View source for SS River Afton

{{no footnotes|date=October 2019}}
{{EngvarB|date=March 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2017}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin}} 
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=
|Ship caption=
}} 
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=
|Ship country=United Kingdom
|Ship flag=[[File:Civil Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg|60px]]
|Ship name=SS ''River Afton''
|Ship operator=Campbell Brothers & Co, [[Newcastle-upon-Tyne]]
|Ship ordered= 
|Ship builder=[[Lithgows]], [[Port Glasgow]], [[Scotland]]
|Ship yard number=
|Ship laid down=
|Ship launched=
|Ship completed=1935
|Ship acquired=
|Ship in service=
|Ship out of service= 
|Ship fate=Sunk on 5 July 1942
|Ship notes= 
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
|Hide header=
|Header caption=
|Ship class= 
|Ship tonnage=5,479 tons
|Ship displacement=
|Ship length= 
|Ship beam=
|Ship height=
|Ship draught=
|Ship draft=
|Ship ice class=
|Ship propulsion=
|Ship speed=
|Ship capacity=2,314 tons of military stores, 36 tanks, 12 vehicles and seven aircraft 
|Ship crew=64
|Ship notes=
}}
|}

'''SS ''River Afton''''' was a steam merchant built in 1935 by [[Lithgows]], of [[Port Glasgow]], [[Scotland]] and homeported in [[Glasgow]].  She was operated by Campbell Brothers & Co, [[Newcastle-upon-Tyne]].  She was named after the [[River Afton]] in [[Ayrshire]], Scotland.

==Wartime career==
She was used in a number of [[Arctic convoys of World War II|Arctic convoys]], to deliver supplies from the [[Allies of World War II|Western Allies]] to the [[Soviet Union]].  She took part in [[Convoy PQ 1]] and [[Convoy PQ 13]], and made the return voyages as part of Convoys [[Convoy QP 2|QP 2]] and [[Convoy QP 10|QP 10]].  Her last voyage was with the ill-fated [[Convoy PQ 17]] in June 1942.

Commanded by her master, Harold William Charlton, she sailed from [[Middlesbrough]] bound for [[Arkhangelsk|Archangel]] via [[Reykjavík]], carrying a cargo of 2,314 tons of military stores, 36 tanks, 12 vehicles and seven aircraft.  She was the ship of the convoy commodore John C.K. Dowding.  After dispersal of the convoy, ''River Afton'' was sighted by the {{GS|U-703}} at 21:02 on 5 July 1942, steaming north east of the [[Kola Peninsula]].  ''U-703'' [[torpedo]]ed the ship, causing significant damage. She sank after being hit by two more torpedoes at 21:05 and 21:22, which caused her to explode and break in two. 15 crew members, eight gunners, one passenger and two naval staff members went down with the ship. The master, the commodore, 31 crew members, one gunner, one passenger and three naval staff members were picked up by the {{sclass2|Flower|corvette}} {{HMS|Lotus|K130|6}}, and landed at Matochkin, in [[Novaya Zemlya]].

==References==
*[http://uboat.net/allies/merchants/1889.html River Afton at Uboat.net]
*[http://www.convoyweb.org.uk/russian/index.html Convoy web]
*[http://www.convoyweb.org.uk/hague/search3.php?query=%22River+Afton%22&Submit=Find+Vessel SS ''River Afton'' on the Arnold Hague database at convoyweb.org.uk.]

==External links==
* [http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80000921 Imperial War Museum Interview with Harold Charlton]

{{Lithgows ships}}
{{July 1942 shipwrecks}}

{{coord|75|57|N|43|00|E|type:event_region:XN|display=title}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:River Afton}}
[[Category:Ships sunk by German submarines in World War II]]
[[Category:Steamships]]
[[Category:Ships built on the River Clyde]]
[[Category:World War II merchant ships of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:1935 ships]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in July 1942]]
[[Category:World War II shipwrecks in the Arctic Ocean]]