Hainaut (ship)

Hainaut ex Marksburg

The Hainaut ex Marksburg

Ship data flag  German Empire Belgium   other ship names Marksburg until 1921 Ship type Cargo ship Callsign QHWF, OONKA home port Bremen , Antwerp Owner DDG Hansa , Armement Deppe Shipyard Blohm & Voss , Hamburg Build number 176 Launch January 3, 1905 Commissioning February 18, 1905 Whereabouts Sunk July 5, 1942

Ship dimensions and crew length 117.79 m ( Lpp ) width 15.77 m Draft Max. 5.18 m measurement 4281 BRT 2721 NRT   crew 38

Machine system machine Quadruple expansion machine Machine performance 2,500 hp (1,839 kW) Top speed 10.5 kn (19 km / h) propeller 1

Transport capacities Load capacity 6375 dw

The Hainaut of the Belgian shipping company Royale Belgo Argentine , completed in 1905 as Marksburg , was one of six former DDG "Hansa" cargo ships that were delivered to Belgium in 1920/1921. The ship, completed as Marksburg in 1905, was the only new building that the Hamburg shipyard Blohm & Voss ever delivered for the Bremen freight ship company. In May 1919 the ship was delivered to Great Britain. In 1920 it was transferred to Belgium and in 1921 sold to the Belgian shipping company Royale Belgo-Argentine, a subsidiary of Armement Deppe , who renamed it Hainaut .

The Hainaut was found on July 5, 1942 on a trip from Montreal (Canada) to Great Britain in the St. Lawrence River near Cape Chat ( La Haute-Gaspésie ) at the position 49 ° 30 ′ 0 ″  N , 66 ° 30 ′ 0 ″  W Coordinates: 49 ° 30 ′ 0 ″  N , 66 ° 30 ′ 0 ″  W torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U 132 .

History of the ship

The Marksburg is considered the lead ship of five DDG “Hansa” cargo ships for the shipping company's Argentina service, which came into service in 1905. However, she was the only ship that the DDG “Hansa” ever ordered from the Hamburg shipyard Blohm & Voss . At the same time, the Bremer Vulkan in Vegesack , the Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft and Swan Hunter built the four sister ships.

The Marksburg was measured with 4281 GRT and had a load capacity of 6375 tdw. It was 117.79 m long, 15.77 m wide and had a draft of up to 5.18 m. A 4-cylinder quadruple expansion machine of 2200 PSi manufactured by the shipyard acts on a screw and gave the ship a speed of 10.5 knots (kn). The under construction no. The 176 built ship was launched on January 3, 1905 in Hamburg as the shipping company's first Marksburg and was delivered to the Bremen shipping company on February 18, 1905 as the first ship of the new class, which was followed by the first two sister ships within the next five weeks.
However, with the Marxburg (1891, 1809 BRT), there was already a predecessor of the same name in the shipping company's South America service. This ship, built in Denmark, was one of the Wartburg class, the shipping company's first series for the South America service. In 1900 it was sold to the German Levante Line (DLL), which continued to use it under the name of Athos .

By the end of 1904, the DDG "Hansa" had commissioned fifteen new buildings with names ending in -burg for their South America service, although the first nine had already been resold. After taking over the first three ships of Mark Burg class, the two ships until 1900 delivered by were type Lowenberg to the North German Lloyd sold (NDL), although it largely resembled the new ships. By the end of 1905, two more ships of the Marksburg class came into service. From 1907 to 1909, the three slightly enlarged replicas of the Marksburg class were also delivered to the DDG "Hansa". At the same time, the last older ships of the Rudelsburg class built in England (1896/97, 3700 tdw) began to be sold.
Three of the old ships went to the second largest Belgian shipping company, Armement Deppe in Antwerp. The ex Hansa ships were named Egypte , Algeria and Tunisia and were used in association with the DDL and other German shipping companies in their rosters in the Mediterranean and Black Sea .

Mission history

In February 1905 the Marksburg came into the service of the DDG "Hansa" at La Plata . The four other ships in the class followed in the same year. In 1907 two slightly larger replicas followed and in 1909 a similar single ship. When the First World War broke out in 1914 , only the Arensburg was at home, the other seven ships were in Rotterdam , Antwerp, São Vicente (Cape Verde) , Cabedello and Rio de Janeiro , Montevideo and Rosario . Only the Ebernburg was used as a supplier for a short time. When their countries of refuge entered the war, four of the ships were still used as transporters on the Entente side and the Ebernburg was sunk as a Brazilian acary by the submarine cruiser U 151 .
In 1914 there was the just completed Trostburg (6342 BRT, 10,330 tdw), a much larger ship with a name ending in -burg . The lead ship of a series of four ships for the shipping company's La Plata-Diest, of which the others were only completed during the war, made its maiden voyage to the Middle East, which ended in Calcutta when the war broke out .

The Marksburg was allowed to return to Germany from Rotterdam, and it was used during the war like the sister ship Arensburg in the ore and coal trade in the North and Baltic Seas. In May 1919 the Marksburg was delivered to Great Britain.

The Marksburg- class ships and the replicas

Surname	Shipyard	GRT tdw	Launched in service	further fate
Marksburg	Blohm & Voss building no. 176	4281 6375	3.01.1905 18.02.1905	Back in 1914 in Rotterdam, after Germany, ore and coal ride in North and Baltic Seas, delivered in 1919, 1920, Belgium, Nov. 1921. Armement Deppe: Hainault South America service on July 5, 1942 at the St. Lawrence River by U 132 sunk
Heimburg (2)	Bremer Vulkan BauNr. 479	4196 6720	12/28/1904 02/28/1905	1914 in São Vicente (Cape Verde) , confiscated by Portugal in 1916: Santo Antao , 1926: S. Thomé , demolished in 1932;
Ebernburg	Flensburg building no. 245	4175 6100	01/28/1905 03/25/1905	1914 from Brazil supplier of SMS Karlsruhe , back to Brazil, confiscated there in 1917: Acary , 2nd November 1917 sunk in the Atlantic by U 151 ;
Arensburg (2)	Swan Hunter construction no. 736	4157 6550	05/26/1905 09/18/1905	1914 in Hamburg, ore and coal trade in the North and Baltic Seas, delivered in 1919, Ellerman Lines in 1921 : Branksome Hall , demolished in 1933
Wartburg (3)	Bremer Vulcan construction no. 486	4295 6550	14.10.1905 17.11.1905	Blocked in Antwerp, deployed in 1919 under the Dutch flag to transport Russian prisoners of war back, 1921 as Berkut to Ornis Steamship Co. , 1926 to France: Cavally , 1932 demolition.
Harzburg (2)	Flensburg building no. 272	4677 6768	June 3, 1907 July 10, 1907	1914 in Montevideo , 1917 confiscated from Uruguay: Salto , 1926 to Greece: Kassos , 1933 demolition.
Loewenburg (3)	Swan Hunter construction no. 778	4637 7200	06/11/1907 27.097.1907	1914 in Rosario / Argentina, delivered in 1921, to Alexander Shipping Co .: Tenbury , 1933 to Finland: Aura , 1950 Caledonia , 1953 demolition;
Minneburg (2)	Tecklenborg building no. 230	4798 7280	April 7, 1909 May 27, 1909	in Cabedello / Brazil, confiscated there in 1917: Caxambú , demolished in 1951.

Operation under the Belgian flag

The Marksburg was awarded to Belgium in 1920 and sold in autumn 1921 with five other ex-Hansa ships to the Belgian shipping company Armement Deppe, which gave it the name Hainaut . Before that, a cargo ship built in Germany as Thebes had carried this name , which was sunk by U 52 on March 12, 1917 . The second largest Belgian shipping company operated a number of sub-companies for certain trades and continued to use the Hainaut for the "Royale Belgo Argentine" to Argentina. The ship remained a single ship in Belgian service, as the sister ship Wartburg , which was confiscated in Antwerp in 1918 , was delivered to Great Britain in 1920 and was then purchased by a British shipping company.

When Belgium became party to the war in May 1940 due to the German invasion of the country, the Hainaut was in Jacksonville and then ran via Wilmington to Montevideo and Buenos Aires in mid-May. From July a trip to Necochea and back to Montevideo followed. Then the ship ran via Freetown and then in the convoy SL.46S to Cardiff and once to Canada and back by the end of the year.
In 1941 there were several coastal trips in the area of ​​the British Isles, as well as one trip each from the United Kingdom (UK) to Freetown, Tampa and Galveston , some of which were handled as individual drivers. The return journeys on the two voyages to the American Gulf ports were made via Canada in convoy trains. The first return attempt on the last voyage was canceled and then carried out with the convoy SC.64 from Sydney CB to Liverpool in January 1942. Another successful round trip across the Atlantic followed in February March 1942. After cruising the coastal waters of the British Isles, the Hainaut began her last transatlantic voyage on June 1, 1942.

The Hainaut was found on July 5, 1942 on her return journey from Montreal (Canada) to Great Britain in the St. Lawrence River near Cape Chat (La Haute-Gaspésie) at the position ♁49 ° 30 ′ 0 ″ N, 66 ° 30 ′ 0 ″ W torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U 132 .

Ex Hansa ships in the service of Armement Deppe

Surname	Shipyard	GRT tdw	Launched in service	further fate
Egypt 1907 to 1909	Dixon construction no. 418	2489 3700	1896 02/18/1896	ex Wolfsburg , La Plata-Dienst, October 5, 1907 to Armement Adolf Deppe: Egypte Levantedienst, sunk on February 20, 1909 on a trip with general cargo from Antwerp to Burgas and Varna off Patras after a collision with the Greek steamer Andreas ;
Algeria 1908 to 1925	Dixon construction no. 419	2489 3700	04/24/1896 07/28/1896	ex Minneburg , La Plata-Dienst, July 28, 1908 to Armement Adolf Deppe: Algeria Levantedienst, 1925 sale to Italy, 1932 resale to Yugoslavia, 1952 demolition;
Tunisia 1909 to 1927	Wigham Richardson building no. 314	2477 3700	12.1895 May 8, 1896	ex Sonnenburg , La Plata-Dienst, May 8, 1909 to Armement Adolf Deppe: Tunesie Levantedienst, 1927 sold to Italy, 1934 demolished;
from 1921
Luxembourg until 06.1940	AG Weser Building No. 203	5848 8860	11/14/1914 02/25/1915	ex Sonnenfels , launched during the war, delivered in March 1919, 1920, Belgium, Nov. 1921. Armement Deppe (Cie Nationale Belge de Transport Maritime.): Luxembourg , on 21 June 1940 a trip from Bordeaux to Falmouth west St. Nazaire on at position 47 ° 25 'N / 04 ° 55' W by U 38 torpedoed and sunk;
Flandres until 02.1940	AG Weser Building No. 201	5852 8900	10.02.1914 03.24.1914	ex Greiffenfels , launched during the war, delivered in April 1919, November 1920 to Belgium, November 1921 to Armement Deppe (Royale Belgo Argentine): Flandres , on February 12, 1940 on the way to the Rio de la Plata after a collision with the Belgian steamer Kabalo (1917, 5186 GRT) sunk at Goodwin Sands ;
Bruges until 07.1940	Tecklenborg building no. 198	4996 7580	15.08.1904 01.10.1904	ex Kybfels , delivered coal and ore in the North Sea and Baltic Sea during the World War, March 1919, 1920 to Belgium, November 1921 to Armement Deppe: Bruges , on July 9, 1940 on a journey with a load of wheat from Montevideo via Freetown to Hull on the Position 10 ° 59 'N / 23 ° 54' W about 80 nautical miles southwest of Bissau sunk by the German auxiliary cruiser Thor ;
Antverpia until 05.1940	Swan Hunter construction no. 796	4933 7605	09/11/1908 10/28/1908	ex Fangturm , launched in Palma during the war , delivered to France in June 1919, in 1921 to Belgium, November 1921 to Armement Deppe (Cie. Sud Atlantique, 1936 Royale Belgo Argentine): Antverpia , on May 21, 1940 on a trip from New Orleans attacked by German aircraft on Boulogne- Reede in Antwerp and set on the beach burning after being hit by bombs and burned out;
Ostend until 01.1943	Wigham Richardson building no. 405	4676 6650	07.1903 16.09.1903	ex Ehrenfels , delivered coal and ore to the North Sea and Baltic Sea during the World War, April 1919, 1920 to Belgium, November 1921 to Armement Deppe: Ostend , on January 21, 1943 on a trip with war material and ammunition from New York to Great Britain for a Mine hit in Loch Na Lathaich on the Isle of Mull damaged and beached on fire, totally destroyed by subsequent ammunition explosion;
Hainaut until 07.1942	Blohm & Voss building no. 176	4281 6375	3.01.1905 18.02.1905	ex Marksburg , during the World War coal and ore trade in the North and Baltic Seas, delivered in 1919, to Belgium in 1920, to Armement Deppe (Royale Belgo Argentine) in November 1921: Hainault , sunk on July 5, 1942 in the St. Lawrence River by U 132 ;

Individual evidence

1. ^ Rohwer: Chronicle of the Maritime War, July 3–20, 1942, West Atlantic
2. ↑ Sinking the Acary
3. ^ Downfall of the predecessor Hainaut ex Theben / DDG Kosmos
4. ↑ sinking of the Hainaut
5. ↑ Rohwer: naval warfare , 9.6.- 02.07.1940 North Atlantic / Biscay
6. ^ Rohwer: Sea War , July 1–17, 1940, South Atlantic
7. ↑ Rohwer, losses 5/20/40

Web links

• The Marksburg on ddghansa
• Sinking of the Hainaut
• Rides of the Hainaut

literature

• Hans Georg Prager: DDG Hansa - from liner service to special shipping , Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft, Herford 1976, ISBN = 3-7822-0105-1
• Hans Georg Prager: Blohm + Voss - Ships and Machines for the World , Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft, Herford 1977, ISBN = 3-7822-0127-2
• Jürgen Rohwer , Gerhard Hümmelchen : Chronicle of the Naval War 1939-1945 , Manfred Pawlak VerlagsGmbH (Herrsching 1968), ISBN 3-88199-0097
• Reinhardt Schmelzkopf: German merchant shipping 1919–1939 . Verlag Gerhard Stalling, Oldenburg, ISBN 3 7979 1847 X .
• Reinhold Thiel: The history of the DDG Hansa. Volume 1: 1881-1918. HM Hauschild, Bremen, 2010, ISBN 3-8975-7477-2