Rotorua
| Name | Rotorua | ||
| Type: | Steam passenger ship | ||
| Tonnage | 10.890 tons | ||
| Completed | 1911 - John Brown & Co Ltd, Clydebank | ||
| Owner | New Zealand Shipping Co Ltd, London | ||
| Homeport | Plymouth | ||
| Date of attack | 11 Dec, 1940 | Nationality:  British | |
| Fate | Sunk by U-96 (Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock) | ||
| Position | 58.56N, 11.20W - Grid AM 2376 - See location on a map - | ||
| Complement | 132 (22 dead and 110 survivors). | ||
| Convoy | HX-92 | ||
| Route | Lyttelton - Panama - Halifax (29 Nov) - Avonmouth | ||
| Cargo | 10.803 tons of general cargo, including refrigerated foodstuffs | ||
| History | Built as Shropshire, 1922 renamed Rotorua. In September 1939 requisitoned as troopship by the Admiralty but soon thereafter returned to the owner. | ||
| Notes on loss | At 15.12 hours on 11 Dec, 1940, the Rotorua (Master Edgar Reginald Harrison Kemp) in convoy HX-92 was hit by one torpedo from U-96 and sank by the stern after 20 minutes about 100 miles west of St. Kilda. She was the ship of the convoy commodore Rear-Admiral J.U.P. Fitzgerald CB RN and had 27 service personnel on board as passengers. Two crew members were taken prisoner by the U-boat and landed at Lorient on 29 December. The master, the commodore, 15 crew members, two gunners and three passengers were lost. 25 survivors were picked up by HMS Varanga (FY 1625) (Lt G.C. Crowley), 34 survivors by the British armed trawler HMS Alsey (M 51) (Lt H.A. Inglis) and 49 survivors by HMS Ebor Wyke (FY 1601) (Skipper T.E. Olgeirsson) and landed at Stornoway. | ||
If you can help us with any additional information on this vessel then please contact us.