The SS Nerissa was a passenger and cargo steamer which was torpedoed and sunk on 30 April 1941 during World War II by the German submarine U-552 following 12 wartime voyages between Canada and Britain.

Nerissa was the final ship built for the Bowring Brothers' "Red Cross Line" service between New York City, Halifax, Nova Scotia, and St. John's, Newfoundland.

Due to the arduous winter conditions to be expected on her routes, Nerissa was designed with a strengthened hull to cope with ice floes and an icebreaker style sloping stern.

For the first 7 months of the war, the S.S. Nerissa had provided passenger and freight services out of New York City to Bermuda and ports in the Caribbean.

A complement of 291 persons were embarked at Pier 21 for the 13th and final crossing:[1] The civilians included: The Nerissa sailed from Halifax at 7:15 AM local time on Monday the 21st of April 1941 in company with ships of Convoy HX-122.

Nerissa maintained position in the eastbound convoy for about 3 hours before sailing independently northwards for St. John's, Newfoundland.

[3]) At about 08:15 GMT, the first of four RAF Coastal Command (224 Squadron) Lockheed Hudson aircraft (call sign P5136) arrived overhead and provided about 5 hours of escort protection starting at 56°59’N 13°48’W.

The second (T9337), third (N5272) and fourth (N7376) RAF Coastal Command patrol aircraft provided overhead protection to Nerissa until 19:15 (ending at 56°16’N 11°00’W).

Finally, Topp saw a phosphorescent glow on the sea and decided that 1,000 metres was as close as he should approach his target, and he fired a fan of three torpedoes "because of unsure shooting data".

About 6 minutes later, Topp closed in on the already stricken ship and fired a fourth torpedo as a coup de grace into Nerissa's aft starboard side while her crew and passengers were launching lifeboats.

The JOHNIE-502 aircraft arrived at the SOS position at 02:54 GMT and dropped flares and saw that HMS Veteran was already in the area.

It was not until three hours later, at 05:42, did the aircraft sight “six lifeboats and six rafts” which had been carried north by the Gulf Steam into its search area.

The aircraft flew south to Veteran (05:50) and visually signaled "Survivors of torpedoed ship 13 miles to north".

A position error in Nerissa's repeated distress signals likely caused a delay of more than 3 hours in the rescue of the remaining survivors and further tragic loss of life.