SS Llanashe

Last updated
History
Civil Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom
NameLlanashe
OwnerClarissa Radcliffe SS Co Ltd
Operator Evan Thomas, Radcliffe & Co
Port of registry London
Builder Bartram & Sons, Sunderland
Yard number273
Launched30 September 1936
CompletedNovember 1936
Identification
FateSunk by torpedo, 17 February 1943
General characteristics
Type Cargo ship
Tonnage4,836  GRT 2,911  NRT
Length417.8 ft (127.3 m)
Beam56.6 ft (17.3 m)
Draught26 ft (7.9 m)
Depth25.1 ft (7.7 m)
Decks1
Installed power348 NHP
Propulsion4-cylinder compound engine plus exhaust steam turbine
Speed10 knots (19 km/h)
Crew36 plus 6 DEMS gunners
Sensors and
processing systems
Notes sister ship: Llandaff

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.

Contents

Building

In 1936–37 Bartram & Sons built a pair of sister ships for Evan Thomas, Radcliffe and Company of Cardiff. [1] Llanashe was launched on 30 September 1936 and completed that November. [2] Llandaff was launched on 17 March 1937 and completed that May. [3]

Unusually for steamships built in the 1930s Llanashe and Llandaff each had a compound engine. [1] [2] [3] Triple-expansion engines had largely superseded compound engines in the 1860s. But in Llanashe and Llandaff the compound engine was combined with an exhaust steam turbine [1] [2] [3] to achieve a third stage of steam expansion and hence economy in bunkering.

The compound engine had two high- and two low-pressure cylinders and drove the propeller shaft by single-reduction gearing. Exhaust steam from its two low-pressure cylinders powered a single exhaust steam turbine, which drove the same propeller shaft via double-reduction gearing. The compound engine was made by White's Marine Engineering Company of Hebburn. [1] The compound engine plus exhaust turbine gave Llanashe a speed of 10 knots (19 km/h). [4]

War service

Llanashe seems to have sailed unescorted until May 1940, [5] when, laden with a cargo of sugar, [6] she joined Convoy HG 29F from Gibraltar to Liverpool. [5]

From August 1940 until October 1941 Llanashe sailed in five convoys from Canada to Britain. Four were HX convoys from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Liverpool: HX 67 [7] and HX 89 [8] in 1940 and HX 118 [9] and HX 134 [10] in 1941. The fifth was Convoy SC 47 from Sydney, Nova Scotia to Liverpool in September and October 1941. [11] Each time her cargo included steel for the Allied war effort.

In November 1941 Llanashe left Liverpool for Cape Town in South Africa, sailing in Convoy OS 12 as far as Freetown in Sierra Leone. [12] She returned in March 1942 with a convoy of iron ore, joining Convoy SL 102 at Freetown which brought her to Liverpool. [13]

In June 1942 Llanashe brought another cargo of sugar to Britain. She came via Convoy HS 10 along the Nova Scotia coast from Halifax to Sydney [14] and then Convoy SC 87 from Sydney to Liverpool. [15]

In summer 1942 Llanashe sailed from Liverpool to the Caribbean via convoys ON 112 to Cape Cod, NG 300 from New York City to Guantánamo in Cuba and GAT 2 to Trinidad. Thereafter she seems to have sailed unescorted. [5]

Loss

The Dutch motor ship Tarakan rescued the survivors from Llanashe Thuiskomst van de Tarakan, Bestanddeelnr 900-7208.jpg
The Dutch motor ship Tarakan rescued the survivors from Llanashe

In January 1943 Llanashe sailed from Basra in Iraq via Bandar Abbas in Iran destined for Port Elizabeth and Cape Town in South Africa. She was carrying 3,500 tons of tin plate and aluminium. Before she reached Port Elizabeth the German submarine U-182 torpedoed her on 17 February in the Indian Ocean south of Cape St. Francis. [16]

Llanashe's crew managed to launch only one of her lifeboats, but several life-rafts floated clear. The Chief Officer, Samuel Lloyd, was in the water for an hour before he managed to board a raft. He took command and at daybreak gathered three other rafts and got all four tied together. The four rafts carried a total of 16 men. [17]

The Third Officer, Gwynfor Fowler, was in the water clinging to wreckage for about 13 hours before he reached another of Llanashe's rafts. Two and a half days later the only lifeboat to have been launched found the raft, and Fowler took command of the lifeboat. [17]

11 days after the sinking a Netherland Line cargo motor ship, Tarakan, found Lloyd's life-rafts and Fowler's lifeboat. [16] But by then Lloyd's raft had capsized four times and there were only two survivors. [17] In total Tarakan found only Lloyd, Fowler, six crewmen and one DEMS gunner alive. Llanashe's Master, James Parry, 27 of his crew and five gunners had been lost in either the sinking or the subsequent 11 days awaiting rescue. Tarakan transferred the nine survivors to the armed merchant cruiser HMS Carthage and destroyer HMS Racehorse, which landed them at Cape Town on 4 March. [16]

In November 1943 Chief Officer Lloyd and Third Officer Fowler were awarded the MBE. Their citations state that Lloyd "showed great courage and fortitude" and Fowler "displayed skill, excellent seamanship and great endurance". [17]

Related Research Articles

SS <i>Ceramic</i>

SS Ceramic was an ocean liner built in Belfast for White Star Line in 1912–13 and operated on the Liverpool – Australia route. Ceramic was the largest ship serving the route until P&O introduced RMS Mooltan in 1923.

SS <i>Clan Macwhirter</i> (1918) British cargo steamship sunk during World War II

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 <i>City of Venice</i> Passenger vessel from 1924 to 1943

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.

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 <i>Blairspey</i>

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 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 <i>Somersby</i> British cargo steamship sunk during World War II

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 <i>Soesterberg</i> Dutch cargo steamship

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 <i>Fiscus</i>

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 <i>Scoresby</i>

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.

HMS <i>Hilary</i> (1940) Amphibious warfare ship of the Royal Navy

SS Hilary was a British steam passenger liner that was built in 1931 and scrapped in 1959. She spent much of her career on a scheduled service between Liverpool in England and Manaus in Brazil.

SS Yoma was a British passenger liner that served as a troop ship in the Second World War. She was built in Scotland in 1928, and from then until 1940 Yoma ran a regular route between Glasgow in Scotland and Rangoon in Burma via Liverpool, Palma, Marseille and Egypt. She became a troop ship in 1941 and was sunk with great loss of life in the Mediterranean in 1943.

SS Kielce was a Polish-operated cargo ship. She was a Type N3-S-A2 steamship, built in the United States in 1943 as SS Edgar Wakeman.

SS <i>Oropesa</i> (1919) British ocean liner sunk during World War II

SS Oropesa was a British steam turbine ocean liner of the Pacific Steam Navigation Company (PSNC). She was built on Merseyside in 1920 and operated between Liverpool and South America. In 1941 the German submarine U-96 sank her in the Western Approaches, killing 106 people aboard.

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 Umona was a British cargo liner. She was built at Sunderland on the River Wear in 1910, survived the First World War and was sunk by enemy action off Sierra Leone, West Africa in 1941.

SS Nailsea Meadow was a UK cargo steamship. She was launched in 1936 in Sunderland, England, and sunk by a U-boat in the Indian Ocean in 1943.

SS City of Bedford was a British cargo steamship. She was launched in 1924 in Sunderland for Hall Line Ltd of Liverpool, a member of the Ellerman Lines group.

SS Nailsea Court was a UK cargo steamship. She was launched in 1936 in Sunderland, England. She was named after Nailsea Court in Somerset, England, which is an historic Elizabethan manor house. A U-boat sank her in the North Atlantic in March 1943. 45 men died and only four survived.

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.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Steamers & Motorships". Lloyd's Register (PDF). Vol. II. London: Lloyd's Register. 1943. Retrieved 1 November 2020– via Plimsoll Ship Data.
  2. 1 2 3 "Llanashe". Wear Built Ships. North East Maritime Forum. Retrieved 2 November 2020.
  3. 1 2 3 "Llandaff". Wear Built Ships. North East Maritime Forum. Retrieved 2 November 2020.
  4. ↑ Allen, Tony. "SS Llanashe (+1943)" . Retrieved 1 November 2020.
  5. 1 2 3 Hague, Arnold. "Ship Movements". Port Arrivals / Departures. Don Kindell, ConvoyWeb. Retrieved 1 November 2020.
  6. ↑ Hague, Arnold. "Convoy HG.29F". HG Convoy Series. Don Kindell, ConvoyWeb. Retrieved 1 November 2020.
  7. ↑ Hague, Arnold. "Convoy HX.67". HX Convoy Series. Don Kindell, ConvoyWeb. Retrieved 1 November 2020.
  8. ↑ Hague, Arnold. "Convoy HX.89". HX Convoy Series. Don Kindell, ConvoyWeb. Retrieved 1 November 2020.
  9. ↑ Hague, Arnold. "Convoy HX.118". HX Convoy Series. Don Kindell, ConvoyWeb. Retrieved 1 November 2020.
  10. ↑ Hague, Arnold. "Convoy HX.134". HX Convoy Series. Don Kindell, ConvoyWeb. Retrieved 1 November 2020.
  11. ↑ Hague, Arnold. "Convoy SC.47". SC Convoy Series. Don Kindell, ConvoyWeb. Retrieved 1 November 2020.
  12. ↑ Hague, Arnold. "Convoy OS.12". OS/KMS Convoy Series. Don Kindell, ConvoyWeb. Retrieved 1 November 2020.
  13. ↑ Hague, Arnold. "Convoy SL.102". SL/MKS Convoy Series. Don Kindell, ConvoyWeb. Retrieved 1 November 2020.
  14. ↑ Hague, Arnold. "Convoy HS.10". HS Convoy Series. Don Kindell, ConvoyWeb. Retrieved 1 November 2020.
  15. ↑ Hague, Arnold. "Convoy SC.87". SC Convoy Series. Don Kindell, ConvoyWeb. Retrieved 1 November 2020.
  16. 1 2 3 Helgason, Guðmundur. "Llanashe". Uboat.net. Retrieved 1 November 2020.
  17. 1 2 3 4 "No. 36256". The London Gazette (Supplement). 19 November 1943. p. 5123.

34°00′S28°30′E / 34.000°S 28.500°E / -34.000; 28.500

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.