Ships hit by U-boats


Signe

Finnish Steam merchant



NameSigne
Type:Steam merchant
Tonnage1,540 tons
Completed1882 - W. Gray & Co, West Hartlepool 
OwnerRederi-A/B Signe (Arvid Abrahamsson), Mariehamn 
HomeportMariehamn 
Date of attack2 Apr 1940Nationality:      Finnish
 
FateSunk by U-38 (Heinrich Liebe)
Position59° 21'N, 1° 12'W - Grid AN 2671
Complement19 (19 dead - no survivors)
ConvoyHN-23A (straggler)
RouteGothenburg - Bergen (30 Mar) - Burntisland 
CargoBallast 
History Completed as British Storra Lee for J.H. Murrell & Co, West Hartlepool. 1895 sold to Sweden and renamed Edith for Carl Henckel, Helsingborg. 1899 sold to Nils P. Swensson, Helsingborg. 1917 sold to Ernst Svedelius, Stockholm. 1918 sold to A/B Rederikompaniet (C.O. Daniel), Stockholm. 1920 renamed Glan for Rederi-A/B Motala Ström (Rob. Göhle), Norrköping. 1922 renamed Signe for Rederi-A/B Signe (Herm. Swensson), Helsingborg. 1924 transferred to Rederi-A/B Signe (Aug. Andersson), Helsingborg. 1939 sold to Finland. 
Notes on event

At 00.21 hours on 2 April 1940 U-38 fired one G7e torpedo from a distance of only 300 meters on a steamer at the end of a small convoy in low visibility due to bad weather about 20 miles southeast of Fair Isle and observed how the ship disappeared in a dense cloud of smoke and vapor after a hit on port side amidships. The Signe (Master Bengt Mattsson) was reported missing after falling 5 miles behind convoy HN-23A in the evening of 1 April, presumably due to engine troubles. HMS Sikh (F 82) (Cdr J.A. Giffard, RN), escorting convoy, reported an explosion at the time of the U-boat attack and searched the area behind convoy, but found nothing. On 4 April the body of a crew member was found on a raft by the British trawler Good Shepherd six miles north-northeast of Fair Isle.

 
On boardWe have details of 1 people who were on board


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