Blumenthal (ship, 1933)
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The Blumenthal was a reefer ship that was used by various shipping companies between 1933 and 1969 .
history
Construction and first term of service
Under the mail ship contract of the US Merchant Marine Act of 1928, several refrigerated ships were built for the United Fruit Company , including the Peten , which was converted into Blumenthal in Bremen in 1957 .
When Segovia was launched with hull number 354, it was very badly damaged by fire and put into service as Peten in 1933. It was built as part of the construction of six UFC sister ships from 1933 at Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company in Newport News (USA) for the United Mail Steamship. At the time it was a subsidiary of the United Fruit Company. The Peten and sister ships ( Talamanca and Chiriqui ) were built by Newport News and Bethlehem Shipbuildings ' Antigua , Quirigua and Veragua in Quincy , Massachusett .
The keel of the Peten was stretched in March 1931, the delivery took place on February 24, 1933 and the maiden voyage from New York to Caribbean ports on March 2, 1933. It operated in the liner service between Central America and the USA and carried mail, passengers and fruit. In 1937 it was used by United Fruit on the New York – Colombia route and renamed Jamaica .
Military service
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She was delivered to the War Shipping Administration (WSA) in New Orleans on March 24, 1942, and converted by the Todd Pacific Shipyards in Galveston , Texas as an auxiliary ship for use in the Navy, renamed the Ariel (AF 22) and until 1944 American Waters in the US utility service. During the preparatory period for the invasion of Normandy , she was transferred to Great Britain and supplied many ships in the invasion fleet with food and drink, as she had huge cold stores. She returned to the United States on D-Day and was subsequently deployed in the Mediterranean and again in the Caribbean.
Post-war service with the UFC
In May 1946 she left New York for a last trip via Argentina , Newfoundland to Reykjavík and then the decommissioning in the New York Naval Shipyard took place. The ship was returned to the United Fruit Company under its pre-war name Jamaica . As Jamaica , she was converted for United Fruit and returned to her old liner services. Most recently she was used between Porto Barrios and New Orleans . In 1957 she and her sister Chiriqui were sold to the Union Partenreederei in Bremen, in which United Fruit was involved.
As Blumenthal in the banana trip for the Union
In 1957, like the sister company Blexen ex Chirriqui at Bremer Vulkan, they were rebuilt and modernized in 1957 , the turbo-electric drive system was retained. The ships' cold storage rooms were enlarged, and most of the passenger cabins and other passenger facilities for the original 250 passengers and some of the crew facilities were removed, insulated and used for refrigerated cargo.
Bremer Union Handels- und Schiffahrtsgesellschaft changed its name after the renovation in Blumenthal , and it then drove for around twelve years in banana service between Central America and Northern Europe, mainly with the destination Bremerhaven . The Blumenthal and her sister Brake were the largest reefer ships under the German flag until they were dismantled. It was scrapped in 1969 as Blumenthal in Kaohsiung , Taiwan .
Ship description
The Blumenthal was used in the banana journey and after the conversion had a length of 136.2 m and width of 18.4 m a measurement of 6700 GRT. With a draft of 7.9 m she had a deadweight capacity of 4620 tdw. The volume of the refrigerated holds was 280,000 ft³. To accommodate the banana trees, the rooms were divided into so-called "bins", frameworks made of vertically and horizontally nested beams on which the banana trees could be supported at the sides. These bins could be removed quickly for the westbound journey, since the holds were then often used for car transport.
The propulsion system consisted of oil-fired La Mont water tube boilers for steam generation and the steam turbine generators for electricity generation. The electricity was used to drive the two electric propeller motors, each with an output of 4200 kW, which gave the ship a speed of 19 knots. The auxiliary machinery and lighting were also supplied with electricity.
literature
- Hochhaus, K.-H .: German refrigerated shipping; 1996 Verlag HM Hausschild GmbH, Bremen: ISBN 3-931 785-11-4
- Kludas, A .: The German reefer ships; Koehler Publishing House