Oriskany
British Steam merchant
Photo courtesy of Wayne Avery
| Name | Oriskany | ||
| Type: | Steam merchant | ||
| Tonnage | 1,644 tons | ||
| Completed | 1924 - Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson Ltd, Wallsend, Sunderland | ||
| Owner | Lambert Brothers Ltd, London | ||
| Homeport | London | ||
| Date of attack | 24 Feb 1945 | Nationality:  British | |
| Fate | Sunk by U-1208 (Georg Hagene) | ||
| Position | 50° 05'N, 5° 51'W - Grid BF 24 | ||
| Complement | 31 (31 dead - no survivors) | ||
| Convoy | BTC-78 | ||
| Route | Newport, Mon. – Milford Haven (23 Feb) - London | ||
| Cargo | Coal | ||
| History | Completed in March 1924 and registered in Canada for Ronde SS Co Ltd, Montreal. 1931 transferred to Guaranty SS Co (Dawnie SS Corp), Montreal. 1935 registered in Honduras for Standard Fruit Co, La Ceiba. In April 1941 registered in Panama for Wallem & Co Ltd (Haakon J. Wallem), Hong Kong. In February 1942, the ship escaped from Singapore to Colombo via Tanjung Priok, Dutch East Indies. 1943 taken over by Ministry of War Transport (MoWT), managed by Lambert Brothers Ltd, London. | ||
| Notes on event | At 04.15 hours on 24 Feb 1945 the Oriskany (Master David Souter Morrison) in convoy BTC-78 was hit on the port side by one torpedo from U-1208 and sank immediately about 5 miles west of Lands End. The nine ships of convoy proceeded in two columns at 8 knots and she was leading the port column as the ship of convoy commodore Cdr I.N. Macmillan, RD, RNR. One of the merchant ships closed the sinking position to search for survivors and was joined by HMS ML-344, but none were found: the master, convoy commodore, 21 crew members, four naval staff members and four gunners were lost. The warships of the 15th Escort Group and 3rd Escort Group were sent to the area and two frigates of the latter soon located and sank U-1208 at 12.30 hours on 24 February. | ||
| Revisions | 2010 by Dr. Axel Niestlé: Earlier it was thought that it was U-480 that carried out an attack on convoy BTC-78 and was subsequently sunk in the area, but the wreck of this U-boat was now identified as U-1208. | ||
| On board | We have details of 31 people who were on board. | ||
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