In 1944, Daronia survived being hit by two German torpedoes during World War II. Shell withdrew Daronia from service in 1960, and she was scrapped in November of that year.
Building
Hawthorn, Leslie & Co built Daronia at its Hebburn yard on the River Tyne in North East England as yard number 617. She was launched on 19 December 1938 and completed in February 1939.[1][2] Her registered length was 465.3ft (141.8m), her beam was 59.3ft (18.1m), and her depth was 33.8ft (10.3m). Her tonnages were 8,139GRT, 4,784NRT, and 12,000DWT.[3]
On 18 August 1944, Daronia left Durban, South Africa, in ballast with a deck cargo of empty oil drums and general cargo. She was part of Convoy DN-68, sailing northwards in the Indian Ocean for dispersal along the East African coast.[4]
At 19:41 hrs on 20 August, Daronia was positioned between South Africa and Madagascar at 31°10′S38°00′E / 31.167°S 38.000°E / -31.167; 38.000 when the KriegsmarineType IXD U-boatU-861, commanded by KorvettenkapitänJürgen Oesten, struck her with two torpedoes. Despite the hits, Daronia did not sink, and Captain Ritchie managed to return the ship safely to Durban, where she arrived on 26 August. She remained there for the remainder of World War II. After the war, Daronia was repaired and returned to service in February 1946.[4]
Daronia and her sister ships had unusually high ventilators for their mid-ship pump rooms.[9] The B-26 dropped a 500-pound (227-kg) bomb that hit her port ventilator. However, instead of exploding, it bounced off toward her starboard ventilator and then fell harmlessly into the sea.[9]Daronia had a full load of petrol,[9] so if the bomb had detonated, the effects would almost certainly have been catastrophic.
As a consequence, Daronia left Balikpapan that same day for the safety of Singapore, taking with her 26 of San Flaviano's rescued crew.[10] A further 24 crew from San Flaviano followed a few days later on another Anglo-Saxon tanker, Dromus.[10] Shell also evacuated shore-based families to Singapore and suspended its tanker service to Balikpapan.[7]
In June 1958, both the Indonesian and UK governments claimed that the aircraft had been flown by Indonesian rebels.[7] In reality, only the radio operator was from the Permesta rebels in North Sulawesi.[11] The B-26, its bombs, and its pilot, former USAAF officer William H. Beale, were sent by the CIA as part of a US covert operation supporting the rebellion.[11] The CIA pilots had orders to target foreign merchant ships to discourage trade in Indonesian waters, thereby weakening the Indonesian economy and destabilizing President Sukarno's government.[6] Shell's suspension of operations and partial evacuation of personnel was precisely the intended outcome of the CIA attack.
For some months prior, UK Prime Minister Harold Macmillan and Foreign Secretary Selwyn Lloyd had supported US policy to supply Permesta.[12] On 6 May 1958, more than a week after the CIA sank San Flaviano and hit Daronia, Lloyd secretly informed US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles that he maintained his support for this policy.[13] On 18 May, Indonesian forces shot down another Permesta B-26 and captured its CIA pilot, Allen Pope.[14][15] Nevertheless, in June 1958 both Indonesia and the UK publicly continued to claim that the aircraft had been flown by Indonesian rebels,[7] concealing the CIA involvement of which both governments were fully aware.
Withdrawal and scrapping
The tanker Daronia remained in service with Shell until 1960. In November of that year, she was scrapped in Hong Kong.
References
12"Daronia". Tyne Built Ships. Shipping and Shipbuilding Research Trust. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
↑Helder, Kees. "Daronia". HelderLine. Kees Helder. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
Conboy, Kenneth; Morrison, James (1999). Feet to the Fire CIA Covert Operations in Indonesia, 1957–1958. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN1-55750-193-9.
