Brandenburg (ship, 1951)
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The Brandenburg was the type ship of the Brandenburg class , a series of six identical general cargo ships , and was put into service on February 10, 1951 for the transatlantic service of the Hamburg-American Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft . On January 12, 1971, the Brandenburg sank within a few minutes of colliding with a wreck .
What to do when the Pamirs sink
When the four-masted barque Pamir got into distress on September 21, 1957 , the Brandenburg was at noon at position 32 ° 27 'N 046 ° 02' W, 320 nautical miles from the scene of the accident. The radio officer of the Brandenburg had recorded the forwarded emergency message from the Pamir , but only reported this to the second officer . The captain and the first officer only found out about the distress in their sea area two days later through the news from Deutsche Welle . Since the captain urgently had to go to a hospital because of appendicitis and the distance to the scene of the accident was now 600 nautical miles, the Brandenburg continued her voyage to Horta in the Azores . There the captain was operated on on September 24, 1957.
Say of the Hamburg maritime office
The events on the Brandenburg were examined on March 10, 1958 by the Hamburg Maritime Administration in a public meeting. In the ruling of the Maritime Office it was established that the accusation of “failure to provide assistance in an emergency at sea” cannot be raised against the ship's command. The Brandenburg was not so close to the Pamir's disaster that it could have provided assistance in a promising manner.
The behavior of the radio officer and the second officer were criticized. They should have reported the emergency call to the ship's command immediately, regardless of whether or not assistance was possible.
Downfall
 
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On January 11, 1971, the Panamanian tanker Texaco Caribbean (13,605 GRT) collided in the fog with the Peruvian freighter Paracas (9,481 GRT) at the southern exit of the Strait of Dover . The tanker exploded, broke in two and sank. In the following morning hours the Brandenburg collided with part of the wreckage of the Texaco Caribbean . The ship's bottom was torn open so severely that the Brandenburg sank in a matter of minutes. Water ingress in the engine room resulted in a total power outage. Since the ship's VHF system was not equipped with an emergency power supply, no emergency signal could be sent. Of the 31 crew members, only eleven were rescued by British fishermen. The other sailors, including the captain Peter Rahmann, drowned or went missing.
After the sinking became known, Hapag-Lloyd immediately chartered the salvage tug Orca from Smit Internationale in order to locate the site of the accident, determine the damage, determine the recovery options and mark the wreck. The tug crew located Brandenburg on the starboard side at the position 50 ° 58 ′ 30 ″ N , 1 ° 17 ′ 44 ″ E, and found severe damage. Further dives confirmed the collision with the fore ship of the Texaco Caribbean lying on its side , however any trapped crew members and the radio diary were not found. Because the required scope of repairs, the composition of the cargo and the weather conditions to be expected in this sea area did not allow a commercially acceptable salvage, the ship was abandoned by the insurers on January 15, 1971 .
A funeral service for the deceased and missing crew members took place on January 17, 1971 in the St. Trinitatis Church in Hamburg, with great sympathy from the population . The sermon was given by the senior member of the German Seamen's Mission , Pastor Kieseritzky.
The severe accident in Brandenburg in the Strait of Dover not only caused dismay and incomprehension in the professional world, but once again brought to mind the problem of traffic in the focal points of world traffic (a traffic separation area was not yet established).
The motto of the Hamburg Sea Office
The Brandenburg accident on January 12, 1971 in the Strait of Dover is due to a coincidence of unusual circumstances. The first officer of the Brandenburg , Peter Trelle, who was on watch at the time of the accident, is not at fault. With this consistent statement, the Hamburg Maritime Administration, under the direction of its director, Ernst-August Knaak, and the Federal Commissioner, Rolf Johannesson , after around five hours of negotiations, officially put an end to the tragic accident of the Hapag-Lloyd freighter on February 5, 1971.
The chain of coincidence of the unusual circumstances began with the heavy fog collision between the Texaco Caribbean and the Peruvian freighter Paracas , which had not complied with the right-hand traffic recommendation of the International Maritime Organization . It was established that the aft ship of the Texaco Caribbean must still be drifting and that its location and marking was forgotten or at least criminally neglected by the responsible Trinity House . At the time of the collision, the water was low, the width of the Texaco Caribbean was 23.75 m and the water depth according to the nautical chart was 29 m; a water level at an earlier or later point in time would have been sufficient to safely cross the wreck. After the collision between the Paracas and the Texaco Caribbean , Smit Internationale had already offered to locate and mark the wreckage of the Texaco Caribbean , but this was rejected by the tanker's shipping company. The foredeck wreck lay unsecured in a sea road that was used by a good 400 ships every day.
When the accident was resolved, there was no collaboration with the responsible Trinity House due to an information block.
episode
One consequence of the accident was the recommendation to equip all ships with an emergency radio buoy for 2182 kHz so that an emergency signal can be sent even in the event of a power failure.
See also
Footnotes
- ^ A b Heinrich Busch: The case of MS "Brandenburg" / DIMF. Failure to provide assistance at sea? Maritime Radio & Shipping, accessed on December 13, 2012 .
- ↑ Peter Volk: 100 years of marine radio under the influence of politics and commerce. Seefunk + Seeschiffahrt, accessed on July 24, 2018 .
- ↑ The "Brandenburg" -Unglück . In: HANSA – International Maritime Journal . No. 3 , 1971, ISSN 0017-7504 , p. 291 .
- ↑ a b Turn right on Dover Street . In: HANSA – International Maritime Journal . No. 3 , 1971, ISSN 0017-7504 , p. 277 .
- ^ The sinking of the MS "Brandenburg" (report on the negotiation of the Maritime Administration) . In: HANSA – International Maritime Journal . No. 5 , 1971, ISSN 0017-7504 , pp. 429-432 .
- ↑ Historical facts about telegraphy - marine radio technology of the German merchant navy. Born in 1971. Maritime Radio + Shipping, accessed on July 24, 2018 .