| History | |
|---|---|
| Name | SS Stockport |
| Operator |
|
| Port of registry |  Grimsby [1] |
| Builder | Earle's Shipbuilding, Hull |
| Launched | 15 May 1911 |
| Fate | Sunk 23 February 1943 |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage | 1,631 gross register tons (GRT) |
| Length | 265 feet (81 m) |
| Beam | 36 feet (11 m) |
| Depth | 17.4 feet (5.3 m) |
SS Stockport was a passenger and cargo vessel built for the Great Central Railway in 1912. [2] During the Second World War she served as a convoy rescue ship until a U-boat sank her in February 1943.
The ship was built by Earle's Shipbuilding of Hull and launched in 1912. In 1923 she passed into the ownership of the London and North Eastern Railway, and in 1935 to the Associated Humber Lines.
On 11 August 1937 she was in collision with the Hull steam trawler Lady Beryl in the Humber off Immingham in thick fog. Both vessels were damaged but not below the water line. [3]
Her convoy rescue service began on 22 October 1941. She rescued 413 survivors from sunken ships while sailing with sixteen convoys, including convoy SC-107. [4]
On 21 February 1943 she was part of convoy ON 166 and went to the assistance of Empire Trader which had straggled behind the convoy in the Atlantic Ocean north of the Azores, Portugal. After U-92 torpedoed and damaged Empire Trader, Stockport rescued all 106 crew men before HMCS Dauphin scuttled Empire Trader following orders received from the Admiralty. [5] However, Stockport had itself now fallen. She was attempting to regain the convoy when on 23 February U-604 torpedoed and sank her at ( 47°22′N34°10′W / 47.367°N 34.167°W ) with the loss of all her crew and the survivors that she had rescued from other vessels. [1]
She is commemorated every February in a parade and commemoration service organised by Hazel Grove Royal Naval Association.
German submarine U-47 was a Type VIIB U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. She was laid down on 25 February 1937 at Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft in Kiel as yard number 582 and went into service on 17 December 1938 under the command of Günther Prien.
German submarine U-333 was a Type VIIC U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. The submarine was laid down on 11 March 1940 at the Nordseewerke yard at Emden, launched on 14 June 1941, and commissioned on 25 August 1941 under the command of Kapitänleutnant Peter-Erich Cremer. After training with the 5th U-boat Flotilla at Kiel, on 1 January 1942 U-333 was transferred to the 3rd U-boat Flotilla based at La Pallice for front-line service.
German submarine U-98 was a Type VIIC U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II, operating from March 1941 until she was sunk in November 1942.
German submarine U-125 was a Type IXC U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. She was laid down at the DeSchiMAG AG Weser as yard number 988 on 10 May 1940, launched on 10 December and commissioned on 3 March 1941. In seven patrols, she sank 17 ships for a total of 82,873 gross register tons (GRT). The boat was a member of three wolfpacks. She was sunk on 6 May 1943. All 54 men on board died.
German submarine U-38 was a Type IXA U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine that operated during World War II.
Blücher was a wolfpack of German U-boats that operated during the World War II Battle of the Atlantic from 14 to 28 August 1942. They attacked the Freetown, Sierra Leone to Liverpool convoys SL-118 and SL-119, and sank six ships for a total of 41,984 gross register tons (GRT), and damaged one (10,552 GRT). The group was named after Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher (1742–1819), a Prussian Generalfeldmarschall in the Napoleonic Wars.
German submarine U-176 was a Type IXC U-boat in Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II.
German submarine U-255 was a Type VIIC U-boat that served in Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. The submarine was laid down on 21 December 1940 at the Bremer Vulkan yard at Bremen-Vegesack, launched on 8 October 1941 and commissioned on 29 November 1941 under the command of Kapitänleutnant Reinhart Reche.
Hecht was the name of two "wolfpacks" of German U-boats that operated during World War II. They first operated during the Battle of the Atlantic from 8 May to 18 June 1942. They primarily attacked the Liverpool to Halifax convoys ONS 92 and ONS 100, and sank 14 ships for a total of 62,709 gross register tons (GRT).
German submarine U-43 was a Type IXA U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. The keel for U-43 was laid down in August 1938 at Bremen; she was launched in May 1939 and commissioned in August.
German submarine U-66 was a Type IXC U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. The submarine was laid down on 20 March 1940 at the AG Weser yard at Bremen, launched on 10 October and commissioned on 2 January 1941 under the command of Kapitänleutnant Richard Zapp as part of the 2nd U-boat Flotilla.
Hai was a wolfpack of German U-boats that operated from 3 to 21 July 1942 in the Battle of the Atlantic during World War II. They attacked the Liverpool to Freetown, Sierra Leone convoy OS-33, sinking eight ships for a total of 61,125 gross register tons (GRT).
Vorwärts was a wolfpack of German U-boats that operated from 25 August to 26 September 1942, in the Battle of the Atlantic during World War II. They attacked several convoys, principally Convoy ON 127, sailing from Liverpool to New York, and sank fifteen ships for a total of 79,331 gross register tons (GRT), and damaged nine (81,141 GRT).
German submarine U-557 was a Type VIIC U-boat built for Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine for service during World War II. She was laid down on 6 January 1940, launched on 22 December 1940 and commissioned on 13 February 1941. Oberleutnant zur See Ottokar Arnold Paulssen was in command throughout her career. For her first three war patrols her 2nd Watch Officer was Herbert Werner, who later wrote the memoir of U-boat service, Iron Coffins. She sank six merchant ships and one warship, a total of 31,729 gross register tons (GRT) and 5,220 tons over four patrols.
German submarine U-558 was a Type VIIC U-boat in the service of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. She sank 18 ships totalling 94,099 GRT before being sunk by bombers on 20 July 1943.
German submarine U-177 was a Type IXD2 U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. The submarine was laid down on 25 November 1940, at the DeSchiMAG AG Weser yard in Bremen, as yard number 1017. She was launched on 1 October 1941, and commissioned on 14 March 1942, under the command of Kapitänleutnant Wilhelm Schulze. After a period of training with the 4th U-boat Flotilla at Stettin, the boat was transferred to the 10th flotilla on 1 October 1942, and based at Lorient, for front-line service, she was then reassigned to the 12th flotilla at Bordeaux on 1 December.
German submarine U-652 was a Type VIIC U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. The submarine was laid down on 5 February 1940 at the Howaldtswerke yard at Hamburg, launched on 7 February 1941, and commissioned on 3 April 1941 under the command of Oberleutnant zur See Georg-Werner Fraatz.
The German submarine U-109 was a Type IXB U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine that operated during World War II. She conducted nine war-patrols, sinking 12 ships and damaging one. All but one of these were during the six patrols she carried out under the command of Heinrich Bleichrodt.
German submarine U-65 was a Type IXB U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. Over the course of six war patrols between 9 April 1940 and 28 April 1941, she sank twelve ships and damaged three others for a total loss of 88,664 gross register tons (GRT).
German submarine U-618 was a Type VIIC U-boat built for Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine for service during World War II. She was laid down on 29 May 1941 by Blohm & Voss, Hamburg as yard number 594, launched on 20 February 1942 and commissioned on 16 April 1942 under Oberleutnant zur See Kurt Baberg.
Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in February 1943 | |
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| Shipwrecks |
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| Other incidents |
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