Palma
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| Name | Palma | ||
| Type: | Motor merchant | ||
| Tonnage | 5,419 tons | ||
| Completed | 1941 - Harland & Wolff Ltd, Belfast | ||
| Owner | Royal Mail Lines Ltd, London | ||
| Homeport | London | ||
| Date of attack | 29 Feb 1944 | Nationality:  British | |
| Fate | Sunk by U-183 (Fritz Schneewind) | ||
| Position | 05.51N, 79.58E - Grid LD 4379 - See location on a map - | ||
| Complement | 53 (7 dead and 46 survivors). | ||
| Convoy | |||
| Route | Liverpool - Capetown - Colombo - Madras - Calcutta | ||
| Cargo | 700 tons of general cargo | ||
| History | Laid down as Pelotas, completed in April 1941 as Palma. At 05.05 hours on 20 Jul, 1941, U-95 fired two torpedoes at the unescorted Palma but missed. The U-boat then tried to stop the merchant with gunfire at 05.28 hours, but had to break off the gun duel after 11 minutes due to problems with the deck gun and give up the chase because the ship was running zigzagging courses at high speeds. They reported one hit, but in fact three had been scored. | ||
| Notes on loss | About 15.30 hours on 29 Feb, 1944, the unescorted Palma (Master Alfred Robert Osburn) was hit by two of four torpedoes from U-183 and sank about 400 miles south of Ceylon. Four crew members and three gunners were lost. The master, 41 crew members and four gunners were picked up by HMS Balta (T 50) (Lt W.E. Turner, RNVR) and the British armed whaler HMS Semla (4.38) (Lt S.V. Bateman) and landed at Colombo on 2 March. | ||
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