Francis A . Dales Francis A . Dales ( December 3 , 1923 – March 29 , 2003 ) was a cadet midshipman in the U . S . Merchant Marine Academy who served on the freighter SS " Santa Elisa " , and subsequently the tanker SS " Ohio " , during Operation Pedestal , a convoy to the besieged island of Malta in the Second World War . For his actions defending the convoy , considered one of the most important British strategic victories of the war , he was awarded the Merchant Marine Distinguished Service Medal . Initial training . Dales began his basic training as a cadet midshipman in temporary facilities at Fort Schuyler in February 1942 , and became one of the first graduates of the U . S . Merchant Marine Academy in its new campus at King ' s Point . Background . In summer 1942 , supplies on the British occupied Mediterranean island of Malta were running desperately low . There were acute food shortages , but even more serious was the lack of aviation fuel , needed to sustain the dozens of fighter aircraft defending the island against German Luftwaffe and Italian Regia Aeronautica bombing attacks . It was later said that Malta would have been forced to surrender in only sixteen days if fuel had not got through . The British conceived a plan to resupply Malta using fourteen merchant ships escorted by a vast armada of Royal Navy warships ; four aircraft carriers , two battleships , seven cruisers and thirty - two destroyers . Axis forces opposing the convoy included land - based Italian and German aircraft , Italian and German motor torpedo boat s , Italian submarines and a force of Italian cruisers , as well as naval mines laid by ships and aircraft in the path of the convoy . There were also hostile shore batteries on some of the coastlines the convoy had to pass . The most important ship of the operation was the SS " Ohio " , the only available fast oil tanker . The " Ohio " , a 9 , 263 ton tanker , was built on the River Delaware at Wilmington in the United States for the oil giant Texaco , but had been requisitioned and manned by a British crew . In addition to the fuel supplies on the " Ohio " , several of the merchant ships carried fuel in drums . Malta was critical to the Allied war effort in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations , with submarines and aircraft based there responsible for inflicting huge losses on supply convoys from Europe to Rommel ' s Axis army facing the British in the Western Desert Campaign in Libya and Egypt . In summer 1942 the Axis forces had advanced far eastwards into Egypt , threatening to reach the Suez Canal and thereby cut Allied communications with India and the Far East . The continued resistance of Malta was key to stopping Rommel , and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill ordered that the convoy must " get through at all costs " . SS Santa Elisa . Most of the merchant ships in the convoy were British owned and British crewed . The SS " Santa Elisa " , a 6 , 200 ton freighter , was one of two U . S . operated ships . She was carrying 7 , 000 tons of aviation fuel in drums . Dales had been assigned to the " Santa Elisa " for sea training . Commanding an anti - aircraft gun on top of the bridge , the most exposed position on the ship with no cover available , he took part in the initially successful defence against three days of heavy attacks while steaming eastwards from the straits of Gibraltar towards Malta . Air attacks were constant and as many as fifteen submarines stalked the freighters in the narrowing straits , but the " Santa Elisa " would fall to a different foe . In the darkness before daybreak on the fourth day , the " Santa Elisa " was attacked by two motor torpedo boats . One raked the ship with fire from its heavy machine guns , killing three men from Dales ' gun crew , while the other attacked from the opposite side and hit the ship with a torpedo . Dales successfully fired back and hit and sank the first attacking boat , but the aviation fuel carried by the " Santa Elisa " had been ignited by the torpedo hit , and the crew were forced to abandon the blazing ship about 25 miles southeast of Cape Bon in Tunisia , and still 90 miles short of Malta . Dales and other survivors were picked up two hours later by the Royal Navy destroyer HMS " Penn " . SS Ohio . By this time the " Ohio " had already become the primary focus for Axis attacks on the convoy , having been torpedoed by an Italian submarine and hit by successive waves of dozens of Stuka dive bombers which attacked continuously for five hours . The torpedo had caused catastrophic damage and initially brought the ship to a dead stop , while near misses from bombs caused further damage and put some of the ship ' s defensive armament out of action . The crew were twice forced to abandon ship as further air attacks caused yet more damage . HMS " Penn " , with Dales still aboard , was one of several British destroyers that came alongside the " Ohio " to render assistance . The crews made attempts to tow the crippled tanker , before eventually sandwiching it between " HMS Penn " and HMS " Bramham " in order to drag it along while preventing it from sinking . Seeing that one of the " Ohio " ' s anti - aircraft guns could be repaired , another survivor from the " Santa Elisa " , junior third officer Frederick August Larsen , boarded the ship . Dales and four British crewmen volunteered to go with him . Between them , they were successful in bringing the gun back into action . Dales and the other crew members then operated the gun as the ungainly gaggle of ships struggled slowly towards Malta . The three ships became an obvious target for the Axis aircraft and torpedo boats , and endured an ever increasing series of attacks . In the chaos , all but one of the British aircraft carriers supporting the convoy had been either sunk or seriously damaged , reducing the number of aircraft available to defend it . Dales and the other gunners were successful in driving off most of the attacks , despite more bombs hitting the ship and two downed aircraft even crashing on the tanker ' s deck . With the " Ohio " now critically damaged and her deck awash , they inched within range of the protection of British Spitfire and Beaufighter fighters flying from Malta . The " Ohio " finally reached the Grand Harbour at Valletta in Malta on August 15 , 1942 , and her vital cargo of fuel was safe . Four of the surviving freighters had reached Malta the day before , but all the rest were lost , out of fourteen merchant ships that originally set out . The convoy ' s arrival was described by some historians as having changed the course of World War 2 . The captain of the " Ohio " , Dudley William Mason , was awarded the George Cross . The arrival , welcomed by huge crowds of people lining the harbour and waving British and Maltese flags , coincided with the Feast of Santa Marija , and Operation Pedestal became known in Malta as the Santa Marija Convoy . The " Ohio " was damaged beyond repair and never undertook another voyage . It was inducted into the National Maritime Hall of Fame of the American Merchant Marine Museum in 2008 . Distinguished Service Medal . On May 22 , 1943 , National Maritime Day in the USA , Dales was awarded the Merchant Marine Distinguished Service Medal in front of 2 , 300 other cadet midshipmen at the United States Merchant Marine Academy , for his bravery in defense of the convoy , described as " heroism beyond the call of duty " . Dales was only the third Cadet Midshipman ever to receive the medal . Later life . Dales was interviewed in connection with the 60th anniversary celebration of Operation Pedestal in 2002 , and said that he would always remember the Maltese people ' s grateful response to his actions on board the " Ohio " . Dales died in Augusta , Georgia , USA , on March 29 , 2003 . He was inducted into the U . S . Merchant Marine Academy ' s National Maritime Hall of Fame in 2009 , one year after the ship he had defended received the same honor . Bibliography . " At All Costs : How a Crippled Ship and Two American Merchant Mariners Turned the Tide of World War II " , Sam Moses , Random House , 2007 . 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