Armand Béhic (ship)
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The Armand Béhic was a passenger ship put into service in 1892 by the French shipping company Messageries Maritimes , which was used in the liner service from Marseille to Australia and later China . She was one of four sister ships and the only one that was not sunk in the First World War .
history
The 6,467 GRT steamship Armand Béhic was laid down under the name Tasmania at the Chantiers Navals de La Ciotat shipyard in the southern French port city of La Ciotat . At its launch on 26 April 1891 but was in honor of the recently deceased French politician Louis Henri Armand Behiç the name Armand Behiç baptized. Béhic was one of the co-founders and at times director of the Messageries Maritimes.
The iron-built passenger and cargo ship, 152 meters long and 15.26 meters wide, was powered by a triple expansion steam engine that developed 7,500 hp and allowed a speed of 17.5 knots. The ship had a deadweight of 5,462 tons and a displacement of 10,800 tons. The passenger accommodations were designed for 172 passengers in the first, 71 passengers in the second and 109 passengers in the third class. In addition, a further 234 deck passengers could be carried on short routes.
The Armand Béhic was the third in a series of four identical sister ships that were built for the passenger and cargo traffic of the Messageries Maritimes to Australia . The others were the Polynésia (1890), the Australia (1890) and the Ville de La Ciotat (1892). The four ships each measured around 6,400 gross register tons, had two funnels, a four-bladed propeller and three masts with the rigging of a barque . They were in direct competition with four recently commissioned liner steamers of the British Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company on the same route, the Victoria (1887), Britannia (1887), Arcadia (1888) and Oceania (1888).
In January 1892, the ship was completed and on February 3, it ran from Marseille on its maiden voyage to Australia and Nouméa ( New Caledonia ). In the summer of 1893 the painter Paul Gauguin traveled to Tahiti on board the Armand Béhic and in September 1900 Jean-Baptiste Marchand made a crossing to China with the Armand Béhic . In 1903 the previously black hull was painted white. In 1912 the ship was completely put on the Far East route.
During the First World War, the Armand Béhic was used as a troop transport. For example, in March and April 1915, she brought troops ashore near Cape Helles for the Battle of Gallipoli . She was the only one of the group of four to survive the naval war in the First World War . The Ville de La Ciotat was sunk on December 24, 1915 south of the Peloponnese by U 34 (81 dead), the Polynésia on August 10, 1918 off Valletta by UC 22 (19 dead) and Australia by UC 54 on July 19, 1918 before Cape Bon (20 dead). The Armand Béhic resumed passenger service in 1919 and was scrapped in Marseille in October 1924.