The vessel was named after Henry Bacon, the American architect who designed and built many monuments and settings for public sculpture, including the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. [1] The Henry Bacon was one of the thirty-eight merchant ships in convoy RA 64, which departed Kola Inlet, Murmansk, North Russia bound for Loch Ewe, Gourock, Scotland on Friday, 17 February 1945.

The crew complement under Captain Alfred Carini was forty-one merchant seamen and twenty-six US Navy Armed Guard.

The Henry Bacon was in ballast and carrying nineteen Norwegian civilian refugees, including women and children, as passengers.

On the afternoon of the Saturday, 18 February, the weather deteriorated to force 8 on the Beaufort scale, and the escort carriers were unable to operate aircraft.

During this storm, one of the main springs on the Henry Bacon's steering gear was broken, and the retaining pin was sheared.

At 1520 GCT, one torpedo struck the starboard side of the No.5 hold, and detonated the aft ammunition magazine.

When this situation became known to Chief Engineer Donald Haviland, he insisted that he would give his place in the lifeboat to a younger crew member and died with the ship.

When it was over, all of the Norwegian civilians had survived, nine Naval Armed Guard gunners, and two Navy signalmen were lost at sea.

In 1946, Captain Carini was posthumously awarded the Krigskorset med Sverd or Norwegian War Cross with Sword.

After being found innocent, the survivors returned to the United States on the USS Wakefield, where they arrived at Newport News, Virginia, on 20 March 1945.

The Royal Norwegian Embassy in Washington, DC now sponsors the annual "SS Henry Bacon Memorial Lecture" on 23 February 2003, the anniversary of the ship's sinking.