SS West Nohno SS " West Nohno " was a cargo ship for the launched shortly after the end of World War I . The ship was inspected by the United States Navy for possible use as USS " West Nohno " ( ID - 4029 ) but was neither taken into the Navy nor ever commissioned under that name . " West Nohno " was built in 1919 for the , as a part of the " West " ships , a series of steel - hulled cargo ships built on the West Coast of the United States for the World War I war effort , and was the 24th ship built at Northwest Steel in Portland , Oregon . Completed too late for that conflict , she operated for a number of years as a merchant ship sailing to African ports for the American West African Line . In November 1941 , " West Nohno " became the first American merchant ship to be armed prior to the United States ' entry into World War II . Shortly after the U . S . entry to that conflict , she was employed for one roundtrip to the Soviet Union in March 1942 . After her return , she sailed mainly between the United States and United Kingdom ports . In 1943 , a civilian crewman aboard " West Nohno " was convicted of sedition for trying to incite a rebellion among members of the ship ' s crew and Naval Armed Guard . In February 1944 , she sailed from the United States for the final time , and was scuttle d in June as part of the " gooseberry " breakwater off Utah Beach during the Normandy invasion , earning a battle star for the ship . Design and construction . The " West " ships were cargo ship s of similar size and design built by several shipyards on the West Coast of the United States for the for emergency use during World War I . All were given names that began with the word " West " , like " West Nohno " , the one of some 40 " West " ships built by the Northwest Steel of Portland , Oregon . " West Nohno " ( Northwest Steel yard number 24 , hull number 1080 ) was launched 12 February 1919 and completed in May 1919 . " West Nohno " was , and was long ( between perpendiculars ) and abeam . She had a steel hull and had a deadweight tonnage of . Sources do not give " West Nohno " s other hull characteristics , but , a sister ship also built at Northwest Steel had a displacement of 12 , 200 t with a mean draft of , and a hold deep . " West Nohno " power plant consisted of a single steam turbine that drove a single screw propeller , which moved the ship at up to . Early career . " West Nohno " was inspected by the United States Navy after completion for possible use and was assigned the identification number of 4029 . Had she been commissioned , she would have been known as USS " West Nohno " ( ID - 4029 ) , but the Navy neither took over the ship nor commissioned her . Information on " West Nohno " s early career is incomplete , but through the end of 1920 the cargo ship sailed on a New York – Glasgow route . By early 1922 , " West Nohno " was sailing for the - owned American West African Line . The principal ports visited by American West African ships were Dakar , Freetown , Monrovia , and Lagos . News items reported that " West Nohno " also visited Teneriffe , Accra , Las Palmas , Grand - Bassam , Seccondee , and Saint Vincent . " West Nohno " was still on African routes as late as 1928 , when the began accepting bids for the purchase of the American West African Line . From 1928 to 1941 , little is known about " West Nohno " s activities . At some point during this period , she was laid up as part of a reserve fleet , in which she remained as late as 1939 . By May 1941 , now under ownership of the ( a successor to the ) , the ship had been reactivated and was scheduled to sail in Red Sea service under the operation of American Export Lines . In this Red Sea service , ships would carry materiel for the British to Red Sea and Gulf of Aden ports and carry strategic materials needed by the United States on return journeys . World War II . When amendments to the U . S . Neutrality Acts in late 1941 allowed United States merchant ships to be armed for service in the Atlantic , " West Nohno " became the first vessel so equipped when a large deck gun and three anti - aircraft gun emplacements were installed by workers at the Tietjen & Lang Drydock in Hoboken , New Jersey in late November . Navy officials , citing secrecy concerns , would not reveal the size of the gun , but allowed that the bore was between . While at the shipyard , " West Nohno " s wheelhouse and radio shack were reinforced with thick walls of concrete to protect against machine - gun bullets , and the ship was repainted " battleship gray " . After her guns were installed , " West Nohno " had made her way to Sydney , Nova Scotia , by 27 December when she sailed as a part of transatlantic Convoy SC 86 . With her destination set for Murmansk , " West Nohno " peeled off from the convoy and headed to Reykjavík , Iceland . While at anchor in Iceland , " West Nohno " experienced a winter storm from 15 to 19 January 1942 . On 15 January , the storm , packing winds of and gusts of up to , drove " West Nohno " into , damaging the heavy cruiser . Apparently suffering no major damage herself in the collision , " West Nohno " joined Arctic convoy PQ 9 , which sailed on 1 February and arrived at Murmansk nine days later . Though the convoy had arrived at its destination , the danger of German attack was still present . The nearest German airfield was away — about 7 to 10 minutes flying time — which gave almost no advance warning of air raids . German dive bombers would silently glide in below Soviet anti - aircraft fire , drop their payloads , and fly away . Despite the fact that Murmansk had limited port facilities and typically slow unloading of cargo , sometimes requiring ships to remain in port for weeks or months , " West Nohno " was ready to sail in Convoy QP 8 on 1 March , returning to Reykjavik on 11 March . She sailed for Halifax eleven days later and arrived on 7 April . " West Nohno " had made her way to Hampton Roads , Virginia , by 29 May , when she sailed for Key West , Florida . After her 4 June arrival at Key West , she began a nine - month journey to Alexandria , Cairo , and other ports . During this extended voyage , three crewmen entered one of " West Nohno " s fuel tanks to clean it while the ship was at Suez on 29 September 1942 . The crewmen did not use gas masks and were soon overcome by fumes . The second mate of the Norwegian tanker " Britannia " , Henning Vaagsnes , entered the tank and removed all three men . Two of " West Nohno " s men survived but the third , despite two hours of attempts to revive him by Vaagsnes , did not . For his efforts , Vaagsnes received a pair of binoculars from U . S . president Franklin D . Roosevelt and a gold watch from the ship owners . He was also awarded St . Olav ' s medal with Oak Branch , a medal awarded for personal courage and bravery by the Norwegian government . In February 1943 , the " West Nohno " completed her nine - month journey when she arrived at Mobile , Alabama , after sailing via Guantánamo Bay , Cuba , and Key West . The " Chicago Daily Tribune " reported that during this voyage , seaman James Orville Couchois had incited subordination and disloyalty among the crew . The head of the Naval Armed Guard detachment aboard " West Nohno " reported Couchois ' activities , as well as comments from other crew members on the ship . After the ship had docked at Mobile , Couchois was removed from the ship and ultimately faced a trial for sedition . Couchois , who was the deck manager for the National Maritime Union of the Congress of Industrial Organizations , was convicted and sentenced to a prison term of five years . In late March , " West Nohno " began the first of three Boston – Liverpool round trips . On the Halifax – Liverpool leg of this first trip , she had some unspecified problem that required her return to Halifax , but it must have been a minor problem since she sailed again for Liverpool a week later . The cargo ship returned to Boston on 3 June and began her second voyage to Liverpool on 30 June . While in the UK she called at Loch Ewe , Methil , and Oban in July and August before her 6 September return to Boston . Her third journey was an extended one that began by sailing from Boston on 3 October . She arrived at Liverpool three weeks later . During the next seven weeks , she made her way to Milford Haven , from which she began her last westbound transatlantic crossing on 13 December . " West Nohno " arrived in Boston on 5 January 1944 . Final voyage . " West Nohno " had been selected to become one of the blockship s for the Allied invasion of France , then in the planning stages . Though the specific modifications performed on " West Nohno " are not revealed in sources , modifications for other ships do appear . In November 1944 , " The Christian Science Monitor " reported that blockships dispatched from Boston , like " West Nohno " , had been loaded with " tons of sand and cement " and had been rigged with explosive charges before departing the port . Further , existing antiaircraft weapons had been moved higher up on the ship and supplemented by additional guns . An account by Cesar Poropat , chief engineer aboard , another blockship dispatched from Boston , mentions that transverse bulkheads aboard that ship were cut open to facilitate sinking . " West Nohno " departed Boston on 24 February and arrived at Halifax two days later . Departing from that port on 29 February , she sailed in Convoy HX - 281 and arrived at Milford Haven on 15 March . She departed there for Portsmouth the same day . " West Nohno " s whereabouts and movements through early June are not recorded . Other ships that had been selected as blockships assembled in a " corncob " fleet at Oban , though it ' s not clear if " West Nohno " did or not . The " corncob " fleet was the group of ships intended to be sunk to form the " gooseberries " , shallow - water artificial harbors for landing craft . Poropat reports that once the ship crews were told of their mission while anchored at Oban , they were not permitted to leave the ships . Three " corncob " convoys , consisting of what one author called the " dregs of the North Atlantic shipping pool " , departed from Poole and reached the Normandy beachhead the next day , shortly after the D - Day landings . Poropat reports that the corncob ships traveled under cover of darkness and , stripped of all unnecessary equipment , carried no radios , having only a signal lamp ( with a spare bulb ) for communication . Once at the designated location , the ships were put into position and scuttled over the next days , under heavy German artillery fire . Naval Armed Guardsmen manned the guns on all the gooseberry ships to protect against frequent German air attacks ; " West Nohno " s gunners assisted in shooting down several planes on 10 June . All the while , harbor pilots — about half of the New York Bar Pilots Association , according to one source — carefully positioned the ships . " West Nohno " and were the last two ships sunk off Utah Beach when they went down on 11 June . Even though she had been sunk , " West Nohno " continued to serve as an antiaircraft platform manned by Navy gun crews until 18 June , and by Army crews after that date . " West Nohno " s naval gunners were awarded a battle star for participation in the Normandy Landings .