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CONVOY OB 228
Reports by the Captains of Montreal City and Bussum
Departed Liverpool on Oct. 13-1940, dispersed Oct. 17.
This external page has the names of ships in the convoy.

Transcribed from misc. documents received from Ron Granath, Canada - His source: Canadian archives.

Sources for info on ships lost:
"The Allied Convoy System", Arnold Hague
"Allied Submarine Successes of World War Two", Jürgen Rohwer
"The World's Merchant Fleets 1939", R. W. Jordan

Convoy OB 228 lost 4 ships, while 1 was damaged, as follows:
The British Bonheur - 5200 tons general cargo, sunk on Oct. 15 by U-138, no casualties.
The British British Glory - in ballast, damaged on Oct. 15 by U-138, 3 died, 44 survived.
The Norwegian Dokka - in ballast, sunk on Oct. 17 by U-93, 10 died, 7 survived - follow the link to Dokka for more details on her loss and a crew list.
The British Uskbridge - 4000 tons anthracite, sunk on Oct. 17 by U-93 (2 died, 27 survived - survivors picked up by the British Montreal City and the Dutch Katwijk - brief eye witness report below).
The British Sandsend - also carrying anthracite, sunk on Oct. 18 by U-48, 5 died, 34 survived.

The external links at the end of this page has more info on the above attacks.

Report from the Captain of Montreal City, re. Torpedo Attack on Uskbridge
Dated Montreal, Oct. 30-1940 - Signature looks like E. W. Chaney or similar.

"At 2:40 PM BST on October 17th in Lat 60 23N Long 16 28W the above vessel (meaning Uskbridge) was struck by torpedo on starboard side in region of the bridge. Being almost directly in line astern of Uskbridge and a rear ship I stopped to pick up survivors. Boat was lowered, one man picked out of the water and five others taken on board from one of the Uskbridge's own boats, making six in all. The SS Katwijk also stopped and took on board 21 survivors from another Uskbridge boat. Having satisfied myself there were no other survivors, I proceeded at 5 AM BST to rejoin convoy.

SS Uskbridge appeared very badly damaged on starboard side but had not sunk when we proceeded although appeared to be settling by the head. I took up position in convoy at 9:30 AM BST and immediately reported to Commodore as above".

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I also have in my possession a document containing a report from Captain L. Wulp of the Dutch Bussum. The accompanying cover letter, dated Montreal, Oct. 31 and signed by Lt. Commander F. H. Davis, Naval Control Service Officer, mentions Bussum, in addition to Dokka and Montreal City, so I suspect Bussum may also have been in Convoy OB 228(?). An attachment to this report states that there were no other vessels in site, but this makes sense, because OB 228 had been dispersed by this time. Having said that, it's also possible that Bussum could have been in Convoy OB 229? I say this, because the only attack mentioned in "Allied Submarine Successes of World War Two" by Jürgen Rohwer, that fits with Captain Wulp's details, is an attack made by the Italian Submarine Malaspina on an unnamed vessel on Oct. 20-1940; position given by the sub in this book is 59N 29W, and the vessel, which has been given 8000 gt (larger than Bussum, which was 3636 gt) is said to have been a romper from Convoy OB 229. But then again, this convoy had left Liverpool on Oct. 15 with 35 ships, dispersed on the 18th, and this departure date does not match up as well with the departure date (from South Shields) given for Bussum, namely Oct. 11-1940.

Going to the page about Malaspina on the website about Italian submarines, which I've linked to at the end of this text, I find the following:
"The night of the 20th (Oct.-1940), the Malaspina attacked a ship of about 3,400 t. The first torpedo was deflected by the waves, and of a second launch of three torpedoes, one reached the target. The Malaspina began firing with the deck gun, but it soon had to interrupt due to the darkness of the night, which did not allow the crew to locate their hits, while it gave the ship, which had the advantage of better stability and a higher position, the possibility of closing their hits to the cunning tower. Contact with the merchant ship, lost after a heavy squall, was later never re-established".

This then, in my opinion, combined with the position given by Captain Wulp, fits with the details in his report (but it still does not tell us which convoy Bussum had been in).

Report from Captain Lubbert Wulp of the Dutch Bussum
Dated Montreal, Oct. 29-1940.

"At 0:35 AM October 20th, a submarine sighted on S.B. side abeam. The same time we gave hard port and ordered the men to the guns. While turning to port, we observed a track of a torpedo which passed astern the ship. Now we were attacked by gunfire and machinegun. After this we gave a shot by the 4 inch gun. After our third shot the submarine stopped fire and we proceeded zig-zagging our voyage. Place 59 52N 28 52W".

Bussum, with a crew of 24 Dutch and 6 British men, was on a voyage from North Shields to Montreal at the time, and was on a course 238° true, sailing at a speed of 10 1/4 knots. In addition to the 4" gun, she had 1 Lewis gun and 3 Ross rifles, as well as 6 smoke floats, 1 of which was used. The torpedo was fired from 1/2 mile, just before the beam, and passed close under the stern of Bussum. The sub, which is said to have opened fire from 0040-2000 yards, 6 rounds in all, 1 round every 4 minutes (no hits), was last seen at 01:30, following astern. Captain Wulp is described by Lt. Commander Davis as being "very reliable and very anti-Nazi". (Bussum was later sunk on Nov. 23 that same year by U-100 when in the eastbound North Atlantic Convoy SC 11, no casualties).

Names of escorts for Convoy OB 228 are unavailable to me, but HMS Folkestone is mentioned in my report about Dokka. Uboat.net also mentions HMS Sphene (in connection with the loss of Bonheur) and HMS Hibiscus (in connection with the loss of Sandsend).

Related external links:
OA and OB Convoys - Chronological list, starting with 1939.

OB Convoys

The loss of Bonheur
The attack on British Glory
The loss of Uskbridge (not much info)
The loss of Sandsend

The Nov. 23-1940 loss of Bussum

The Italian Navy in WW II - Malaspina is discussed on this page, scroll down on the page to the text for Oct.-1940.

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