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-Short Attention Span Theater-
The Oil Patch Warrior of WWII, Newark, England
2021-07-17
[AtlasObscura] THE OIL PATCH WARRIOR IS an evocative bronze statue which commemorates the 42 American oil drilling roughnecks who, during World War II, traveled to the famous Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire, England, to expand what was, in 1943, the United Kingdom’s only productive oilfield. This was at a time when the country was desperate for oil because of the regular losses of oil tankers to U-boats in the Battle of the Atlantic.

The drillers came from both Oklahoma and Texas and were all volunteers. Their companies had agreed to carry out the work at cost price. The drillers traveled across the Atlantic without incident on the HMS Queen Elizabeth in March 1943, but of their four drilling rigs, sent separately by cargo vessels, one was lost to a U-boat attack. The mission was kept top secret at the time.

While in the U.K., they were accommodated at Kelham Hall, an Anglican monastery at the time, now home to the recently relocated Duke’s Wood Oil Museum, which tells the story of this secret operation.

By drilling 106 wells (of which 94 were productive) between March 1943 and March 1944, they were able to increase the oilfield’s output from 300 barrels per day to 3,000 barrels per day, making a massive contribution to the war effort. The total added wartime production to the field was 1.2 million barrels and the field continued production up to 1965, helping the country’s post-war recovery. The total output from the field from 1939-1965 was 47 million barrels.

Of the 42 Noble Drilling Company and Fain-Porter Drilling Company employees who traveled to England, 41 returned to the U.S. in 1944 but one, Texan derrick-hand Herman Douthit, was killed in a fall from a drilling derrick and became one of only 32 civilians to be buried in the American Military Cemetery near Cambridge (plot c, row 5, grave 21). Fittingly, he was buried with full military honors.

Noble Drilling Company web site.
Posted by:Besoeker

#4  Re #2: and they were all white 'Muricans
Posted by: Mercutio   2021-07-17 10:14  

#3  Well, you know, the econazis are ascendant now.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain   2021-07-17 09:30  

#2  an evocative bronze statue

Soon to be removed as an environmental protest.
Posted by: Skidmark   2021-07-17 09:15  

#1  I understand Noble is part of Chevron now.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain   2021-07-17 08:33  

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