Ships hit by U-boats


Shirvan

British Steam tanker



Photo courtesy of the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, P24037

NameShirvan
Type:Steam tanker
Tonnage6,017 tons
Completed1925 - Sir W.G. Armstrong, Whitworth & Co Ltd, Newcastle-upon-Tyne 
OwnerBaltic Trading Co Ltd, London 
HomeportLondon 
Date of attack10 Nov 1944Nationality:      British
 
FateSunk by U-300 (Fritz Hein)
Position64° 08'N, 22° 50'W - Grid AE 4753
Complement45 (18 dead and 27 survivors).
ConvoyUR-142
RouteBowling - Loch Ewe - Hvalfjordur, Iceland 
Cargo8050 tons of gas oil 
History Completed in December 1925 
Notes on event

At 12.07 hours on 10 November 1944 the Shirvan (Master Edward Fermor Pattenden) from the storm scattered convoy UR-142 was hit by a LUT torpedo from U-300 off Skagi, Iceland and caught fire. The U-boat had fired five minutes earlier a first LUT torpedo that was a tube runner and detonated near the ship after being ejected. At 14.17 hours, a coup de grâce was fired that was first also a tube runner but then hit the tanker after a coup de grâce at 13.36 hours malfunctioned after launching. The Godafoss from the same convoy stopped against orders to pick up survivors from the tanker, but was also torpedoed by the U-boat at 14.59 hours. The master, 15 crew members and two gunners were lost. 20 crew members and seven gunners were picked up by HMS Reward (W 164) and the Norwegian armed trawler HMNoS Honningsvaag (4.277) and landed at Reykjavik.

The abandoned wreck of Shirvan was still afloat in the evening and the British tug Empire Wold left Reykjavik to assist the ship, but was reported missing presumed lost by enemy action. No U-boat attack correspond with the loss of the vessel and she probably fell victim to the stormy sea. The tanker foundered the next day in 64°29N/23°04W. Her wreck was found during oceanic researches from the company Hafmyndir ehf. in cooperation with scientists from University of Iceland on 28 July 2010. They used a small Icelandic-made research submarine and found the ship to lie in three pieces at a depth of 100 meters in roughly the reported position.

 
On boardWe have details of 21 people who were on board


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