SS Aguila

SS ''Aguila'' was a British steam passenger liner. She was built in Dundee in 1917 and was sunk by enemy action in the North Atlantic in 1941. She belonged to Yeoward Line, which carried passengers and fruit between Liverpool, Lisbon, Madeira and the Canary Islands.

''Aguila'' is Spanish for eagle, and a popular name for ships. This was the second in Yeoward Brothers' fleet, the first having been built in 1909 and sunk by in 1915.

Building and equipment

The Caledon Shipbuilding & Engineering Company of Dundee built ''Aguila'', completing her in November 1917. She had nine corrugated furnaces with a combined grate area of that heated three single-ended boilers with a combined heating surface of . These fed steam at 180 lb_f/in² to a three-cylinder triple expansion steam engine that was rated at 395 NHP and drove a single screw, giving her a speed of .

''Aguila'' bore similarities to that Caledon had built for the Yeoward Line in 1912. The two ships had the same beam, ''Aguila'' was just longer and her engine was rated as producing 50 more NHP. In the early 1920s ''Aguila'' was joined by a pair of slightly longer sister ships, and , completed by Caledon in April 1922 and January 1923.

By 1930 ''Aguila'' had wireless direction finding equipment, and from 1934 she had an echo sounding device. Up to 1933 ''Lloyd's Register'' records no code letters for ''Aguila'', but when the new wireless telegraph call signs were introduced for 1934, she was designated GPVD.

Second World War service

From October 1939 until 1940 ''Aguila'' continued her peacetime run between Liverpool and the Canary Islands. Her only convoy protection was on outward voyages from Liverpool to the North Atlantic west of Portugal, where she would leave the convoy to enter neutral Portuguese waters and proceed to Lisbon unescorted. After calling at Lisbon she would continue unescorted to Las Palmas and Tenerife, and return unescorted to Liverpool.

France's surrender to Germany in June 1940 gave the ''Kriegsmarine'' naval bases on France's Atlantic coast, leading to German and Italian submarines' First Happy Time in the Battle of the Atlantic. Allied shipping losses increased and from August 1940 Yeoward Brothers changed the movements of its ships. In August 1940 ''Aguila'' had a normal outward run with Convoy OG 40, leaving Liverpool on 3 August and reaching Lisbon on 14 August. Three days later she left Lisbon for Las Palmas, but on 19 August the shelled her with its guns. The ''Regia Marina'' vessel claimed five hits on ''Aguila'', but in fact the liner was undamaged and reached Las Palmas on 20 August.

After her narrow escape ''Aguila'' did not call at Tenerife, but instead went south to Freetown in Sierra Leone. There the UK formed inbound convoys to the British Isles, but if ''Aguila'' hoped to join one she was unsuccessful. From Freetown she turned north and steamed unescorted to Madeira, where she stopped for five days before continuing to Gibraltar. There she joined Convoy HG 43, which left on 4 September and reached Liverpool on 19 September.

On 11 October 1940 ''Aguila'' left Liverpool with Convoy OG 44, but stayed with the convoy all the way to Gibraltar. She then sailed unescorted to Lisbon and back to Gibraltar (24 October – 3 November), and made a separate unescorted trip to Las Palmas, Tenerife and Cadiz and again back to Gibraltar (3–19 November). Then she joined Convoy HG 47, which left Gibraltar on 20 November and reached Liverpool on 4 December.

''Aguila'' survived Liverpool's Christmas Blitz of 20–22 December. From 29 December to 23 July she made three round trips: by convoy from Britain to Gibraltar, unescorted from there to Lisbon and back, and then by convoy from Gibraltar home to Britain. From the first and third trips ''Aguila'' returned to her home port of Liverpool, but during her second trip Liverpool suffered the May Blitz, and on 3 May part of the port was devastated when the munitions ship burned and exploded in Huskisson Dock. Therefore, when ''Aguila'' returned a fortnight later in Convoy HG 61 it was diverted to the Firth of Clyde. The arrangement was only temporary. On 23 July ''Aguila'' was back in her home port, arriving in Liverpool with Convoy HG 67.

Final voyage and loss

''Aguila'' loaded general cargo in Liverpool and embarked at least 86 Royal Navy personnel bound for Gibraltar and six civilian passengers. The RN personnel included nine Fleet Air Arm, seven Royal Naval Patrol Service, three RNR, 11 RNVR, 22 Women's Royal Naval Service (Wrens) and 35 others. The 22 Wrens were all volunteers for duties at Gibraltar: 12 as cypher officers and 10 as wireless operators. Also with them was a QARNNS nurse, Sister Kate Gribble.

''Aguila'' was one of 23 merchant ships that formed Convoy OG 71, which left Liverpool on 13 August. Allied convoys included ships of other nationalities as well as British. OG 71 included two from Ireland one each from Denmark, Greece and Norway. The Republic of Ireland was neutral so its ships, ''Clonlara'' and ''Lanarhone'', were not blacked out. ''Aguila''s Master, Arthur Firth, objected that their lights compromised HG 71's protection at night.

''Aguila''s naval contingent included the Convoy Commodore, Vice Admiral PE Parker DSO, and his staff. At first OG 71's only escorts were the Norwegian Navy destroyer HNoMS ''Bath'' and two Royal Navy ships; the sloop and corvette .

Two days out they were augmented by five more RN corvettes. On 17 August a ''Luftwaffe'' Focke-Wulf Fw 200 ''Condor'' sighted OG 71, and the next day it became the first convoy to be attacked by a U-boat wolfpack. ''Bath'' fell behind while defending the convoy, and in the small hours of 19 August at 0205 hrs she was torpedoed and sunk by southwest of Ireland. Three minutes later attacked the main convoy about west of Ushant, sinking the cargo ship ''Alva''. The corvette went to rescue ''Bath''s survivors, thus further depleting OG 71's escort, while and the Irish ''Clonlara'' rescued ''Alva''s survivors.

Two hours later the wolfpack again attacked OG 71, and torpedoed and sank ''Aguila'' and the cargo ship ''Ciscar''. The corvette rescued 10 survivors including Captain Firth and one of the RN contingent. The tugboat ''Empire Oak'' rescued six of ''Aguila''s crew (joining 11 she rescued from ''Alva''), but on 22 August west of Porto sank ''Empire Oak'', with the loss of all six of the men from ''Aguila'' (and nine of the 11 from ''Alva'').

The wolfpack attack continued until 23 August, and OG 71's total losses were eight of her 23 merchant ships plus two of her escorts. Thereafter all neutral Irish ships were blacked out when sailing in Allied convoys.

Monuments

The lost members of ''Aguila''s crew are commemorated in the Second World War section of the Merchant Navy War Memorial at Tower Hill in London. The lost members of her naval contingent are commemorated on the Royal Navy monuments at Chatham, Plymouth and Portsmouth.

A , , was launched in 1942. A plaque in her sick bay commemorated the 22 Wrens lost with ''Aguila''. In 1951 the RNLI named a new lifeboat in their memory. It was stationed at Aberystwyth in Wales until 1964, and then at Redcar in Yorkshire until 1972.

The National Memorial Arboretum has an Aguila Memorial: a giant wren on a granite obelisk dedicated to the 22 Wrens and Sister Gribble. 12 of the Wrens had been based at Scarborough, North Yorkshire, where they are remembered by a memorial bench and plaque on the Lighthouse Pier that was dedicated in 1972.Memorial bench coordinates:

References

Sources

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Aguila, SS
1916 ships
Ships built in Dundee
Maritime incidents in August 1941
Passenger ships of the United Kingdom
Ships sunk by German submarines in World War II
Steamships of the United Kingdom
World War I passenger ships of the United Kingdom
World War II passenger ships of the United Kingdom
World War II shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean