Feb. 8 1942. USS Lafayette catches fire and sinks

[Popeye]

February 9, 1942. USS LAFAYETTE catches fire at pier 88 in New York City setting up the establishment of the first Navy Salvage School. LAFAYETTE was originally constructed as a French luxury liner, the SS Normandie. It had been purchased by the US Navy for conversion into a high-speed troop carrier to support the war effort. Originally the fire was thought to be some sort of Nazi sabotage, but was later found to be a result of carless yard workers. While fighting the fire, the NYC fire department used so much water that it caused the ship to capsize. This made two of the longest berths in NYC harbor totally useless. Due to the high degree of public interest in this wreck, its potential contribution to the war and the critical position that it lay in; it was decided to have the Navy right it and refloat it. Pearl Harbor had occurred only a few short months earlier and the demand for large numbers of trained Divers and Salvors was made even more urgent. The Navy decided to kill two birds with one stone by establishing "The Naval Training School (Salvage)" at the site of the LAFAYETTE on pier 88. The school operated 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Countless hours of bottom time later the LAFAYETTE was refloated on 15 September 1942.

The salvage of the LAFAYETTE was a huge job, skillfully done with a minimum of interference with other work at a reasonable cost. The most important product of the salvage was that it produced scores of highly skilled Salvage Officers and Navy Divers who later played a critical role in the salvage and emergency repair of vessels damaged during WWII. The Naval Training School (Salvage) would later be transferred to Bayonne, NJ in 1946.

[Gilldiver]

There are still rumors that the fire was started by the Mob to show the Navy that on the waterfront you dealt with them or things happened. It is also said that the fire was to get the Navy’s help getting Lucky Luciano out of prison.
Here is a piece on Lucky Luciano
World War II, freedom and deportation
During World War II, the U.S. government reportedly struck a secret deal with the imprisoned Luciano. United States Army Military Intelligence knew that Luciano maintained good connections in the Sicilian and Italian Mafia, which had been severely persecuted by Benito Mussolini. Luciano considered himself to be a loyal American who was devoted to Sicily, the Mafia, and the United States alike. His help was sought in providing Mafia assistance to counter possible Axis infiltration on U.S. waterfronts, during Operation Avalanche, and his connections in Italy and Sicily were tapped to furnish intelligence and ensure an easy passage for U.S. forces involved in the Italian Campaign. Albert Anastasia, who controlled the docks, promised that no dockworker strikes would arise. Both during and after the war, the U.S. military and intelligence agencies reputedly also used Luciano's Mafia connections to root out communist influence in labor groups and local governments. In return for his cooperation, Luciano was permitted to run his crime empire unhindered from his jail cell.
Luciano would later say that his contribution to the war effort had been a sham, designed purely to obtain his release from prison. The enemy threat to the docks, he said, had been manufactured by the sinking of the SS Normandie directed by Anastasia's brother, Anthony Anastasio. The Normandie, a captured French passenger vessel, was being refitted as a troop ship in New York harbor. Furthermore, said Luciano, he did next to nothing to help the war effort in Italy.[11]
In 1946, as a reward for his presumed wartime cooperation, Luciano was paroled on the condition that he depart the United States and return to Sicily. He accepted the deal, although he had maintained during his trial that he was a native of New York City and was therefore not subject to deportation. He was deeply hurt about having to leave the United States, a country he had considered his own ever since his arrival at age ten. During his exile, Luciano used to meet US military men during train trips throughout Italy, and he enjoyed being recognized by his countrymen and tourists, taking photos and even signing autographs for them.
Also:
After mob boss Charles "Lucky" Luciano was imprisoned for pandering, Anastasio allegedly organized the arson sabotage of the French luxury liner SS Normandie.[2] Early in 1942, a few months after the U.S. entered World War II, the brothers hit upon a clever scheme. The U.S. Navy at the time was concerned about the dangers of possible acts of sabotage against warships berthed at Brooklyn and Manhattan docks.[3] The brothers made a deal with the Navy to release Luciano, and in return the mob would guarantee the safety of the docks as far as the Navy's interests were concerned.[3] To get the Navy concerned they created a maritime disaster: Anastasio had been aware that over the last few months agents of naval intelligence had been scouting the Brooklyn and Manhattan waterfront looking for Italians and Germans who might be involved in a plot to sabotage Navy shipping.[3] A French luxury liner, the SS Normandie, was being hastily converted into a troop transport and was docked at a Hudson River pier. Anthony and his brother Albert decided to sabotage the Normandie.[3] The fire that broke out the afternoon of February 9, 1942, became one of the most spectacular in New York City's history. For hours the Normandie burned, until, listing heavily to port from all the water she had taken on, the ship finally capsized along the pier. The destruction of the Normandie prompted the Navy to approach the mob.[3] The Navy won a guarantee that there would be no sabotaging of shipping in New York Harbor.[3] As a reward for his "patriotic" support Charles Luciano was transferred from the maximum-security prison at Dannemora to Great Meadow prison, a minimum-security facility.[3]

[Popeye]

Yes,well known

[8dust]

Good history, guys.

Thanks. I really like reading these little bits.

[Gilldiver]

The Navy had a right to be concerned about sabotage on the NY and NJ waterfronts as in WWI there were a number of cases of it.

[JES]

Great information. Thank you Popeye & Gilldiver.

[usddude]

Popeye and Gilldiver....thanks for the fantastic history. I learned to dive in New Jersey as a youth. I find it very interesting that the mobsters fought off the communist over control of the unions at the docks. All of the mafia ended up in jail. Many of the communist were then able to take over the unions.....man I love history!!! I dove many wwII wrecks back in the day. Lobsters all over....yummmm

usd

[Popeye]

I started my Diving career (SCUBA) in the mid 1950s wreck diving in the NE (NJ,NY,Cn and Mass.