Allied Ships hit by U-boats


Rhône


NameRhône
Type:Fleet oiler
Tonnage2,785 tons
Completed1910 - Chantier de Normandie, Grand Quévilly, Rouen 
OwnerVichy French Navy 
HomeportMarseilles 
Date of attack19 Dec 1940Nationality:      French
 
FateSunk by U-37 (Asmus Nicolai Clausen)
PositionGrid DH 96 - See estimated map location (28.03N12.54W) *
Complement? men (11 dead and ? survivors).
Convoy
RouteCasablanca - Dakar 
CargoFuel oil 
History Completed in May 1910 as steam tanker Radioleine for Société Pétrole-Transports, Marseilles. 1911 taken over as fleet oiler by the French Navy and renamed Rhône
Notes on loss At 16.40 hours on 19 Dec, 1940, U-37 torpedoed and sank the Vichy French vessels Rhône and Sfax (Q 182) by mistake seven miles off Cape Juby, Marocco. Neither torpedo reports nor statements concerning this incident can be found in the KTB of the U-boat. Actually the entry simply reads DJ 9285 - Nothing to see, but the stated grid is situated on land in the Sahara. 

* Estimated position shown here is based on positions of losses in a roughly the same German grid code. It may be a bit off but should give a good idea as to where the attack took place.


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