Britannia (ship, 1969)

**Britannia**
	The Britannia near Cologne-Stammheim
Ship data
flag	Switzerland
Ship type	Cabin passenger ship
home port	Basel
Owner	Breeze River Cruises
Shipyard	Shipyard ; Christof Ruthof
Build number	1476
building-costs	11 million DM
Launch	March 22, 1969
Commissioning	17th May 1969
Decommissioning	June 2014
Removal from the ship register	June 15, 2015
Whereabouts	scrapped
Ship dimensions and crew
length	110.00 m ( Lüa )
width	11.60 m
Draft	Max. 1.46 m
displacement	1358 t
crew	40
Machine system
machine	4 × Deutz FM716 , each 378 kW
Machine ; performance	1,512 kW (2,056 hp)
propeller	2 × VSP Gr. 24 E / 115 ; 1 × VSP Gr. 12 E / 75 ( bow thruster )
Transport capacities
Permitted number of passengers	184 (92 cabins)
Others
Registration ; numbers	* Europe no .: 4200180 (1969–1996) ENI no. : 07001701;

The Britannia was a cabin passenger ship built in 1968/69 by Breeze River Cruises GmbH in Basel , which was used in the time charter by the Stuttgart river tour operator Nicko Tours on the Waal and Rhine between Antwerp and Cologne . The ship was previously used for the Cologne-Düsseldorfer and Viking River Cruises on the route from Amsterdam to Basel. She was the structurally identical sister ship of the Alemannia , which is owned by the same shipping company.

history

The Britannia 2004 at Filsen

The cabin ship was built in 1968 and 1969 by the shipyard Christof Ruthof in Mainz-Kastel under construction number 1476 for the Cologne-Düsseldorfers . The keel was laid in January 1968, the launch on March 22 of the following year. The construction costs amounted to 11 million DM . The festive baptism in the name of Britannia was carried out on May 14, 1969 by Sophie Brown, the wife of the former British Foreign Minister George Brown , in Bonn . From May 17, 1969, the shipping company used the ship in scheduled service between Rotterdam and Basel.

When it was delivered to the shipyard, the ship had 108 double cabins, some of which had a third fold-out wall bed integrated so that 236 passengers could be accommodated. Initially, four used, modified Deutz engines with an output of 378 kW each , which came from what was then Germany (later the coat of arms of Mainz ), were used for the drive . However, these had to be replaced by four other equally powerful engines in January 1971, as they had cracks in the engine frame. From November 1990 to March 1991, the ship received a general refurbishment at the De Biesbosch shipyard in Dordrecht . A previously existing grill room and a veranda were removed so that the dining room could be enlarged. In addition, the ship received a new bar and the number of cabins was reduced to 92 through conversions into staff accommodation.

On December 22, 1995, West KD Schiffs-Invest AG , a subsidiary of West LB , took over the ship together with the river cruise ships Germany , Austria and Italia . The purchase price for the four ships totaled DM 30 million. From January 1, 1996, West KD rented the ships to the newly founded KD Deutsche Flusskreuzfahrten GmbH . On January 1, 1997, the ownership of Britannia was transferred to the Swiss subsidiary KD Triton AG , which operated the ship with its own staff. The Britannia was registered in Basel and received the new European number 7,001,701th When the Premicon AG on 9 March 2000 the main shareholder of the Cologne-Düsseldorf was acquired Viking River Cruises , the river cruise business of the Company, including all vessels deployed there. The new owner used them on their regular route until the 2007 summer season. In 2008 the Britannia was sold to the Swiss company Breeze River Cruises GmbH . She chartered the ship to the river tour operator Nicko Tours from Stuttgart, who used her for river cruises on the Rhine and Waal and their tributaries between Antwerp and Cologne.

On June 21, 2014 the Britannia leaked in the stern area on the IJssel near Zutphen for unknown reasons. All 154 passengers and 40 crew members could be evacuated. It was then tied to the quay wall there with a strong list. An attempt was made to prevent the ship from sinking by pumping out the penetrating water. After the damage was assessed at Den Breejen Shipyard in Hardinxveld-Giessendam , the shipping company decided to decommission the ship. The tours of the ship were taken over by the TwinCruiser Vienna I in 2014 , while the sister ship Alemannia was used on the routes planned for 2015 , which was actually supposed to be decommissioned that year. In June 2015 the Britannia was towed to Kampen (Netherlands) for scrapping.

Incidents

On September 18, 1973, the Britannia ran aground near the large Mannheim power station on the construction boat Nixe, which had sunk the day before . The starboard drive was damaged. The damage was repaired a short time later in the Mülheim harbor.

On July 20, 1977, a fire broke out in the engine room of the ship traveling up the Rhine near Cologne-Porz . The front starboard engine was so badly damaged that it had to be removed and repaired at the Deutz engine works . The cause of the fire was probably a burst hydraulic hose .

On September 23, 1979 the Britannia collided with the cargo ship Helmut near Rheinberg in thick fog . The ship's side and four cabins were badly damaged. After an emergency repair, the ship could be used again. The remaining damage was repaired during a visit to the shipyard in December 79.

On August 9, 1999, the control unit at Wiesbaden-Biebrich failed completely. As the ship turned in a circle, both anchors were dropped. One of the anchor chains broke and the stern hit the embankment. On the forward starboard rudder propeller, two blades broke off and the others were bent. After the passengers disembarked in Rüdesheim , the ship was pulled by two tugs to the Cologne shipyard for repairs.

On April 8, 2000, the captain used the wrong passage of the Reinsporter Bridge on a Moselle charter trip near Piesport at river kilometer 146.93 . The ship got stuck with the lowered wheelhouse on the bridge arch. By opening the barrage in Wintrich and the resulting lowering of the water level , the ship was released after a few hours. The Cologne shipyard removed the severe damage to the wheelhouse in a one-week repair. The road bridge had to be closed to traffic after the accident.

On May 14, 2007, the Britannia's control electronics failed during the mooring process in the Basel Rhine port of St. Johann . No longer maneuverable, the ship collided with a pillar of the Dreirosenbrücke . Four passengers were slightly injured in the impact, and some roof structures on the ship were torn off. A cargo ship pulled the damaged vessel to the opposite bank.

Trivia

The Britannia was in the 1978 first-run television series MS Franziska multiple location because Klaus Knuth embodied in one of the main roles their captain Ernst Wilde .

Furnishing

Rear view

The Britannia was a four-deck cabin ship of the upper middle class. On the main deck there were 41 two-bed cabins in the middle between the crew and supply rooms, two of which could be optionally equipped with a third bed. There were 51 two-bed cabins on the upper deck, the two largest of which were referred to as deluxe cabins. The standard cabins were each 12 m² in size and were equipped with two separate beds, shower / toilet, telephone and satellite TV . The two 24 m² deluxe cabins each had a double bed and an additional seating area and minibar . The panorama salon was located in the front panorama deck . The saloon, which was equipped with a bar, was glazed all around in the bow area . The restaurant and kitchen were connected in the middle part of the ship. The aft deck , which is open on three sides and equipped with groups of tables , was taken care of in terms of catering. The central focal point of the sun deck was the swimming pool, to which two roof-top relaxation areas were connected on both sides. Within the aft lying free resting surface was a recreational chess field applied. The promenade deck could be reached from the entrance hall on the upper deck via a subsequently built-in stair lift for wheelchair users.

technology

The Britannia was driven by four 12-cylinder diesel engines of the type Deutz FM716 á 378 kW via two Voith-Schneider drives , type E / 115, size 24. The E / 75, size 12 bow thruster, also produced by Voith-Schneider, had a 190 kW electric drive. The ship was 110 m long, 11.60 m wide and 9.20 m high. The maximum draft was given as 1.45 m. By lowering the wheelhouse and chimney, as well as moving the railings and awnings, the height for trips on bodies of water with low bridges, such as the Moselle and Main-Danube Canal , could be reduced to about 7.00 m.

literature

Georg Fischbach: The ships of the Cologne-Düsseldorfer 1826-2004 , self-published, Marienhausen 2004, ISBN 3-00-016046-9
Stephan Nuding: 175 years of Cologne-Düsseldorf Deutsche Rheinschiffahrt AG , Schardt Oldenburg 2001, ISBN 978-3-8984-1035-9