Rotorua (ship, 1911)
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The Rotorua (II) was a 1911 posed in service passenger ship which in 1923 by the New Zealand shipping company New Zealand Shipping Company , the passenger and mail service between the UK and Australia was used. On December 11, 1940, the Rotorua was sunk by the German submarine U 96 west of the Outer Hebrides in the North Atlantic , where 22 of the 132 people on board were killed. The Rotorua was the first ship sunk by U 96 .
The ship
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The 10,890 GRT steamship was built for the New Zealand shipping company Federal Steam Navigation Company ( Federal Line ), founded in 1895, and was built at the John Brown & Company shipyard in Clydebank, Scotland . The 165.8 meter long and 18.59 meter wide combined passenger and cargo ship was launched on April 27, 1911 and was christened Shropshire . The steel- built steamer had a chimney, five masts and a twin propeller and could reach a top speed of 14 knots.
The Shropshire was built for passenger and mail traffic to Australia and could accommodate 131 travelers in first, 270 in second and another 270 in third class. It was completed in September 1911. On October 28, 1911, she ran from Liverpool on her maiden voyage via Cape Town to Adelaide , Melbourne , Sydney and Brisbane . It was designed so that it could reach Adelaide after a journey of 36 days. In 1912 the capacity of the first class was reduced to 66 beds.
After the outbreak of the First World War , the Shropshire was used by the British Admiralty for service as a troop transport in August 1914 and left Albany for England on November 1, 1914 as part of a convoy of 38 Australian and New Zealand ships , that of Australian and Japanese ships Cruisers was escorted. 20 days later it collided with the Ascanius of the Blue Funnel Line . On August 6, 1917, the ship fell under the Liner Requisition Theme. On July 2, 1919, the Shropshire was discharged from service. Between 1919 and 1921 there were four fires on board. The repairs took place in Falmouth .
From December 1921, the ship was completely renovated and converted again for passenger traffic. It was switched from coal to oil combustion. In addition, second class was abolished, so that only 131 first class passengers and 270 third class passengers were carried. On March 19, 1923, the ship was renamed Rotorua to replace the ship of the same name , which had been sunk by the German submarine UC 17 in 1917 . Four days later, the Rotorua set off on her first voyage in service with the New Zealand Shipping Company from Southampton via Plymouth to Wellington . In 1933 the passenger accommodations were changed again. From then on, 400 people could be transported in the tourist class.
On October 1, 1936, the Rotorua became fully owned by the New Zealand Shipping Company. She was registered in Plymouth on March 2, 1937. In September 1939, the Admiralty again requested the ship as a troop ship and placed it under the control of the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT).
Sinking
On Saturday, October 26, 1940, the Rotorua ran under the command of Captain Edgar Reginald Harrison Kemp in Lyttelton (New Zealand) via Panama to Halifax . From there she cast off on November 29, 1940 as part of the convoy HX-92 for the crossing over the North Atlantic to Avonmouth . On board were 132 people, including 27 Army members as passengers, several gunners and the convoy commodore , Rear Admiral John Uniacke Penrose Fitzgerald, a porter of the Croix de guerre . In addition, 10,803 tons of cargo were carried, mainly frozen meat and dairy products. The convoy drove without an escort .
On December 11, 1940, the convoy was sighted about 110 nautical miles west of St. Kilda by U 96 , a German type VII C submarine under the command of Lieutenant Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock . U 96 shot at the convoy without warning. At 3:12 p.m. the Rotorua was hit by a G7e torpedo and sank over the stern after 20 minutes (position 58.56N 11.20W). 22 people died, including Captain Kemp, Rear Adm. Fitzgerald, 15 crew members, two gunners and three passengers. Two crew members were captured and brought ashore in Lorient on December 29th .
The survivors were picked up by the trawlers Varanga and Ebor Wyke and the mine- layer Alsey and brought to Stornoway .