Ships hit by U-boats


Kupa

Yugoslavian Steam merchant



Photo Courtesy of Library of Contemporary History, Stuttgart

NameKupa
Type:Steam merchant
Tonnage4,382 tons
Completed1917 - J. Readhead & Sons Ltd, South Shields 
OwnerPrekomorska Plovidba DD, Zagreb 
HomeportSusak 
Date of attack15 May 1942Nationality:      Yugoslavian
 
FateSunk by U-156 (Werner Hartenstein)
Position14° 50'N, 52° 20'W - Grid EE 6621
Complement72 (2 dead and 70 survivors).
Convoy
RouteNew York - Table Bay - Alexandria 
CargoMilitary trucks, aircraft parts and oil in drums 
History Completed in September 1917 as British Trewidden for Hain SS Co Ltd, St. Ives. 1937 sold to Yugoslavia and renamed Kupa for Prekomorska Plovidba DD, Susak. 
Notes on event

At 20.59 hours on 15 May 1942 the zig-zagging Kupa was hit under the bridge by one torpedo from U-156 and sank by the bow in a few minutes. The U-boat had observed about six hours earlier how the vessel stopped and assumed correctly that they picked up 31 survivors and their lifeboats from Siljestad, which had been sunk at 02.54 hours by the same U-boat. Two crew members were lost. At 21.13 hours, the U-boat surfaced, questioned the survivors and fished 14 tyres from the surface before leaving the area. The lifeboats made landfall after ten days in Venezuela and Barbados.

 
On boardWe have details of 70 people who were on board


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