SS Mopan

History
United Kingdom
Name	Mopan
Owner	Elders & Fyffes Limited.
Operator	Fyffes Line
Port of registry	Liverpool
Route	United Kingdom - West Indies
Builder	Cammell Laird Ltd, Birkenhead
Yard number	949
Launched	13 February 1929
In service	1929
Out of service	1940
Identification	UK official number 161091 call sign G X S D
Fate	Sunk by shellfire from Panzerschiffe Admiral Scheer: November 5, 1940
General characteristics
Type	cargo liner
Tonnage	5,389 GRT
Length	397 ft (121 m)
Beam	51.5 ft (15.7 m)
Draught	25 ft 7+1⁄2 in (7.81 m)
Depth	30.2 ft (9.2 m)
Installed power	447 NHP
Propulsion	1 x 3 cyl. triple expansion steam engine, single shaft, single screw.
Speed	13.5 knots (25.0 km/h)
Crew	68
Armament	(as DEMS)

SS Mopan was a

Mopan was built in the Birkenhead yards of Cammell Laird Ltd. With a length of 397 ft (121 m), a 51.5 ft (15.7 m) beam and a gross registered tonnage of 5389, Mopan was powered by a single three cylinder triple expansion steam engine which produced 447 NHP. A single screw was driven via a shaft and gave her a service speed of 13.5 knots (25.0 km/h).

Registered in Liverpool, Mopan had crew accommodation for 68.

Service life

Following her

At the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, Admiral Scheer remained at anchor in the Schillig roadstead outside Wilhelmshaven with the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper, her only action being on 4 September when two groups of five Bristol Blenheim bombers attacked the ships. During the attack one bomb struck the Scheer's deck, but failed to explode, whilst a further two detonated in the water near the ship. Gunners aboard Admiral Scheer managed to shoot down one of the five Bristol Blenheims and she emerged from the attack undamaged.^[6]

In the Autumn of 1940 Admiral Scheer received orders to commence

The Scheer proceeded to sortie towards the Greenland Ice Barrier following which Kapitän Krancke made a decision to plot a course towards 53°00′N 35°00′W / 53.000°N 35.000°W / 53.000; -35.000. This would place the Admrial Scheer within the Atlantic Gap, and once established in this area it would afford the opportunity to maximise the search by repeatedly crossing what was presumed to be the Halifax convoy route.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

Radio silence was broken for the first time since leaving port at 23:16hrs on November 1 in order to report that the latitude of 60 degrees North had just been crossed. This message concluded the initial stage of the operation, namely the successful breakthrough into the Atlantic.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

Interception

Under the command of her

Having been thwarted from using its 2 Arado Ar 196 seaplanes the previous day, on November 5 the weather was suitable for the Admiral Scheer to utilise its air reconnaissance. Piloted by Lieutenant Pietsch, a seaplane was launched at 09:40hrs having been ordered to make a sweep 100 nautical miles (190 km; 120 mi) wide and 70 nautical miles (130 km; 81 mi) deep.^{[1][2][3][4][5]} When the seaplane returned at 12:05hrs the observer reported having sighted a convoy steaming eastbound at position 52 41 N. 32 52 W. This meant that the intervening distance between the Scheer and the convoy was approximately 90 nautical miles (170 km; 100 mi). No escort had been observed.^[1][2]This confirmed the earlier B-Dienst radio intercept by the Scheer which had identified the convoy as being HX 84.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

The proximity of HX 84 posed a dilemma to Kapitän Krancke regarding whether he should attack the convoy before nightfall, or wait and make his attack at dawn the following day.

Admiral Scheer then proceeded to hoist a flag signal stating "Take to your boats and bring your papers across."^{[1][2][3][4][5]}Kapitän Krancke kept his guns trained on the Mopan's wireless transmission aerials on her masthead and accompanied this with an order that the ship's wireless was not to be used. This caused some rancour onboard the Mopan with her Wireless Officer, James Macintosh, on more than one occasion pleading with Captain Sapsworth to ignore the request from the Admiral Scheer and transmit the internationally recognised signal: R-R-R (I Am Being Attacked By A Raider), thereby affording Convoy HX 84 the ability to take some form of evasive action.^{[1][2][3][4][5]} However with the guns of the Scheer trained on the Mopan, and given the realisation that at any time his ship could be blown from beneath him, Capt. Sapsworth chose to refuse Macintosh's requests and instead he ordered his ship's company to abandon ship. The order was carried out in a measured and organised manner, something that was not lost on Kapitän Krancke.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

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Approximate position of Mopan's wreck

Sinking

Following the evacuation of the Mopan, Admiral Scheer proceeded to sink the vessel. However this proved to be a more difficult task than was initially envisaged.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

If he was to make a successful interception of HX 84 before nightfall, Krancke knew that time was beginning to run short. No Prize Crew was sent to the Mopan, instead Admiral Scheer opened fire on the

It is highly debatable that given the unimportance of intercepting a sole merchantman when viewed against that of attacking a 38 ship convoy with negligible protection, that the Admiral Scheer would have taken the opportunity to carry out the action that it did. Indeed the time scale that was taken with the interception and subsequent sinking of the Mopan, together with that of the successive action against HMS Jervis Bay and SS Beaverford, may well have played a significant factor in the inability of the Admiral Scheer to completely decimate Convoy HX 84. Although he failed to warn HX 84 of the direct threat that stood in the convoy's way, nevertheless by ordering the slow and orderly evacuation of the Mopan it could well be viewed that Captain Sapsworth played a direct part in delaying the interception of HX 84 by Admiral Scheer.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

The crew of the Mopan may well have viewed Sapsworth as both a

IMO ship identification numbers. Mopan had the UK Official Number 161091 and used the Code Letters G X S D .^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

• Kapitän Theodor Krancke
• Admiral Scheer
• Convoy HX 84
• Battle of the Atlantic

References

Bibliography

• Watson, Bruce Allen (2006). Atlantic Convoys and Nazi Raiders: The Deadly Voyage of HMS Jervis Bay. Barnsley:
  ISBN 0-275-98827-9
  .

52°48′N 32°15′W / 52.800°N 32.250°W / 52.800; -32.250