Sanct Svithun (ship, 1927)
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
The Sanct Svithun (I) was a passenger ship of the Norwegian shipping company Det Stavangerske Dampskibsselskap (DSDS), which transported passengers and cargo on the Hurtigruten along the Norwegian west coast between 1927 and 1943 . On 30 September 1943, the was Sanct Svithun before Stadlandet of several Bristol Beaufighter - fighter-bombers of the Royal Canadian Air Force attacked and stranded burning on the cliffs of Kobbeholmen. 35 Norwegian civilians and twelve German soldiers died. The attack sparked violent reactions from the Norwegian population.
The ship
The 1,367 GRT, steel- built steamship Sanct Svithun was built in 1927 at the Gdansk shipyard for the Norwegian shipping company 'Det Stavangerske Dampskibsselskap' based in Stavanger . This was also their home port. The ship was launched in March 1927, went through its test drives on June 30th and was handed over to its owners on July 1st. The Sanct Svithun was 71.93 meters long, 10.37 meters wide and had a maximum draft of 6.49 meters. She was powered by four-cylinder compound steam engines from the Austrian mechanical engineer Hugo Lentz, which gave the ship an output of 1650 hp and a speed of 14 knots. The ship was designed to carry 100 first class passengers and 82 third class passengers. His radio name was LTDS.
The Sanct Svithun was used in passenger and freight traffic on the Hurtigruten between Bergen in Vestlandet and various ports in North-Norge . It had a large promenade deck and a panorama salon in the front area of the superstructure, from which passengers could view the area. The Sanct Svithun was very popular among the travelers and was considered a particularly seaworthy ship. In 1931 the steamer was completely overhauled and equipped with a radio system and cooling devices for the transport of fresh fish.
The ship was named after Swithin von Winchester , a saint of the Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches who was especially venerated in northern Europe and is considered the patron saint of Stavanger. The shipping company put a second ship of the same name into service in 1950. After the second Sanct Svithun sank in 1962 and 41 people died, no ship was given this name.
In World War II
The outbreak of World War II in September 1939 had a major impact on the Hurtigruten and northern Norwegian shipping in general. From October 1, 1939, strict regulations applied to the Hurtigruten. The permitted travel speed was reduced and the number of departures in Bergen was reduced from seven to five per week.
When the German Wehrmacht occupied Norway and Denmark on April 9, 1940 as part of Operation Weser Exercise , the Sanct Svithun was in the Klaseskjær Dock in Stavanger for annual maintenance. During this time she was replaced by the much older Kong Haakon . From the summer of 1940 she was back in regular passenger service on the Norwegian coast.
Sinking
On Thursday, September 30, 1943, the Sanct Svithun cast off under the command of Captain Samuel Alshager in Ålesund for a crossing to Måløy . Norwegian crew members and passengers as well as German soldiers were on board . As usual for Norwegian ships during the German occupation, the Sanct Svithun showed her name and the word " Norge " (Norwegian for Norway) on both sides of the hull . Large Norwegian flags were also painted on the sides and roof. Although she was a civilian ship on a normal voyage, she had anti-aircraft cannons on board, which were operated by German soldiers.
At around 6.45 p.m. the Sanct Svithun passed the Stadlandet peninsula in a southerly direction. Between the islands of Vossa and Buholmen, she was sighted by six Canadian Bristol Beaufighter fighter-bombers of the Royal Canadian Air Force. The steamer drove without an escort and the cannons proved to be ineffective, making it an easy target for the fighter-bombers. The pilots signaled the ship twice to stop to have it evacuated, but the Germans on board did not allow it. As a result, the ship was under massive fire from machine guns , 27 kg RP3 rockets and 20 mm machine guns . Great panic broke out among the travelers.
The Sanct Svithun was quickly on fire. Passengers and crew jumped into the water to escape the fire. Many drowned in the stormy seas before the captain and the pilot managed to set the ship aground near Kobbeholmen. The Sanct Svithun lay burning for hours on an underwater rock in the surf , while the stern , which was still hanging in the water, slowly slipped under the surface of the water. After dark the vessel dropped to position 62 ° 10 '6 " N , 5 ° 5' 14" O . During the night, many passengers and crew made it ashore. The seaman Olav Iversen Kvalvågnes was able to create a connection to the land using a rope, which saved many people. Residents from the nearby town of Ervik helped the shipwrecked . Twenty of them rowed in six boats to the burning ship and saved numerous people. Captain Alshager was the last to leave the ship. 76 people survived, including only two of the German soldiers. 35 Norwegians and 12 Germans were killed in the attack (although the numbers in the various sources differ slightly).
Reactions
The sinking of the Sanct Svithun - an unescorted Norwegian passenger ship - by Allied air forces caused violent reactions among the Norwegian population. The leadership of the Norwegian resistance movement sent a protest letter to the Norwegian government- in- exile in London on October 20, 1943, expressing great outrage. The letter was handed over to Foreign Minister Trygve Lie and discussed in an intergovernmental conference.
The incident was used by the National Socialists for their propaganda against the Allies and found numerous mentions in the German-controlled Norwegian newspapers. Headlines such as "British terrorist pilots kill 70 (sic) civilians" were printed. The fascist Norwegian party Nasjonal Samling described the sinking in an official press release as a "hideous British enemy act".
On May 20, 1944, the Norwegian postal authority Posten Norge , which is still controlled by the Germans, published a series of stamps designed by Harald Damsleth , commemorating the three most serious attacks on Norwegian ships by the Allies. The 15 Øre stamp commemorated the sinking of the Sanct Svithun on September 30, 1943 (47 dead), the 10 Øre stamp to that of the Barøy on September 13, 1941 in the Vestfjord (112 deaths) and the 20 Øre Stamp to the Irma in front of Kristiansund on February 13, 1944 (61 dead). Each stamp cost ten Øre more , which was donated to the survivors and bereaved.
monument
In 1970, the shipping company 'Det Stavangerske Dampskibsselskap' handed over the ship's bell of the Sanct Svithun to a memorial chapel in Ervik that was built that year , where it still hangs today.
The shipping company had the bell engraved: "Til Ervik folket, i Erkjentlighet for redning av menneskeliv ved D / S" Sanct Svithun "s krigsforlis 30 September 1943." (For the residents of Ervik, in recognition of saving lives in Connection with the sinking of the Sanct Svithun on September 30, 1943).
Samuel Alshager, captain of the Sanct Svithun from 1928 until its end in 1943, supported the plan and was of the opinion that honoring the dead should be seen separately from war in general. The foundation stone of the chapel was laid in 1944. After the war ended, construction was stopped and only continued in 1968. Almost 1000 people took part in the inauguration and handover to the Selje municipality in 1970.
literature
- Odd G. Engdal: Norsk marinehistorisk atlas 900–2005 . Vigmostad & Bjørke, Bergen 2006, ISBN 82-41-90454-1 (Norwegian).
- Bjørn Hafsten, Ulf Larsstuvold, Bjørn Olsen, Sten Stenersen: Flyalarm. Luftkrigen over Norge 1939–1945 . 2nd edition Sem og Stenersen, Oslo 2005, ISBN 82-7046-074-5 .
- Per Voksø: Krigens Dagbok. Norge 1940-1945 . Forlaget Det Beste, Oslo 1994, ISBN 82-7010-166-4 (Norwegian).
- Dag Bakka, Jr .: Skipene som tied together. Hurtigruten gjennom 100 år . Rhema Forlaget, Bergen 1993 (Norwegian).
- Jan Petter Hoddevik: Krigsforliset "Sanct Svithun" , Selja Forlag, Førde 2008, ISBN 978-82-91722-90-0 (Norwegian with German abbreviated version The sinking of the "Sanct Svithun" )
Web links
- The Sanct Svithun in a listing of Norwegian merchant ships in World War II (with further links)
- The Sanct Svithun in a list of shipwrecks on the Norwegian coast ( Memento from November 28, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
- Illustrated online article about the sinking of the Sanct Svithun
- The Sanct Svithun in the Norwegian online lexicon "Fylkesleksikon"
- Information on the first and second Sanct Svithun ( Memento from February 5, 2011 in the Internet Archive )