Czaritza
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The Czaritza ( Russian Царица , Zariza ) was a 1915 transatlantic passenger steamer of the Russian shipping company Russian American Line , which was built for passenger traffic from Russia to New York. After the October Revolution , the Czaritza came into British hands in 1917 and changed name and operator several times in the following years. From 1930 she was registered in Poland under the name Kościuszko . In 1950 the ship was scrapped in Blyth .
Early years
The 6,852 gross registered tons (GRT) steamship Czaritza was built at the Barclay, Curle and Company shipyard in Glasgow and was launched on February 14, 1915. The 138.8 meter long and 16.2 meter wide ship was propelled by two quadruple expansion steam engines, which produced an output of 11,200 hp and enabled a cruising speed of 14 knots. A total of 712 passengers could be carried. There were also 290 crew members.
The Czaritza was managed by the Russian shipping company Russian American Line, an offshoot of the Danish trading company Det Østasiatiske Kompagni ( East Asiatic Company ) founded in 1900 . It was built for the passenger and freight service from Libau via Copenhagen to New York and served as a complement to the passenger steamer Czar , which had already operated this route for three years. After its completion on May 3, 1915, the Czaritza left for her maiden voyage to New York.
During the Russian Civil War of 1917/18 the Czaritza was taken out of the country and acquired by the Cunard Line , which made it available to the Cruiser and Transport Force of the United States Navy as HMT Czaritza . For the remainder of the First World War , the steamer served as a troop transport between Europe and the USA and between Great Britain and Malta . In January 1921 she was transferred to the Baltic America Line , which like the Russian American Line was a subdivision of the East Asiatic Company. The Baltic American Line renamed it Lituania and used it on the Halifax – New York – Copenhagen – Danzig – Libau route.
Under the Polish flag
In 1930 the ship was bought by the newly established Polish shipping company Gdynia America Line , based in Gdynia . On June 8, 1930, she arrived in Gdynia and on June 20, the Polish flag was hoisted on board . The Gdynia America Line named the steamer in honor of the Polish national hero Tadeusz Kosciuszko in Kosciuszko around and used it for its scheduled service from Gdynia via Copenhagen to New York. But there were also shorter cruises . At first the ship had a mixed Danish-Polish crew, from 1931 the crew consisted exclusively of Poles. In 1935 the Kościuszko was transferred to the route from Gdynia to Constanța and Haifa and from October 1936 she was used in the South America service. After the two modern motor ships Piłsudski and Batory were put into service in 1935 and 1936, respectively , the Kościuszko was considered obsolete and was decommissioned in 1939.
After the beginning of the Second World War , the old ship was reactivated by the Polish Navy and brought to Dartmouth , where it was converted into an Okręt Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej (Warship of the Republic of Poland). Under the name ORP Gdynia , it was put into service on November 10, 1939 as a troop transport. After the ORP Gdynia had been deemed unsuitable for use on the high seas, it was used as a baseship in British waters. A canteen, a hospital and an officers' school were set up on board. During her layover she was visited by King George V and Winston Churchill , among others . During a German air raid on the coastal town of Denver on the Norfolk coast on November 25, 1939, the ship was hit by two bombs. The crew was able to prevent the fire from breaking out.
On June 30, 1941, the ORP Gdynia was discharged from the service of the Navy and came back under the name Kościuszko under the direction of the Gdynia America Line. At Lamport & Holt chartered, who spent Kosciuszko the rest of the war as a troop transport for the Allies in the Indian Ocean and in the Mediterranean . In the Indian Ocean she was attacked several times by Japanese planes and in 1943 she was hit by a torpedo, which did not explode. In July 1943 she took part in the Allied invasion of Sicily . In April 1946 Lamport & Holt bought the ship, renamed it Empire Helford and used it for the repatriation of displaced persons . Decommissioned in 1949, the former Czaritza arrived in Blyth on May 2, 1950 to be scrapped.
Web links
- Technical and historical data in the Clydebuilt Ships Database