San Demetrio (ship)

San Demetrio

Ship data flag  United Kingdom (1938-42) Ship type Tanker Owner Eagle Oil & Shipping Co Ltd (1938-42) Shipyard Blythswood Shipbuilding Company , Scotstoun Build number 52 Launch October 11, 1938 Whereabouts Sunk March 17, 1942

Ship dimensions and crew length 141.2 m ( Lüa ) width 18.7 m Draft Max. 10.1 m measurement 8,073 GRT   crew 45

Machine system Machine performance 502 hp (369 kW) Top speed 12 kn (22 km / h) propeller 1

The San Demetrio was a British tanker that was mainly used on the North Atlantic convoy route during World War II .

history

The tanker San Demetrio was part of the convoy HX 84 on November 5, 1940 , when it was attacked by the German heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer . The Admiral Scheer sank the Trewellard (16 dead), the Fresno City (1 dead), the Kenbane Head (23 dead), the Beaverford (77 dead) and the Maiden (91 dead) with a total of 33,628 GRT. The San Demetrio was set on fire by the Admiral Scheer's artillery . ( Location ). Due to the danger of explosion from the gasoline on board, the crew left the tanker in two dinghies. While the dinghy with the captain of the San Demetrio was soon taken up by another ship, the second boat, led by Second Officer Hawkins, was drifting in heavy seas. The next day, the men in the boat discover a drifting, burning ship. As it turned out, it was the San Demetrio that, despite the damage and the fire on board, had still not exploded. Faced with the choice of freezing to death in bad weather or possibly blowing up aboard the wreck, they decided to return to the tanker. The seafarers succeeded with great difficulty in getting the ship afloat again. The ship reached Ireland without radio or navigation means, only after the orientation of the sun . A London court later awarded them salvage wages. This incident later formed the basis for the script for the film San Demetrio London .

Despite severe damage, the San Demetrio was repaired and from May 1941 onwards again in convoy trains. On March 17, 1942, she was traveling alone off the North American coast on the way to Halifax. There she wanted to join an HX convoy with her cargo of 4,000 tons of alcohol and 7,000 tons of jet fuel . Northwest of Cape Charles, the German submarine U 404 torpedoed the San Demetrio, which then sank ( Lage ). A total of 19 crew members were killed, while the captain and 31 crew members were rescued in two lifeboats two days later by the US tanker Beta .

Convoys

During the Second World War, she took part in the following convoys:

Convoy	time	Port of departure	Destination port
KJ 3	October 1939	Kingston ( location )	Southampton ( location )
OA 37	November 1939	Portsmouth ( location )	different ports
HXF 15	January 1940	Halifax ( location )	Brest ( location )
HX 28	March 1940	Halifax	Clyde
OB 138	May 1940	Clyde	different ports
HX 46	June 1940	Halifax	Liverpool ( location )
OB 169	June 1940	Liverpool	various Canadian ports
HX 58	July 1940	Halifax	Liverpool
WN 5	August 1940	Clyde	Methil ( location )
FS 248	August 1940	Tyne	Southend
FN 263	August 1940	Southend	Methil
OA 206	September 1940	Methil	different ports
HX 84	November 1940	Halifax
OB 314	May 1941	Liverpool	different ports
HX 129	June 1941	Halifax	Liverpool
OB 338	July 1941	Liverpool	different ports
HX 139	July 1941	Halifax	Liverpool
ON 6	August 1941	Liverpool	different ports
HX 148	September 1941	Halifax	Liverpool
BB 77	September 1941	Belfast	Swansea
WP 38	September 1941	Swansea	Falmouth
ON 24	October 1941	Liverpool	different ports
HX 160	November 1941	Halifax	Liverpool
ON 46	December 1941	Liverpool	different ports
HX 172	February 1942	Halifax	Liverpool
BB 135	February 1942	Belfast	Avonmouth
ON 69	March 1942	Liverpool

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Clay Blair : The Submarine War. Die Jäger 1939–1942 , Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-453-12345-X , p. 256
2. ^ F. Tennyson Jesse: The Saga of "San Demetrio" , London (His Majesty's Office) 1942.
3. ^ Arnold Hague Convoy Database , accessed February 10, 2019.

 Map with all coordinates: OSM | WikiMap