A typical design of a Vancouver built Fort class

Date of attack

16 Jul 1943

Fate

Sunk by U-181 (Wolfgang Lüth)

Position

22° 36'S, 51° 22'E - Grid KF 9759

Complement

55 (5 dead and 50 survivors).

Route

Port Said - Aden (1 Jul) - Lourenco Marques - Durban

Cargo

1500 tons of salt as ballast

History

Completed December 1942 for US War Shipping Administration (WSA), lend-leased on bareboat charter to British Ministry of War Transport (MoWT).

Notes on event

At 15.58 hours on 16 July 1943 the unescorted Fort Franklin (Master Thomas Witney Trott) was torpedoed and sunk by U-181 southwest of Reunion.

Four crew members were lost and another later died of injuries.

The master, 40 crew members and nine gunners made landfall after six days at Manajara, Madagascar.

1942 Managed by Dodd, Thompson

1943 Torpedoed and sunk in Indian Ocean