Ships hit by U-boats


Veronica

Swedish Steam merchant



Photo courtesy of Sjöhistoriska Museet, Stockholm

NameVeronica
Type:Steam merchant
Tonnage1,316 tons
Completed1918 - Limhamns Skeppsvarf A/B, Limhamn 
OwnerJoh. Gorthon, Helsingborg 
HomeportHelsingborg 
Date of attack17 Nov 1940Nationality:      Swedish
 
FateSunk by U-137 (Herbert Wohlfarth)
Position55° 43'N, 8° 55'W - Grid AM 5289
Complement20 (17 dead and 3 survivors).
ConvoyHG-46 (straggler)
RouteAguilas, Spain - Gibraltar (31 Oct) - Barrow-in-Furness 
Cargo1831 tons of iron ore 
History Completed in August 1918 for Rederi A/B Activ, Helsingborg. 
Notes on event

At 17.30 hours on 17 Nov 1940, U-137 spotted two stragglers from convoy HG-46 and sank both with one G7e torpedo each north-northwest of Tory Island. The Saint Germain was hit at 20.14 hours and the Veronica at 20.40 hours.

The unarmed Veronica (Master Robert Elmquist) was struck by the torpedo on the port side at the after end of #2 hold while steaming in a dark night on a non-evasive course at 7 knots and sank by the bow in half a minute about 36 miles northwest of Tory Island. The master had sighted the U-boat about 200 meters off the port beam just a few moments before the torpedo explosion, which destroyed the bridge and trapped his leg under wreckage. He was dragged down, but managed to get free and came to the surface beneath a raft with two slightly injured men on it who hauled him aboard. In the early morning of 23 November, they were picked up by the Icelandic motor fishing vessel Erna about 11 miles northwest of Oversay Island and taken to a hospital after being landed at Londonderry in the afternoon.

 
On boardWe have details of 20 people who were on board


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