ROYAL NAVY SOUTH ATLANTIC COMMAND - ROYAL NAVY E F H I 15 SHIPS
6)FANDANGO (ARMED TRAWLER)
Photo. www.iwm.org.uk Sister ship HMT Gulland
Completed: 1941
Displacement: 545 tons
Length: 164 ft
Beam: 27, 8 ft
Draught: 11,1 ft
Propulsion: One triple expansion Reciprocating engine, 850 IHP
Armament: 1 x 4 in gun; 3 x 20mm AA, 30 depth charges
Complement: 40
Speed: 12 kts
Sold 1946.
On 30 May 1943, the Flora MacDonald (Master Ernest Wright Jones), escorted by the British armed trawler HMS Fandango (T 107), was hit by one torpedo from U-126. The torpedo struck on the port side in the engine room, killing the third assistant engineer and a fireman. The explosion opened a large hole that immediately flooded the engine room, stopped the engines and caused the ship to settle by the stern.
The armed trawler picked up the survivors and decided to head to Freetown, so the badly burned men could be treated. Three of them died on board and the other two died in the hospital in Freetown from their burns. 20 men were hospitalized.
