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Allied Ships hit by U-boats


Berhala

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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
- See location on a map -
Complement62 (3 dead and 59 survivors).
ConvoyOB-318 (dispersed)
RouteLiverpool - Turkey/Greece 
CargoGeneral cargo 
History Built as German Rheinland for Hamburg-Amerika Linie, Hamburg
10 May 1940 seized in Padang, Sumatra by Netherlands and renamed Berhala 
Notes on loss On 4 May 1941, the Berhala (Master L.J. Tymons) joined convoy OB-318 and continued to her destination independently when the convoy was dispersed on 11 May.

At 19.51 hours on 23 May, the Berhala was hit by one torpedo from U-38 in the engine room at the port side, 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. 


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