Født: Kristiansand - 10 november 1904
Bosted: Søgne - Søgne kommune.
Død: 09 mars 1943
Peder Sigurd Govertsen var 2. maskinist på det amerikanske skipet D/S”Thomas Ruffin” og omkom 9. mars 1943 under et torpedoangrep på båten. Gravlagt i Port of Spain, Trinidad.
Kildene forteller:
Krigsseilerregisteret skriver:Mars 1943:
9. mars 1943 ble D/S ”Thomas Ruffin” torpedert og skadet i konvoi BT-6 i possisjon 7.40N og 52.07W av den tyske type IXC, ubåt U-510 med sjef, Kapitän zur See Karl Nitzel, innehaver av Ridderkorset. D/S ”Thomas Ruffin” var på reise fra Suez,Port Elisabeth, Cape Town, Bahia, Brazil til Georgtown, Brtish Guiana i ballast. 6 mann omkom og 52 reddet.
www.uboat.net skriver:
Between 06.04 and 06.11 hours on 9 March 1943, the german, type IXC u-boat U-510, commanded by Kapitän zur See Karl Nitzel, holder of the german Knights Cross, fired torpedoes during a second attack at convoy BT-6 about 175 miles north of Cayenne, French Guiana and reported again four ships sunk. The convoy became unorganized after the first attack because all ships performed evasive maneuvers. In fact, the Mark Hanna and James Smith were damaged and the S/S ”Thomas Ruffin” and James K. Polk were damaged and later declared a total loss.
The S/S ”Thomas Ruffin” (Master Severin Broadwick) in station #31 was struck on the port side in the engine room by one torpedo that had been spotted by a lookout just before it hit. The explosion destroyed the shaft and engines, killed three men on watch below, ruptured steam lines and fuel tanks, disabled the radio and caused a list to starboard. Most of the eight officers, 35 crewmen and 15 armed guards (the S/S ”Thomas Ruffin” was armed with one 4in, one 3in, four 20mm and two .30cal guns) on board abandoned ship in two lifeboats and two rafts. The commander of the armed guards and one crewman remained on board and were joined by the master and one crewman who reboarded the ship at daylight. 40 survivors were picked up by USS Courage (PG 70), but three of them died from steam burns and 15 were transferred to USS Borie (DD 215) before all were landed at Trinidad on 13 March. In all, two officers, two crewmen and two armed guards were lost.
At 15.30 hours on 9 March, USS PC-592 took off the four men from the S/S ”Thomas Ruffin” which was towed by HMS Milford (U 51) (LtCdr G. MacClelland, RN) to the naval dock in Port of Spain, arriving on 17 March. After some repairs D/S ”Thomas Ruffin” was towed to Mobile and declared a total loss. Broken up at Mobile in 1946.
Minnehallen i Stavern skriver:
Amerikanske S/S ”Thomas Ruffin” ble torpedert 9. mars 1943 utenfor Trinidad. En nordmann drept.
De norske som omkom med S/S ”Thomas Ruffin”
Peder Sigurd Govertsen - 2. maskinist
Kilder: Krigsseilerregisteret, Minnehallen i Stavern og www.uboat.net
Flåtetilhørighet
Tilhørte Uteflåten.