Justicia (ship, 1914)
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The Justicia was a steamship launched in 1914 under the name Statendam (II) , which was planned as an ocean liner for the Holland-America Line . Since the Royal Navy urgently needed ships for war operations, the Justicia was taken over by the British government immediately after its completion in 1917 and used as a troop transport . On July 20, 1918, after being shot at by two German submarines, the ship sank around 28 miles northwest of Malin Head , where it has since rested on its port side at a depth of 64 meters. With a volume of 32,234 gross register tons, the Justicia was the second largest ship sunk by German submarines in World War I after the hospital ship Britannic (48,158 GRT) .
History of origin
The Justicia was planned as a passenger ship for the transatlantic service to New York City of the Dutch Holland America Line (HAL) and was laid down in 1912 at the Belfast shipyard Harland & Wolff . The 225.7 meter long and 26.33 meter wide ship was launched on July 9, 1914 and was christened Statendam (II). With a tonnage of 32,234 GRT, the Statendam would be the largest passenger ship under the Dutch flag and after the RMS Olympic (45,234 GRT) of the White Star Line , the Paris (34,569 GRT) of the French CGT and the RMS Mauretania (31,938 GRT) and RMS Lusitania ( 31,550 GRT) of the Cunard Line was one of the largest passenger ships in the world. She should be the new flagship of the shipping company and also a symbol that the Netherlands could keep up with Great Britain and Germany in the race for ever larger and ever more luxurious ships.
Since the managing director of Holland America Line, Johan Reuchlin , wanted to be inspired by the Olympic class of the White Star Line for the equipment of the Statendam , he took part in the maiden voyage of the Titanic in April 1912 as first class passenger . The Holland-America Line was part of JP Morgan's International Mercantile Marine Company (IMMC), so Reuchlin was a guest of honor on the Titanic and did not have to pay for his ticket. He was killed when the ship went down.
On board the ship there should be space for a total of 3230 passengers, 600 of them in first class, 600 in second class and 2030 in third class. The crew should consist of 706 people. A 20 meter high hall and a palm garden were provided for the comfort of the passengers. In hull three were steam engines ( triple-expansion machine ) and a low pressure steam turbine is installed, which acted on two outer propeller and an inner propeller and were designed for a travel speed of 18 knots. The coal was burned in a total of twelve steam boilers .
Immediately after the launch, the ship's equipment began. Due to the outbreak of war, the Holland-America Line stopped work for the time being in September 1914. In 1915 the Statendam was acquired by the British government, which, due to its size, wanted to use it as a troop transport. The war-related shortage of labor and material slowed down the completion of the ship considerably. The ship was not handed over until April 7, 1917.
Originally it was planned to assign the steamer to the Cunard Line, which needed a replacement for their recently sunk RMS Lusitania . According to the tradition of the Cunard Line, the Statendam was given a new name with the ending -ia - Justicia ( Latin for justice). The Cunard Line did not get a team for the Justicia in the rush . Since the government had the ship up and running as quickly as possible and did not want to wait until Cunard had solved the problem, it was handed over to the White Star Line, which was able to man it with the crew of the recently sunk HMHS Britannic .
War effort and sinking
With a transport capacity of 4,000 soldiers, the Justicia exercised its new purpose from 1917 as a troop ship for the British Admiralty to Australia and New Zealand and later for the United States Army from Liverpool to New York . After an unsuccessful submarine attack on January 23, 1918 in the Irish Sea , the hull of the Justicia , which had been gray until then, was given a camouflage paint job.
On July 18, 1918 at 5:15 p.m., the Justicia cast off without troops on board under the command of Captain Hugh F. David in Liverpool for another voyage to New York. She drove in convoy OLX 39, which in addition to her also included the ships Melita , Teiresias , Mentor , Nestor , the Metagama of the Canadian Pacific Line and the Lapland of the Red Star Line . The zigzag convoy was accompanied by eight British destroyers .
When the Justicia was on July 19, 1918 23 nautical miles south of the Barra Head lighthouse on the headland of the Hebridean island of Lewis and Harris , she was under the German submarine UB 64 at 14:30 in clear weather Command of Oberleutnant zur See Otto von Schrader torpedoed. It was on the port side at the level of the engine room met and got list . Closing their watertight bulkheads prevented their demise. Captain David had the lifeboats made ready and supplied with provisions. UB 64 fired two more torpedoes around 16:30 , one of which failed. Since the Justicia was unable to maneuver and could not resume the voyage on its own, she was towed by the tug Sonia , who was heading for the Irish bay of Lough Swilly with her .
Around 8 p.m., UB 64 , which had remained nearby, attacked a third time with a torpedo. But this could be destroyed by the Justicia gun crew before the impact. The submarine was then of the destroyers Marne , Milbrook and Pigeon with water bombs attacked and slightly damaged, then it veered. Most of the Justicia's crew has now been disembarked; only a 16-strong crew remained on the ship.
On the following day, July 20, 1918, the Justicia was attacked at 4:30 a.m. by another German submarine, UB 124, under the command of Oberleutnant zur See Hans Oskar Wutsdorff. The torpedo shot failed, however, so that Wutsdorff fired again at 09:15 a.m. despite the numerous escort vehicles. This torpedo hit at the level of cargo holds 3 and 5. The remaining crew left the ship, which began to sink stern first. At 10:30 a.m., Captain David was the last to disembark. The Justicia capsized to port and left at 13:35 on the position of 55 ° 38 ' N , 7 ° 39' W below. Ten crew members were killed. UB 124 was discovered while running and attacked with depth charges by the destroyers Marne , Milbrook and Pigeon . After it surfaced, it was sunk by artillery fire, killing two of the 34 German sailors.
Due to a misunderstanding, the admiral's staff of the Imperial Navy reported in a war dispatch on August 7, 1918 that the U-boat U 54 had sunk the Justicia under the command of Lieutenant Hellmuth von Ruckteschell . Since the 32 surviving team members of UB 124 were only released from British captivity in 1919, the actual process could only be reconstructed after the end of the war.
The wreck the Justicia located 28 miles north west of Malin Head at a depth of 68 meters. It is on its port side and the decks have partially collapsed.