History | |
---|---|
Panama | |
Name | Actor |
Owner | Neptune Shipping Limitada SA, Panama |
Port of registry | Panama |
Builder | Burmeister & Wain's Maskin & Skibsbyggeri A/S, Copenhagen |
Yard number | 627 |
Launched | 14 July 1937 |
Completed | September 1937 |
Fate | Sold to France 1938 |
History | |
France | |
Name | Languedoc |
Operator | Société Française de Transports Pétrolièrs (SFTP), Paris |
Port of registry | Le Havre |
Out of service | Seized by Britain in 1940 |
United Kingdom | |
Name | Languedoc |
Owner | Ministry of War Transport, London |
Operator | John I. Jacobs & Co Ltd, London |
Port of registry | Trinidad |
Fate | Sunk on 17 October 1940 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Motor tanker |
Tonnage | 9,512 GRT |
Crew | 39 |
MV Languedoc was a motor tanker that sailed under the French flag until World War II. She was taken over by the UK after the fall of France in 1940, sailed in a number of convoys, and was sunk by a German U-boat later that year.
Languedoc was built in 1937 by Burmeister & Wain's Maskin & Skibsbyggeri A/S, of Copenhagen as MV Actor. She entered service with Société Française de Transports Pétrolièrs (SFTP), Paris in 1938 and was renamed Languedoc. On the outbreak of war she sailed in a number of short convoys from Verdon to Casablanca carrying fuel, as well as sailing from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Liverpool in September 1939. She was part of Convoy KS-74 in March 1940, sailing from Casablanca to Brest. This was her last convoy under the French flag. After the fall of France she was seized by the UK, whose Ministry of War Transport contracted John I. Jacobs & Co Ltd of London to manage her. She was registered in Trinidad but her homeport was London.
Her first and last convoy under the British flag was as part of Convoy SC 7. She sailed from Trinidad for Sydney, Nova Scotia to join the convoy assembling there, and left with the convoy on 5 October. She was bound for the Clyde under the command of her master, John Thomson, and carrying a cargo of 13,700 tons of fuel oil. The convoy was overwhelmed by a wolf pack of U-boats and many of the cargo ships were sunk. Languedoc was an early loss. She was sighted by U-48 under the command of Heinrich Bleichrodt, who fired three torpedoes at three ships of the convoy at 0553 hours on 17 October as they passed 160 miles northwest of Rockall. He reported two ships sunk and a third damaged. In fact, only Languedoc and Scoresby were hit, by one torpedo each, and both were sunk. The master and 38 crew members abandoned ship, and were picked up by the escorting Flower-class corvette HMS Bluebell. The damaged Languedoc was assessed and decided to be beyond salvage. Bluebell scuttled her with gunfire and landed the survivors at Gourock on 20 October. There were no casualties.
HMS Bluebell was a Flower-class corvette that served in the Royal Navy in World War II. Ordered from Fleming & Ferguson of Paisley, Scotland on 27 July 1939, she was launched on 24 April 1940 and commissioned in July 1940. She served in the Atlantic, Mediterranean and Arctic campaigns, escorting several convoys to Russia, and also took part in the invasions of Sicily and France. She was torpedoed and sunk by U-711 in the Kola Inlet on 17 February 1945 while escorting the convoy RA 64 from Murmansk. Only one member of her crew survived.
SC 7 was the code name for a large Allied convoy in the Second World War comprising 35 merchant ships and six escorts, which sailed eastbound from Sydney, Nova Scotia, for Liverpool and other British ports on 5 October 1940. While crossing the Atlantic, the convoy was attacked by one of the first U-boat wolfpacks. The escorts were overwhelmed, twenty of the 35 cargo vessels were sunk and two were damaged, with 141 lives lost. The disaster demonstrated the potency of wolfpacks and the inadequacy of British anti-submarine operations.
HMS La Malouine was a Flower-class corvette of the Royal Navy, serving during the Second World War. Originally ordered by the French Navy under the same name, following the fall of France, the ship was seized by the United Kingdom and commissioned into the Royal Navy in 1940. The corvette remained in service until being broken up in 1947.
SS Clan Macwhirter was a British cargo steamship. She was built in 1918 as Ypresville in the First World War and sunk by enemy action in 1942 in the Second World War. In her 24-year career she also carried the names Halizones and Willcasino.
The SS Irish Oak was an Irish-operated steamship that was sunk in the North Atlantic during World War II by a German submarine.
The SS Flynderborg was a Danish steam merchant ship. She was taken over after the fall of Denmark during the Second World War, and sailed under the British flag. She sailed in a number of convoys before being sunk whilst carrying supplies to the UK in 1941.
SS Beatus was a British cargo steamship that was built in 1925, sailed in a number of transatlantic convoys in 1940 and was sunk by a U-boat that October.
SS Soesterberg was a Dutch-owned cargo steamship that was built in Belgium in 1927 and sunk by a U-boat in 1940 in the Battle of the Atlantic.
The SS Empire Miniver was a British steam merchant ship. She was originally an American merchant, launched in 1918 as SS West Cobalt. During a brief stint in the United States Navy in 1919, she was known as USS West Cobalt (ID-3836).
SS Scoresby was a British cargo steamship that was built in 1923, sailed in a number of transatlantic convoys in 1940, and was sunk by a U-boat that October.
USS Henry R. Mallory (ID-1280) was a transport for the United States Navy during World War I. She was also sometimes referred to as USS H. R. Mallory or as USS Mallory. Before her Navy service she was USAT Henry R. Mallory as a United States Army transport ship. From her 1916 launch, and after her World War I military service, she was known as SS Henry R. Mallory for the Mallory Lines. Pressed into service as a troopship in World War II by the War Shipping Administration, she was torpedoed by the German submarine U-402 in the North Atlantic Ocean and sank with the loss of 272 men—over half of those on board.
USS West Lianga (ID-2758) was a cargo ship for the United States Navy during World War I. She was later known as SS Helen Whittier and SS Kalani in civilian service under American registry, as SS Empire Cheetah under British registry, and as SS Hobbema under Dutch registry.
Empire Amethyst was an 8,032-ton tanker which was built in 1941. She was torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-154 on 13 April 1942.
Belgian Airman was a 6,959-ton cargo ship which was built by Harland & Wolff Ltd, Glasgow in 1941 for the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT). She was launched as Empire Ballantyne and transferred to the Belgian Government in 1942. She was sunk by a German U-boat on 14 April 1945.
Empire Comet was a 6,914 GRT cargo ship that was built in 1940 by Lithgows Ltd, Port Glasgow for the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT). She was torpedoed and sunk by U-136 in June 1941.
Empire Cromwell was a 5,970 GRT cargo ship that was built in 1941 by William Pickersgill & Sons Ltd, Sunderland, Co Durham, United Kingdom for the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT). She was torpedoed and sunk off Trinidad on 28 November 1942 by U-508.
Empire Eve was a 5,979 GRT CAM ship that was built in 1941 by William Pickersgill & Sons Ltd, Sunderland, Co Durham, United Kingdom for the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT). She served until 1943, when she was torpedoed and sunk by U-414 off Algeria.
Empire Explorer was a 5,985 GRT cargo ship that was built as the cargo liner Inanda in 1925 by Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson Ltd, Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland, United Kingdom for a British shipping line. She was hired by the Royal Navy in 1940 for use as an ocean boarding vessel but was sunk in an air raid London in September 1940. She was salvaged, rebuilt as a cargo ship, passed to the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT) and renamed Empire Explorer. She served until 9 July 1942, when she was torpedoed and sunk by U-575 in the West Indies.
Kronprinsen was a 7,078 GRT cargo ship that was built as Empire Fairbairn in 1942 by Barclay Curle & Co, Glasgow, Renfrewshire, United Kingdom for the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT). She was transferred to the Norwegian Government before completion and renamed Kronprinsen. She served until 9 June 1942, when she was torpedoed and damaged by U-432 off Cape Sable Island, Nova Scotia, Canada. She was under repair until October 1943.
Taber Park was a Park ship freighter, built in 1944. She was sunk by torpedo from a German submarine U-boat on March 13, 1945. She was completed on 28 August 1944, by the company Foundation Maritime, in the Pictou Shipyard in Pictou County, Nova Scotia, Canada. Her hull # is 16. The ship was owned by the Park Steamship Company, which was owned by Canada's Federal government. The government had built 400 vessels during World War II. Built as a merchant steamship constructed for Canada’s Merchant Navy in 1944. She was named after an actual park in Canada, in the province of Alberta. She was operated for the Government by Canada Shipping Company. Taber Park should not to be taken as the Tabor Park a Norway cargo ship that was torpedoed, shelled and sunk in the Indian Ocean on 9 March 1943.