Lieutenant Commander Andrew Mowat, Pay Corps, U. S. Navy

Lieutenant Commander Andrew "Andy" Mowat, Pay Corps, U. S. Navy, is one of the fifty-six men listed on the memorial plaques of the Miantonomi Memorial Tower. On May 31, 1918, this naval officer from Newport, Rhode Island, lost his life when, the Imperial German Navy submarine U-90 torpedoed and sank the American troopship U.S.S. President Lincoln. Lieutenant Commander Mowat was one of three officers and twenty-three enlisted men that died that day. One other officer, Lieutenant Edouard V.M. Isaacs, was taken prisoner by the crew of the U-90 but escaped captivity five months later.

The President Lincoln departed Brest, France, on May 29th with the troopships Antigone, Ryndam, and Susquahanna. It was returning to New York with 715 people embarked, including thirty Army personnel. The ship had completed five trips to France since being placed into commission with the Cruiser and Transport Force of the United States Atlantic Fleet. The small convoy of troop transports was escorted from Brest by American destroyers until the evening of May 30th, when the destroyers departed to rendezvous with and escort an inbound convoy.

The President Lincoln, Antigone, Ryndam, and Susquahanna proceeded westward across the Atlantic. Unknown to those embarked on the transports, the U-90 had been stalking them for hours. Despite the zig-zag maneuvers and other defensive measures taken, the U-90 was able to track and target the President Lincoln, which was the largest of the troopships in the convoy.

The first two of U-90's torpedoes struck the port side of the President Lincoln near the bridge. Shortly thereafter, U-90's third torpedo struck the ship on the port side aft. Following naval procedures, the Antigone, Ryndam, and Susquahanna did not stop to assist the President Lincoln. However, radio messages describing the presence of a U-boat and its attack on the President Lincoln were transmitted to naval authorities in France. The crew of the President Lincoln went to battle stations and began to assess the damage to their ship.

It soon became clear to the ship's commanding officer, Commander Percy W. Foote, that the ship could not be saved. He gave the order for the crew and Army passengers to abandon ship. The gun crews, which had been on station when the ship was attacked, remained at their stations in order to fire on the submarine if it reappeared. They would be the last ones allowed to abandon the ship.

The President Lincoln sank in eighteen minutes. The crew had successfully launched the ship's lifeboats and life rafts. They began collecting them into a group to make them easier for the rescue destroyers to find. Then U-90 surfaced near the rafts and lifeboats and its crew began looking for the ship's commanding officer or other officers to interrogate for intelligence. The President Lincoln's crew told the Germans that the captain had gone down with the ship. Another officer, Lieutenant Isaacs, was discovered and taken aboard U-90. After a few hours of remaining within the vicinity of the rafts and lifeboats hoping for new ships to sink, the U-boat submerged.

The commander of United States Naval Forces in France, Vice Admiral Henry B. Wilson, U. S. Navy, received the message about the President Lincoln's sinking. The destroyer U.S.S. Warrington and later the destroyer U.S.S. Smith were detached from their assigned duties and dispatched to the President Lincoln's last know location. The U.S.S. Warrington, a destroyer commanded by Lieutenant Commander George W. Kenyon, U. S. Navy, arrived on scene shortly after 11:00 p.m. It was later joined by the U.S.S. Smith commanded by Lieutenant Commander J. H. Klein, U. S. Navy.

The two destroyers embarked the President Lincoln's survivors and a muster determined that 688 of the 715 persons embarked in the ship had been saved by the crews of the destroyers. The destroyers headed back to Brest with the survivors on June 1st. About 1:00 p.m., they spotted a periscope and the U.S.S. Smith conducted a depth charge attack. The German submarine escaped and the two destroyers arrived in Brest with the survivors on June 2nd. The U.S. Navy would later learn that the submarine that was depth bombed by the U.S.S. Smith was the U-90.

The June 28, 1918, edition of the Newport Mercury contained an article describing Mowat and his actions on the night of the ship's sinking. Commander Percy W. Foote, U. S. Navy, is quoted as saying of Mowat that:

"His high character... and attention to duty were such as to endear him to all his brother officers. It is with a feeling of pride that I am able to testify to his courageous performance of duty, during the time of emergency, when all persons on board the President Lincoln were facing possible death and destruction. Various witnesses have reported to me that Paymaster Mowat's chief concern was to see that the safety of the men under his care was properly provided for, and the men of his division who were the last to leave the ship saw him standing at his place of duty on the ship's deck just before she sank. I am unable to exactly account for his loss of life. But it is my opinion that he delayed leaving the ship so long himself that he was either caught in the water as it rushed on the ship's covered deck, or else he went into the water over the ship's side and was drawn by a current of water which was sweeping into the ship through the hole made by the torpedo. Our hearts are sad, due to the loss of our beloved shipmate and brother officer. We have lost a friend and the nation has lost a capable officer."

Lieutenant Commander Mowat was survived by his mother, Mrs. Jemima Mowat, of Newport, Rhode island.

Contact Matthew McCoy at riww1cc@gmail.com for additional information about the Rhode Island World War One Centennial Commission (RIWW1CC).

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