Editing USS Cyclops (section)

==History==
''Cyclops'' was [[Ceremonial ship launching|launched]] on 7 May 1910, by [[William Cramp & Sons]] of [[Philadelphia]] and placed in service on 7 November 1910. Operating with the Naval Auxiliary Service, [[United States Fleet Forces Command|Atlantic Fleet]], she voyaged in the [[Baltic Sea|Baltic]] from May to July 1911 to supply Second Division ships. Returning to [[Norfolk, Virginia]], she operated on the east coast from [[Newport, Rhode Island]], to the [[Caribbean]], servicing the fleet. During the [[United States occupation of Veracruz]] in [[Mexico]] in 1914 and 1915, she coaled ships on patrol there and received the thanks of the [[U.S. Department of State]] for cooperation in evacuating refugees.<ref name=Danfs>{{Cite web |last=Evans |first=Mark |date=6 September 2018 |title=Cyclops II (Fuel Ship No. 4) |url=https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/c/cyclops-fuel-ship-no-4-ii1.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230304045507/https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/c/cyclops-fuel-ship-no-4-ii1.html |archive-date=4 March 2023 |access-date=2023-05-15 |website=Naval History and Heritage Command|language=en-US}}</ref>

With [[American entry into World War I]], ''Cyclops'' was commissioned on 1 May 1917. She joined a convoy for [[Saint-Nazaire]], France, in June 1917, returning to the U.S. in July. Except for a voyage to [[Halifax, Nova Scotia]], she served along the East Coast until 9 January 1918, when she was assigned to the [[Naval Overseas Transportation Service]]. She then sailed to [[Brazil]]ian waters to fuel British ships in the South Atlantic, receiving the thanks of the U.S. State Department and Commander-in-Chief, Pacific.<ref name="Danfs" /><ref>[http://freepages.military.rootsweb.com/%7Ecacunithistories/hr_mallory.htm USS Henry R. Mallory]</ref>

===Disappearance===
The ship put to sea from [[Rio de Janeiro]] on 16 February 1918, and entered [[Salvador, Bahia|Salvador]] on 20 February. Two days later, she departed for [[Baltimore]], Maryland, with no stops scheduled, carrying the manganese ore. The ship was thought to be overloaded when she left Brazil, as her maximum capacity was {{convert|8000|LT|t|0|abbr=on}}. Before leaving port, Commander Worley had submitted a report that the starboard engine had a cracked cylinder and was not operative. This report was confirmed by a survey board, which recommended, however, that the ship be returned to the United States. She made an unscheduled stop in [[Barbados]] because the water level was over the [[Load line (watercraft)|Plimsoll line]], indicating that it was overloaded,<ref name="Strange" /> but investigations in Rio proved the ship had been loaded and secured properly.<ref name="bermuda-triangle.org">{{cite web|url= http://www.bermuda-triangle.org/html/cyclops_pg3.html|title=USS ''Cyclops'' (page 3)|first=Gian J.|last=Quasar|access-date=4 March 2012}}</ref> ''Cyclops'' then set out for Baltimore on 4 March, and was rumored to have been sighted on 9 March by the [[molasses]] tanker ''Amolco'' near Virginia,<ref name="Strange" /> but this was denied by ''Amolco''{{'}}s captain.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.bermuda-triangle.org/html/q_a.html|first=Gian J.|last=Quasar|title=Frequently Asked Questions|access-date=4 March 2012}}</ref><ref>[http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84026749/1918-04-19/ed-1/seq-11/;words=Amolco?date1=1918&rows=20&searchType=basic&state=&date2=1918&proxtext=Amolco+&y=12&x=14&dateFilterType=yearRange&index=0 However, see ''The Washington Times'' 19 April 1918, page 11, column 2]</ref> Additionally, because ''Cyclops'' was not due in Baltimore until 13 March,<ref>{{cite web|url =http://www.bermuda-triangle.org/html/cyclops_pg2.html|title=USS ''Cyclops'' (page 2)|first=Gian J.|last=Quasar|access-date=4 March 2012}}</ref> the ship was highly unlikely to have been near Virginia on 9 March, as that location would have placed her only about a day from Baltimore. In any event, ''Cyclops'' never arrived in Baltimore, and no wreckage of the ship has ever been found.<ref name="usnsh-c/cyclops.htm">[https://web.archive.org/web/20000511215309/http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-c/cyclops.htm USN Ships–USS Cyclops (1910–1918)]</ref><ref>[https://numa.net/expeditions/cyclops/ What possibly could  have been wreckage of the Cyclops may have been accidentally found in 1968 NUMA report]</ref>

===Aftermath===
That ''Cyclops'' was overdue and feared lost was front-page news in various American newspapers on 15 April 1918, following an announcement by the Navy.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-boston-globe-naval-collier-cyclops-m/137866023/ |title=Naval Collier Cyclops Missing, 18 New Englanders Among 293 Feared Lost |newspaper=[[The Boston Globe]] |page=1 |date=April 15, 1918 |accessdate=January 1, 2024 |via=newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/chattanooga-daily-times-big-collier-is-m/137866155/ |title=Big Collier Is Missingt |newspaper=[[Chattanooga Daily Times]] |location=[[Chattanooga, Tennessee]] |page=1 |date=April 15, 1918 |accessdate=January 1, 2024 |via=newspapers.com}}</ref>

On 1 June 1918, Assistant Secretary of the Navy [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] declared ''Cyclops'' to be officially lost, and all hands deceased.<ref name="Cutler2005">{{cite book|last=Cutler|first=Thomas J.|title=A sailor's history of the U.S. Navy|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=4SDNJtV85RIC&pg=PA199|access-date=4 March 2012|year=2005|publisher=Naval Institute Press|isbn= 978-1-59114-151-8|page=199}}</ref>{{efn|Newspapers reported that ''Cyclops'' was declared officially lost in late August 1918 by Secretary of the Navy [[Josephus Daniels]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-boston-globe-missing-cyclops-officia/137871845/ |title=Missing Cyclops Officially Lost |newspaper=[[The Boston Globe]] |page=10 |date=August 31, 1918 |accessdate=January 1, 2024 |via=newspapers.com}}</ref>}} The loss of ''Cyclops'' was noted in the ''Annual Report of the Secretary of the Navy'' for 1918.<ref>{{cite book |title=Annual Report of the Secretary of the Navy |author=United States Department of the Navy |year=1918 |page=28 |publisher=[[United States Government Printing Office|GPO]] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qGSM61lS23QC&pg=PA28}}</ref>

One of the seamen lost aboard ''Cyclops'' was African-American mess attendant Lewis H. Hardwick, the father of [[Herbert Lewis Hardwick]], "The Cocoa Kid", an [[List of Puerto Ricans of African descent|Afro-Puerto Rican]] welterweight boxer who was a top contender in the 1930s and 1940s, who won the [[World Colored Welterweight Championship|world colored welterweight]] and [[World Colored Middleweight Championship|world colored middleweight]] championships.<ref>{{cite web|last=Toledo|first=Springs|title='Just Watch Mah Smoke,' Part I: Lost at Sea|date=10 March 2011 |url=http://www.thesweetscience.com/news/articles/12170-just-watch-mah-smoke-part-i-lost-at-sea|website=The Sweet Science|access-date=26 May 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110312003700/http://www.thesweetscience.com/news/articles/12170-just-watch-mah-smoke-part-i-lost-at-sea |archive-date=March 12, 2011 |via=[[Wayback Machine]]}}</ref>

===Possible explanations===
[[File:USS Cyclops map by US Weather Bureau.png|thumb|right|A map prepared by the [[United States Weather Bureau|U.S. Weather Bureau]] and published in the June 1929 issue of ''[[Popular Science Monthly]]'', showing weather conditions at the time the ''Cyclops'' was lost]]

As ''Cyclops'' disappeared during World War I, and submarines of the [[Imperial German Navy]] were known to operate in the [[West Indies]], the ship being lost due to hostile action was considered.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/new-york-tribune-fear-cyclops-was-submar/137871248/ |title=Fear Cyclops Was Submarine Victim |newspaper=[[New-York Tribune]] |page=4 |date=June 5, 1918 |accessdate=January 1, 2024 |via=newspapers.com}}</ref> However, the German navy denied any involvement, or having even seen ''Cyclops'', both during and after the war.<ref name="Strange"/>

Reports indicate that on 10 March, the day after ''Cyclops'' was rumored to have been sighted by ''Amolco,'' a violent storm swept through the [[Virginia Capes]] area. While some suggest that the combination of the overloaded condition, engine trouble, and bad weather may have conspired to sink ''Cyclops,''<ref name="Strange" /> an extensive naval investigation concluded: "Many theories have been advanced, but none that satisfactorily accounts for her disappearance."<ref name="bermuda-triangle.org" /> This summation was written, however, before two of ''Cyclops''{{'}}s [[sister ship]]s, {{USS|Proteus|AC-9|2}} and {{USS|Nereus|AC-10|2}}, vanished at sea during [[World War II]] less than a year after their sale to civilian operators. Both ships were transporting heavy loads of metallic ore similar to that which was loaded on ''Cyclops'' during her fatal voyage. In both cases, their loss was theorized to have been the result of catastrophic structural failure,<ref>[http://familyheritage.ca/Articles/merchant1.html Canadian Merchant Ship Losses of the Second World War, 1939–1945]</ref> but a more outlandish theory attributes all three vessels' disappearances to the [[Bermuda Triangle]].<ref>Eyers, Jonathan (2011). ''Don't Shoot the Albatross!: Nautical Myths and Superstitions.'' A&C Black, London, UK. {{ISBN|978-1-4081-3131-2}}.</ref>

Rear Admiral George van Deurs suggested that the loss of ''Cyclops'' could be owing to structural failure, as her sister ships suffered from issues where the [[I-beam]]s that ran the length of the ship had eroded due to the corrosive nature of some of the cargo carried. This was observed definitively on {{USS|Jason|AC-12|6}}, and is believed to have contributed to the sinking of another similar freighter, ''Chuky,'' which snapped in two in calm seas. Moreover, ''Cyclops'' may have hit a storm with {{convert|30|-|40|kn|adj=on}} winds. These would have resulted in waves just far enough apart to leave the bow and stern supported on the peaks of successive waves, but with the middle unsupported, resulting in extra strain on the already weakened central area.<ref name="Without Trace">{{cite book|last=Harris|first=John|title=Without Trace|year=1981|publisher=Richard Clay ltd|location=Bungay, Suffolk|pages=179–182}}</ref>{{efn|In 1929, the ''Popular Science Monthly'' story research found that ''Cyclops'' had probably been lost in a storm. Separately, [[Larry Kusche]], author of ''The Bermuda Triangle Mystery – Solved'' (1975), came to the same conclusion.}}

For a [[BBC Radio 4]] documentary in 2009, [[Tom Mangold]] had an expert from [[Lloyd's of London|Lloyd's]] investigate the loss of ''Cyclops.'' The expert noted that manganese ore, being much denser than coal, had room to move within the holds even when fully laden, the hatch covers were canvas, and that when wet, the ore can become a slurry. As such, the load could shift and cause the ship to [[List (ship)|list]]. Combined with a possible loss of power from its one engine, it could founder in bad weather.<ref>Mangold, Tom ''Inside the Bermuda Triangle: the Mysteries Solved'' BBC Radio 4 2009.</ref>