MV Limerick (1925)

The MV Limerick was an 8,724-gross register ton (GRT) refrigerated cargo ship built by William Hamilton & Co, Glasgow in 1925 for the Union Steamship Company of New Zealand.[1]

History
New Zealand
Name: Limerick
Owner: Union Steamship Company
Builder: William Hamilton & Co, Glasgow
Yard number: 389
Launched: 12 March 1925
Out of service: 26 April 1943
Identification: Official Number: 148634
Fate: Sunk by torpedo
General characteristics
Type: Cargo ship
Tonnage: 8,724 gross register tons (GRT)
Length: 460 ft 0 in (140.21 m)
Beam: 62 ft 6 in (19.05 m)
Draught: 37 ft 9 in (11.51 m)
Installed power: 6000bhp
Propulsion: 2 x Brown Sulzer Diesel engines
Speed: 13.5 knots (25.0 km/h; 15.5 mph)
Crew: 74

Fate

While sailing in convoy GP48 along the east coast of Australia, protected by the Royal Australian Navy corvettes HMAS Colac and Ballarat, Limerick was torpedoed and sunk on 26 April 1943, by Japanese submarine I-177 off Cape Byron.[2] All but two of the crew were rescued by Colac. I-177 escaped unharmed.[2]

Wreck

The wreck of the Limerick lies in 100 m of water, about 18 km east of Ballina. Discovered by local anglers, the wreck's identity was officially confirmed on 2 February 2013, when it was mapped by the marine research vessel Southern Surveyor.[3]

Citations

  1. Lloyd's Register 1930
  2. "HMAS Colac". Royal Australian Navy. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
  3. Brown, Jamie (6 February 2013). "Torpedoed wreck brings back night WWII came to North Coast". The Northern Star.
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