Allied Ships hit by U-boats


Courland

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NameCourland
Type:Steam merchant
Tonnage1,325 tons
Completed1932 - Barclay, Curle & Co Ltd, Whiteinch, Glasgow 
OwnerJames Currie & Co Ltd, Leith 
HomeportLeith 
Date of attack9 Feb 1941Nationality:      British
 
FateSunk by U-37 (Asmus Nicolai Clausen)
Position35.53N, 13.13W - Grid CG 7555
- See location on a map -
Complement30 (3 dead and 27 survivors).
ConvoyHG-53
RouteLisbon - London 
Cargo1395 tons of general cargo 
History  
Notes on loss

At 04.30 hours on 9 Feb, 1941, U-37 fired two G7a torpedoes at two ships in convoy HG-53 about 160 miles southwest of Cape St. Vincent, Portugal and sank both ships, Courland and Estrellano. At 05.00 hours, one G7e torpedo was fired in grid CG 7554, but it missed the ships in station #61 and #31 and did not hit a ship beyond them, as Clausen thought.

Three men of the 28 crew members and two gunners aboard Courland (Master Robert Cecil Smith) were lost. 27 survivors were picked up by Brandenburg, which was sunk by the same U-boat the next day. Only one man survived the second sinking, was picked up by HMS Velox (D 34) and landed at Gibraltar.

 


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