Dresden (ship, 1937)
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The third Dresden of the North German Lloyd (NDL) was a combined ship for the service to the South American Pacific coast. She was the sixth ship in a series of which nine ships had been completed by the start of the war.
When the war began in 1939, the Dresden was in Chile . She moved to Brazil in November 1939 and at the end of March 1941 was dispatched from there as an auxiliary ship to the surface units of the navy operating in the South Atlantic . She took over from the auxiliary cruiser Atlantis which prisoners of war and ran with them in the meantime by the Wehrmacht occupied Bordeaux .
In April 1942, the Dresden ran as a blockade breaker to Japan , from where it came back to France in November 1942. There was no further use. She was sunk in August 1944 as a block ship in the Gironde estuary by the German occupation forces.
In 1946 the ship was lifted again and repaired. From June 1949 it was used as a doba under the French flag . On July 21, 1950, the former Dresden stranded near Ras Hafonn on the Gulf of Aden and was a total loss.
history
In 1935 the first three new motor combi ships for the "German West Coast Service" of the two major German shipping companies from Bremer Vulkan and AG Weser were completed. The first and last of the series of nine ships were named Hanover when they were christened. The first Hanover finally became the Hermonthis of the Hamburg-American Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft (Hapag), which received yet another ship of the series with the Monserrate . The remaining seven ran under city names at the NDL. Hapag supplemented its contribution to the joint service with the two renamed combination ships Rhakotis and Roda originally deployed to the US west coast and the two newbuildings Huascaran and Osorno with diesel-electric propulsion.
The Dresden , launched on May 26, 1937 at the Bremer Vulkan shipyard with the construction number 735 as their fifth contribution to the series , with a length of 138 meters, corresponded to the size introduced with the Nürnberg (BauNo. 721) after the three predecessor buildings of 1935. The drive system of 5,200 PSe and the passenger equipment for 28 passengers also corresponded to the Nuremberg and Munich delivered in 1936 . Name predecessors at the NDL were the Dresden (14,690 GRT) sunk as a KdF crusader in 1934 , which was launched as a zeppelin in 1914 , and the type ship Dresden (1889, 4,802 GRT) of the city class , which was sunk in 1914 in Turkish services. The new Dresden began her maiden voyage to Chile on July 12, 1937 . It was there when the war broke out in 1939.
Operations in World War
In October 1939, the Dresden was supposed to serve the armored ship Admiral Graf Spee as a supplier, but missed the meeting point and called on November 25, 1939 at the Brazilian port of Santos , where she stayed for the time being. Only on March 28, 1941, the Dresden ran out again with 2,500 tons of diesel to supply the auxiliary cruiser Atlantis , with which it met on April 18. The decision of the SKL to use it as a prisoner transporter freed the Atlantis from the prisoners, the number of whom had increased considerably after the sinking of the passenger steamer ZamZam (1909, 8,299 GRT) on April 17th. However, the Dresden now needed the fuel for itself. The auxiliary cruiser had primarily expected provisions from the Dresden , which was equipped with a cooling device . The Dresden had not received this at all and it also needed the existing supply for the captured prisoners. In addition to the 162-man crew of the Zam Zam , its 199 passengers (only three seriously injured remained on the Atlantis ) were taken on board by the Dresden . Of these, 137 were missionaries, some with spouses and children, the majority from various Protestant churches, but also 17 were Catholic priests, all of whom were on their way to their African stations. Passengers also included 24 ambulance drivers from the British-American Ambulance Corps who volunteered to help Allied forces in North Africa.
On April 26, the two ships parted and the Dresden ran to southern France and tried to avoid all ships. On May 20, it reached Saint-Jean-de-Luz . 119 US passengers were handed over to US diplomats at the Spanish border on May 31 and then traveled back to the US via Portugal . More Americans were later released and female passengers of other nationalities were exchanged for interned German women. On June 21, “ Life ” printed a detailed article about the sinking of the Zam Zam and the journey of the passengers on the Dresden to France. The article was written by Charles Murphy, a Fortune magazine journalist and a passenger on the Zam Zam . There were also photos by David E. Scherman from "Life", who was also one of the passengers on the Zam Zam .
The Dresden was prepared as a blockade breaker in France and left Bordeaux on April 15, 1942 as the eighth ship of the special naval service . On the way she supplied the Dogger Bank , which had laid mines off Cape Town . In June the Dresden arrived in Yokohama . She started her return trip to Europe on August 20, 1942, and arrived back in Bordeaux unmolested on November 3, 1942, one day after the Tannenfels which had started twelve days before her . The ship was not used again because it was hit by a mine on the Gironde on November 6th . Ultimately, in January 1944, the special marine service refrained from using the six ships that had been prepared as blockade breakers due to a lack of prospects of success.
On August 25, 1944, the Dresden was sunk as a block ship in the Gironde estuary.
Under the French flag
The ship was lifted again in March 1946 and, after being repaired, was used as a doba by the French shipping company Chargeurs Reunis from June 1949 . It was used to transport troops and materials to Indochina .
On July 5, 1950, the Doba left Saigon for the return trip to Oran and Le Havre with stops in Singapore and Colombo . She had about 9,000 tons of cargo ( rice , rubber , coffee and luggage) and 489 soldiers from the Foreign Legion on board. On the way from Ceylon to Djibouti , she was stranded in very bad weather on July 21, 1950 on the Somali coast near Ras Hafonn in the Gulf of Aden and was a total loss. All 553 people on board were saved.
The combined ships for the west coast service
| Launched in service |
Surname | GRT | B.No. | fate |
| March 7, 1935 May 14, 1935 |
Hanover (3) Hermonthis |
4,833 | Volcano 708 |
131.40 m long, May 23, 1935 Maiden voyage for Hapag to Valparaíso , September 5, 1939 in Callao , which was viewed by the German Reich as a suitable supply point, which turned out to be wrong, as the newly elected President Prado in 1939 was increasingly turning to the western side Allies turned, only the Rhakotis was able to escape from there via Chile to Japan in 1940, the Hermonthis was sunk on April 1, 1941 northwest of Callao by the Canadian auxiliary cruiser Prince Henry , and the combined ships Leipzig , Munich and Monserrate sank on the same day. |
| 13.03.1935 05.31.1935 |
Osnabrück | 5,095 | River 892 |
133.31 m long, Maierform- Bug, June 1935 maiden voyage with Norddeutscher Lloyd to Valparaíso , 1939 mine clearance ship MRS 1 , then MRS 11 , used by BSW in Dutch and Danish waters, in 1942 after a mine hit (82 dead) off Tallinn temporarily out of service, later in Norway and from the end of 1944 with the 8th Security Division in the western Baltic Sea, February 12, 1945 after another mine hit off Swinoujscie total loss |
| May 4, 1935 June 24, 1935 |
Dusseldorf | 4,930 | Volcano 711 |
131.40 m long, June 29, 1935 maiden voyage with NDL to Valparaíso, applied December 15, 1939 off Antofagasta von Despatch , renamed Poland in 1940 , then Empire Confidence , 1946 Egyptian Star of el Nil , 1950 British Spenser , 1955 Roscoe , 1962 demolition in Spain |
| 24.03.1936 09.05.1936 |
Nuremberg (4) | 5,635 | Volcano 721 |
138.00 m long, May 1936 maiden voyage with the NDL to Valparaíso, 1939 mine clearance ship MRS 12 , used at the BSW for the Weser Exercise company , later in Danish waters, finally at the BSO in the Baltic Sea, last off Pomerania, 1945 GMSA , 1948 British Dundalk Bay , 1957 Westbay , 1962 demolition in Hamburg |
| May 7, 1936 July 3, 1936 |
Munich (4) | 5,619 | Volcano 720 |
138.00 m long, July 11, 1936 Maiden voyage with NDL to Valparaíso, September 2, 1939 in Callao, April 1, 1941 west of Callao set on fire by the crew when the Canadian auxiliary cruiser Prince Henry sets the ship down |
| May 26, 1937 July 7, 1937 |
Dresden (3) | 5,567 | Volcano 735 |
138.00 m long, July 12, 1937 maiden voyage with NDL to Valparaíso, in September 1939 in Chile, moved to Santos on November 25, 1940, March 28, 1941 to supply the auxiliary cruiser Atlantis at sea, released with prisoners to Bordeaux, 21. Arrived there in May 1941, scuttled in 1944, in service under the French flag in 1949 as Doba, stranded on July 21, 1950 |
| 02/15/1938 04/6/1938 |
Leipzig (2) | 5,898 | River 931 |
139.80 m long, April 1938 maiden voyage with NDL to Valparaíso, September 21, 1939 in Callao, self-sunk in Callao roadstead April 1, 1941 |
| 25.10.1938 12.09.1938 |
Monserrate | 5,578 | Volcano 755 |
141.30 m long, December 22, 1938 Maiden voyage for Hapag to Valparaíso, September 6, 1939 in Callao, April 1, 1941 in the Callao roadstead Attempt at scuttling, confiscated from Peru, renamed Callao in 1947 |
| March 29, 1939 May 11, 1939 |
Hanover (4) | 5,537 | Volcano 765 |
141.30 m long, June 22, 1939 Maiden voyage with NDL to Valparaíso, September 1939 in Willemstad , March 8, 1940 off Puerto Rico by the Canadian destroyer Assiniboine , renamed Sindbad , then Empire Audacity , 1941 first British escort aircraft carrier Audacity , 21. December sunk by U 751 northwest of Cape Finisterre |
literature
- Arnold Kludas : The History of German Passenger Shipping, Vol. V: An era comes to an end from 1930 to 1990 . Ernst Kabel Verlag, 1986.
- Arnold Kludas: The ships of the North German Lloyd 1857 to 1919 . Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft, 1991, ISBN 3-7822-0524-3 .
- Arnold Kludas: The ships of the North German Lloyd 1920 to 1970 . Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft, 1992, ISBN 3-7822-0534-0 .
Web links
Footnotes
- ↑ Kludas, Passenger Shipping, Vol. V, pp. 69f.
- ↑ a b c d Kludas: Passenger Shipping, Vol. V, 'p. 70
- ↑ Kludas: Vol. V, p. 73.
- ↑ Kludas: NDL-Seeschiffe 1920-1970, p. 100ff.
- ↑ Kludas: NDL-Seeschiffe 1957-1919, p. 150.
- ↑ Kludas: NDL-Seeschiffe 1957-1919, p. 46.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Kludas: Passenger Shipping, Vol. V, p. 72.
- ↑ a b c d Kludas: NDL-Seeschiffe 1920-1970, p. 102.
- ↑ Surface Blockade Runners Winter 1942-43 and 1943-44 CIA records
- ↑ self-immersion of the Dresden
- ^ Kludas, Vol. V, p. 147