Crew list of Ships hit by U-boats


Richard James Roper

RM (21766). British

Born  5 Mar 1905Salisbury, Wiltshire

Roster information listed for Richard James Roper


ShipTypeRank / roleAttacked onBoat
City of NagpurSteam passenger shipMarine (DEMS gunner)29 Apr 1941U-75 (1)

Personal information

Richard James Roper later told his family how he "stepped" off the sinking City of Nagpur into a lifeboat due to the excessive list, then was bundled into the bottom of the lifeboat and sat on by nurses when the U-boat hailed them in perfect English. He recounted they couldn’t fire the deck guns as the list was too great replying instead to U-75 with machine gun fire. His description of the U-boat was that it "prowled" around the sinking ship on the surface.

Sources

  1. Personal communication

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Crew list for Ships hit by U-boats