World War IIMS Chr. Knudsen
MS Chr. Knudsen disappeared without trace during a journey from New York at the 8th of April 1942. The ship headed for Cape Town and was loaded with general cargo and nitrate. The ship was torpedoed on the 10th April 1942 by a German uboat U-85 on the american east coast. No messages from the ship or any survivors were found. The weather in these waters at the time when the ship sunk was stormy, but the weather wasn’t that bad to cause good ships any distress. The silence from the ship and any possible survivors was most likely caused by the act of war from the submarine, and that the crew probably didn’t have enough time to get to the lifeboats, or that the lifeboats were too damaged by the fight so that they were destroyed in the storm afterwards. The German U-85 submarine was sunk three days later with all hands by the Destroyer Roper. This might be a reason why the German Uboat Command never received any rapport of this attack. In total 33 people perished in the sinking which consisted of 25 Norwegians, five britons, one chezoslovak, a swede and one dane perished in the sinking.
About MS Chr. Knudsen
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Nationality
Norway
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Built
1925
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Wrecked
10.04.1942
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Carrier
Gunnar Knudsen, Porsgrunn
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Tonnage
8490 dvt
