SS Gairsoppa

History
United Kingdom
Name	1919: War Roebuck 1919: Gairsoppa
Namesake	Gerusoppa
Owner	British India SN Co
Port of registry	Glasgow
Builder	Palmers Sb & I Co, Jarrow
Yard number	894
Launched	12 August 1919
Completed	17 October 1919
Renamed	after launching
Identification	UK official number 141924 until 1933: code letters KCRV from 1930: call sign GCZB
Fate	Sunk by torpedo, 1941
General characteristics
Class and type	War Standard B type cargo ship
Tonnage	5,237 GRT, 3,227 NRT, 8,150 DWT
Length	412.0 ft (125.6 m) overall 399.3 ft (121.7 m) registered
Beam	52.2 ft (15.9 m)
Draught	25 ft 3 in (7.70 m)
Depth	28.5 ft (8.7 m)
Decks	2
Installed power	517 NHP or 3,000 ihp
Propulsion	1 × triple-expansion engine 1 × screw
Speed	11.7 knots (21.7 km/h)
Capacity	4 passengers
Crew	84 + 2 DEMS gunners
Armament	DEMS in WW2

SS Gairsoppa was a British cargo steamship that was built in 1919 and sunk in the Battle of the Atlantic in 1941. 85 of her complement were killed, and only one person survived. When she was sunk, her cargo included 7 million ounces of silver bullion. In 2012 and 2013 a US company recovered part of the bullion, and in 2014 the Royal Mint struck 20,000 silver coins from it.

Gairsoppa was a War Standard "B" type steamship: one of a set of designs ordered by the UK Shipping Controller in large numbers to replace merchant ships lost during the First World War. She was launched as War Roebuck, but renamed before she was completed. The British India Steam Navigation Company (BI) owned and managed her throughout her career.

The ship was named after either the village of Gerusoppa in Karnataka, southern India, or the Jog Falls near Gerusoppa, which India's British rulers called Gairsoppa Falls. Gerusoppa was once the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire, and has the remains of a 16th-century Jain temple.^[1]