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After World War One had come to an end,
Cunard began ordering mid sized liners to
build up their fleet. The first of these
ships was the 12,768-ton Albania
followed by three sister ships over
19,000 tons, Laconia,
Scythia and Samaria.
Laconia set out on her maiden
voyage from Southampton - New York May
25th 1922. She was then operated on her
intended route between Liverpool, Boston
and New York. After Cunard began using
Laconia for cruising in 1923, she
became the first liner to circumnavigate
the world. The British Admiralty
requisitioned her to serve as an armed
merchant cruiser and troopship during
World War Two. In 1942, Laconia
was assigned to carry 136 crew, 80
civilians, 268 British soldiers, 1,800
Italian prisoners and 160 Polish guards
from the Middle East - Freetown/Sierra
Leon. On September 12th, when
approximately 360 miles north of the
Ascension Islands (west coast of Africa),
she was attacked by the German submarine
U-156 and hit by one
torpedo.
The torpedo exploded in
Laconia’s cargo compartment
killing many of the Italian prisoners.
Just as it looked like the crew could
contain the damage, U-156
fired a second torpedo into her hull. The
submarine commander made a call for
assistance at that time as he realized
the sinking ship was carrying over 2,000
people. Three more German submarines
reached the site two days later to assist
in containing the survivors until surface
ships could pick them up. After an Allied
long range Liberator aircraft from the
Ascension Islands spotted the submarines
with survivors on their decks and others
being towed in lifeboats, they were
instructed by their command to sink the
submarines. With the Liberator dropping
bombs and depth charges, some of which
landed amongst the Laconia
survivors, the submarines were forced to
dive leaving many of the men they had
rescued to perish in the sea. There were
around 1,500 survivors from the two
incidents with approximately 1,000
casualties. After this atrocity, German
submarine commanders were instructed not
to attempt any more rescues.
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