Grootekerk
| Name | Grootekerk | ||
| Type: | Steam merchant | ||
| Tonnage | 8.685 tons | ||
| Completed | 1923 - New Waterway Shipbuilding Co, Schiedam | ||
| Owner | Vereenigde Nederlandsche Scheepvaart Mij NV, The Hague | ||
| Homeport | The Hague | ||
| Date of attack | 24 Feb, 1941 | Nationality:  Dutch | |
| Fate | Sunk by U-123 (Karl-Heinz Moehle) | ||
| Position | 56N, 25W - Grid AL 0152 - See location on a map - | ||
| Complement | 52 (52 dead - no survivors) | ||
| Convoy | |||
| Route | Swansea (18 Feb) - Freetown - British West Indies | ||
| Cargo | |||
| History | Built as Dutch Grootendijk for the Holland-America Line, 1931 sold to Vereenigde Nederlandsche Scheepvaart Mij NV and renamed Grootekerk. 1932 the ship was lengthened. | ||
| Notes on loss | The Grootekerk (Master B.A. Veen) was reported missing after leaving Swansea on 18 Feb, 1941. It was assumed that she had been sunk by the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. In fact, U-123 came across this ship in the morning of 23 February, as the U-boat was on her way to a convoy reported by U-96. The vessel was misidentified as Nestor or Ulysses of the Blue Funnel Line (ships of 14.000 tons). Because the convoy was about 100 miles away, Moehle decided to attack this ship. U-123 chased the Grootekerk for hours, because she was fierce zigzagging at 14 knots. But at 20.00 hours, the ship turned southward and slowed down, giving Moehle the opportunity to fire a first torpedo at 23.25 hours, which missed. At 00.53 hours on 24 February, a second torpedo was fired which struck after two minutes, stopping the Grootekerk. At 01.05 hours, a coup de grāce was fired, but this was a surface runner, which struck in that part of the ship where the crew was lowering the lifeboats. The ship sank shortly thereafter. There were no survivors among the crew of 18 Dutch and 34 Chinese. | ||
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