Benghazi (ship, 1933)
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The Benghazi was a former Danish cargo ship that was taken into possession by the German Navy in 1941 and converted into a speedboat escort ship, but was not used as such. The ship was sunk on November 11, 1942 near Sardinia by a British submarine by a torpedo .
Construction and technical data
The ship was on the 1933 Nakskov Skibsværft in Nakskov , Denmark, with the hull number 55 for the Dampskibsselskabet Torm in Hellerup in Copenhagen built and the name Almena baptized . It was 84.4 m long (82.47 m in the waterline ) and 12.54 m wide, had a draft of 4.79 m and was measured at 1567 GRT . The load-bearing capacity was around 3000 tdw . A six-cylinder four-stroke diesel engine from Burmeister & Wain with 1525 hp enabled a speed of 12.5 knots with one screw . The bunker capacity of 266 t of fuel resulted in a range of 3910 nm at a cruising speed of 8 knots.
history
After the German occupation of Denmark , the ship was confiscated in Dakar in September 1940 by the Vichy government of France , renamed Saint Philippe and managed by the Compagnie de Navigation Paquet (CNP) from Marseille . Under pressure from the German government , Vichy delivered the ship to Germany on August 29, 1941 in Marseille - one of several dozen ships that belonged to German war opponents and had found refuge in non-occupied France or in French North Africa or French West Africa . For reasons of disguise, the ship, like many others, was given the name of an Italian ship of about the same size, which had previously been lost to the war , the Benghazi .
The Navy initially took over the ship as a supplier for the German and Italian troops fighting in Libya . In the last week of September 1941 she escaped an attack by British and South African bombers and fighter planes on the port in the east Libyan city of Bardia by leaving the port in a hurry.
In the spring of 1942 the Benghazi was equipped as an auxiliary speedboat escort in Naples ; It was intended to be used in the 3rd Schnellbootflotilla, which was moved across the Rhine and Rhone to the western Mediterranean in November 1941 . It received a 7.6 cm rapid fire cannon made in Italy and four 20 mm anti-aircraft guns . The crew now consisted of 82 men. At the end of May 1942, after the renovations were completed, the ship moved to Piraeus . When the crankshaft of the auxiliary diesel broke shortly afterwards and a repair in the Piraeus area could not be carried out, the ship was relocated back to Italy. It was no longer used as a speedboat escort.
Instead it was used again as a supplier in the area Italy- Sardinia - Sicily- North Africa. It was found on November 11, 1942 during a voyage from La Spezia to Cagliari (Sardinia) around 30 nautical miles east of Cagliari and 10 nautical miles south of Capo Ferrato , at about 39 ° 10 ' N , 9 ° 39' E , from the English Submarine Turbulent sunk by a torpedo hit.
Web links
- The speedboat side: Escort ship Bengazi (with photo)
- MV Benghazi (+1942), at www.wrecksite.eu
- Almena MV (1933 ~ 1940) Benghazi MV (+1942), at www.wrecksite.eu
- Photo of the Benghazi
Footnotes
- ^ Nakskov local history archive: Nakskov Skibsværft - engang Lolland-Falsters største arbejdsplads
- ↑ This was done in anticipation of the Nevers and Laval-Kaufmann agreements negotiated the following year .
- ^ Combined ship Benghazi , built in 1912, 1716 GRT, sunk on May 6, 1941 by the British submarine Truant near Capo Corbonara ( Sardinia ).