Bidevind

Photo courtesy of Roger W. Jordan
| Name | Bidevind | ||
| Type: | Motor merchant | ||
| Tonnage | 4,956 tons | ||
| Completed | 1938 - Flensburger Schiffsbau-Ges., Flensburg | ||
| Owner | Gunnar Knudsen, Porsgrunn | ||
| Homeport | Porsgrunn | ||
| Date of attack | 1 May 1942 | Nationality: | |
| Fate | Sunk by U-752 (Karl-Ernst Schroeter) | ||
| Position | 39.35N, 72.42W - Grid CA 5265 - See location on a map - | ||
| Complement | 36 (0 dead and 36 survivors). | ||
| Convoy | |||
| Route | Bombay (19 Mar) - Capetown (5 Apr) - New York | ||
| Cargo | 7000 tons of manganese ore, general cargo and hides | ||
| History | Completed in April 1938 | ||
| Notes on loss | At 05.43 hours on 1 May, 1942, the unescorted and unarmed Bidevind (Master Marcus Roberg) was hit by a torpedo from U-752 about 75 miles southeast of Ambrose Lightship. The torpedo struck on the starboard side in hold #4, damaging the generators and radio aerial, shattering most of the cast iron pipes and slowly flooding the hold and the shaft alley. The entire crew abandoned ship safely in a motorboat and two lifeboats, but one of them was damaged by debris, which was thrown in the air by a second torpedo that hit aft in the quarter of the crew and injured three of the 17 men in it. They were later transferred to the motorboat which came to assist and all survivors made landfall at the US Coast Guard station near Toms River, New Jersey the next day. The Bidevind settled by the stern and foundered later that day in 40°13N/73°46W. | ||
| More info | |||
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