Commercial Service
Her new owner repaired her, and she entered mercantile service as SS Olean in 1925. By 1930, she was sailing for the Vacuum Oil Company, and, after that company's 1931 merger with Standard Oil Company of New York (or Socony), for the Socony-Vacuum Oil Company which was later renamed Mobil Oil. In March 1930, The New York Times reported that Olean's chief engineer disappeared while the ship was steaming from Port Arthur to Paulsboro, New Jersey. According to the article, the engineer's wife had received a message from her husband stating that he was worried about their financial affairs. Another death of an Olean crewman was reported by The New York Times in September 1939, when a fireman aboard the ship was stabbed to death by a mess attendant while the ship was anchored in the Delaware River at Paulsboro.
Around the time that the United States entered World War II in December 1941, Olean was defensively armed and assigned a crew of four Naval Armed Guardsmen.
On 14 March 1942, Olean was sailing from Norfolk, Virginia, to Beaumont, Texas. The ship was sailing unescorted and—according to Theodore Bockhoff, the ship's master—with all lights extinguished. One survivor, however, reported that a dim light was burning on one of the masts. At 23:05, while near position 34°24′30″N 76°29′0″W / 34.40833°N 76.483333°W / 34.40833; -76.483333, about 15 nautical miles (28 km) from Cape Lookout, North Carolina, Olean was hit in the engine room by a single torpedo launched from German submarine U-158 under the command of Kapitänleutnant Erwin Rostin. Damage from the torpedo caused the ship to veer out of control. The Naval Armed Guard spotted U-158, but were unable to depress their gun far enough to be able to hit the U-boat. At 23:45 the order to abandon ship was given and the 36 officers, men, and gunners took to the lifeboats. As the no. 3 boat reached the water, however, a second torpedo launched by Rostin hit the engine room and destroyed the lifeboat, killing one officer and six men. Lifesaving stations at Cape Lookout and Fort Macon sent motor launches and were able to rescue the remaining 30 men from Olean nine hours after the attack, and landed them at Morehead City.
As with her November 1921 fire, Olean did not sink from the twin torpedo hits. She was towed to Hampton Roads and dry docked, but was declared a constructive total loss. The need for shipping was great, and despite the severity of Olean's damage, the ship was acquired by the War Shipping Administration (WSA) in April 1942. The WSA had the vessel reconditioned and repaired at Baltimore. The ship was re-engined with a triple-expansion steam engine built in 1941 by Hooven-Owens-Rentschler of Hamilton, Ohio. The cylinders of the new engine were 22½, 41½, and 68 inches (57, 105, and 170 cm) in diameter and had a 48-inch (120 cm) stroke, which generated a nominal 350 horsepower (260 kW). The ship was also re-boilered with two water tube boilers that had a heating surface of 4,012 square feet (372.7 m2) and operated at 220 pounds per square inch (1,500 kPa). The newly reconditioned ship was renamed Sweep and was employed in duties in the Pacific.
Read more about this topic: USS Alameda (AO-10)
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