SHIPS HIT BRITAIN 239 * - A B C
9)ANADYR MoWT U-129
Photo. www.photoship.co.uk
Built 1930
Tonnage: 5,278 / 9,290 tons
Cargo: 7,791 tons of general cargo, including government stores
Route: New York - Trinidad - Capetown - Port Elizabeth
Sunk: 6 MAY 44 by U-129 (Richard von Harpe) in pos. 10º.55”S, 27º.30”W
6 Dead
47 Survivors
Completed in April 1930 as British Redsea for Sea SS Co Ltd (Brown, Atkinson & Co), Hull. 1938 sold to France and renamed Anadyr for Cie des Messageries Maritimes, Dunkirk. In June 1940 joined the Free French forces and was later that year taken over by Britain in Gibraltar and transferred to the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT).
At 21.53 hours on 6 May 1944, U-129 fired a spread of three torpedoes at the Anadyr (Master J. Bouteiller), dispersed from convoy TJ-30 and hit her with one torpedo after 2 minutes 35 seconds about 600 miles south-southeast of Recife, Brazil. The U-boat had chased the vessel for about 8 hours and observed how she caught fire after being hit. The ship sank after being hit aft by a coup de grâce at 22.00 hours. The Germans tried to question the survivors but could not understand them. Four crew members and two gunners were lost. The survivors made landfall at the Brazilian coast after 8 days: the master and seven survivors landed at Porto de Galinhas near Recife and 39 survivors landed 20 miles south of Recife.
By. Anadyr (British Steam merchant) - Ships hit by German U-boats during WWII - uboat.net
