SS City of Oxford

Last updated

History
Civil Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom
NameSS City of Oxford
Owner Ellerman and Papayanni Lines
Builder Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson Ltd., Newcastle Upon Tyne [1]
Yard number1291
Launched14 July 1926
CompletedDecember 1926
FateSunk on 15 June 1942
General characteristics
Tonnage2,759 tons
Length102 m (335 ft)
Beam14 m (46 ft)
Draught6 ft 40 in (2.84 m)
Propulsion
  • 3 cyl triple expansion engine power
  • 306 nhp
Speed10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Crew44

SS City of Oxford was a steam merchant ship built in 1926 by Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson Ltd., in Newcastle-upon-Tyne and sunk by a German submarine on 15 June 1942. Displacing 2,759 tons she entered service with the Ellerman and Papayanni subsidiary of Ellerman Lines, and served during the Second World War.

On her final voyage under Master Alfred Norbury, she was in "position No.54 in the convoy, being the last ship in the 5th column", [2] part of Convoy HG 84 [3] travelling from Lisbon to Garston, and had called at Gibraltar on 9 June to join with the 36th Escort Group under the command of Captain "Johnnie" Walker. She was carrying two thousand tons of iron ore and three hundred tons of cork [4]

The convoy was sighted approximately 300 nautical miles (560 km) to the west of Cape Finisterre early in the morning of 15 June 1942 by U-552, under Kapitänleutnant Erich Topp. Following a preliminary skirmish around 0400 hrs, Topp fired three torpedoes at the convoy between 0432 and 0434 hrs. City of Oxford was the second of two ships to be struck [5] ; the first being SS Thurso.

According to an oral history recounted by Cpt. "Johnnie" Walker, following Thurso's sinking:

Darkness had time to close in tightly again before the SS City of Oxford shuddered to a standstill under the impact of an internal explosion caused when the torpedo pierced her hull and detonated inside a cargo hold. She sank while the ships following her were altering course round her heavily listing hulk. [6]

One crew member was lost in the sinking, the 43 survivors were picked up by the rescue ship Copeland before being transferred to the corvette HMS Marigold, and then the Bittern-classsloop HMS Stork [7] and landed at Liverpool.

Related Research Articles

Frederic John Walker Royal Navy captain

Captain Frederic John Walker, was a Royal Navy officer noted for his exploits during the Second World War. Walker was the most successful anti-submarine warfare commander during the Battle of the Atlantic and was known more popularly as Johnnie Walker.

HMS <i>Scarborough</i> (L25)

HMS Scarborough was a Hastings-class sloop of the Royal Navy launched in 1930. She served in the Second World War, especially as a convoy escort in the North Atlantic.

Endrass was a "wolfpack" of German U-boats that operated from 12 to 17 June 1942 in attacking Convoy HG 84 that comprised 23 Allied ships. The group's name commemorated the U-boat commander Engelbert Endrass, who was killed in action in December 1941.

<i>Shoreham</i>-class sloop

The Shoreham-class sloops were a class of eight warships of the Royal Navy built in the early 1930s.

SS <i>City of Pretoria</i>

SS City of Pretoria was a British cargo steamship. She was torpedoed and sunk in the Second World War with heavy loss of life.

SS <i>City of Venice</i>

SS City of Venice was an intermediate ocean liner that was launched in 1924 in Northern Ireland for Ellerman Lines. In the Second World War she was a troop ship. In 1943 a U-boat sank her in the Mediterranean, killing 22 of the crew and troops aboard.

HMS Marigold was a Flower-class corvette of the Royal Navy. She was launched on 4 September 1940 and was sunk by an Italian air-dropped torpedo on 9 December 1942.

Convoy HG 76 Convoy during naval battles of the Second World War

HG 76 was an Allied convoy of the HG series, during the Second World War. It was notable for the destruction of five German U-boats.

HMS <i>Fowey</i> (L15)

HMS Fowey was a Shoreham-class sloop of the Royal Navy. She served during the Second World War.

SS <i>Empire Brigade</i>

SS Empire Brigade was a 5,184 GRT cargo ship that was built in 1912 as SS Hannington Court. She served through the First World War and was sold in 1936 to Achille Lauro, who renamed her Elios. In 1940 when Italy declared war on France and the United Kingdom she was interned by the UK as a war prize and taken over by the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT), which renamed her Empire Brigade. Four months later she was torpedoed and sunk by U-99.

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 British Consul was a tanker built by Sir James Laing & Sons Ltd., Sunderland in 1924 and operated by the British Tanker Company.

MV British Prudence was a tanker built by Sir James Laing & Sons Ltd. of Sunderland in 1939 and operated by the British Tanker Company. A U-boat sank her in 1942 off the coast of Newfoundland. She was a victim of the Second Happy Time: the Kriegsmarine's Operation Paukenschlag to sink Allied merchant shipping in the Western Atlantic

36th Escort Group was a British formation of the Royal Navy which saw action during the Second World War, principally in the Battle of the Atlantic. The group operated mainly on the Gibraltar and South Atlantic convoy routes and was involved in several convoy battles, including Convoy HG 76, one of the first Allied victories in the Atlantic campaign.

SS <i>Thurso</i>

SS Thurso was a cargo steamship operated by Ellerman's Wilson Line. Thurso was built in 1919 by S. P. Austin & Sons in Sunderland as the War Bramble for the Shipping Controller. Displacing 2,436 tons she had a speed of 9 knots. She was sold to Ellerman Lines while still building and remained with them until lost in the Second World War.

HMS <i>Vetch</i> (K132)

HMS Vetch (K132) was a Flower-class corvette that served in the Royal Navy during the Second World War. After helping to escort many convoys and sinking two U-boats, she was decommissioned and sold in 1945.

HMS <i>Stork</i> (L81)

HMS Stork (L81) was a Bittern-class sloop of the Royal Navy. She was active during the Second World War, serving in convoy escort groups, and was a successful anti-submarine warfare vessel, being credited with the destruction of four U-boats.

HG 84 was an Allied convoy of the HG series during World War II.

OG 82 was an Allied convoy of the OG series during World War II. The action involving this convoy resulted in the destruction of a U-boat, and also had consequences for German U-boat strategy.

HMS <i>Deptford</i> (U53)

HMS Deptford was a Grimsby-class sloop of the British Royal Navy. Built at Chatham Dockyard in the 1930s, Deptford was launched in 1935 and commissioned later that year. The ship saw early service on the Persian Gulf station, but the outbreak of the Second World War saw Deptford serving as a convoy escort in the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean, sinking a German U-boat in 1941. She survived the war and was scrapped in 1948.

References

  1. "SS City of Oxford (1926)". www.tynebuiltships.co.uk. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
  2. EXTRACT FROM REPORT OF AN INTERVIEW WITH THE MASTER,CAPTAIN WALDIE (SS Thurso). 30 June 1942.
  3. "Convoy HG 84". www.warsailors.com. Retrieved 2 January 2012.
  4. "City of Oxford Cargo Ship 1926-1942" . Retrieved 2 January 2012.
  5. "City of Oxford (British Steam Merchant). Ships Hit By German U-Boats During WWII" . Retrieved 2 January 2012.
  6. "Captain John Frederick Walker: Splice the Mainbrace Part Three". An Archive of WW2 People's Memories - Written By the Public, Gathered By the BBC. Retrieved 2 January 2012.
  7. "HMS Stork, sloop" . Retrieved 2 January 2012.

Coordinates: 43°41′N18°2′W / 43.683°N 18.033°W / 43.683; -18.033