Allied Merchant Ships Sunk on this day ww2

Discussion in 'The War at Sea' started by spidge, Aug 19, 2011.

  1. spidge

    spidge RAAF RESEARCHER

    We will endeavour to post vessels that were sunk on this day (anyone is welcome to do so) so we build up a complete list day by day.

    We welcome your comment, questions, additions, on crew list numbers, the cause of their sinking and by whom etc that may help expand the memory and contribution of these "Unsung Heroes". The Merchant Navy high death rate was only eclipsed by their Nemesis and most deadly enemy, the U-Boat crews.

    Wherever the war was being waged, merchant ships were there taking troops and essential supplies to the heart of the action. The traversing of these supply lines by these vessels and their crews, I think you will agree, was an extremely hazardous occupation. The whole maritime world was their battleground. From the moment they left port, these ships and their crews were at war, not knowing when they might be attacked, blown up or disabled in some fashion. Some statistics of the cost to the Merchant Service in World War 2 deserve some contemplation:

    • 4996 British and Allied ships lost
    • 62933 British and Allied merchant seamen killed in action
    • 4000 wounded
    • 5000 merchant seamen taken as prisoners of war.
    Compare this with the 50,758 British and Commonwealth Naval personnel killed in the war. It has been estimated that the Merchant service losses amounted to one in six, compared to the combined armed forces of one in 33. It is also worthy of note that of the total casualties of merchant seamen, only 8.25 percent were wounded but 91.75 percent killed, compared with 79 percent wounded and 21 percent killed in the armed forces.
     
  2. Jonathan Ball

    Jonathan Ball It's a way of life.

  3. spidge

    spidge RAAF RESEARCHER

    Aguila Steamship 3.255 Submarine Torpedo

    Alva Steamship 1.584 Submarine Torpedo

    Ciscar Steamship 1.809 Submarine Torpedo

    Devon Steamship 9.036 Raider -

    Golden Grain Motor Barge 101 Mine -

    West Celina Freighter Torpedo Sunk Caribbean Convoy Commodore killed
     
  4. Peter Clare

    Peter Clare Very Senior Member

  5. spidge

    spidge RAAF RESEARCHER

    Hi Geoff

    My Grandfather served in the Merchant Navy during the war so this very welcome thread is one I will follow with interest and hopefully I might be able to add a thing or two. I wrote about one of his convoys here:

    http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/war-sea/36674-my-grandfathers-arctic-convoy.html

    Jonathan

    Thanks Jonathon.

    Hope it will run & run and create more interest.

    Cheers

    Geoff
     
  6. spidge

    spidge RAAF RESEARCHER

    Turbo --- Steamship / Tanker --- 4.782 --- Aircraft --- Torpedo ---Seriously damaged foundered in tow 5th April 1942
     
  7. spidge

    spidge RAAF RESEARCHER

    20th August 1944

    Richard Montgomery - Liberty - Grounded and split - Total loss - NE Atlantic None
     
  8. Peter Clare

    Peter Clare Very Senior Member

  9. Peter Clare

    Peter Clare Very Senior Member

    20 August 1944

    East of Durban, the cargo liner Berwickshire 7,464 tons the UK to Tamatave was sunk by U 861.

    In the Channel, the cargo ship Coral 638 tons, Normandy beaches to the UK was sunk by U 764.

    SS. Coral
     

    Attached Files:

  10. Peter Clare

    Peter Clare Very Senior Member

    21 August 1940.

    About 800 miles west of the Canary Islands, the steamer Anglo Saxon, 5,595 tons Newport to Bahia Blanca with coal was sunk by the German commerce raider Widder.
    After the war the raiders captain, von Ruckteschell was found guilty of failing to provide for the safety of the ships crew. The court was told that the Widder had fired on the ships lifeboats; 39 of her crew died, two survivors drifted 2,5000 miles in 71 days, landing in the Bahamas.

    SS. Anglo Saxon
     

    Attached Files:

  11. Peter Clare

    Peter Clare Very Senior Member

    21 August 1942.

    Near Freetown, the cargo liner City of Wellington, 5,733 tons, South Africa to the UK was sunk by U 506.

    City of Wellington.
     

    Attached Files:

  12. spidge

    spidge RAAF RESEARCHER

    1940 - ThoroldSteamship1.689AircraftBombed & Gunfire
    1941 - Empire OakTug482SubmarineTorpedo
    1941 - ClonlaraSteamship1.203SubmarineTorpedo
     
  13. Peter Clare

    Peter Clare Very Senior Member

    23 August 1940

    In the North-west approaches U 57 sank the steamers Cumberland 10,939 tone, Liverpool to New Zealand. Four of her crew died, and St.Dunstan 5,681 tons. Glasgow to Baltimore, 14 of her crew died. St.Dunstan was taken in tow but sank on 27 August.

    South of Iceland, U 37 torpedoed the steamers Severn Leigh 5,242 tons Hull to St.John and the Brookwood 5,100 tons, London to Sydney.

    In the Moray Firth German aircraft attacked the steamers Makalla 6,677 tons Liverpool and London to India, which was set on fire and sank the next day and the Llanishen 5,053 tons Leith to Baltimore with the loss of 8 crew.
     
  14. Peter Clare

    Peter Clare Very Senior Member

    23 August 1941.

    In an attack on an outward bound convoy off Portugal, U 201 sank the cargo ships Stork, 787 tons bound for Gibraltar and the Aldergrove, 1,974 tons bound for Lisbon.
     
  15. Peter Clare

    Peter Clare Very Senior Member

    23 August 1944.

    Off the Normandy beaches, the cargo ship Fort Yale, 7,134 tons was sunk by U 480
     
  16. Jonathan Ball

    Jonathan Ball It's a way of life.

    23 August 1941.

    In an attack on an outward bound convoy off Portugal, U 201 sank the cargo ships Stork, 787 tons bound for Gibraltar and the Aldergrove, 1,974 tons bound for Lisbon.

    U-201 was commanded by Kapitänleutnant Adalbert Schnee about whom Clay Blair writes:

    "When U-201 reached Lorient, Donitz presented him a RitterKreuz (The Knights Cross). According to postwar accounting, at the time of the award, Schnee had sunk (on the duck U-60 and on U-201) only eight or nine ships for about 20,000 tons. Doubtless much weight was given to Schnee's dogged pursuit of Outbound Gibraltar 71 in the face of punishing enemy countermeasures, and to his substantial overclaims. Reflecting the poor returns of the summer of 1941, it was the only Knights Cross to be awarded to a German U-boat skipper in the period from August to October 1941."

    [​IMG]
    Adalbert Schnee
     
  17. spidge

    spidge RAAF RESEARCHER

    Great info Jonathan.!
     
  18. Jonathan Ball

    Jonathan Ball It's a way of life.

    23 August 1940

    In the North-west approaches U 57 sank the steamers Cumberland 10,939 tone, Liverpool to New Zealand. Four of her crew died, and St.Dunstan 5,681 tons. Glasgow to Baltimore, 14 of her crew died. St.Dunstan was taken in tow but sank on 27 August.

    At this time U-57 was commanded by one of the top U-Boat aces, Erich Topp, who ended the war as a holder of the Knights Cross with Oak Leaves and Crossed Swords. Much more information on Topp here:

    Fregattenkapitän Erich Topp - German U-boat Commanders of WWII - The Men of the Kriegsmarine - uboat.net

    U-57 was commissioned in December 1938 and served right through the War until the boat was scuttled in May 1945.
     
  19. James S

    James S Very Senior Member

    Schnee's last command a type XXI ended its days at Lisahally before "Deadlight".
     
  20. Jonathan Ball

    Jonathan Ball It's a way of life.

    24 August 1940

    Brookwood
    [​IMG]


    At 03.14 hours on 24 Aug, 1940, the Steam Merchant Brookwood, dispersed on 20 August from convoy OA-200, was torpedoed by U-37 south of Iceland. The ship was then set on fire by gunfire and sank later. One crew member was lost. The master, 34 crew members and one gunner were picked up after five days by the British merchant Clan Macbean and landed at Freetown. Later they were repatriated on the British Merchant Gloucester Castle.

    U-37 was commanded by Kapitänleutnant Victor Oehrn, a Knights Cross winner and U-Boat ace who sank 24 vessels totalling 104,846 tons during the war. On the same day U-37 sank the Brookwood, Oehrn also attacked and sank the sloop HMS Penzance. U-37 did not escape this day unscathed as the Boat was hit from the air and by surface escorts forcing Oehrn to return to Lorient.

    [​IMG]
    Victor Oehrn

    Sources: Uboat.net and Hitler's U-Boat War: The Hunters 1939-1942 by Clay Blair.
     

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