Marine PLY/X 106431 Keith ROYLE
Royal Marines H.M.S.Tana II Passenger on S.S. Ceramic
7 Dec 1942 aged 18
Plymouth Naval Memorial, Panel 74, Column 3.
Son of John W. and Alice Royle, of South Reddish, Cheshire.
S.S. Ceramic (Master Herbert Charles Elford) sailed with Convoy ON 149 until it dispersed as scheduled in the North Atlantic. She then continued unescorted as planned.
At midnight on 6–7 Dec 1942, in cold weather and rough seas in mid-Atlantic, Type IXC U-515 (Kapitänleutnant Werner Henke) hit Ceramic with a single torpedo. These were followed two or three minutes later by two more that hit Ceramic's engine room, stopping her engines and her electric lighting. The liner radioed a distress signal, which was received by H.M.S. Enterprise. The crippled liner stayed afloat and her complement abandoned ship in good order, launching about eight lifeboats all full of survivors.
About three hours later U-515 fired two more torpedoes, which broke the ship's back and sank her immediately. By now it was very stormy and raining. The heavy sea capsized some of the lifeboats and left many people struggling in the water. Those boats that were not capsized stayed afloat only by constant baling. Eric Munday a soldier was the only survivor out of 655 crew and passengers, he was picked up by U-515.
S.S. Ceramic (photo from uboat.net)
