Waziristan
Photo Courtesy of Library of Contemporary History, Stuttgart
| Name | Waziristan | ||
| Type: | Steam merchant | ||
| Tonnage | 5,135 tons | ||
| Completed | 1924 - Short Bros Ltd, Pallion, Sunderland | ||
| Owner | Common Brothers Ltd, Newcastle-upon-Tyne | ||
| Homeport | Newcastle | ||
| Date of attack | 2 Jan 1942 | Nationality:  British | |
| Fate | Sunk by U-134 (Rudolf Schendel) | ||
| Position | 74.09N, 19.10E - Grid AB 6362 - See location on a map - | ||
| Complement | 47 (47 dead - no survivors) | ||
| Convoy | PQ-7A (straggler) | ||
| Route | New York (23 Nov) - Sydney - Reykjavik (26 Dec) - Murmansk | ||
| Cargo | 3700 tons of military supplies, including 1000 tons of copper and 410 Ford trucks | ||
| History | | ||
| Notes on loss | At 06.48 hours on 2 Jan, 1942, U-134 hit a lone steamer with a G7e torpedo about 300 miles northwest of Jan Mayen Island and observed how the crew abandoned ship before it broke in two and sank at 07.20 hours. The vessel had been missed with two G7e torpedoes at 06.22 and 06.39 hours. The ship must have been Waziristan (Master Reynold Tate) from convoy PQ-7A, which was reported missing after being last seen by Cold Harbor in bad weather in the afternoon on 1 January. The master, 36 crew members and ten gunners were lost. It was considered that the ship was lost in the thick ice or had been attacked by German aircraft. The Waziristan was the first British ship to load military supplies in the USA for Russia and made the North Atlantic passage in convoy SC-60. | ||
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