Ships , anyone?

[christerd]

This card is posted from a crewmember of S/S Belgia in 1939 , she was built for the Swedish company Gothabolaget, but was sunk in the Thames in 1941 by German airplanes. Later salvaged and brought into service as S/S Empire Bell, the 25th September 1942 she was sunk for the second and last time. 10 of her crew died at the sinking, her faith was U 442 which only survived for 5 more months before she was sunk in February 1943.

[christerd]

S/S City of Simla , very nice passengership of 10138brt , buit by W Gray & Co in 1921.

She was torpedoed and sunk by U 138 under command of Wolfgang Lüth 20th September 1940.

she was the a part of convoy OB-216 , only 3 died while 347 could be saved by other ships.

[christerd]

Here is a famous ship, maybe not as victim but the Submarine who sank her !

Mv Korshamn 6755 brt was built in 1920 by Harland & Wolff for Elder Line but was bought by Glen Line Ltd and naned Glenluce.

in 1938 she was bought by Jamaica Line and renamed Korshamn. She was a part of Convoy HX 112 when she was torpedoed and sunk the night 16/17 March 1941 by U 99 under command of Otto Kretschmer ^Silent Otto^ one of the greatest U boat commanders of WWII, hes U 99 was itself sunk the 17th March, but Kretschmer survived and become later FlottillenAdmiral in BundesMarine.

He died 1998, 57 years after the sinking of MV Korshamn....

[christerd]

More unhappy ships arrived recently to my collection, 8 more !

Here is the first one.

S/S Bradford City 3683 grt built in 1901 ,later turned into a Q-ship and renamed Saros. The Q-ships in WW 1 was a kind of desperate answer to the increasing U-boat threat.,armed merchant ships that would make the Uboat captain think they where an easy prey and then hit them hard with their hidden guns.

S/S Bradford City (Saros) was torpedoed by an K.U.K (Austria-Hungary ) Uboat U 28 16th August 1917 in the straits of Messina.

There was no casualties the crew was picked up by a French Trawler.

The U 28 had an unusual fate for an Uboat , she was very sucessful and sank 40 ships before she open fire with her deck gun at the ship Olive Branch in 2nd september 1917, the ship exploded and took the submarine with her to the bottom. All 39 ombord the U 28 was killed.

[christerd]

Another ship, another story

The S/S Inverader was aTanker built in 1919, in 24th february 1942 she was torpedoed by U-558 .

Two torpedoes hit her and S/S Inverader sank to the bottom. Unusual for a tanker all the crew ombord was saved.

U 558 wasn´t that lucky , in july 20th 1943 she was sunk by areoplanes equipped with depth charges and 45 of the crew ombord was killed , only 5 survived

Christer

[christerd]

And here is a lucky ship !

S/S Laomedon was built in 1912 and had something against Uboats almost from the beginning....

In 1916 she fought off a Uboat with the stern gun and managed to escape.

In second world war it was even closer , february 1942 she was torpedoed but kept afloat and sailed on throughout the war.

[christerd]

S/S Koranna was aship with many names , she was built in 1905 and given the name Koranna, later she was in Chinese service

and in 1938 taken by the Japanese and renamed Nittaku Maru.

New or old name didn´t help , 14th february 1944 she was torpedoed and sunk by the USS Snook ( SS 279)

USS Snook was a very succesful Uboat and made nine patrols and sunk 17 enemy ships, but after 8th of April 1945 no one has seen or heard of her, a tragic end for a crew of brave sailors.

Christer

[christerd]

S/S Kirnwood 3829 grt was built in 1928 for Constantine Shipping Ltd , Middlesbrough. She was on the route from NY to Ipswich carrying 5500 tons of grain under command of Captain George Albert Norton , when she was torpedoed and sunk on 10th december 1941 by U 130. Captain Noton and eleven from her crew died at the sinking.

U 130 under command of RK KorvKpt Ernst Kals sunk 17 ships and another four was sent to the bottom with her new commander Siegfried Keller in March 1943, but then in March 12th she was sunk by depth charges from US destroyer USS Champlin.

Everyone ombord U 130 including Oblt Keller was killed.

[christerd]

S/S Jonna was the name of this Danish ship built by Nakskov Shipwharf A/S , Nakskov in 1933 , 1516 grt. She was used by US and renamed in 1941 to S/S Pillory. With Capt Laurid N Sorenssen and a crew of 37 she hade departed from San Juan June 5th 1944 and had US Coast Guard Cutter USS-CG 83310 as escort. That didn´t help her, at 20.05 she was hit by a torpedo from U-539 and got a starboard list straight away, at 20.07 a second torpedo hit her an she was doomed. The crew and ten guards that where ombord had no time to get into life boats. at all 25 lost their life among them , the captain, 20 from the crew and four guards.

U 539 under command of Oblt Hans- Jürgen Lauterbach-Emden survived the war and finally surrended at Bergen , Norway May 9th 1945.

[christerd]

S/S Italiana was inspite of the name built by Robert Duncan & Co Glasgow in 1898. 2663 grt and with acargo of Hay ! she was torpedoed East of Malta september 14th 1916. The U boat that sunk her was UB 43 under the Command of Hans von Mellenthin.

Everyone ombord Italiana survived the attack.

UB 43 was a small uboat but she sank 22 ships for a total of 99 176 tons 1916-1917 , Ub 43 surrended at Venice (of all places) in November 1918.

Christer

Edited December 7, 2012 by christerd

[christerd]

S/S Iron Chieftain was built at Lithgows Ltd , Glasgow in 1927 and was a 4812 grt Iron Core carrier. She was on route Newcastle-Whyalla in June 3rd 1942, when she was torpedoed by the Japanese Sub I-24 east of Sydney.

The captain Lionel Haddelsey and 11 others was lost from the ship.

I-24 was one of the quite famous Japanese submarines , she participated in the attack on Pearl Harbour in december 1941 as a mother ship for a midget sub attacking Pearl Harbour. But only one year after the sinking of Iron Chieftain the luck was out for I-24.

After been rammed and depth charged she sank with all hands outside the coast of Alaska June 11th 1943.

[army historian]

Wow, great collection - I wrote an article on the USS San Diego: http://www.militarymuseum.org/USSSanDiego.html . I have many pictures of the ship - she was the only US capitol ship lost in WW1 - to a mine from U-156. George

[Mervyn Mitton]

Hi - George - hope you are well ?

I think this post has just been moved here - probably during the new changes. I think that it is a perfect spot - although, I suppose

Naval ships should go under their respective Forums. Anyway, since it's here - and San Diego is my favourite US city - please show a

few more pictures. Mervyn

[speagle]

How about this Mervyn? Enjoty the pics.

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=us+navy+ships+pictures&qpvt=us+navy+ships+pictures&FORM=IGRE

Ed

[Strapper]

My ship...cast lead with an aero plane on the front...WW1 ish.

[Mervyn Mitton]

GOOD ! Now I've got your finger and palm prints...................... Good lifeline though.

Where did the little ship come from ? Mervyn

[christerd]

Hello all , New ship coming in and new stories , many times sad ones but sometimes with a lucky ending.

First out is SS Pakeha built in 1890 by Ropner & sons Ltd for Blue Star Line in London , 4321 grt

1918 was she remamed to S/S Broderick and on the April 29th 1918 she was hit by two torpedos from UB-57 under command of

ObLt Johannes Lohs. Everyone ombord S/S Broderick survived but Johannes Lohs and his men wasn´t that lucky August 14th 1918 , UB-57 hit a mine and went down with all men.

Christer

[christerd]

Here is another ship and a real horrible disaster not known to many perhaps ...

This postcard was sent from Senegal in 1937 to Sweden by a sailor on the French ship Brazza .

In May 28th 1940 she was torpedoed and sunk by U-37 one of the most sucessful German Submarines during WW II.

Of the 575 people on Brazza only 117 survived the sinking, U 37 on the other hand survived the war and was scuttled in May 8th 1945 she had then sunk 55 ships.

Christer

[christerd]

Another new in my collection is S/S Banffshire , built in 1911 as S/S Clan Mc Rae (sounds as a real Scottish ship)

5058 grt , renamed in 1921 to s/s Banffshire and torpedoed by U 532 NW of Maldives Islands Sept 29th 1943.

At the time of sinking there was 100 people on Banffshire but luckily only one died.

U 532 was a type IX C /40 boat and survived the war to surrender in May 13th 1945.

[christerd]

Sinking a Hospital ship is always a extra tragic story and as we have seen it happened...

HHMS Dover Castle was built for Union-Castle Line in 1904 but was made into Hospital ship during WW 1.

May 26th 1917 she was sunk by UC-67 , seven of the men working in the machine room was killed by the explosion.

All others survived the sinking.

[christerd]

And the last one for today and the biggest one.

MV Abosso was an British passenger ship built in 1935 at Cammel Laird & Co Ltd Birkenhead with 11330 t she was a big ship

and a beauty. When she was hit by a torpedo NW of Azores 29th October 1942 one of the worst sinking of WW II begun.

Günther Heydemann in U 575 fired 4 torpedo but only one of the hit, after 15 minutes he fired a another one and MV Barosso sunk after about 35 minutes. Of the 393 on the ship only 31 survived. A somewhat ironic thing was that on Abosso was a complete submarine crew !

34 Dutch submariners was on the way to England to man the submarine Haai , only four of the submariners survived the sinking.

Christer

[Mervyn Mitton]

Christer - you have turned this post into a very interesting one with your early postcards - thankyou. Please add when you have time

- it's like looking at a time capsule. Mervyn

[Harry the Mole]

This is a private Photo of her !

Notice the German sub in the foregrund!

christer

I would hazard a guess that the submarine is actually Italian - possibly of the Pietro Calvi type of boat.

[christerd]

I would hazard a guess that the submarine is actually Italian - possibly of the Pietro Calvi type of boat.

Aha ! Thanks Harry , interesting I wonder where the pic was taken ?

Christer

[Stuka f]

Love ships, especialy theyre history.

Living in Antwerp, so anything related to my city is a focus.

Compagny's like; Red and White star line, CMB, and so many others.

cheers

|<ris