Ships hit by U-boats


Suecia

Swedish Motor merchant



Photo courtesy of Danish Maritime Museum, Elsinore

NameSuecia
Type:Motor merchant
Tonnage4,966 tons
Completed1912 - Burmeister & Wain´s Maskin & Skibsbyggeri A/S, Copenhagen 
OwnerRederi-A/B Nordstjernan (Axel Axelson Johnson), Stockholm 
HomeportStockholm 
Date of attack16 Aug 1942Nationality:      Swedish
 
FateSunk by U-596 (Gunter Jahn)
Position55° 43'N, 25° 58'W - Grid AL 4189
Complement47 (9 dead and 38 survivors).
ConvoySC-95 (straggler)
RouteBaltimore - New York - Sydney - Liverpool 
CargoGeneral cargo, including steel, phosphate, tobacco and pulp 
History Completed in December 1912 
Notes on event

At 07.45 hours on 16 Aug 1942 the Suecia, a straggler from convoy SC-95, was sighted by U-596 without neutrality markings close to the route Swedish vessels had to follow through the blockade area around the British Isles and was ordered to stop. The Germans examined the papers and after discovering that she was en route in British service, ordered the crew and 12 passengers to abandon ship. At 13.08 hours, the U-boat then sank the vessel with a torpedo and later erroneously reported her victim as the Suevia. The survivors abandoned ship in four lifeboats, but one was lost on launch and the other boats were soon separated in bad weather with high seas. During the storm, one survivor fell overboard from a lifeboat and drowned, while another boat with eight occupants was never seen again.

 
On boardWe have details of 46 people who were on board


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