SS Sturdy Beggar and Convoy CU61
The following YouTube video documents the SS Sturdy Beggar on a WW2 convoy from New York to France and England in early March 1945. The narrator was a Merchant Marine named Kenneth E Kunze who was the senior Radioman on this ship. The ships’ manifest shows that the Second Mate on the SS Sturdy Beggar was Albert N Flores.
The Untold Story of the SS Sturdy Beggar, a WWII Merchant Marine Ship
National Archives NextGen Catalog USS General T H Bliss war diary, April 1945.
Radioman Ken Kunze describes several close calls during this convoy including a near collision that the crew survived during a major storm on 13 March. Unfortunately, the storm also caused the French carrier Bearn to lose steering and it collided with the attack transport USS J. W. McAndrews resulting in the loss of 68 young American Soldiers and a Navy Armed Guardsman.
The Sturdy Beggar was loaded with 6000 tons of bombs, shells and ammunition. The final destination of the cargo was Rouen, France which required the ship to navigate the Seine River.
Also attached is the war diary of the USS General T H Bliss which was the Commodore Ship for Convoy CU61 the convoy. It was a good size convoy with 43 ships and 10 Navy Escorts.
In learning about this one specific convoy, it’s hard to comprehend that 2nd Mate Albert Flores was involved with “more convoys than he could count.”