View source for SS Volo

{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2018}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2018}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin}} 
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=
|Ship caption=
}} 
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=
|Ship country= [[United Kingdom]]
|Ship flag= {{shipboxflag|UK|civil}}
|Ship name= ''Volo''
|Ship namesake= [[Volos]], Greece
|Ship operator= [[Ellerman Lines|Ellerman's Wilson Line Ltd]], [[Kingston upon Hull|Hull]] 
|Ship registry= [[Kingston upon Hull|Hull]]
|Ship identification=*[[Maritime call sign|Call sign]] GFFK<ref name=LR>{{cite book |url= https://plimsoll.southampton.gov.uk/shipdata/pdfs/38/38b0952.pdf |year=1938 |title=Lloyd's Register, Steamers and Motorships |location=London |publisher=[[Lloyd's Register]] |access-date=7 August 2013}}</ref>
*{{ICS|Golf}}{{ICS|Foxtrot}}{{ICS|Foxtrot}}{{ICS|Kilo}}
*UK [[official number]] 165701<ref name=LR/>
|Ship builder= [[Swan Hunter|Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson Ltd]],<ref name=LR/> [[Newcastle upon Tyne]], England
|Ship yard number= 1582<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?99124 |title=SS Volo [+1941] |last=Lettens |first=Jan |date=3 July 2013 |work=The Wreck Site |access-date=7 August 2013}}</ref>
|Ship ordered= 
|Ship laid down=
|Ship launched= 15 February 1938
|Ship completed= April 1938<ref name=LR/>
|Ship acquired=
|Ship in service=
|Ship out of service= 28 December 1941<ref name=U1236>{{cite web |url= http://uboat.net/allies/merchants/1236.html |title=Volo |last=Helgason |first=Guðmundur |date=1995–2013 |work=Ships hit by U-boats |publisher=Guðmundur Helgason |access-date=7 August 2013}}</ref>
|Ship fate= Torpedoed and sunk on 28 December 1941
|Ship notes= 
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
|Hide header=
|Header caption=
|Ship class= cargo steamship
|Ship tonnage=*{{GRT|1587}}<ref name=LR/>
*tonnage under deck 1,220<ref name=LR/>
*{{NRT|768}}<ref name=LR/>
|Ship displacement=
|Ship length= {{convert|283.9|ft}}<ref name=LR/> [[Between perpendiculars|p/p]]
|Ship beam= {{convert|40.2|ft}}<ref name=LR/>
|Ship height=
|Ship draught= {{convert|17|ft|0|in|2}}<ref name=LR/>
|Ship depth= {{convert|15.7|ft}}<ref name=LR/>
|Ship ice class= ''"strengthened for navigation in ice"''<ref name=LR/>
|Ship power= 335 [[Horsepower#Nominal horsepower|NHP]]<ref name=LR/>
|Ship propulsion=*[[Marine steam engine#Triple or multiple expansion|triple-expansion steam engine]];
*low-pressure [[Steam turbine#Marine propulsion|steam turbine]];
*single [[Propeller (marine)|screw]]<ref name=LR/>
|Ship speed= 
|Ship capacity= 
|Ship crew= 30 crew + 8 [[Defensively Equipped Merchant Ships|DEMS]] gunners<ref name=U1236/>
|Ship sensors= wireless [[direction finding]]<ref name=LR/>
|Ship notes= [[sister ship]]: {{SS|Tasso||2}}
}}
|}

'''SS ''Volo''''' was a British steam [[cargo ship]] that was built on [[Tyneside]] in 1938 and sunk by a [[U-boat#World War II (1939–1945)|German U-boat]] in the [[Mediterranean Sea]] off [[North Africa]] in 1941. 23 people on board the ''Volo'' died as a result of the attack.

==Building==
''Volo'' was one of a pair of [[sister ship]]s that [[Swan Hunter|Swan, Hunter and Wigham Richardson]] of [[Newcastle upon Tyne]] built for [[Ellerman Lines|Ellerman's Wilson Line Ltd]]. The first was {{SS|Tasso||2}}, which Swan Hunter completed in February 1938. ''Volo'' was completed in April 1938.<ref name=LR/> Ellerman's registered both ships in [[Kingston upon Hull|Hull]].<ref name=LR/> The line named ''Volo'' after the port of [[Volos]] in [[Thessaly]], [[Kingdom of Greece|Greece]], which is one of many Mediterranean ports with which the company traded.

''Volo'' had six corrugated furnaces with a combined grate area of {{convert|115|sqft|0}} heating two 210 [[Pounds per square inch|lb<sub>f</sub>/in<sup>2</sup>]] single-ended boilers with a combined heating surface of {{convert|4043|sqft|0}}.<ref name=LR/> The boilers fed a three-cylinder [[Marine steam engine#Triple or multiple expansion|triple expansion steam engine]] that in turn exhausted into a low-pressure [[Steam turbine#Marine propulsion|steam turbine]].<ref name=LR/> The turbine had double-reduction gearing, the two engines drove a single screw, and their combined power output was rated at 335 [[Horsepower#Nominal horsepower|NHP]].<ref name=LR/>

==Career and sinking==
In the [[Second World War]] ''Volo'' served in a number of convoys, starting in September and October 1939 with two round trips between the [[Bristol Channel]] and the [[Loire]]. From November 1939 until May 1940 she made four round trips between [[Port of Liverpool|Liverpool]] and [[Gibraltar]], then in June 1940 she sailed from the [[Dardanelles]] to [[Port Said]]. From August 1940 until December 1941 she operated from ports in [[Kingdom of Egypt|Egypt]] to support UK and Allied forces in the [[Siege of Malta (World War II)|Siege of Malta]] and the [[Battle of Greece]].

In December 1941 ''Volo'' was a member of Convoy ME-8 from Malta to [[Alexandria Port|Alexandria]].<ref name=U1236/> Her [[Sea captain|Master]] was George Ronald Whitfield, [[Order of the British Empire|MBE]].<ref name=U1236/> Early on the morning of 28 December the {{GS|U-75|1940|6}} attacked the convoy.<ref name=U1236/> The [[U-boat#World War II (1939–1945)|U-boat]] torpedoed ''Volo'', sinking her about {{convert|45|nmi|km}} northwest of [[Mersa Matruh]], Egypt.<ref name=U1236/> Captain Whitfield, 20 crew members and three [[Defensively Equipped Merchant Ships|DEMS]] gunners were killed.<ref name=U1236/> Nine crew members and five DEMS gunners survived, were rescued by the [[Royal Navy]] [[Landing Ship, Tank]] HMS ''LCT-11'' and taken to Alexandria.<ref name=U1236/>

Two of ME-8's escorts, the destroyers {{HMS|Kipling|F91|6}} and {{HMS|Legion|G74|6}}, pursued ''U-75''. After two and a half hours ''Kipling'' sank the U-boat with depth charges, killing 14 of her 44 crew.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://uboat.net/boats/u75.htm |title=U-75 |last=Helgason |first=Guðmundur |date=1995–2013 |work=List of all U-boats |publisher=Guðmundur Helgason |access-date=7 August 2013}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{coord|31|45|N|26|48|E|display=title}}
{{December 1941 shipwrecks}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Volo}}
[[Category:Ships of the Ellerman Lines]]
[[Category:1938 ships]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in December 1941]]
[[Category:Ships built by Swan Hunter]]
[[Category:Ships sunk by German submarines in World War II]]
[[Category:Steamships of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Ships built on the River Tyne]]
[[Category:World War II merchant ships of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:World War II shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea]]