The Rohna Disaster

By Bennett, James Gordon
1998, Xlibris Corporation
ISBN 0738801836
Hardcover

Descripton: On November 26, 1943, the United States suffered its greatest loss at sea in history when the HMT ROHNA was sunk by a guided missile launched from a German bomber over the Mediterranean Sea, off the coast of North Africa. Within an hour after being struck, the ship burned, flooded and sank. Before dawn the next morning, one thousand and fifteen American troops, three Red Cross personnel and one hundred and twenty crewmen perished. Hundreds died when the missile struck the Rohna at her shelter deck level and exploded near the after end of the engine room and the No. 6 troops deck. Others perished from cold and exhaustion when darkness and rough seas hampered rescue efforts, while many, ironically, were killed during frantic attempts to rescue and be rescued.