For the first time, a book exposes an obscure theater of the Second World War in great detail and comprehensively, not just in terms of geography but also from the perspectives of both Allied and Axis participants. U-Boats off Bermuda provides details of specific U-Boat patrols and their commanders, as well as a general overview […]
Blog
Book Review by Soundings Magazine
Danger lurked at every knot and fathom for sailors during World War II. German and Italian submarines stalked Allied ships, disrupting supply lines and troop transports. U-Boats in the Bahamas is a study of the naval conflicts in the waters around the Turks & Caicos and the Bahamas, where subs sank 130 Allied ships… Read […]
Book Review by Bermuda’s The Royal Gazette
When Gilbert Lamb found four castaways off St David’s in 1942, he had to help. The Canadian merchant marines were emaciated after rowing their lifeboat 400 miles; their schooner Helen Forsey sank after a German U-boat attack. After Mr Lamb guided the men to shore, they gifted him their lifeboat. The rescue is one of […]
SS Nemanja of Yugoslavia sunk by U-84/Uphoff off Nova Scotia 7 April 1942; 13 KIA
Nemanja SS Nemanja under her previous name of Trojan Prince. Source: http://wrecksite.eu/imgBrowser.aspx?20992 The steamship Nemanja was built in 1918 as the War Perch by Bertram and Sons of Sunderland, England. Ordered by the UK Shipping Controller for WWI, she had a colorful 24-year career with four names, including Trojan Prince for the Prince Line (Furness […]
M/S Molganger sunk by U-404 Bülow S of Nantucket, 9 men on rafts survive 48 days towards Azores
Moldanger Moldanger under way. Source: From Bjørn Milde’s postcard collection. http://warsailors.com/singleships/moldanger.html The Norwegian cargo motor ship Moldanger was completed in March 1933 by the Netherlands’ Shipbuilding Company, NV of Amsterdam. Her owners were A/S Westfal-Larsen & Co. of Bergen, Norway, to which the ship was home-ported. She was 6,827 gross tons and a single-deck […]
MS Mattawin sunk by U-553/Thurmann off Nantucket, all 71 survived; taken to Newport, Cape Cod, Halifax
MS Mattawin. Source: Andrey Nelogov, http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/1735.html The 6,919-ton diesel-motored ship Mattawin was originally built as the Ediba at Harland and Wolff’s storied shipyard in Govan, Glasgow. Ediba is a rural hamlet northeast of Port Harcourt, Nigeria, and the ship’s owners, the Elder Dempster Lines Ltd. of Liverpool, traded to West Africa regularly and named many […]
SS Taborfjell, sunk by U-576/Heinicke off Cape Cod MA, British sub rescued 3 men, took to Canada
A photo of D/S Taborfjell from http://warsailors.com/singleships/taborfjell.html, from Arve Wiborg. The Norwegian steam ship Taborfjell was 1,339 gross tons and could carry 2,600 tons of dry cargo. She was built in Oslo Norway in 1938 by Nylands Mek. Verksted. Her owners in April 1942 were A/S Rudolf and managers were Olsen & Ugelstad of Oslo, […]
SS Skottland sunk off Nova Scotia by U-588/Vogel 17 May 1942, rescued by lobster boat OK Service IV
A painting of the SS Skottland made by Jan Goedhart of the Netherlands and shared with Dame Siri Lawson, web mistress of http://warsailors.com/singleships/skottland.html. The 2,117-ton steam ship Skottland was built as the Dutch ship Stad Zwolle by Meyer and Company’s Scheepsbouw Mij NV (shipbuilders) of Zalt-Bommel, in the Amsterdam area of the Netherlands. Her original […]
MT Ranja sunk SE of Nantucket by U-71/Flachsenberg on March 17, 1942
M/T Ranja from the port bow, where most of the 3 torpedoes struck. From Dame Siri Holm Lawson’s superlative histories of Norwegian ships in WWII, http://warsailors.com/singleships/ranja.html. Also from Mr. Bjørn Milde’s postcard collection. The Norwegian motor tanker Ranja had a colorful history and a sudden tragic end. Because all 34 men on board her perished when […]
MV Malayan Prince grazed by torpedo of U-432/Schultze 9 June 1942 off Canada
The Malayan Prince was an 8,593 ton motorized merchant ship built in Germany in March 1926 by Deutsche Werft AG, Betrieb Finkenwarder in Hamburg. Her owner at the time of attack off Canada was Furness Withy & Co. Ltd. of Liverpool, UK, and her homeport was London. At the time of attack Malayan Prince was […]