Nimba
Nimba under her former name Asta
| Name | Nimba | ||
| Type: | Steam merchant | ||
| Tonnage | 1.854 tons | ||
| Completed | 1900 - Osbourne, Graham & Co Ltd, Hylton, Sunderland | ||
| Owner | Alcoa SS Co, New York | ||
| Homeport | Panama | ||
| Date of attack | 13 Sep, 1942 | Nationality:  Panaman | |
| Fate | Sunk by U-515 (Werner Henke) | ||
| Position | 10.41N, 60.24W - Grid EE 7778 - See location on a map - | ||
| Complement | 32 (20 dead and 12 survivors). | ||
| Convoy | |||
| Route | Paramaribo - Trinidad | ||
| Cargo | 2780 tons of bauxite | ||
| History | On 27 Dec, 1941, the Finnish Asta was seized in New York by the US under an Executive Order and turned over to the US War Shipping Administration (WSA), which assigned the Panamanian registered ship to the Alcoa SS Co under a Time Charter on 7 Jan, 1942 and on 26 June on a GAA agreement at St.Thomas, Virgin Islands. | ||
| Notes on loss | At 06.34 hours on 13 Sep, 1942, the unescorted and unarmed Nimba (Master M.L. Newcomb) was hit on the starboard side by two torpedoes from U-515. The first struck at the #1 hold and the second in the engine room. The first explosion ripped open the deck, blew bauxite into the air and let the forward rigging crash on deck, while the second destroyed the starboard lifeboat and caused the ship to sink within one minute. The master, 18 crew members and one Workaway seaman were lost. The U-boat erroneously reported the ship as Senta after questioning the survivors. There was no time to launch a lifeboat and only seven survivors managed to board a raft, while three others clung to wreckage and two floated in the water for 12 hours before they were all picked up by USS Barney (DD 149) at 18.30 hours the same day and landed at Port of Spain the next day. | ||
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