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Allied Ships hit by U-boats


HMS Astronomer


NameHMS Astronomer
Type:Boom defence vessel
Tonnage8.401 tons
Completed1917 - D. & W. Henderson & Co Ltd, Glasgow 
OwnerThe Admiralty 
HomeportLiverpool 
Date of attack1 Jun, 1940Nationality:      British
 
FateSunk by U-58 (Herbert Kuppisch)
Position58.01N, 02.12W - Grid AN 1829
- See location on a map -
Complement105 (4 dead and 101 survivors).
Convoy 
RouteRosyth - Scapa Flow 
Cargo3000 tons of naval stores 
History In August 1939 the steam merchant Astronomer of T. & J. Harrison, Liverpool, was requisitioned by the Royal Navy and converted to a boom defence vessel. 
Notes on loss At 23.48 hours on 1 Jun, 1940, the HMS Astronomer (Master John James Egerton) was torpedoed by U-58 30 miles southeast of Wick. The vessel foundered the next day in position 58°02N/02°07´30W. Four crew members were lost. The master, 51 crew members, one gunner and 48 naval officers and ratings were picked up by the British armed trawlers HMS Stoke City (FY 232) (LtCdr N.C.H. Scallan) and HMS Leicester City (FY 223) (Lt A.R. Cornish) and landed at Rosyth. 


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