Hannington Court (2)

From SN Guides

Introduction

Court Line used the name Hannington Court for three ships:

• Hannington Court (1) - a cargo ship completed in 1912
• Hannington Court (2) - a cargo ship completed in 1939
• Hannington Court (3) - a cargo ship completed in 1954

Hannington Court (2) has a short working life of just over 2 years. Launched just before the beginning of WW2 she took part in a significant number of convoys but caught fire off the coast of South Africa and was sunk by a British warship to avoid her becoming an obstruction.

Basic Data

• Type: Cargo ship
• Registered owners,managers and operators: Court Line Ltd. - Managers Haldin & Philipps Ltd. London
• Builders: William Doxford & Sons Ltd.
• Yard: Pallion Sunderland
• Country: UK
• Yard number: 649
• Registry: N/K
• Official number: 167222
• Signal letters: N/K
• Call sign: N/K
• Classification society: N/K
• Gross tonnage: 5,449
• Net tonnage: 3,247
• Deadweight: N/K
• Length: 429.7 ft
• Breadth: 57.7 ft
• Depth: 26.5 ft
• Draught: N/K
• Engines: 3 cylinder 2.S.C.S.A oil engine
• Engine builders: William Doxford & Sons
• Works: Sunderland
• Country: UK
• Power: N/K
• Propulsion: Single screw
• Speed: 13 knots
• Cargo capacity: N/K
• Crew: N/K

Career Highlights

• 22 Feb 1939: Launched
• Apr 1939: Completed
• 13 Jul 1941: Caught fire
• 20 Jul 1941: Sunk by gunfire

Service Pre-WW2

No information about service before WW2 is currently available.

Participation in WW2 Convoys

The data in the following table has been extracted from External Resource #1.

A key to the routes for these convoys can be found on this page: World War 2 Convoy Names

Hannington Court (2) took part in 19 convoys.

Sinking

Hannington Court (2) caught fire on 13 July 1941 about 94 miles N.W of Cape Town. en route from Cape Town to the UK carring ore and general cargo. She was sunk by H.M.S. Dragon off Danger Point at position 34.46S/19.23.07E on 19 Jul 1941. As far as it is known there were no major serious casualties.

At this time it is not known how the fire started (enemy action or otherwise) and it is believed that two people died. Further information is awaited. There is no information available on deaths from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

External resources

• Convoyweb (Arnold Hague Convoy Database): [1]
• Miramar Ship Index: [2]
• Information extracted from Lloyds Registers
• Norman Middlemiss: Travel of the Tramps - Twenty Tramp Fleets ISBN: 1871128021

Contributors

1. Basic data provided by John Powell and Clive Ketley
2. Additional research and formatting of entry by Benjidog