SS Iron Chieftain (1937)

SS Iron Chieftain was a 4,812 GRT Australian iron ore carrier which was sunk during World War II by a Japanese submarine.

History
Iron Chieftain was built by Lithgows Ltd, Port Glasgow for Broken Hill Proprietary Company, Broken Hill. She was launched on 22 October 1937 and was homeported in Melbourne under the British Flag.

On 3 June 1942, Iron Chieftain while en route Newcastle-Whyalla was torpedoed and sunk east of Sydney by I-24 at about 11pm about 27 mi east of Sydney. Her Master Captain Lionel Haddelsey and Chief Engineer Marcus Gunn, were among the twelve crew lost. Thirty-seven survivors were rescued from a raft by HMAS Bingera and from a lifeboat washed onto the beach at The Entrance.

Official number and code letters
Official numbers were a forerunner to IMO Numbers. Iron Chieftain had the UK Official Number 159570 and used the Code Letters VLJY.