SS Calabria ( 1922 ) SS " Calabria was a passenger and cargo steamship . AG Weser built her for Norddeutscher Lloyd . She was launched as D / S " Werra and completed in 1922 . ( " D / S " stands for " Dampfschiff " in German as " SS " stands for " steamship " in English . ) In 1935 she was bought by Flotte Riunite Cosulich - Lloyd - Sabaudo Navigazione Generale , who renamed her Calabria . In 1937 she was sold to Lloyd Triestino . In June 1940 the UK seized her and placed in the management of the British - India Steam Navigation Company . In December 1940 she was torpedoed and sunk with the loss of all 360 crew and passengers aboard . The Ministry of War Transport ( MoWT ) was going to rename her Empire Inventor , but she was sunk before this had been done . Building and career . The Allied Powers seized numerous NDL ships either during the First World War as prize ships or afterwards for war reparations . In the 1920s NDL replaced them with a new fleet from Bremer Vulkan , AG Vulcan Stettin and AG Weser . The first of the new ships were delivered in 1922 ; " Werra " among them . " Werra " was one of a series of six sister ships that AG Weser built for NDL . " Werra " and were completed in 1922 ; , and in 1923 and in 1924 . " Werra " had two three - cylinder triple - expansion steam engines and twin screws . Between them her two engines were rated at 604 NHP . " Werra " was equipped with wireless direction finding and submarine signalling . In 1935 NDL sold " Werra " , " Coblenz " and " Saarbrücken " to Flotte Riunite Cosulich - Lloyd - Sabaudo which renamed them " Calabria " , " Sicilia " and " Toscana " and registered them in Genoa . In 1937 the three ships were sold to Lloyd Triestino , which registered " Calabria " in Trieste . On 10 June 1940 Italy declared war on France and the United Kingdom . At the time " Calabria " was in drydock in Calcutta in British India , so on 11 June the British authorities seized her . She was transferred to the MoWT , which appointed the British - India Steam Navigation Company to manage her . The MoWT planned to rename her " Empire Inventor " , but this intention was overtaken by events . Sinking . In December 1940 " Calabria " was " en route " to the UK with a cargo of 4 , 000 tons of iron , 3 , 050 tons of tea and 1 , 870 tons of oilcake . Her Master , David Lonie , commanded 128 officers and crew plus one DEMS gunner . She was also carrying 230 mostly Indian supernumaries who were travelling to crew other ships . Calabrias crew and supernumaries included also four Hong Kong Chinese crewmen and one Danish merchant officer . " Calabria " left Freetown in Sierra Leone with convoy SLS - 56 to the UK but fell behind . On the evening of Sunday 8 December German Type IX submarine , commanded by the U - boat ace Viktor Schütze , torpedoed her in the Western Approaches about west of Slyne Head in County Galway , Ireland . U - 103 hit " Calabria " with one torpedo at 2058 hrs and a second at 2106 hrs . All 360 hands and passengers were lost : there were no survivors . " Calabria " s latitude was 52 degrees 26 minutes north , at that time of year the sun would have set just before 1600 hours local time , and the ship would have been blacked out under wartime regulations . However , the moon was waxing gibbous , had risen at 1315 hrs and did not set until 0218 hrs in the small hours of the next morning . If the sky was clear , Schütze would have been able to target " Calabria " by moonlight . The oldest man aboard was " Calabria " s chief cook , Santan Martins , who was 79 years old . Martins may have been the oldest merchant seaman killed at sea in the Second World War . Monuments and relics . Those who died in " Calabria " s sinking are commemorated in the Second World War section of the Merchant Navy War Memorial at Tower Hill in London . Her Indian seamen and supernumaries are commemorated in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission monuments at Chittagong and Mumbai . In 1940 after the British seized " Calabria " a small bronze ship ' s bell was removed from her . It was offered at auction in September 2012 and again in April 2013 .