SS Idaho

{{Short description|Tanker owned by Texco}} {{Use American English|date=October 2024}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2024}} '''SS ''Idaho''''' was a 10,000-ton Texaco T2 type tanker ship, original named '''SS ''Dirigo''''' built by the Texas Steamship Company of Bath, Maine, launched on 9 November 1918 and completed in February of 1919. In 1940 she was renamed the SS ''Idaho''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Tankers and Navy Oilers |url=http://www.shipbuildinghistory.com/merchantships/1tankers.htm |access-date=2024-10-19 |website=www.shipbuildinghistory.com}}</ref> SS ''Idaho'' was attacked by the Japanese submarine {{Jsub|I-21||2}} off the coast of California on 23 December 1941. Sub I-21, captain Matsumura, surfaced and used his deck guns to attack the SS ''Idaho'' 18 miles off the coast of the small town of Cambria, California, but the 10,000-ton Texaco tanker escaped with minimal damage. A few hour earlier on 23 December, the submarine I-21 torpedoed the tanker SS ''Montebello'', in the same spot off the coast of northern California, and then proceeded to machine-gun the survivors in the water. All of Montebello's 38 crew members survived the atrocity. After the war the ''Idaho'' was scrapped in 1947.<ref>{{Cite web |title=California in World War II: The Attacks on the SS Montebello and the SS Idaho |url=https://www.militarymuseum.org/Montebello.html |access-date=2024-10-19 |website=www.militarymuseum.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Ian Ferguson's Homepage, Part 1: SS Albertolite |url=https://merchantships2.tripod.com/ian/ianfergusonshomepage1.html |access-date=2024-10-19 |website=merchantships2.tripod.com}}</ref><ref>Panic on the Pacific: How America Prepared for the West Coast Invasion, By Bill Yenne</ref>

==Battle of Los Angeles== {{main|Battle of Los Angeles}} These and other attacks put fear into California coastal cites, they turned off lights or blacked out windows at night. Some sandbagged their homes and businesses. Some radio stations went off the air and civil ships were ordered to stay in port. Commercial air travel was grounded.<ref>{{Cite web |title=California in World War II: Victor Valley's Unsung Heros |url=https://www.militarymuseum.org/VictorValleyUnsungHeros.html |access-date=2024-10-19 |website=www.militarymuseum.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=California in World War II: The Battle of Los Angeles |url=https://www.militarymuseum.org/BattleofLA.html |access-date=2024-10-19 |website=www.militarymuseum.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=THE ARMOR OF DEMOCRACY: VOLUNTEERISM ON THE HOME FRONT IN WORLD WAR II CALIFORNIA |url=http://www.militarymuseum.org/Volunteerism%20in%20WWII.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220428135930/http://www.militarymuseum.org/Volunteerism%20in%20WWII.pdf |archive-date=2022-04-28 |website=www.militarymuseum.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Lotchin |first=Roger |date=2005-04-29 |title=The Triumphant Partnership California Cities and the Winning of World War II |url=http://www.militarymuseum.org/Partnership.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220220112139/http://www.militarymuseum.org/Partnership.pdf |archive-date=2022-02-20 |website=www.militarymuseum.org}}</ref> A military defense system was installed up and down the coast, that included blimps, patrol ships, artillery batteries, and aircraft.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Fourth Antiaircraft Command Brigadere Pictorial Edition, August 1945 |url=http://www.militarymuseum.org/4th%20AA%20Cmd.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220417232511/http://www.militarymuseum.org/4th%20AA%20Cmd.pdf |archive-date=2022-04-17 |website=www.militarymuseum.org}}</ref><ref>Panic on the Pacific: How America Prepared for the West Coast Invasion, By Bill Yenne</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Idaho}} Category:Ship names Category:Type T2-SE-A1 tankers Category:1918 ships Category:World War II tankers of the United States Category:Maritime incidents in December 1941

SS Idaho

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