General Osorio (ship, 1929)
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The General Osorio of the Hamburg-American Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft (Hapag) was the last ship that the company had built for its South America (east coast) service before the Second World War . Hapag had to sell the diesel-powered passenger ship to Hamburg-Süd (HSDG) in the course of the state reorganization of the shipping areas in 1936 .
After the outbreak of war in 1939, the ship was at home and sank in Kiel after being hit by bombs in April 1945.
history
From the mid-1920s onwards, Hapag procured a large number of motor ships and became the shipping company with the largest fleet of diesel-powered ships, even if they remained in the minority within the overall fleet. This also included five passenger ships with the Orinoco and Magdalena for the Central America service as well as the St. Louis and Milwaukee for the North Atlantic service, and most recently the General Osorio . These motorized passenger ships were later joined by the Caribia and Cordillera as well as the diesel-electric Patria .
Use at Hapag
The 11,590 GRT General Osorio was intended for Hapag's South American service and named after the Brazilian Marshal Manuel Luís Osório , Marquis do Herval (1808–1879). It was launched on March 20, 1929 at the Bremer Vulkan in Vegesack , which had already built the Orinoco and the St. Louis . Outwardly, it was an enlarged version of the Central America ships. On June 26, 1929, she left Hamburg for her maiden voyage to Buenos Aires . It replaced the former Stinnes ship Holm in Hapag's South American service , which was sold for demolition at the end of the year. From 1930 the General Osorio served the South American route together with the 11,250 GRT sister ships General San Martin (ex Thuringia ) and General Artigas (ex Westphalia ), which the Kieler Howaldtswerke had delivered to Hapag in 1923, as well as the three ships of the State class with passenger facilities ( Bavaria , Württemberg , Baden , 1921/1922 Bremer Vulkan, 9000 BRT) and initially the two former Stinnes ships General Miter (ex Artus , 1921 Bremer Vulkan, 9899 BRT, launched in 1931) and General Belgrano ( ex Bahio Castillo , 1913 Reiherstieg-Werft , 10121 BRT, 1932 sold for demolition).
On August 8, 1931, General Osorio provided first aid to the American Western World (13,712 GRT, 1922) of the Munson Line , which was stranded near Santos on San Sebastian Island . She took over 88 people (including the 85 passengers) from the American ship and brought them to Rio de Janeiro . The Western World could only be removed after four weeks and was then repaired in the USA.
Use at Hamburg-Süd and Endschicksal
In the course of the state reorganization of the German shipping companies and their shipping areas, Hapag had to give up the South America service and hand over the ships used on the route to Hamburg-Süd. So the General Osorio was first chartered to them in November 1934 and then sold on June 30, 1936 with 14 other ships. It kept its name, but got new, taller chimneys.
In the new company, she was the second best passenger ship. In 1938, because of the high demand, she was used in addition to the flagship Cap Arcona for the usual summer cruise, which Hamburg-Süd regularly carried out in summer for passengers from Argentina and Uruguay from the La Plata ports to Rio de Janeiro, Santos and back. When the war broke out in 1939, General Osorio was at home.
In April 1940 the ship was taken over by the Navy as a barge in Kiel . At times it was also used as a target ship. On July 24, 1944, the General Osorio suffered a bomb hit in Kiel, partially burned out and sank with the stern. In October she was made buoyant again and a makeshift repair began. On April 9, 1945, she was bombed again in another Allied air raid and sank.
In the course of the clearing of wrecks from the Kiel port, she was lifted in 1947 and towed to Inverkeithing in August , where she was scrapped.
literature
- Arnold Kludas : The ships of Hamburg-Süd 1871 to 1951 . Gerhard Stalling Verlag, Oldenburg 1976, ISBN 3-7979-1875-5 .
- Arnold Kludas: The History of German Passenger Shipping. Vol. IV: Destruction and Rebirth 1914 to 1930. (Writings of the German Maritime Museum, Volume 21). Kabel, Hamburg 1989, ISBN 3-8225-0047-X .
- Arnold Kludas: The History of German Passenger Shipping. Vol. V: An era comes to an end from 1930 to 1990. (Writings of the German Maritime Museum, Volume 22). Kabel, Hamburg 1990, ISBN 3-8225-0041-0 .
- Claus Rothe: German ocean passenger ships 1919 to 1985 . Steiger Verlag, 1987, ISBN 3-921564-97-2 .
- Reinhardt Schmelzkopf: German merchant shipping 1919–1939 . Verlag Gerhard Stalling, Oldenburg, ISBN 3-7979-1847-X .
Web links
- Legal dispute over the scrap proceeds
- Aerial view of General Osorio
- Postcard of General Osorio
- The USN transporter Leonard Wood ex Western World
