SS City of Nagpur

The SS "City of Nagpur" was a British passenger steamer, sunk in the Second World War. She was built by Workman, Clark & Co Ltd, Belfast for Ellerman Lines Ltd, of London in 1922. She was homeported in Glasgow.

Career and sinking

Her final voyage was to take her from Glasgow to Karachi, via Freetown, Natal and Bombay, under the command of her master, David Llewellyn Lloyd. She was carrying 468 people and 2,184 tons of general cargo. She was travelling unescorted. On 28 April she and another merchant were spotted sailing west of Valentia Island, Ireland by the U-boat U-75. U-75 attacked the "City of Nagpur" at 06.08 hours, and the other merchant at 13.14 hours but missed on both occasions. At 02.29 hours in the morning of 29 April the U-boat fired another torpedo at the "City of Nagpur", which hit her on her starboard side.

On being hit, she began to send radio messages, but stopped when the Germans fired at her with machine guns. U-75 fired a stern torpedo at 02.52 hours, but it failed to explode. The U-boat then attempted to set the ship on fire with her deck gun, but this too failed. She fired another torpedo into the "City of Nagpur" at 03.33 hours, which struck her on her port side, and caused a list to port. U-75 fired a final torpedo into the stricken ship at 06.00 hours, causing the "City of Nagpur" to sink by the stern a minute later.

Out of 468 aboard her, 15 crew members and one passenger were lost in the attacks. 452 survivors, including the master, 170 crew members, eight gunners and 273 passengers were picked up by HMS "Hurricane" and landed at Greenock.

References

* [http://uboat.net/allies/merchants/892.html SS City of Nagpur at Uboat.net]