Alcantara (ship, 1914)
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The Alcantara (I) was a passenger ship of the British shipping company Royal Mail Line , which entered service just a few weeks before the outbreak of World War I. From 1915 she served as an auxiliary cruiser until she was sunk on February 29, 1916 in the North Sea in a heavy battle with the German auxiliary cruiser Greif . 72 of its crew members were killed.
The ship
The 16,034 GRT large steamer Alcantara was at an extension of Harland & Wolff in Govan built (Scotland) and ran there on 30 October 1913 by the stack. Her identical sister ship , the Almanzora , was built at the same time at Harland & Wolff's main shipyard in Belfast and was launched on November 19, 1914. The two sisters were the Royal Mail Line's largest ships to date and were to be used in passenger and mail traffic from Great Britain to South America .
The 173.73 meter long and 20.48 meter wide passenger and mail ship had a chimney, two masts and three propellers (the Almanzora only had two) and was propelled by three triple expansion steam engines with exhaust turbines, which allowed a top speed of 17 knots . The ship could carry 400 passengers in the first, 230 in the second and 760 in the third class. The Alcantara was completed on May 28, 1914 and left Southampton on June 19, 1914 on its maiden voyage to Buenos Aires . Shortly afterwards the First World War broke out.
As an auxiliary cruiser
In 1915, the Alcantara was taken over by the British Admiralty and converted into an armed auxiliary cruiser (Armed Merchant Cruiser). For this purpose, the ship was equipped with eight 6-inch cannons and two 6 pounders. The Alcantara was placed under the command of Captain (later Rear Admiral) Thomas Erskine Wardle and assigned to the 10th Cruiser Squadron. The main task of the auxiliary cruiser was to maintain patrol service between Scapa Flow and Norway .
Battle with the griffin
On February 27, 1916, the recently commissioned German auxiliary cruiser Greif (4,692 GRT) set sail in Cuxhaven under the command of frigate captain Rudolf Tietze towards the North Sea. Shortly after leaving the port, the Greif was sighted by a British submarine , which reported its position to the Admiralty by radio. On the instructions of the commander of the Grand Fleet , Sir John Jellicoe , five destroyers and seven cruisers were dispatched to the North Sea. The two auxiliary cruisers Alcantara and Andes (15,620 RT), both former passenger steamers of the Royal Mail Line, were already on patrol.
Around noon on February 28, 1916, the Alcantara was about 60 nautical miles east of the northern tip of the Shetland Islands when she received an order by radio to keep an eye out for a suspicious ship coming from the Skagerrak direction . At 8:45 a.m. on February 29, the lookout spotted billows of smoke on the horizon ahead port side. Around the same time, a radio message from the Andes arrived, saying that it was most likely the ship they were looking for. Captain Wardle brought the Alcantara closer to the unknown ship so that he could identify it. The Greif , however, had disguised itself as the Norwegian freighter Rena from Tønsberg in order to hide its true identity. The Alcantara signaled the approaching ship to stop and fired two warning shots.
The Greif complied with the request, while her crew gave the Alcantara to understand that their ship came from Trondheim and was on its way to Rio de Janeiro . By 9:40 a.m., the two ships were close enough to allow the British to launch a few boats to inspect the seemingly harmless merchant ship. At that moment, the hitherto hidden artillery on board the Greif was exposed, the war flag was hoisted and fire opened on the Alcantara from a distance of about 730 meters . The first salvo hit the command bridge of the auxiliary cruiser, destroyed all communication systems there and cut the connection to the engine room . Several crewmen were killed. Other missiles disabled the rudder and sank some of the abandoned boats.
The Alcantara immediately returned fire. A fierce artillery duel ensued , for which neither of the two unarmored ships was actually suitable. The first hit from the Alcantara hit the rear gun of the Greif and killed its crew. On board the Greif , the riot ammunition stacked next to the 10.5 cm gun exploded and set the aft section on fire. Their oil tanks also caught fire. Together with Andes , who had arrived in the meantime , the Alcantara continued to fire at the badly hit and burning griffin . The Andes' first shot hit the bridge and destroyed the Greif's steering gear . The British were able to destroy another cannon on board the Greif and ultimately land a hit in the hull that brought the Greif to a standstill.
The Germans decided on a last desperate defense and launched a torpedo attack. Two torpedoes were fired at the Alcantara , one of which passed under the stern and the second was a direct hit amidships on the port side , the effect of which, however, partially fizzled out in the coal bunker. Nevertheless, the developed Alcantara an increasing list to port. The entire battle lasted only 15 to 20 minutes and left both ships slowly sinking.
The Germans stopped fire and began launching the lifeboats at 10.18 a.m. The British continued to fire at the enemy ship. While the commander of the Greif , Frigate Captain Tietze, let himself into a boat by a rope, he was hit in the neck by shrapnel and beheaded. Shortly afterwards, Captain Wardle ordered aboard the Alcantara to stop the fire and the evacuation of his apparently sinking ship. At 11.02 am capsized the Alcantara and went on the position of 61 ° 48 ' N , 1 ° 40' O below. In the meantime, the small cruiser Comus and the destroyer Munster had come close enough to witness what had happened. The Comus sank the rudderless and burning griffin with artillery fire.
In one of the toughest skirmishes between two auxiliary cruisers in World War I, the Alcantara lost 72 men and the Greif 192, including five officers. The Comus and the Munster took in the survivors.
Web links
- Summary ship data in The Ships List (approximately in the middle)
- Information in the Clydebuilt Ships Database
- Description of the battle in the wreck database