Official Number:                      163388

Laid down:

Builder:                                  Sir W.G. Armstrong, Whitworth & Co (Shipbuilders) Ltd, Low Walker

Launched:                              12 August 1930

Into Service:                           1939

Out of service:                        9 March 1943

Fate:                                     9 March 1943 torpedoed and eventually sunk

Items of historic interest involving this ship: –

Background Data:  One of an additional group of ships requisitioned by the Admiralty during WW2 to augment the ships of the RFA

Career Data:

12 August 1930 launched by Sir W.G. Armstrong, Whitworth & Co (Shipbuilders) Ltd, Low Walker as Yard Nr 1061 named STEGG for Skibs A/S Clean tank (Stephansen & Torgersen Managers) Oslo

July 1931 completed

1934 purchased by Oil & Molasses Tankers Ltd ( J.I. Jacobs & Co Ltd, Managers) London and renamed ROSEWOOD

1939 requisitioned for Admiralty service and served as an Escort Oiler

7 September 1939 sailed Gibraltar in convoy Green 1 to Piraeus arriving 18 September 1939

18 September 1939 sailed Piraeus independently to Suez

23 September 1939 sailed Suez independently to Abadan

9 October 1939 sailed Abadan independently to Suez arriving on 24 October 1939

26 October 1939 sailed Port Said independently to Gibraltar arriving 6 November 1939

6 November 1939 sailed Gibraltar in convoy HG6 to Portsmouth arriving 15 November 1939

30 November 1939 sailed Southampton independently to Trinidad arriving 20 December 1939

23 December 1939 sailed Trinidad independently to Freetown arriving 7 January 1940

9 March 1943 torpedoed by U-409 in the Atlantic south of Iceland in position 58.37 N 22.32 W while on passage from New York to the Clyde in Convoy SC 121 carrying a cargo of fuel oil, caught fire and broke in two with the loss of all 42 lives.

11 March 1943 both halves were sunk by gunfire from USCGC BIBB in position 58.30 N 20.31 W