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Slidre (ex Bomma)

8K views 12 replies 5 participants last post by  Keoni21230 
#1 ·
I'm seeking any info on the wreck of this vessel.
MV Slidre, ex Bomma IMO No. 5047833:


She blew ashore near Apra, Guam during a Typhoon 21. May, 1976 and the wreck was reportedly sold "as is" for demolition.
Does anybody have pictures of the wreck, or know if demolition was actually done/completed??
 
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#3 ·
Thanks for that, I presume you could say "good" news. She was the best ship I ever sailed on. Old but trusty and a "happy ship" most of the time.

I notice the time gap between her grounding and when you pulled her off the beach. It is better that she sunk more or less in one piece than to be cut int little bits at the beach. Or had demolition started by then?

Do you know of any picture of the wreck at Gab Gab Beach??
 
#4 ·
I know some of the crew took pics, but I don't have any myself. I'll check the ship's roster at Military.com or Together We Served and see if I cal find anyone I knew that might have something. You also might look for anyone who was stationed at Guam during those years. I'm sure somebody has something.

As to the time lag, all we heard at the time was that somebody in some place of power somewhere had suddenly decided that the wreck might fall off and block the channel. Based on the amount of work it took to get her off, I'd say those fears were ill-founded.

I know from experience that it's a sad thing to see a ship you once sailed on bite the dust like that. The only one I ever sailed on myself that hasn't been scrapped is the USS Midway, which is a museum here in San Diego now. I'm sure your memories of sailing aboard Slidre are more pleasant than mine of wading around below her decks preparing her to be pulled off the rocks.
 
#5 ·
I certainly appreciate your effort and hope you can dig up something.
I have tried to e-mail the Port Authorities and a local newspaper in Guam, but received no replies.

I served twice on this vessel, first on the Vietnam coast for USAid in 1967 for a short time, and again on the Australia to South Pacific Island trade in 1969.

She had quite a story behind her, being the ship that carried part of the Norwegian Gold reserve out of Norway under the nose of the Germans at the beginning of WWII and eventually across the Atlantic to Boston, MA.

She was in Guam before that illfaithed day of the Taiphoon. Also during WWII. She was under Northraship control and on charter to Sealift for most of the war. (Or whatever they were called at the time)

My avatar is a picture of Slidre in her young days. (1938). Not many ships built today will last that long. (38 years)
If not for the Typhoon, she may still be sailing between the islands in the Pacific.
 
#6 ·
Man, what a story! I'm kinda glad I didn't know the ship's history at the time we pulled her off. It would have only made a major pain in the butt operation a sad one as well.

It's nice to have an exchange with someone who understands the emotional attachments that form with a ship when you serve aboard her. My brother, who's never served, looks at me like I'm nuts when I get going talking about one of my old ships. I spent 2 years aboard USS Ashtabula, a ship that was torpedoed by the Japanese when my father was in the Navy. Try telling an outsider a story like that sometime.
If I find anything more, I'll get back to you.

Buddha
 
#7 ·
I finally found a picture of the wreck of Slidre sitting on Gab Gab Beach, Guam:


I found it on this web site:http://windclimber.hubpages.com/hub/Two-Seconds-Later-Sailing-in-Apra-Harbor-Guam

But most of the stuff had nothing to do with Slidre, only this short bit:

Right at the edge of the Navy base’s GabGab Beach is a shipwreck deposited on the edge of the coral shelf by Typhoon Pamela, I believe it was. You can literally wade out to the ship to her starboard side and jump off her rusted port side into water that’s 80 feet deep and sloping down much further.
What is a bit surprising is how intact she looks and the talk about; "jumping off her rusted Port side into water that's 80 ft. deep". In that case, why was there no attempt at salvage at the early days? It took 4 years before she was pulled off, only to be shuttled and sunk.

I'm now trying to find out if she became an artificial reef somewhere near by, or was just sunk into the deep ocean.

I also found this article, with a picture of Slidre and a mentioning of her being "hard aground on Gab Gab Beach":


Now I have just one more of "my" ships to find any mention of, the Jo-Tor, (IMO No. 5364906) which was reportedly last named as the Hamid, owned by an Iranian company called Moareffi Transport Co. registered in Sharjah, UAE (1980)

Said to have been wrecked in the Iran-Irak war. Reported seen as a burnt out wreck in or near Bushehr Port in Iran sometime in the late 1980s.

Anybody able to help??
 
#10 ·
By the way, I worked the SOS from the bridge of the USCGC Basswood (WLB-388) when this happened. We were at anchor in the inner Apra Harbor between the Naval Station and the Submarine Tender USS Proteus. I was a 19 year old Radioman manning my special sea detail position on the bridge, the winds broke our anemometer at 197 MPH and I was scared to death. On the way out to the outer Apra Harbor the next day to service the aids to navigation for the harbor, we saw the Slidre. I couldn't believe my eyes. you can imagine how surprised I am seeing photos of the ship nearly fifty years later. Thanks for the memory! John Schuller Comm3, USCG Ret
 
#12 · (Edited)
I just happened to look in on this old thread today and was very surprised to see a new post this many years after I first posted here almost 12years ago.(2011)
She was a ship with soul that survived WWII, numerous trips around the stormy North sea for 28 years, 14 months on the South Vietnam coast for US Aid and finally as an island tramper on the South and North Pacific Islands.
I had two spells on her. First in 1968 and again one trip from East Coast of Australia to PNG v.v. in 1969 .
From 1970 she was under Philippine flag and traded from HK/Manila to North Pacific islands.
 
#13 ·
Very similar cir***stances - I'm collecting some of my life stories for my sons and grandchildren. I'd previously seen a shot of the Slidre on the internet and was looking to download it for those stories. When I saw the photos and the thread, I figured "what the heck. I'll throw in and see what happens!" So glad someone saw it and responded.

It's so fascinating to hear about the "many lives of ships".

Thanks for responding and telling me even more about that ship that now occupies a place in my stories.
 
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