History | |
---|---|
Name |
|
Owner | |
Operator | F&W Ritson (until 1930) [1] |
Port of registry | Sunderland [1] Argostoli [2] |
Builder | Bartram & Sons Ltd, South Dock, Sunderland [1] |
Launched | 21 June 1910 |
Completed | 1910 [1] |
In service | 1910 |
Out of service | 17 October 1940 |
Renamed | |
Identification |
|
Fate | Sunk by torpedo, 17 October 1940 [6] |
General characteristics | |
Type |
|
Tonnage | |
Length | 390.5 feet (119.0 m) [5] |
Beam | 51.0 feet (15.5 m) [5] |
Depth | 21.3 feet (6.5 m) [5] |
Installed power | 434 NHP [5] |
Propulsion | triple-expansion steam engine; single screw [5] |
Sail plan | 3-masted schooner (until 1930) [1] |
Crew | 29 [6] |
SS Aenos, formerly SS Cedar Branch, was a British-built cargo steamship. She was completed in England in 1910 and sunk in the Battle of the Atlantic in 1940.
Bartram & Sons Ltd of South Dock, Sunderland built the ship, completing her as Cedar Branch in 1910. [1] She was a three-masted schooner that also had a triple-expansion steam engine. [1] By 1932 Lloyd's Register no longer listed her as a schooner, [4] suggesting that by that time her rigging and sails had been removed, her masts had been reduced in height (see photo) and she ran solely under steam power.
In her 30-year career the ship passed through various owners and more than one manager. In 1930 she belonged to Nautilus Steam Shipping Co and was registered in Sunderland, [1] but then she was sold to A. Lusi, who changed her name from Cedar Branch to Aenos and registered her in the port of Argostoli in Cephalonia. [2] In about 1936–37 her owner changed to "Zephyros" Steam Ship Company Ltd, but she continued to be registered in Argostoli. [3]
In October 1940 Aenos loaded a cargo of 6,276 tons of wheat at Sorel in Canada to take to Manchester, England. Her Master was Dionisios Laskaratos. [6] She sailed from Sorel to Sydney, Nova Scotia where she joined Convoy SC 7 which was to take her as far as Liverpool. [7] SC 7 left Sydney on 5 October 1940, initially with only one escort ship, the Hastings-class sloop HMS Scarborough. A wolf pack of U-boats found the convoy on 16 October and quickly overwhelmed it, sinking many ships over the next few days.
Aenos was straggling behind the main convoy [7] and first to be sunk. On the morning of 17 October she was about 80 nautical miles (150 km) north-northeast of Rockall when the German submarine U-38 sighted her, fired one G7e torpedo at her at 0957 hrs but it missed. [6] The submarine then surfaced and fired on Aenos with her 105 mm deck gun until the ship sank at 1052 hours. [6] Out of a complement of 29, four crew members were killed. [6] Another straggler, the Canadian cargo ship Eaglescliffe Hall, rescued 25 survivors including Captain Laskaratos, and landed them at Gourock in Scotland the next day. [6]
SS Clearton was a cargo steamship that was built in England in 1919 and sunk in the Battle of the Atlantic in 1940. The UK Shipping Controller ordered her, and she was built to War Standard design Type B. R Chapman and Sons of Newcastle upon Tyne operated her throughout her working life.
SS Volo was a British steam cargo ship that was built on Tyneside in 1938 and sunk by a German U-boat in the Mediterranean Sea off North Africa in 1941. 23 people on board the Volo died as a result of the attack.
SS Clan Alpine was a UK steam cargo liner. She was launched in 1918 and sunk by a U-boat in 1943.
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.
SS Clan Chisholm was a British cargo steamship. She was torpedoed and sunk in the Second World War while carrying cargo from India to Scotland.
SS Assyrian was a cargo ship that was built in Hamburg for German owners in 1914, transferred to British owners in 1920 as war reparations and sunk by a U-boat in 1940. She was launched as MS Fritz, and when she changed owners in 1920 she was renamed MS Assyrian. She had been built as a motor ship but in 1925 she was converted to a steamship and became SS Assyrian.
SS Blairspey was a steam cargo ship that was built in Scotland in 1929 and served in the Battle of the Atlantic in the Second World War. In 1940 she survived being part of Convoy SC 7 and managed to reach port, despite being hit by at least three torpedoes from two different U-boats. The ship was rebuilt with a new bow and renamed Empire Spey 1942. Her original name was restored in 1946. She was renamed Evandros 1961 and scrapped in Italy in 1967.
SS Corinthic was a British cargo steamship. She was built on Teesside in 1924, sailed in a number of convoys in the Second World War, survived an overwhelming German attack on Convoy SC 7 October 1940, but was sunk by a German U-boat off West Africa in April 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 Somersby was a British cargo steamship that was built in 1930, sailed in a number of convoys in the Second World War and was sunk by a U-boat in 1941.
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.
SS Fiscus was a UK cargo steamship that was built in 1928, served in the Second World War and was sunk by a U-boat in 1940.
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.
SS Calabria was a passenger and cargo steamship. AG Weser built her for Norddeutscher Lloyd. She was launched as D/S Werra and completed in 1922.
SS Clan Macarthur was a British refrigerated cargo steamship. She was built for Cayzer, Irvine and Company's Clan Line Steamers Ltd as one of its Cameron-class steamships. She was launched in Greenock in 1936 and sunk in the Indian Ocean by enemy action in August 1943.
SS Aguila was a British steam passenger liner. She was built in Dundee in 1917 and was sunk by enemy action in the North Atlantic in 1941. She belonged to Yeoward Line, which carried passengers and fruit between Liverpool, Lisbon, Madeira and the Canary Islands.
SS Avoceta was a British steam passenger liner. She was built in Dundee in 1923 and was sunk by enemy action in the North Atlantic in 1941. She belonged to Yeoward Line, which carried passengers and fruit between Liverpool, Lisbon, Madeira and the Canary Islands.
Bristol City was a British cargo steamship that was launched in 1919 and sunk in the Battle of the Atlantic in 1943. She was the third of five ships of that name owned by Bristol City Line.
SS Llanashe was a UK cargo steamship. She was launched in 1936 in Sunderland, England, and sunk by a U-boat in the Indian Ocean in February 1943.
SS Hartlebury was a cargo steamship that was launched in Scotland in 1934 for J&C Harrison Ltd. A U-boat sank her in the Barents Sea in 1942 when Hartlebury was a member of the Arctic convoy Convoy PQ 17.