SS Corduff

History
NameSS Corduff
OwnerWilliam Cory & Son Ltd, London
BuilderSwan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson Ltd, Wallsend
Yard number1221
Launched6 November 1923
CompletedDecember 1923
FateSunk on 7 March 1941
General characteristics
Tonnage
Length284.5 ft (86.7 m)
Beam42 ft (13 m)
Depth19.6 ft (6.0 m)
Installed power247 nhp
PropulsionTriple expansion steam engine

SS Corduff, a laden 2345 grt collier in East Coast convoy FS 32, was damaged, though without casualties, in an attack by Stuka divebombers in the Barrow Deep on 11 November 1940.[1]

On the night of 7/8 March 1941 she was torpedoed and sunk by German E-Boat S28 while heading north with a convoy off Cromer. Seven of her crew were lost, and, after drifting for some hours and being hailed by the E-boat captain, the other 14 (including Captain Rees) were found by the Cromer lifeboat H F Bailey. It was the night of the most successful E-Boat raid on East Coast merchant shipping, with six other ships sunk.

Corduff belonged to William Cory & Son Ltd.

  1. ^ One website wrongly attributes the attack to a Heinkel. (Sources--Convoy Reports ADM 199/39, Nore Cmd War Diaries ADM 199/375 at National Archives; Peter C Smith "Divebomber"' J Foreman "The Battle of Britain--The Forgotten Months==November & December 1940).