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SHIPS HIT NORWAY 39 - NORWEGIAN SHIPS CARGO LOST

7)B.P.NEWTON U-510



Photo. httpfreepages.family.rootsweb.ancestry.com


 


Built 1940


Tonnage 10,324 / 16,000 tons


Cargo: 14,700 tons of aviation fuel and 500 barrels of lubricant oil for East London and Beira


Route: Trinidad - Bahia - East London - Beira 


Sunk 8 JUL 43 by U-510 on pos. 05º50"N 50º20"W


23 Dead


24 Survivors


The B. P. Newton (Master J.W. Calvert) was one of the Kvarstad-ships held back in Sweden in 1941. On 1 Apr 1941, ten of those ships tried to reach Leith (Operation Performance), but only two managed to get through the German controlled waters safely, one of them was the B. P. Newton with 71 people on board which reached Leith on 3 April, despite of being attacked twice by planes and an encounter with a small German convoy. 


At 05.20 hours on 8 Jul, 1943, U-510 fired three torpedoes in a one minute intervall at the convoy TJ-1 and reported hits on a tanker of 10000 G.R.T., another of 6000 grt and a third of 5000 G.R.T. At 07.19 hours, U-510 attacked again in grid EP 4925, fired five torpedoes and reported that two ships of 10000 G.R.T. and 6000 G.R.T. had been hit. At 13.07 hours, U-510 attacked the convoy a last time and reported a ship of 6000 G.R.T. was sunk. The Allied side reports that three ships were hit in the first attack, B.P. Newton, Eldena and Everagra of which the last was only damaged. It seems that U-510 attacked the same targets several times.


At 05.20 hours, the B.P. Newton (Master Einar Andersen) was hit by a torpedo on port side in the after section. Her cargo was ignited by the explosion and flaming fuel sprayed over stern and bridge, destroying all lifeboats apart of one on starboard. The crew members in the engine room were killed before they were able to stop the engines. Many of the crew on the stern jumped overboard and perished in the burning sea. The remaining crew members stayed on the forecastle.


The Master and the Second Lieutenant Gilbert Smith stayed for 40 minutes on the bridge to consider if anything could be done to save the tanker, but they were chased off by the flames and were able to launch the damaged lifeboat on starboard. Four men from the forecastle jumped into the water and were picked up by the lifeboat, which was then rowed away from the burning ship.


24 survivors, 12 of them badly burned were picked up by the escort vessels, which searched the whole day for other survivors, but it was not tried to reboard the B.P. Newton because the side-plates were red-glowing and no one was expected to be alive onboard. She sank about 150 miles northeast of Cayenne, French Guiana. All survivors were rescued by USS PC 495, later transferred to USS SOMMERS and landed at Recife on 17 July.


By B.P. Newton (Norwegian Motor tanker) - Ships hit by German U-boats during WWII - uboat.net


 

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