page_title: SS Slamat
section_title: Loss of Slamat, Diamond and Wryneck
hierarchical_section_title: SS Slamat / Convoy to and from Nauplia / Loss of Slamat, Diamond and Wryneck
caption_attribution_description: English: Royal Navy destroyer HMS Wryneck, with a tug in background, Mediterranean Sea, probably Sollum, Egypt
context_page_description: SS Slamat was a Dutch ocean liner of the Rotterdam-based Koninklijke Rotterdamsche Lloyd line. Although she was a turbine steamship, she tended not to be referred to as "TSS". She was built in Vlissingen in the Netherlands in 1924 for liner service between Rotterdam and the Dutch East Indies. In 1940 she was converted into a troop ship. In 1941 she was sunk with great loss of life in the Battle of Greece.
context_section_description: The convoy steamed south down the Argolic Gulf, until at 0645 or 0715 hrs Luftwaffe aircraft attacked it: first Bf 109 fighters, then Ju 87 dive bombers and Ju 88 and Do 17 bombers. A 250 kg (550 lb) bomb exploded between Slamat's bridge and forward funnel, setting her afire. Her water system became disabled, hampering her crew's ability to fight the fire. Another bomb also hit her and she listed to starboard.
  Slamat's Master, Tjalling Luidinga, gave the order to abandon ship. The bombing and fire had destroyed some of her lifeboats and life rafts, and her remaining boats and rafts were launched under a second Stuka attack. The destroyer HMS Hotspur reported seeing four bombs hit Slamat. Two lifeboats capsized; one from overloading and another when, in the midst of transferring survivors, Diamond had to speed away from her to evade an air attack. Some aircraft machine-gunned survivors in the water.
  The rest of the convoy kept moving, while Calcutta rescued some survivors and ordered the destroyer Diamond to rescue more. At 0815 hrs Diamond was still rescuing survivors and still under attack. At 0916 hrs three destroyers from Crete reinforced the convoy, so Calcutta sent one of them, HMS Wryneck, to assist Diamond. At 0925 hrs Diamond reported that she had rescued most of the survivors and was heading for Souda Bay. Wryneck reached Diamond about 1000 hrs and requested aircraft cover at 1025 hrs.
  Diamond accompanied by Wryneck returned to Slamat, arriving about 1100 hrs. They found two lifeboats from Slamat and rescued their occupants. Slamat was afire from stem to stern, and Diamond fired a torpedo at her port side that sank her in a coup de grâce. By now Diamond carried about 600 of Slamat's survivors, including Captain Luidinga.
  About 1315 hrs a Staffel of Ju 87 bombers came out of the sun in a surprise attack on the two destroyers. Two bombs damaged Diamond, destroyed both of her lifeboats and sank her in eight minutes. Three bombs hit Wryneck; she capsized to port and sank in 10–15 minutes. Wryneck launched her whaler and each destroyer launched her three Carley floats. Several men in the Carley floats died either from wounds or from drowning in the swell.
caption: HMS Wryneck came to Diamond's aid, rescued survivors from Slamat but was then sunk along with Diamond.
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