Richard Simpsom Miller

Name Kellwyn
Type: Steam merchant
Tonnage 1,459 tons
Completed 1920 - John Lewis & Sons Ltd, Aberdeen
Owner Dillwyn SS Co Ltd (Stockwood, Rees & Co Ltd), Swansea
Homeport Swansea
Date of attack 27 Jul 1941 Nationality: British

Fate Sunk by U-79 (Wolfgang Kaufmann)
Position 43° 00'N, 17° 00'W - Grid BE 8345
Complement 23 (14 dead and 9 survivors).
Convoy OG-69
Route Tyne - Oban - Lisbon
Cargo 1100 tons of coke
History Completed in December 1920 as Marie Llewellyn for Llewellyn Shipping Co (W.B. Thomas & Co), Cardiff. In December 1925 sold to Federated Coal & Shipping Co, Cardiff and in July 1928 to Cardigan SS Co Ltd (Jenkins Bros), Cardiff. 1937 renamed Kellwyn for Dillwyn SS Co Ltd, Swansea.
Notes on event
Between 00.21 and 00.24 hours on 27 July 1941, U-79 fired a spread of four torpedoes and the stern torpedo at convoy OG-69 about 350 miles west-northwest of Cape Finisterre and had to dive because a destroyer was closing in, so Kaufmann only saw a column of fire and heard several detonations. He reported three ships sunk and two others probably damaged. In fact, only the Kellwyn (Master Alexander McLean) was hit and sunk, the later explosions must have been depth charges from the escorts. The master, ten crew members and three gunners were lost. Nine crew members were picked up by the British armed trawler HMS St. Nectan (LtCdr H.B. Phillips, RNR) and landed at Gibraltar on 1 August. (Courtesy of uboat.net)

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