In 1941 a Luftwaffe air attack crippled her in the Mediterranean, so her Royal Navy escort sank her by gunfire.

Harland & Wolff laid down Pittsburgh in its Belfast shipyard in November 1913 for the International Navigation Company (IMM).

[1] On 14 November 1922 the Italian 7,434 GRT steamship Monte Grappa transmitted a distress signal that she was in danger of sinking.

[1] In a gale early on the morning of 30 March 1923 Pittsburgh was in mid-Atlantic east by south of Newfoundland when a huge wave struck her.

The wave was so high that it flooded the crow's nest on her main mast, drenching the able seaman who was on watch as lookout.

The impact damaged her compasses and knocked them out of adjustment, which impeded navigation, but on 4 April she safely reached Bremen.

[1] In 1935 Bernstein had Pennland refitted at Kiel[1] as a one-class ship with berths for either 486[10] or 550[15] tourist class passengers.

[1] After the Second World War began in September 1939, Pennland continued her usual service between Antwerp and New York via Southampton.

[11] Pennland spent a month in Freetown and then sailed to Bathurst in South Africa, where she arrived on 31 October.

She then returned to West Africa, where her ports of call included Lagos in Nigeria and Takoradi on the Gold Coast.

[19] On 16 December she left Halifax carrying 1,856 troops with joined Convoy TC 8, which reached the Firth of Clyde on Christmas Day 1940.

On 23 April Pennland left Alexandria[19] for Megara[15] in Attica, where thousands of Australian troops were to be evacuated.

An attack by German dive-bombers on 25 April off the island of Agios Georgios in the Saronic Gulf prevented Pennland from reaching Megara.

[21] Her Purser, Albert la Grange, was below decks inspecting damage when a bomb hit the ship, extinguishing her lights and puncturing her hull.

[22] Pennland's Chief Officer, Pieter van Beelen, took command and ordered her crew to abandon ship.

[22] Seven bombs damaged Pennland[11] but she did not sink, so her destroyer escort HMS Griffin sank her by gunfire.

[22] Also in New York, in August 1942 Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands awarded Chief Officer van Beelen the Cross of Merit.