Service Number ~ 37678 Unit ~ New Zealand Medical Corps Private Crothers died Sunday 27 April 1941 when the troop ship he was being evacuated on was bombed. SS Slamat was built in Vlissingen in the Netherlands in 1924 for liner service between Rotterdam and the Dutch East Indies. In 1940 she was converted into a troop ship. In 1941 she was sunk with great loss of life in the Battle of Greece. The Dutch troop ship Slamat was part of a convoy evacuating about 3,000 British, Australian and New Zealand troops from Nafplio in the Peloponnese. On the 27th April, 1941, as the convoy headed south in the Argolic Gulf in the early morning, it was attacked first by Bf 109 fighters of the Jagdgeschwader 77, then Ju 87 dive bombers and Ju 88 and Do 17 bombers. A 250 kg (550 lb) bomb exploded between Slamat's bridge and forward funnel, setting her afire. Her water system became disabled, hampering her crew's ability to fight the fire. Another bomb also hit her and she listed to starboard. The destroyer HMS Diamond rescued about 600 survivors and HMS Wryneck came to her aid, but as the two destroyers headed for Souda Bay in Crete another Ju 87 attack sank them both. The total number of deaths from the three sinking's was almost 1,000. Only 27 crew from Wryneck, 20 crew from Diamond, 11 crew and eight evacuated soldiers from the SS Slamat survived. Source ~ https://www.geni.com/projects/World-War-II-Sinking-of-the-SS-Slamat-27-April-1941/44022
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