Léopoldville 1944
Marker: recorded wreck position (Second World War).
Key facts
| Name | Léopoldville | Wikidata label |
|---|---|---|
| Year lost | 1944 | Wikidata P793 significant event, point-in-time qualifier |
| Era | Second World War | derived from year |
| Ship type | ocean liner | Wikidata P31 instance of |
| Cause of loss | War action | Wikidata P828 has cause (on P793 event): torpedo |
| Nationality / flag | Belgium | Wikidata P8047 country of registry |
| Sea / ocean | English Channel | Natural Earth marine areas (public domain), point-in-polygon |
| Nearest coast | France | Natural Earth (public domain); approx. 13 km from land |
| Position | 49.7500, -1.5667 | Wikidata P793 significant event, coordinate qualifier (CC0) |
About the wreck
SS Léopoldville was a 11,509 GRT passenger liner of the Compagnie Belge Maritime du Congo. She was converted for use as a troopship in the Second World War, and on 24 December 1944, while sailing between Southampton and Cherbourg, was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-486. As a result, about 763 US soldiers and 15 officers of the ship's crew died. The crew had abandoned ship and left U.S. troops without proper evacuation orders.
Diving & visiting
In July 1984, Clive Cussler of NUMA claimed to have discovered the wreck, although French maritime officials claim the location of the shipwreck had always been marked on all maritime charts since its size and location present a potential hazard to navigation. Cussler asserts that the wreck is wrongly located, its true position being about a mile to the south.
In 1997, the 66th Infantry Division Monument was dedicated in Fort Benning, Georgia in memory of the soldiers who died aboard Léopoldville and also to those who survived the attack on Léopoldville but were later killed in action.
There is a memorial for the sinking in Weymouth, Dorset in the United Kingdom.
Location
- Recorded position: 49.7500, -1.5667 (Wikidata P793 significant event, coordinate qualifier (CC0); may be approximate)
- Sea / ocean: English Channel
- Nearest coast: France
Wreck positions on this site are for interest only and are not for navigation. Many wrecks are war graves or legally protected: never disturb human remains or remove artefacts, and check local law before diving.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article SS Léopoldville (1928) (revision 1335328001), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section and section(s) “Discovery of the wreck”, “Memorialization”; condensed by selecting paragraphs; citations and formatting removed. No text added. This excerpt is available under the same licence.
Wreck facts from Wikidata (CC0).
Nearby wrecks
- Komet 1942 · 3 km
- CSS Alabama 1864 · 9 km
- HMS Capel 12 km
- U-1200 1944 · 47 km
- HMS Viper 1901 · 50 km
- HMS Blackwood 52 km
Browse more: Europe wrecks · wrecks off France · English Channel · Second World War