SS Tregenna

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title: "SS Tregenna" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1919-ships", "maritime-incidents-in-1930", "maritime-incidents-in-september-1940", "ships-built-on-the-river-tees", "ships-sunk-by-german-submarines-in-world-war-ii", "steamships-of-the-united-kingdom", "world-war-ii-merchant-ships-of-the-united-kingdom", "world-war-ii-shipwrecks-in-the-north-sea"] topic_path: "history" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Tregenna" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::data[format=table title="Infobox ship"]

Field	Value
section1	{{Infobox ship/image
image	Tregenna, asset P1iltC8gHVUYaWRViQnAs3u8.jpg
section2	{{Infobox ship/career
country	United Kingdom
flag
name	Tregenna
namesake	Tregenna
owner	Hain Steam Ship Co
operator	Foster, Hain & Read (until 1932)
registry	St Ives
builder	*William Gray & Co,
yard_number	915
launched	1 May 1919
completed	July 1919
identification	*UK official number 142570
fate	Sunk 17 September 1940
section3	{{Infobox ship/characteristics
class	War Standard type B
tonnage	,
length	400.1 ft
beam	52.3 ft
draught	25 ft
depth	28.4 ft
power	517 NHP
propulsion	triple expansion steam engine
speed	11 kn
crew	37
armament	DEMS
sensors	wireless direction finding
::

|section1={{Infobox ship/image |image= Tregenna, asset P1iltC8gHVUYaWRViQnAs3u8.jpg |image_caption=

|section2={{Infobox ship/career |hide_header= |country= United Kingdom |flag= |name= Tregenna |namesake= Tregenna |owner= Hain Steam Ship Co |operator= Foster, Hain & Read (until 1932) |registry= St Ives |route= |ordered= |builder= *William Gray & Co,

• West Hartlepool |original_cost= |yard_number= 915 |laid_down= |launched= 1 May 1919 |sponsor= |completed= July 1919 |maiden_voyage= |acquired= |in_service= |out_of_service= |identification= *UK official number 142570
• code letters KBSW (until 1933)
• call sign GCDX (1934 onward)

|fate= Sunk 17 September 1940 |notes=

|section3={{Infobox ship/characteristics |hide_header= |header_caption= |class= War Standard type B |type= |tonnage= , |displacement= |length= 400.1 ft |beam= 52.3 ft |draught= 25 ft |depth= 28.4 ft |decks= |power= 517 NHP |propulsion= triple expansion steam engine |speed= 11 kn |capacity= |crew= 37 |armament= DEMS |sensors= wireless direction finding |notes=

'*SS Tregenna''' was a cargo steamship that was launched in England in 1919 and sunk by a U-boat in the Battle of the Atlantic in 1940 with the loss of 33 of her 37 crew. She was laid down as War Bulldog, but the Hain Steam Ship Co bought her before she was completed and renamed her *Tregenna''.

Building

William Gray & Company built Tregenna at its shipyard in West Hartlepool. She was built to the Shipping Controller's First World War standard design B. She was launched on 1 May 1919 and completed that July.

Gray's Central Marine Engineering Works in West Hartlepool built Tregennas three-cylinder triple expansion steam engine. It was rated at 517 NHP and gave her a speed of 11 kn.

Peacetime service

In August 1921 Tregenna reported sighting the wreckage of a SNETA Farman Goliath aircraft that had ditched in the English Channel.

On 7 August 1930 Tregenna ran aground at Alligator Pond, Jamaica. She was refloated on 10 August 1930 and returned to service.

In 1933–34 the call sign GCDX superseded Tregennas code letters KBSW.

Second World War service

From November 1939 to February 1940 Tregenna sailed from New Zealand via New South Wales and South Africa to Freetown in Sierra Leone, where she joined Convoy SL 18 to return to Liverpool in England. In March and April 1940 she sailed to and from northern Norway. She left Ålesund with Convoy HN 25 on 9 April, the day after the German invasion of Norway began.

From May 1940 Tregenna made transatlantic crossings to bring steel from Philadelphia to South Wales, sailing eastbound in HX convoys from Halifax, Nova Scotia to UK waters. That June she sailed in Convoy HX 49, and discharged her cargo in Swansea.

Loss

On 1 September Tregenna left Philadelphia carrying 8,000 tons of steel bound for Newport. On 5 September she joined Convoy HX 71 from Halifax. HX 91 had nine columns, and Tregenna was the first ship of the ninth column.

On 17 September HX 71 was in the Western Approaches west of Scotland. At 1626 hrs that afternoon hit Tregenna with one torpedo 78 nmi northwest of Rockall. Tregenna sank rapidly, killing her Master, 31 members of her crew and a DEMS gunner. Another member of HX 71, the cargo ship Filleigh, rescued four survivors and landed them at Avonmouth.

References

References

1. "War A – War B". Mariners.
2. "Tregenna". Shipping and Shipbuilding Research Trust.
3. (1932). "Lloyd's Register of Shipping". [[Lloyd's Register]] of Shipping.
4. (1 December 2018). "SS Tregenna (+1940)". Wrecksite.
5. (27 August 1921). "Wreck of an air mail".
6. (9 August 1930). "Casualty reports".
7. (12 August 1930). "Casualty reports".
8. (1934). "Lloyd's Register of Shipping". [[Lloyd's Register]] of Shipping.
9. Hague, Arnold. "Ship Movements". Don Kindell, Convoyweb.
10. Hague, Arnold. "Convoy HX.49". Don Kindell, Convoyweb.
11. Helgason, Guðmundur. "Tregenna". uboat.net.
12. Hague, Arnold. "Convoy HX.71". Don Kindell, Convoyweb.

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