MV Harpa

History
United Kingdom
Name	MV Harpa
Operator	Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Company, London
Builder	Hawthorn, Leslie & Co. Ltd., Hebburn
Yard number	Build number 575
Launched	5 December 1930
Identification	Call sign GTQK
Fate	Sunk 27 January 1942
General characteristics
Class and type	Oil tanker
Tonnage	3,007 GRT
Length	93.14 m (305.58 ft)
Beam	15.26 m (50.07 ft)
Draught	5.87 m (19.26 ft)
Propulsion	Two 6-cylinder Hawthorn oil engines, twin screw
Crew	41 Merchant Navy plus 2 DEMS gunners

MV Harpa was an oil tanker of the Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Company (later Royal Dutch/Shell) and was in service with the British Merchant Navy during World War II.

World War II

It was bombed on 22 December 1941 at the beginning of the Malayan Campaign at Port Swettenham, with the loss of 4 men.

The remains were buried at the site of what would later become the Cheras War Cemetery, Kuala Lumpur.

Sinking

It was sunk by a British seamine in Main Strait, Singapore† en route to Batavia with a full cargo of aviation spirit on 27 January 1942 with the loss of 7 British officers, 2 Royal Navy DEMS gunners and 25 Chinese crew.

†Tom Simkins MBE, Chief Radio Officer of SS Pinna, stated the sinking to be in the Rhio Strait (now Riau Strait, between Batam and Bintan Islands).

Sources

"Harpa and Pinna". Mercantile Marine. Archived from the original on 24 January 2013. Retrieved 10 September 2010.

"Another Door Part 1: War in the Far East". BBC. Archived from the original on 19 April 2013. Retrieved 23 December 2019.

"Naval Events, January 1942, Part 2 of 2, Thursday 15th – Saturday 31st". Naval History. Archived from the original on 4 September 2012. Retrieved 11 January 2013.