Erinpura
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
The Erinpura was a 1911 passenger ship of the British shipping company British India Steam Navigation Company , which was used for the passenger and mail traffic typical of the shipping company between Great Britain and British India . On May 1, 1943, the Erinpura , used as a troop transport in World War II , was sunk off the Libyan coast in a heavy German air raid . 942 people were killed, including 633 Basotho soldiers.
The ship
The 5,128 GRT steamship Erinpura was built at the William Denny and Brothers shipyard in Dumbarton , Scotland , and was launched on October 9, 1911. The 125.27 meter long and 16.03 meter wide ship was one of seven sister ships that were built at four different shipyards and built for the passenger and mail traffic of the British India Steam Navigation Company from the Gulf of Bengal to Singapore . This series of ships proved to be the most successful, profitable, and long-lived in the history of British India .
The combined passenger and cargo ship was completed on December 6, 1911. A total of 51 passengers in first class, 39 in second class and 2359 deck passengers could be accommodated. The Erinpura had a chimney, two masts and two propellers . She was powered by two triple expansion steam engines that developed 6,657 PSi and allowed a speed of 16.7 knots. During the First World War , the Erinpura served as a troop transport . It brought troops first from Karachi to Marseille and later to Iraq .
On December 24, 1914, the Erinpura ran aground in a river when she wanted to reach the city of Abadan from the Persian Gulf . She suffered damage, but was able to return to Bombay on her own . In August 1915, the Erinpura was converted into a hospital ship with 475 beds and a 104-person medical staff. In this role she supported the Indian Expeditionary Force on the route from Basra to Bombay. From November 1917 it served as an ambulance transport.
On June 15, 1919, she ran on the section from Aden to Port Said in the Red Sea on the Mushjera Reef and got stuck. The passengers were taken over by the cruiser HMS Topaze and brought to Aden. All attempts to clear the stuck ship failed. The Erinpura ended up lying there for over a year. In September 1920 the ship was cut in half and the stern was salvaged. It was towed to Bombay, where a new bow section, made by William Denny and Brothers, was added. In 1923 the Erinpura resumed its service.
Sinking
In March 1940, the Erinpura was requested for use in the Liner Division and from then on used as a troop transport in the Mediterranean , as in the First World War . On May 1, 1943, she was the command ship of a convoy from Alexandria to Malta . This convoy consisted of 23 former merchant ships that were escorted by eleven warships. Captain PV Cotter was in command. In addition to the Erinpura , three other former passenger ships of the British India Steam Navigation Company were part of the convoy, the Rohna (8,602 GRT), the Karoa (6,631 GRT) and the Egra (5,108 GRT). On board the ship were 179 crew members, eleven DEMS gunners (Defensively Equipped Merchant Ship) and 1025 soldiers, including about 700 from the Basotho people .
On the afternoon of May 1, 1943, the convoy drove west along the Libyan coast in six staggered rows. The first warning was given at 6.43 p.m. when a single plane came into view and approached the convoy. There was fire, but none of the ships were hit. The plane took off again. Shortly after 7.10 p.m. another plane appeared who also attacked the convoy, but was under fire from the escort ships and turned away.
At 7:50 p.m., the main attack occurred 30 nautical miles north of Benghazi on the Libyan coast . According to German information, the convoy was attacked by III./KG 26 under the command of Major Nocken and II./KG 26 under Major Werner Klumper. In British sources, the number of bombers varies between 18 and 36, with the lower number believed to be more likely. The bombers attacked the convoy in a double synchronized attack to confuse the defenses. The individual ships evaded the bombs with sharp changes of course and defended themselves with their anti-aircraft cannons . A Heinkel He 111 unlatched an air torpedo that hit the tanker British Trust , which was ripped open over a third of its length and sank in three minutes. The scene was lit by the burning oil slick left by the British Trust .
At around 8:10 p.m., the attack increased in power. On board the Erinpura , the crew were ordered to their stations. The soldiers were ordered to stay below deck in order to keep the number of deaths as low as possible in the event of fire. The ship was finally in the bow of a bomb hit, immediately took a list to starboard and began to decline over the bow. On the bridge Captain Cotter was hit by a down crashing wall of water and lost consciousness. He was put on a raft by an Indian crew member and survived. Four to five minutes after the hit capsized the Erinpura and went in heavy seas in position 32 ° 40 ' N , 19 ° 53' O below.
The bombardment continued for a while after the sinking of the Erinpura , but no other ship was hit. As soon as the fighter-bombers had withdrawn, the other ships began to take in the castaways. Of the total of 1,215 men on board the Erinpura , only 273 were rescued. Four ship officers, 110 crew members (mainly Indians), six gunners and 822 soldiers of the African Auxiliary Pioneer Corps were killed in the sinking, including 633 men from the Basotho people and 61 men from Botswana , as well as 140 Jewish soldiers who attended the memorial on the Herzlberg in Jerusalem. The survivors were brought ashore in Benghazi the next morning.