Élisabethville (ship, 1911)
 A similar ship of the CMB
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The Élisabethville (I) was a 1911 passenger ship of the Belgian shipping company Compagnie Maritime Belge (CMB), which was used in passenger and cargo traffic from Antwerp to the Belgian Congo . The ships of the shipping company on this route were therefore colloquially called congo boats . On September 6, 1917, the Elisabethville was sunk by a German submarine near Belle-Île in northern Biscay . She was the largest ship in the CMB submarine warfare of the First World War lost.
The ship
The 7,017 GRT, steel- built combined passenger and cargo ship Élisabethville (the first of three ships of the shipping company with this name) was built at the Alexander Stephen and Sons shipyard in Glasgow, Scotland , and was launched there on October 20, 1910. The ship was 126.5 meters long, 16.8 meters wide and had a draft of 7.8 meters. The Elisabethville had a chimney, two masts and two propellers and was powered by a quadruple expansion steam engine that developed 568 nominal horsepower and could accelerate the ship up to 14 knots.
In December 1910 the ship was completed. On February 4, 1911, the Elisabethville ran on her maiden voyage to Matadi , where she arrived on February 24, 1911.
The Elisabethville was the first of three sister ships . The other two were the 7745 GRT Albertville (IV), which was built by John Cockerill in Hoboken , and the 7694 GRT Andersville (II), which was also built by Alexander Stephen and Sons. The two younger ships both entered service in 1912.
Sinking
On Thursday, September 6, 1917, the Elisabethville was with 140 passengers and 173 crew members on board under the command of Captain Lemans on a crossing from the Congolese port city of Matadi via Falmouth to Kingston upon Hull . The only armament of the ship consisted of a 75 mm gun, the two gunners of the Royal Navy was served. Among the travelers were 52 French.
At lunchtime, the ship received a radio instruction not to follow the direct route H172 to Quiberon , but instead to take the coastal route A100. At around 1.30 p.m., Deputy Captain Hiernaut was able to see a submarine in the vicinity. It was the German submarine UC 71 , which was under the command of Oberleutnant zur See Reinhold Saltzwedel on patrol . Captain Lemans immediately ordered a new course, hoping to ram the submarine. Before that happened, however, the Elisabethville was hit on the starboard side by a torpedo .
The ship sank 17 miles east of the Breton island of Belle-Île at around 3 p.m. (position 47.08N, 03.11W). 14 crew members died as a result of the torpedo impact or drowned during the evacuation. However, the time between the torpedoing and the sinking was enough to disembark all passengers and the rest of the crew. The Élisabethville was the largest ship sunk by UC 71 . The British cargo ship Raranga was larger at 10,040 GRT, but was only damaged and not sunk.