SS Strathallan - the troopship torpedoed with 4,000 aboard
Listener's query
"The P&O liner the SS Strathallan was torpedoed on its way to North Africa. Happily, most people escaped with their lives. What happened?"
Brief summary听
The SS Strathallan is now on the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea off Algeria, with a huge hole at the waterline on the port side. That almost everyone on board escaped was quite remarkable.
The 23,722-ton SS Strathallan was built at Barrow-in-Furness for P&O, one of a number of 'Strath' liners - others were the SS Strathaird, SS Stratheden, SS Strathmore and SS Strathnaver. The Strathallan, the largest ship in the P&O fleet, was built in the late 1930s for the prestigious London to Sydney route, but only made a few trips before war was declared. She was requisitioned by the War Office as a troopship during the war.
It was a short life for such a ship. Launched in March 1938, SS Strathallan left the Clyde on what would be her last trip on 11 December 1942. She had on board more than 4,000 troops, 250 nurses and General Eisenhower's Headquarters staff, and was heading for Oran as part of Operation Torch. As Albert Smulian, who was on board, told Making History, it was a rough voyage with most people suffering from seasickness and resorting to their hammocks. Albert's unit was on G deck, which was below the waterline. It was at 2am on 21 December that disaster struck. The ship was in the Mediterranean not far from its destination and with the sea now smooth. The Strathallan was hit by a torpedo fired from a U-boat, the U562, which had been patrolling the Mediterranean looking for easy Allied shipping targets.
Albert recalls: "There was an almighty bang, the lights went out, alarm bells rang and we made our way to the boat stations."
The ship eventually caught fire and soon became an inferno with the funnels buckling and melting.
Albert: "I have a clear memory of an officer telling us to take our boots off, throw them over the side and jump in after them. Blow that, we thought, and made our way to the boat stations. When we got there we found the boats had gone. We spent an anxious night watching the line of the horizon and the line of our ship as she began increasingly to list. Eventually, though, the listing stopped."
In spite of the explosion and the devastating fire only three of more than 4,000 people on board lost their lives.
"At first light there was some smoke visible from the funnel and all sort of rumours buzzing about, but no real information. Then we saw a Sunderland flying-boat circling as dawn broke and a destroyer came past."
The captain gave the order to abandon ship and most people were taken off by the destroyer HMS Verity and the salvage tug Restive.
"Two very large chaps grabbed you and just said jump. They had mattresses on the deck to help break your fall. As the destroyer was moving away there was a big explosion on board the ship and a great fountain of smoke came from the funnel."
The next day the SS Strathallan sank 12 miles off Oran. Eight weeks later at the other end of the Mediterranean, U562 was depth-charged and sunk by HMS Isis and HMS Hursley.
Making History consulted
Neil McCart and talked to Albert Smulian, a survivor.
Further reading
Neil McCart, P&O's Five White Sisters - Strath Liners of the 1930s (Fan Publications, 1994)
Website
There is an excellent website about the incident, with pictures, other eyewitness accounts and a forum produced by Robert Kennedy and Les Jones:
Please note: the 大象传媒 accepts no responsibility for the content of external websites.
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Vanessa has presented听science and current affairs programmes for 大象传媒, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Discovery and has presented for 大象传媒 Radio 4 & Five Live and a regular contributor to the Daily Telegraph and the Mail on Sunday, Scotsman and Sunday Herald.听