SS Carsbreck

The SS "Carsbreck" was a British steam merchant ship. She was sunk while carrying supplies to the UK during the Second World War.

Early years and convoy SC-7

"Carsbreck" was built in the yards of Ayrshire Dockyard Co Ltd, Irvine, North Ayrshire, being completed in 1936 and launched as "Coulbeg" for Dornoch Shipping Co Ltd, (Lambert Bros). [ [http://www.clydesite.co.uk/clydebuilt/viewship.asp?id=20504 Coulbeg at Clydesite.co.uk] ] She then entered service with Honeyman & Co, of Glasgow, and by 1938 had been renamed "Carsbreck" and was homeported in Glasgow. [http://uboat.net/allies/merchants/1182.html Uboat.net] ] She sailed in a number of convoys during the Second World War to carry supplies to and from Britain. She was part of convoy SC-7 in October 1940, carrying a cargo of timber. The convoy was overwhelmed by German U-boats successfully using wolf pack tactics, and "Carsbreck" was torpedoed at 02.04 hours on 18 October by "U-38", under the command of Heinrich Liebe. She was badly damaged but was able to reach port, escorted by the Flower class corvette HMS "Heartsease".

Convoy HG-75 and sinking

"Carsbreck" later formed part of convoy HG-75, sailing from Almería to Barrow-in-Furness. She carried a cargo of 6,000 tons of iron ore and was under the command of her master, John Dugald Muir. She was sighted at 06:36 hours on 24 October 1941 by Reinhard Suhren's "U-564", which fired five torpedoes at the convoy. Suhren duly claimed five ships hit and sunk. In fact only three ships had been hit, but all were sunk. These were the "Carsbreck", the "Ariosto" and the "Alhama". 24 of the "Carsbreck"’s crew, 19 crew members and four gunners and the master, were lost. 16 crew members and two gunners survived to be picked up by the Free French ship "Commandant Duboc". They were transferred to the fighter catapult ship "Ariguani", but the "Ariguani" was torpedoed and damaged by "U-83" two days later. The "Ariguani" was abandoned, but later re-boarded and towed to Gibraltar. The survivors from "Carsbreck" were picked up by HMS "Campion", were transferred to HMS "Vidette" and were taken to Gibraltar.

Notes

References

* [http://uboat.net/allies/merchants/1182.html SS Carsbreck at Uboat.net]
* [http://www.convoyweb.org.uk/hague/index.html Arnold Hague's convoy database]