Signe
Finnish Steam merchant
Name | Signe | ||
Type: | Steam merchant | ||
Tonnage | 1,540 tons | ||
Completed | 1882 - W. Gray & Co, West Hartlepool | ||
Owner | Rederi-A/B Signe (Arvid Abrahamsson), Mariehamn | ||
Homeport | Mariehamn | ||
Date of attack | 2 Apr 1940 | Nationality: Finnish | |
Fate | Sunk by U-38 (Heinrich Liebe) | ||
Position | 59° 21'N, 1° 12'W - Grid AN 2671 | ||
Complement | 19 (19 dead - no survivors) | ||
Convoy | HN-23A (straggler) | ||
Route | Gothenburg - Bergen (30 Mar) - Burntisland | ||
Cargo | Ballast | ||
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 board | We have details of 1 people who were on board. |
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