on October 2, 1945. With World War II ending on August 15, 1945, "Fort Mercer" did not serve in the war. "Fort Mercer" was owned and operated by the Trinidad Corporation of New York.
Loss and aftermath.
On February 18, 1952, "Fort Mercer", full of kerosene and fuel oil, first cracked and then broke in two in a gale, east of Chatham, Massachusetts. Captain Frederick Paetzel radioed out for help, reporting waves were hitting the ship. When she broke in two, nine officers and crew were on the bow section and 34 crewmen were on the stern section, with the radio and engine still working. The United States Coast Guard vessels and that were near Nantucket, Massachusetts about away headed to the two "Fort Mercer" sections. A Coast Guard PBY aircraft out of Coast Guard Air Station Salem was sent to look for the ship, but did not find it. The Coast Guard vessels and , using liferafts and surfboats rescued four men from the bow.
Only five members of "Fort Mercer"s 43 man crew were lost, all trapped in the sinking bow.
The stern of "Fort Mercer", which remained afloat, was towed to Newport, Rhode Island, outfitted with a new bow and rechristened "San Jacinto". The new ship was longer and expanded from 26 tanks to 29 tanks. The ship again split in half in 1964 and again was rebuilt, renamed this time "The Pasadena". "The Pasadena" was partially salvaged and mostly scrapped in 1983. 
In the same storm that broke "Fort Mercer" in two, , also a T2 tanker, broke up about away. Daring rescues by the Coast Guard Lifeboat CG 36500 carried out of "Pendleton"s stern 32 survivors of 33. After grounding, "Pendleton"s bow was boarded a week later. Of the eight victims stranded on this section, only one frozen body was recovered.