HMS Dumana
Photo Courtesy of Library of Contemporary History, Stuttgart
| Name | HMS Dumana | ||
| Type: | Seaplane tender | ||
| Tonnage | 8.427 tons | ||
| Completed | 1923 - Barclay, Curle & Co, Whiteinch, Glasgow | ||
| Owner | The Admiralty | ||
| Homeport | Glasgow | ||
| Date of attack | 24 Dec, 1943 | Nationality:  British | |
| Fate | Sunk by U-515 (Werner Henke) | ||
| Position | 04.27N, 06.58W - Grid EU 8372 - See location on a map - | ||
| Complement | 169 (39 dead and 130 survivors). | ||
| Convoy | STL-8 | ||
| Route | Port Etienne - Freetown (23 Dec) - Takoradi | ||
| Cargo | 300 tons of RAF stores | ||
| History | Laid down in March 1923 as motor passenger ship Melma, completed as Dumana for British India Steam Navigation Co Ltd, London and used in service from London to Karachi and Bombay. After 1934 in Calcutta service. In September 1939 the ship was chartered by Air Ministry and used as base ship for 500 airmen with workshops for aircraft overhaul in Port Said, later Alexandria, Malta and Gibraltar. 1941 evacuated RAF personnel from Crete. 1942 converted to a flying-boat mother ship and moved to Bathurst with two Sunderland Squadrons. | ||
| Notes on loss | At 20.30 hours on 24 Dec, 1943, HMS Dumana (Master Archibald Richard George Drummond) in convoy STL-8 was torpedoed and sunk by U-515 west of Sassandra, Ivory Coast. The vessel sank in a short time, dragging some of the lifeboats down with her before they could be released. Three officers, seven crew members, 20 lascars, two gunners and seven RAF personnel were lost. The master, 107 crew members, seven gunners and 15 RAF personnel were picked up by HMS Arran (T 06) (Lt W.G.N. Aplin) and HMS Southern Pride (K 249) (Lt G.B. Angus, DSC) and landed at Takoradi on 25 December. | ||
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