Ships hit by U-boats


Berhala

Dutch Motor merchant



Berhala under her former name Rheinland

NameBerhala
Type:Motor merchant
Tonnage6,622 tons
Completed1927 - Deutsche Werft AG, Betrieb Finkenwärder, Hamburg 
OwnerKoninklijke Rotterdamsche Lloyd NV (W. Ruys & Zonen), Rotterdam 
HomeportRotterdam 
Date of attack23 May 1941Nationality:      Dutch
 
FateSunk by U-38 (Heinrich Liebe)
Position09.50N, 17.50W - Grid ET 2178
Complement62 (3 dead and 59 survivors).
ConvoyOB-318 (dispersed)
RouteHull - Liverpool (2 May) - Freetown - Turkey/Greece 
Cargo7200 tons of general cargo, including tinplates, locomotives and aircraft 
History Completed in August 1927 as German Rheinland for Hamburg-Amerika Linie (HAPAG), Hamburg. On 10 May, 1940, seized by the Netherlands in Padang, Sumatra and renamed Berhala
Notes on loss

At 19.51 hours on 23 May, 1941, the Berhala (Master L.J. Tymons), dispersed from convoy OB-318 on 11 May, was hit on the port side in the engine room by one torpedo from U-38, killing the third engineer J. Brons, the fifth engineer Manuhutu and the donkeyman 1st class Chan Kau. The port lifeboat was destroyed and immediately after the hit Chinese crew members cut through the ropes of the other lifeboat and rowed away in it. At 20.20 hours a second torpedo struck the vessel and the remaining crew members had to jump overboard, because the ship sank within eight minutes about 250 miles off Freetown. Shortly after the sinking, the survivors were picked up by a British warship and taken to Freetown.

 
CrewlistsWe have listing of 4 people who were on this vessel 

Location of attack on Berhala.

ship sunk.


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