page_title: SS Oropesa (1919)
section_title: Final voyage and sinking
hierarchical_section_title: SS Oropesa (1919) / Final voyage and sinking
caption_attribution_description: English: Photograph of British destroyer HMS Westcott.
context_page_description: SS Oropesa was a British steam turbine ocean liner of the Pacific Steam Navigation Company. She was built on Merseyside in 1920 and operated between Liverpool and South America. In 1941 the German submarine U-96 sank her in the Western Approaches, killing 106 people aboard.
context_section_description: Oropesa left Suez on 30 November with Convoy BS 9A, which dispersed off Aden on 5 December. On 12 December 1940 Oropesa left Mombasa in Kenya, calling at Beira, Mozambique, on 19 December and Cape Town on Christmas Day.
  On 16 January 1941 at 03:56 hrs Oropesa was southeast of Rockall in the Western Approaches when the German Type VIIC submarine U-96, commanded by Kptlt. Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock, hit her in the stern with one G7a torpedo. Oropesa did not sink immediately, so U-96 waited and at 04:40 hrs fired another torpedo, but that malfunctioned and went in circles. U-96 fired again at 05:03 and 05:59 hrs, this time hitting Oropesa beneath her bridge and amidships. The liner capsized and sank at 06:16 hrs.
  The Master, Harry Croft, 98 crew, a DEMS gunner and six passengers were killed. The Royal Navy tugs HMS Superman and HMS Tenacity and anti-submarine destroyer HMS Westcott rescued 109 crew, one DEMS gunner and 33 passengers and landed them at Liverpool.
  U-96 had been at the scene for more than two hours, but escaped before Westcott could detect her. The next morning the submarine struck in the Western Approaches again, sinking SS Almeda Star and killing all 360 people aboard.
caption: The destroyer HMS Westcott, which with two Royal Navy tugs rescued 143 survivors
exif: {}