Touraine
Photo Courtesy of Library of Contemporary History, Stuttgart
| Name | Touraine | ||
| Type: | Motor merchant | ||
| Tonnage | 5.811 tons | ||
| Completed | 1925 - Odense Staalskibsværft ved A.P. Møller, Odense | ||
| Owner | Wilh. Wilhelmsen, Oslo | ||
| Homeport | Tønsberg | ||
| Date of attack | 7 Oct, 1940 | Nationality:  Norwegian | |
| Fate | Sunk by U-59 (Joachim Matz) | ||
| Position | 55.14N, 10.34W - Grid AM 5445 - See location on a map - | ||
| Complement | 35 (1 dead and 34 survivors). | ||
| Convoy | OB-225 (straggler) | ||
| Route | Glasgow (4 Oct) - Clyde (6 Oct) - Sydney | ||
| Cargo | Ballast | ||
| History | | ||
| Notes on loss | At 16.01 hours on 7 Oct, 1940, the Touraine (Master Sigfred Ahlgren), a straggler from convoy OB-225 since the previous night, was hit near #4 hatch by one torpedo from U-59 west of Bloody Foreland, Ireland. The crew abandoned ship in three lifeboats as the ship rapidly settled by the stern and they feared more attacks. Because the ship remained afloat, the U-boat attacked again but the two torpedoes fired at 19.25 and 19.32 hours passed underneath the ship. A coup de grâce fired at 20.43 hours hit the ship and caused her to sink slowly at 21.39 hours. All boats remained near the ship, but they lost each others in rough seas, bad weather and the darkness in the following night. 12 survivors in one boat were picked up in the evening of the next day by the British steam merchant Derbyshire and landed at Greenock on 9 October. On 10 October, the boat of the master made landfall at Arranmore Island, Donegal and were later taken to Glasgow. The last lifeboat landed at Tory Island on the morning of 10 October. The cook was admitted to a hospital, but died of his injuries on 11 October. | ||
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