Rohna (ship)
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The Rohna was a British troop transport that was sunk on November 26, 1943 north of Bougie (Algeria) by a German Heinkel He 177 bomber with a Henschel Hs 293 radio-controlled weapon . 1,138 people, including 1,015 American soldiers, were killed. It is the largest human loss on the US side in a single sinking in World War II . The details of the sinking of the Rohna were kept secret until 1967.
As a passenger ship
The 8602 GRT steamship Rohna was commissioned in 1926 as a passenger ship for the British shipping company British India Steam Navigation Company for their passenger and mail traffic from Great Britain to India . Her sister ship was the Rajula (8478 GRT) , which was also commissioned in 1926 . The two steamers were to replace the shipping company's older ships on the Madras - Negapatam - Singapore route . Both ships were equipped with a ventilation system and elevators, with which the machinists could reach their various locations more quickly.
The 140.61 meter long and 18.80 meter wide ship had a chimney, two masts and two propellers and was propelled by two four-cylinder quadruple expansion steam engines that developed 5,000 PSi and could accelerate the ship to a speed of 14.3 knots. The passenger accommodations were designed for 281 passengers in first class, 33 in second class and 100 in third class. In addition, there were up to 5,064 so-called deck passengers.
The Rohna was launched on August 24, 1926 at the Hawthorn, Leslie & Company shipyard in Hebburn , and was completed on November 5, 1926. When she reached India for the first time at the end of her maiden voyage , she was sent on to Shanghai with supplies and could not start her regular timetable until June 1927. Five months later, one of the ship's two anchor chains broke in a cyclone while it was moored in Madras Harbor (now Chennai ). Captain Ernest G. Carré lowered the anchor and steered the Rohna out of the harbor at top speed straight into the storm.
On June 11, 1931, the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) introduced the Simla Rules, a set of rules governing safety on merchant ships sailing to the Far East and carrying large numbers of passengers who were not in cabins were housed. These rules stipulated that only half of the passengers had to carry life-saving appliances. The number of deck passengers on board the Rohna was reduced from 5064 to 3851 shortly afterwards. This was still more than any other British-registered ship.
War deployment as a troop transport
The Rohna was used for the first time to transport emergency services as early as July 1939 , but it was not until May 1940 that it was officially requisitioned as a permanent troop transport. The steamer was equipped with a twelve-pounder multipurpose gun , three 20-mm anti-aircraft cannons and four machine guns. In 1941 the ship was deployed in the Far East , and in early 1942 it took part in the evacuation of civilians from Singapore (see Battle of Singapore ). For example, on January 27, 1942, she left Singapore with mostly Indian women and children on board, while the island was under constant fire.
Later the Rohna was moved to the Mediterranean . She was in the same convoy , consisting of 23 merchant and 11 warships , to which the former British India passenger ship Erinpura belonged when it was sunk by German fighter bombers on May 1, 1943 off Benghazi . Over 900 people died in the attack. The Rohna and the Erinpura were two of a total of four ships belonging to the British India Steam Navigation Company that were part of this convoy. The others were the Karoa (6631 BRT) and the Egra (5108 BRT).
In July 1943, the Rohna was involved in the Allied invasion of Sicily (see Operation Husky ). She later served as a depot ship in Algiers . From Algiers she went on to Casablanca , where she took on American pioneers , whom she brought to Naples . After disembarking the troops, Oran in Algeria was the next destination.
Sinking
On November 25, 1943, the Rohna Oran left under the command of Captain Murphy as part of convoy KMF 26. The destination was Bombay , where the Suez Canal had to be crossed. It was Thanksgiving Thursday. On the day after departure, November 26th, the convoy was attacked by several Heinkel He 177s of Group II of Kampfgeschwader 40 off the Algerian coast . Here, a 975 kg heavy met glide bomb type Henschel Hs 293 the Rohna on the starboard side of the rear of the engine room .
After the massive explosion of the 660 kg explosive charge, which completely destroyed the engine room, the Rohna was enveloped in flames and smoke from bow to stern . Captain Murphy realized that the ship was sinking quickly and immediately ordered the ship to be abandoned. None of the port lifeboats could be lowered into the water because the force of the explosion had pushed the planks on the port side outwards. On the other hand, some boats could be launched on the starboard side. However, they were stormed by hundreds of men who tried to save their lives. Several boats were flooded and overturned . During the next three quarters of an hour everything that was buoyant was thrown overboard.
Captain Murphy was with several officers and three American soldiers on the navigating bridge , as the ship about an hour after the bombing at position 36 ° 57 '12.8 " N , 5 ° 16' 48.9" O sank to the rear above . Of the total of 2195 people on board, 1138 (according to other sources 1170) were killed, including 1015 US soldiers. This was the largest single incident at sea loss to US forces during World War II . Among the dead were five ship officers, 117 lower crew ranks, eleven of twelve gunners and a nurse. More than 1,000 men survived, of which 606 were from the deminers Pioneer of the US Navy rescued. The high loss of human life was also blamed on a flotilla of seven empty infantry landing vehicles that passed the sinking site without stopping. The commanding officer was released from his command.
The sinking was hardly made public at the time. In February 1944, the US government announced that over 1,000 soldiers had died on a troop ship of unknown name in European waters. It has been suggested that a submarine was to blame. Further information was not given. By June 1945 the name of the ship, the approximate number of fatalities and the air raid had been identified as the cause of the sinking. However, the report did not include the fact that it was a guided missile. Only after the introduction of the Freedom of Information Act 1967 were the exact circumstances of the sinking published.
The Henschel Hs-293 glide bombs produced by the Henschel works in Berlin sank or damaged numerous other ships during World War II. On August 27, 1943, for example, the Sloop Egret (198 dead) in the Bay of Biscay and the hospital ship Newfoundland (21 dead) near Salerno on September 14, 1943, were sunk by bombs of this type. On Memorial Day 1996, a memorial was inaugurated at the Ford Mitchell National Cemetery in Seale (Alabama) to commemorate the sinking.
literature
- Carlton Jackson. Allied Secret: The Sinking of HMT Rohna. University of Oklahoma Press, Red River Edition, 2002.
- Michael Walsh, Rohna Memories, Eyewitness to Tragedy , 2005 Google Books [1]
- The HMT Rohna Documentary Preview - Rohna: Classified [2]
Web links
- The website Rohna with links (English)
- Information about the sinking in the wreck database (English)
- The Rohna in a listing of ships of the British India Line that were used in the war (upper third) ( Memento from December 6, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
Footnotes
- ↑ HA / LA = High Angle / Low Angle, so it can be used for both sea target and aircraft combat.
- ↑ Jürgen Rohwer , Gerhard Hümmelchen : Chronik des Maritime War 1939–1945, November 1943. Retrieved on January 7, 2017 .