Mendoza (ship, 1920)
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The Mendoza was a passenger ship of the French shipping company Société Générale de Transport Maritimes that was put into service in 1920 and was built for the transatlantic liner service. The ship was taken as a prize by Great Britain in 1941 and from then on used under the British flag as a troop transport until it was sunk by the German submarine U 178 on November 1, 1942 . Up to 150 people were killed.
As a passenger ship
In 1919, the French shipping company Société Générale de Transports Maritimes à Vapeur (SGTM), which was based in Marseille , commissioned the Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson, Ltd. in Walker-on-Tyne (England) with the construction of two new passenger ships. On February 6, 1920, the Mendoza (8,285 GRT) was launched first, followed by the sister ship Alsina (8,604 GRT) on May 9, 1921 . The Mendoza was completed in October 1920.
Both ships each had two chimneys and two masts and were each powered by two steam engines that acted on two propellers . The top speed was 15 knots (27.8 km / h). The Mendoza was used for passenger traffic from Marseille to Argentina and Brazil .
As a troop transport
On January 18, 1941, the Mendoza , now controlled by the Vichy government , was seized 60 miles east of Montevideo by the British auxiliary cruiser HMS Asturias (Captain Hubert H. Ardill). The ship was taken to Freetown , where it arrived on February 1st. It was then subordinated to the British Ministry of War Transport (MoWT) and used as a troop transport from then on. The Mendoza handed the MoWT over to the management of the Blue Funnel Line shipping company .
On March 1, 1941, the ship left for its first voyage under the British flag. It sailed as part of the convoy SL-67 consisting of 56 ships. On March 4, the convoy was attacked by a German submarine and lost five merchant ships. The Mendoza remained undamaged.
Sinking
On Monday, October 26, 1942, the Mendoza cast off under the command of Captain Basil T. Batho in Mombasa (Kenya) for a crossing to Durban (South Africa). On board were 147 crew members, six gunners and 253 passengers, including members of the military and navy . There were also 287 mail bags on board. The request for escort had been refused, although the Mendoza had a large number of passengers on board and the outdated machines were only capable of a top speed of nine knots. So the ship went out alone.
On Sunday, November 1, 1942 at 3:33 p.m., the unescorted Mendoza was hit by a G7 torpedo in the port side of the stern about 70 miles northeast of The Bluff, a suburb of Durban . The torpedo had been shot down by the German submarine U 178 , which was under the command of Captain Hans Ibbeken on patrol . Ibbeken had already fired two torpedoes at 3 p.m., but they both missed.
Captain Batho ordered all to the rescue stations and passengers and crew were found in their assigned lifeboats one. Since water penetrated into the engine room through broken pipes , the chief engineer GB Crossley ordered the closing of all valves and the use of the pumps. Captain Batho inspected the damage done aft and found that the explosion had blown off the two propellers and the rudder from the ship's hull and that the Mendoza sank over the stern. This moved him to order the abandonment of the ship. Of the twelve lifeboats, two were so badly damaged by the explosion that they could no longer be lowered into the water. The remaining ten were made clear.
Before all passengers and crew were disembarked , the Mendoza was hit on port side by a catching shot at 4 p.m. , which in turn triggered a violent explosion and threw flames, smoke and debris into the air. Those still on board jumped into the water and were rescued by the boats that were already floating freely. Shortly afterwards, the Mendoza sank, stern first, at position 29 ° 20 ′ S , 32 ° 13 ′ E (Grid KP 8611).
Captain Batho held the boats together the following night, until shortly after daybreak on November 2 the American ship Alava reached the site of the accident. Despite heavy seas, the shipwrecked could be taken on board. When Captain Batho climbed out of his lifeboat and tried to climb the ship's ladder, he slipped and was crushed between the side of the Alava and the lifeboat. Either unconscious or already dead, he drifted and could no longer be saved.
The survivors were brought to Durban by the Alava and the armed South African whaler HMSAS Nigel . Information on the number of victims differ. While the Ministry of War Transport gave the number as 34, other sources reported 26 (20 crew members, three gunners, three passengers). The vast majority of reports assume that 28 crew members and 122 passengers perished, a total of 150 people. The reason for the discrepancies is not known.
Web links
- The Mendoza in a list of ship losses in the war year 1942 (center)
- The Mendoza in a listing of British transport ships (at the bottom; with photo)
- Summary in the wreck database
- Detailed description and photos of the sinking
- Overview in the submarine database (different numbers of victims are given here)