Hi guys

Been a while since I've dropped in. Just surfing the net with my father-in-law looking for stuff on the Viceroy of India, a P&O liner sunk off Algeria on 11/11/42 by U407 whilst serving as a troopship for the Torch landings. John's Dad was a RN gunner on board and was picked up by an escorting destroyer. The VoI was one of 3 ships on which he served that were torpedoed from under him!

Does anyone else know anything about the Viceroy or whether she has been dived on?

Cheers beer:

Andy

Troopship Torpedoed

“The most important success by German U-boats against TORCH shipping was made early on November 11th by U-407 north of Oran. Kptlt. Ernst-Ulrich Bruller sighted a small silhouette off his starboard bow and as the U-boat closed he could see clearly the target’s two funnels above a gleaming bow wake. Bruller fired a spread of torpedoes from a range of 2700 meters, then a finishing shot from the stern tube and withdrew. Although his final torpedo missed, others had hit the 19,600-ton Viceroy of India and at 0830 she slipped beneath the waves. HMS Boadicea rescued her 425 survivors.”

With Utmost Spirit: Allied Operations in the Mediterranean, 1942–1945 Chapter 4; by Barbara Tomblin.

A magnificent story! Three ships?!? t:

Thanks for the extra info Tony. It adds a few more touches to the our little pileof facts that we're trawling up. You rock!

Oswalder, according to my father-in-law, John, his Dad was torpedoed 3 times. We only managed to hunt for the Viceroy as we found an old photo of it in among the old photos of John's Dad who died about 10 years ago at least. We have no idea what the other ships were called but he was on one that went down in the Atlantic. Not many ships sunk there, be an easy find... j:

A map I uncovered at Uboat.net gave an approx location of the sinking (but also coordinates). Looks like she wasn't too far off the coast of Algeria. Wonder if anyone has dived it? Have a request on Shipwreck Central too so we'll see if anyone has! Going to start looking into the HMS Boadicea as well to see what reports I can dig up on her rescuing the survivors.

John seems to remember that his Dad was never in the water for long but then seems to think that one of the sinkings involved several days in a lifeboat. Will let yoou know what I find out once I have full service records etc.

Might be seeing the HMVS Cerberus breakwater tomorrow!

Cheers and thanks again beer:

Andy

You've got a real life hunt on your hands. Too bad St. Julien Perlmutter and Yeager can't help you out on this one. Dirk has it too easy! :P

The conversation would go something like this:

Andy: St. Julien, how are you?
Perlmutter: Andy my boy! I'm great now that I've had a plateful of mushroom mussel soufflé and a glass of fine brandy. What can I do for you?
Andy: I need to know everything you can tell me about about a liner ship that was sunk in WWII off Algeria and the destroyer who picked up her survivors.
Perlmutter: Oh you mean the Viceroy and HMS Boadicea? I have a book on them right here in the middle of this pile of a gazillion other books.

:lol:

:lol: :lol: :lol:

ROFLMAO!

I'm still getting over the idea of actually talking to St Julien! Me in the NUMA world...wow! party:

Cheers beer:

Andy

I've managed to determine that the reported coordinates for the sinking of the Viceroy are roughly 69 km NW of the town of Mostaganem. Currently trying to find out how deep it is there.

Gotta love the Shipwreck Central interactive map!

Hey, cool, I finally made it to 100 messages!

Cheers beer:

Andy

Well as Oswalder foretold, this story is a cracker. I am still concentrating on the Viceroy of India as that is currently the only ship we know of that John's Dad served on.

She was quite well known (first P&O liner to be powered by electric turbines) and was involved in/related to incidents that sound very Cussleresque (fictional and Sea Hunter type)! Before the war, she took on crew and/or passengers of four ships in trouble. Two of these ships were White Star liners (Doric and Ceramic) both of which were damaged from collisions with other vessels. I can't remember which CC book involved a collision at sea at the start.

Much of the ship's interior decoration was designed by Miss Elsie Mackay, the youngest daughter of Lord Inchcape, then P&O's chairman. On March 13, 1928, Miss Mackay and Capt W R Hinchcliffe departed Cranwell Airfield in his Stinson Detroiter to attempt to fry across the Atlantic from east to west (!!!!). They were last seen heading west in heavy snowstorms 170 miles off the coast of Ireland. It is believed they were forced down and drowned. Oiseau Blanc sprang to mind!

Needless to say, I am also looking into Miss Mackay's life and still trying to work out the other ships that John's Dad served on!

Boy am I having fun! Now if I can just find how deep the VoI is or if she's been found and surveyed... snor:

Cheers and beers beer:

Andy (wondering if I should change my name to Viceroy Boy!) j:

That's why they didn't make it...they ran out of oil to fry things in! :lol: :lol: :lol:

Oh dear. :unsure:

Haha, you'll probably need that sense of humor as you go deeper in your search. I'm glad you're making headway, keep us posted on how you're doing! I hope the VoI isn't too deep for you. b: