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Allied Ships hit by U-boats


Granville


NameGranville
Type:Steam merchant
Tonnage4.071 tons
Completed1913 - W. Gray & Co, West Hartlepool 
OwnerWessel, Duval & Co, New York 
HomeportPanama 
Date of attack17 Mar, 1943Nationality:      Panaman
 
FateSunk by U-338 (Manfred Kinzel)
Position52.50N, 30.35W - Grid BD 2131
- See location on a map -
Complement47 (13 dead and 34 survivors).
ConvoySC-122 
RouteNew York - Iceland 
Cargo3700 tons British and American military stores, 500 bags US Mail and a invasion barge as deck cargo 
History

Built as Tabarka, 1932 renamed Finnish Wipunen for Antti Wihuri, Helsingfors.

On 27 Dec, 1941, the Wipunen was seized by US at Norfolk VA and renamed Granville under Panamanian flag. 

Notes on loss At 14.52 hours on 17 Mar, 1943, U-338 fired torpedoes at the convoy SC-122, observed one hit and heard three detonations which were probably depth charges.

The Granville (Master Friedrich Matzen) was struck by one torpedo on the port side at the #2 hatch, starting a fire in the hold. The engine room flooded as the watertight door between the coal bunkers and fireroom was open, because coal was being transferred from the bunkers to the fireroom. Ten crew members working in the engine room were killed. The vessel broke in two amidships and sank within 15 minutes, taking two armed guards with her. The surviving men of her complement of 35 crew members, eleven armed guards and one passenger (an US Army Lt. Colonel) abandoned ship in lifeboats and rafts. The survivors, including the master, were picked up about an hour later by HMS Lavender (K 60) and landed at Liverpool on 23 March. The second mate was rescued but died of wounds on the corvette and was buried at sea. 


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