- BLOCKADEBRECHER
15)NORDERNEY (SCUTTLED)
https://www.naval-history.net/Maps1939-08RNStations.GIF
Photo Courtesy. Library of Contemporary History Stuttgart
Built: 1922
Tonnage: 3,667 / 6,650 dwt
Length 369,7 ft.
Beam 50,10 ft.
Draught 22,8 ft.
Cargo: 72,000 hides, 500 tons of rubber, quebracho wood, bones and meat, totaling 5,450 tons.
Scuttled 15 AUG 41 South Atlantic NE of Amazon estuary on pos. 12º 14"N 43º 24"W, to avoid capture by Royal Navy Cruiser HMS Despatch and AMC Pretoria Castle.
Norderney left the port of La Plata de Rosário Norte, Argentina, on August 9, 1939 and arrived at Belem state of Para on August 27. When leaving Rosário, the ship had 658 tons of coal on board. This stock had shrunk to 290 t upon arrival in Belem. With an average speed of 10 knots, daily consumption was 26 t. The ship was loaded with 72,000 hides, 500 tons of rubber, quebracho wood, bones and meat, totaling 5,450 tons. The crew consisted entirely of Chinese, brought together on January 18, 1940.
According to information from the assistant to the naval attaché at the German Embassy in Rio, Lieutenant Commander Hermman Bonny. The embassy now had no crew or coal and did not have the necessary to load and fuel the ship. When the crew finally got together again, supplemented by volunteers or sailors from other stranded ships, the steamer left Belem on August 9, 1941. A week later, on August 17, 1941, the Norderney was intercepted by HMS Pretoria Castle and HMS Despatch and was scuttled and sunk by gunfire of Pretoria Castle to avoid being captured by the enemy in the South Atlantic north of Pará. The crew, some of whom suffered burns, were interned in Trinidad, British West Indies.
0 Dead
54 crewmembers made POW.
Above, a radio message from Royal Navy gives detailed information on the exact position where SS Norderney was scuttled.
AMC HMS Pretoria Castle.
HMS Despatch
