SS Manistee

SS "Manistee" was a merchant ship of the Elders & Fyffes Line. She was requisitioned by the Royal Navy during the Second World War to serve as an Ocean Boarding Vessel.

Pre-war service

Built in 1920 for the Elders & Fyffes company [ [http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/lines/eldersfyffes.html The Ships List.com] ] for its passenger and banana route from the Caribbean to the United Kingdom, she was requisitioned by the Navy in 1940. She had a Gross Register Tonnage of 5,360 tons and, after requisition, was armed with two six inch guns, one twelve pound gun and an anti-aircraft gun [ [http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/775.html Uboat.net] ] .

Wartime career

"Manistee"’s first encounter with a U-boat was on 7 July 1940 when travelling unescorted southwest of Ireland. She was sighted by "U-99", under the command of Otto Kretschmer, who fired a G7e torpedo at her at 14.01 hours. Kretschmer then surfaced and began shelling the "Manistee" at 14.14 hours. The ship returned fire, forcing "U-99" to break off, with neither side having scored any hits.

"Manistee" formed part of convoy OB 288 sailing from Liverpool on 19 February 1941. The convoy was dispersed at 2100 hours on 23 February 1941 in the North Atlantic at a point North – West of Ireland and South of Iceland due to U-boat activity in the area. [ [http://www.warsailors.com/convoys/ob288.html Convoy OB 288] ] At 2242 (Berlin Time) on the same day, the German U-boat "U-107" and the Italian submarine "Bianchi" fired torpedoes upon the "Manistee". Between 0600 and 0800 on 24 February 1941 "U-107" fired upon the "Manistee" again, sinking her at point 58 55N 20 50W, south of Iceland. HMS "Churchill", HMS|Heather and Free French destroyer "Leopard" were dispatched to search for survivors but none of the 141 hands on board were found.

References

External links

* [http://www.warsailors.com/convoys/ob288.html Warsailors account of the sailing of Convoy OB 288]
* [http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/lines/eldersfyffes.html Elders & Fyffes ships at The Ships List.com]
* [http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/775.html Sinking of HMS Manistee at Uboat.net]