SHIPS HIT NETHERLANDS 30 - DUTCH SHIPS LOST/DAMAGED/CAPTURED
23)STRABO U-155
Photo. www.photoship.co.uk
Built: 1937
Tonnage: 383 tons
Cargo: 504 tons of babaçu coconuts
Route: Sao Luiz do Maranhao, Brazil - Barranquilla, Colombia
Sunk 10 AUG 42 by U-155 on pos. 07º29"N 54º05"W
0 Dead
13 Survivors
At 18.50 hours on 10 Aug 1942 the unescorted and unarmed Strabo (Master Wilhelm Heimensen) was stopped with a warning shot from the deck gun by U-155 while steaming at 9 knots about 110 miles north-northeast of Paramaribo. The crew immediately abandoned ship in two lifeboats whereupon the U-boat closed from the starboard beam to a range of 500 yards and fired about 20 rounds at the ship until she caught fire. Piening questioned the survivors, first in English and then in German, but wrongly thought the name of the ship was Curaçao. He apologized for sinking their ship and asked if he could supply them with anything, gave the course to Georgetown and wished them good luck before the U-boat left the area.
The Germans did no longer see the fire after two hours and assumed that the Strabo sank, but both lifeboats returned to the ship five hours later after the fire had consumed the whole bridge and upper works . However, the survivors could see the fire still burning through the shell holes and gave up the idea of returning aboard. The boats then set off on a southerly course and independently made landfall somewhere off the coast of French Guiana after losing contact during the first night. They proceeded coastwise until picked up by a pilot boat and the US Army tug USAT General Thomas S. Jessup off Braams Point at the entrance of the Suriname River on 13 August. All survivors were landed at Paramaribo during the afternoon on 14 August.
By Strabo (Dutch Motor merchant) - Ships hit by German U-boats during WWII - uboat.net
