Ships hit by U-boats


Bonneville


Photo Courtesy of Library of Contemporary History, Stuttgart

NameBonneville
Type:Motor merchant
Tonnage4,665 tons
Completed1929 - Odense Staalskibsværft ved A.P. Møller, Odense 
OwnerA.F. Klaveness & Co A/S, Oslo 
HomeportOslo 
Date of attack9 Mar 1943Nationality:      Norwegian
 
FateSunk by U-405 (Rolf-Heinrich Hopmann)
Position58.45N, 21.57W - Grid AL 1759
- See location on a map -
Complement43 (36 dead and 7 survivors).
ConvoySC-121
RouteNew York - Liverpool 
Cargo7196 tons of general cargo, explosives and a landing craft as deck cargo 
History  
Notes on loss

At 22.35 hours on 9 Mar, 1943, U-405 attacked the convoy SC-121 and observed two hits from starboard on a ship which sank. The ship hit was the the Bonneville (Master Finn Tessem), which was the ship of the convoy commodore R.C. Birnie in station #81. Among the 36 dead were the master, the commodore and his staff of seven men, several of them froze to death on rafts or in lifeboats. Four of the seven survivors were picked up from a capsized lifeboat by the rescue ship Melrose Abbey and one other man was picked up from a raft by the same vessel.

The landing craft HMS LCT-2341 was also lost when the ship sank.

 


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