Alexandra (1909)
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The Alexandra ( auxiliary ship A ) was a German steamer that was used as a submarine trap by the Imperial Navy during the First World War . She sank as North Voyageur under the Honduran flag in a storm off Newfoundland in 1950 .
Technical data and use
The Alexandra ran on 18 March 1909 the Neptun shipyard in Rostock with the hull number 288, stack and was on 15 May 1909 by the Riga - Luebeck asked Steamship Company (DSG) into service. Its size was 1,123 GRT or approx. 1,625 tons , its length 65.32 m, the width 9.79 m, the draft 4.24 m. The engine output was 1000 hp , the speed 12 knots .
On December 6, 1915, she was put into service by the Imperial Navy as auxiliary ship A and apparently used as a submarine trap from April 9, 1916. For this task, it was equipped with four 10.5 cm rapid fire guns and two machine guns, which were set up concealed. Its crew was 72 men. Details of their use are not yet known. On September 12, 1917, she was taken out of service for a short time, converted into a "light barrier ship Sund" and returned to service on December 20, 1917. On November 26, 1918, it was apparently returned to its owners.
Further whereabouts
The Alexandra was delivered to Great Britain as spoils of war on June 22, 1920 and renamed Arbroath .
In 1922 it was sold to Canada and renamed Gaspesia , and in 1946 North Voyageur . In 1949 it became the property of a Honduran shipping company . Around October 20, 1950, she got into a heavy storm with a load of coal off Newfoundland , in which her load slipped. Eventually, the ship had to be evacuated , and the 20-person crew managed to get into the lifeboats . The master remained on board for unknown reasons . On October 22, capsized it 100 nautical miles southeast of Saint John's Newfoundland on position 46 ° 10 ' N , 52 ° 25' W . Only eight members of the crew survived, 12 remained missing, apparently in a second lifeboat.
Illustrations
A side elevation can be found in Gröner, vol. 8/2, p. 534, a photo with the legend auxiliary ship "A" (submarine trap "Alexandra", gun under the forecastle and aft in the deckhouse) .
Web links
- Report of the sinking of the North Voyageur in The Canberra Times, October 26, 1950.
- Report of the sinking in the New York Times, October 24, 1950.
- North Voyageur wreck map
literature
- Erich Gröner u. a .: The German warships 1815-1945 , vol. 8/2: river vehicles, Ujäger, outpost boats , auxiliary minesweepers , coastal protection associations , Munich 1993, p. 533f.
Footnotes
- ↑ in Busch / v. Forstner, after p. 320.