Caledonia
Norwegian Motor tanker
Name | Caledonia | ||
Type: | Motor tanker | ||
Tonnage | 9,892 tons | ||
Completed | 1936 - Deutsche Werft AG, Betrieb Finkenwärder, Hamburg | ||
Owner | Lorentzen Rederi & Co, Oslo | ||
Homeport | Oslo | ||
Date of attack | 28 Apr 1941 | Nationality: Norwegian | |
Fate | Sunk by U-96 (Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock) | ||
Position | 60° 03'N, 16° 10'W - Grid AL 3437 | ||
Complement | 37 (12 dead and 25 survivors). | ||
Convoy | HX-121 | ||
Route | Aruba (31 Mar) - Halifax - Glasgow | ||
Cargo | 13.745 tons of diesel and fuel oil | ||
History | Completed in January 1936 | ||
Notes on event | At 19.25 hours on 28 April 1941, U-96 fired three single torpedoes at three tankers in convoy HX-121 south of Iceland and reported the sinking of two tankers with 18.000 grt and damaging another with 6000 grt after observing three hits. The tankers Oilfield and the Caledonia were sunk and the freighter Port Hardy was hit and sunk after the torpedo had missed the intended target. Seven crew members of the 35 men and two gunners aboard the Caledonia (Master Ragnvald Andresen) died in the engine room. Five others jumped overboard and tried to get to the only launched lifeboat, but they drifted into the burning inferno around the nearby torpedoed Oilfield and died. The 25 men in the lifeboat desperately tried to rescue them, but this had to be given up because of the intense heat. The survivors were picked up by the British rescue ship Zaafaran and landed in Gourock on 1 May. | ||
More info | |||
On board | We have details of 34 people who were on board. |
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