History
Name	SS Clearton
Operator	R. Chapman & Son, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Builder	Richardson, Duck and Company, Stockton-on-Tees
Launched	29 July 1919[1]
Completed	September 1919
Fate	Sunk 1 July 1940
General characteristics
Tonnage	5,219 GRT
Crew	34

SS Clearton was a 5,219 gross register tons (GRT) British cargo steamship. She was launched on 29 July and completed in September 1919 by Richardson, Duck and Company, Stockton-on-Tees for the shipping firm of R. Chapman & Son, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Her homeport was Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

Career and loss

In the Second World War she sailed in convoys, carrying food supplies to the United Kingdom. Her last convoy, SL 36, took her from Rosario, Argentina to Manchester, via Freetown, Sierra Leone, where she arrived on 15 June 1940. She was carrying a cargo of 7,320 tons of cereals, commanded by her Master, John Edward Elsdon.

At 1155 hours on 1 July 1940 German submarine U-102 torpedoed and damaged Clearton about 180 miles west of Ushant. The ship fell behind the convoy and at 1325 hours U-102 torpedoed her again, sinking her 042° 240 miles from Smalls. Eight crew members were lost out of a total complement of 34. The Admiralty-modified W-class destroyer HMS Vansittart sank the submarine, rescued Clearton's Master, 24 crew members and one DEMS gunner, and brought the survivors to Plymouth.