HMT Rohna
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| Career | image |
|---|---|
| Class: | |
| Yard: | Hawthorn Leslie (Shipbuilders) Ltd, Hebburn-on-Tyne, England |
| Numbers: | Yard No. 542 |
| Contract Date: | |
| Laid down: | |
| Launched: | 24 August 1926 |
| Completed: | 5 November 1926 |
| Operator: | British India Steam Navigation Company |
| Fate: | Sunk in air attack 26 November 1943 |
| General Characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 8602 tons gross |
| Length: | 461.4 feet |
| Beam: | 61.8 feet |
| Draft: | 29.9 feet |
| Propulsion: | Twin Screw, 2 x 4 Cylinder Quadruple Expansion, 5, 000 I.H.P. |
| Speed: | 14.3 knots |
| Range: | |
| Capacity: | Passengers: 281 First Class 33 Second Class 100 Third Class 5064 Deck Passengers (reduced later to 3851) |
| Complement: | About 200 |
| Armament: | |
HMT Rohna (named after a village in the Sonipat District of Punjab India) was the first troop ship carrying US troops to be sunk during World War II, on 26 November 1943. The ship sank in the Mediterranean north of Bougie, Algeria following an air attack.
The ship was part of convoy KMF-26 (Annex) travelling east from Oran to the Far East via the Suez Canal.
1,138 men were lost, with 1,015 of them American troops and this still constitutes the largest loss of US troops at sea. A further 35 American troops of the 2000 originally on board later died of wounds. As well as the troops, 5 ship's officers and 117 ratings (of 200) died, along with 11 of the 12 gunners on board and 1 hospital orderly.
The heavy loss was in part due to a flotilla of seven empty LCI(L) craft failing to stop to pick up survivors, for which the commanding officer was relieved of his command. However, 606 survivors were rescued by the minesweeper USS Pioneer.
The blow was so devastating that it was classified until 1967. The full details were only released following the introduction of the Freedom of Information Act.
The sinking was done with a radio controlled glide bomb, a Henschel Hs 293 launched and controlled by a Heinkel 177 bomber. The HMT Rohna was not the first casualty of a guided missile however as the British HMS Egret was sunk with the loss of 194 men on August 25 the same year by a Henschel Hs 293.
A memorial to the sinking was unveiled at the Fort Mitchell National Cemetery in Seale, Alabama in 1996.
