MV Derrycunihy (1943)
| History | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Derrycunihy |
| Owner: | McCowan & Gross Ltd |
| Operator: | Ministry of War Transport |
| Port of registry: |
 London |
| Builder: | Burntisland Shipbuilding Company |
| Yard number: | 275 |
| Laid down: | 22 June 1943 |
| Launched: | 11 November 1943 |
| Completed: | 26 February 1944 |
| Identification: | MTS T72 |
| Fate: | Sunk off Normandy by enemy action 24 June 1944 |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage: | 10,200 |
MV Derrycunihy (MTS T72) was a British cargo ship impressed as a military transport during the Second World War. She was sunk off the Normandy beaches with great loss of life in 1944.
Derrycunihy was general purpose cargo ship of 10,200 tons built (yard number 275) by Burntisland Shipbuilding Company for McGowan & Gross of London. Because of critical shipping requirements during the Second World War she had been built at great speed: her keel was laid on 22 June 1943, she was launched on 11 November the same year, and was delivered on 26 February 1944. She immediately came under the overall control of the Ministry of War Transport as Motor Transport Ship (MTS) T72, and guns were fitted fore and aft (manned by Royal Navy<Survivor Gordon Fells Powellref></ref> gunners).
Shortly after D-Day the ship was selected to transport one of the regiments required for the build-up of troops in the Normandy bridgehead. On 18 June 1944 HQ, A and C squadrons of the 43rd (Wessex) Reconnaissance Regiment ('43 Recce') embarked at West India Docks, London, aboard the Derrycunihy. She joined a convoy off Southend-on-Sea, and arrived off the British landing area Sword on the evening of 20 June. High seas and enemy shelling prevented unloading for three days and it was decided to move T72 to Juno Beach for disembarkation. As the ship started engines at 07.40 on the morning of 24 June it detonated an acoustic or 'Oyster' mine dropped by one of the nightly Luftwaffe raiders. The mine exploded under the keel, splitting the ship in two, and the after part, packed with sleeping men of 43 Recce, sank rapidly. Worse still, a 3-tonner ammunition lorry caught fire, and oil floating on the water was set alight. Landing craft and the gunboat HMS Locust quickly came alongside and picked up survivors, most of whom were evacuated to SS Cap Touraine, a former French liner.
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