Léopoldville (ship, 1929)

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Advertising poster for cruises on the SS Léopoldville 5

The Léopoldville ( Léopoldville 5 ) was a Belgian passenger steamer. The Léopoldville went down in history primarily when it was sunk by a German submarine near Cherbourg on Christmas Eve 1944, in which over 800 people were killed. Details about the incident were withheld for a long time, which is why the exact circumstances of the sinking were only known decades after the end of the Second World War .

details

The steamer was completed in August 1929 at the shipyard of John Cockerill S. A. in Hoboken , a district of Antwerp, for the Compagnie Belge Maritime du Congo . Antwerp was also the ship's home port. It was named after the name of the capital of the Belgian Congo at the time .

The ship was 149.92 meters long when it was commissioned, but was lengthened to 157.50 meters as part of a conversion and a hull extension in 1937. The width of the hull was 18.90 meters. The draft when fully loaded was about 10.70 meters. Originally the Léopoldville was measured with 11,172  GRT , after the conversion the gross tonnage increased to 11,509 GRT. A quadruple expansion machine with an output of 7,200  WPS (on two screws) gave the Léopoldville a top speed of around 16.5 knots (about 30.5 km / h).

Use as a passenger ship and as a troop transport

After commissioning, the ship was used for almost ten years as a passenger and cargo steamer on the route between Belgium and the Congo as well as along the West African coast. After the outbreak of World War II, the ship was taken over by the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT) in May 1940, after the occupation of Belgium by the Wehrmacht and after the steamer was able to escape to Great Britain, and converted into a troop transport in Liverpool . In the process, the furnishings in the tween decks were removed and makeshift stairs and open spaces were created. The holds were lined with wooden cladding and divided. The ship was also armed.

In this role, the Léopoldville was used from 1941 mainly for troop transfers in the Mediterranean area and between Gibraltar and Great Britain. The ship was also used when the Allies landed in North West Africa ( Operation Torch ) in late 1942. After the Allied invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944, the ship was used to transport soldiers from the British departure ports in the direction of Normandy. During its four-year service as a troop transport, the Léopoldville transported a total of 124,240 Allied soldiers, including around 53,000 men from Great Britain to France between June and November 1944. Up to its sinking in December 1944, the Léopoldville made 24 trips across the English Channel , with an average of about 2,200 soldiers were on board.

Equipment and armament as a troop transport

The Léopoldville had 14 large lifeboats with a capacity of around 800 people as well as four large rafts on board that could accommodate another 120 people. There were also 156 lifebuoys and 3,250 life jackets on the ship. Since the ship was constantly accompanied by security vehicles and sometimes other transporters during its transport missions - which could have picked up the people on board in the event of a sinking - these rescue capacities were considered to be sufficient.

The armament of the Léopoldville included a 10.2 cm Mk. VII gun on the stern and a 7.62 cm cannon on the forecastle. There was also an outdated 4.7 cm Mk. II gun for signaling purposes, ten 40 mm Bofors flak in twin mounts and two individual 12.7 mm machine guns on board. The crew consisted of 120 Belgians, 93 Congolese and 36 British who were responsible for operating the guns. The ship's commanding officer was Captain Charles Limbor.

Scuttled on December 24, 1944

As a result of the German Ardennes offensive in December 1944, additional Allied troops had to be quickly transferred to mainland Europe via the canal. As part of these reinforcement measures, the Léopoldville was also used for transport trips. The soldiers who boarded the ship on the morning of December 24, 1944, described the transporter as dirty, stuffy, and run down.

Convoy WEP-3

On the morning of December 24, 1944 at around 9 o'clock, the Léopoldville left the port of Southampton and set course for Cherbourg; it was the 25th time the ship had crossed the canal. The steamer was loaded with 2,235 American soldiers from the 262nd and 264th regiments of the 66th US Infantry Division - also known as the Black Panther Division - and drove in convoy with the British troop carrier HMT Chesire (which carried 2,365 soldiers). Both ships were escorted by the British destroyers HMS Brilliant and HMS Anthony as well as the British frigate HMS Hotham and the Free French frigate Croix de Lorraine . The six ships together formed the WEP-3 convoy. About nine hours were allotted for the crossing to France.

Shortly after leaving Southampton, the wind picked up and blew at a force of 6 to 7 on the Beaufort scale . The wave height was about four to five meters and many soldiers on board began to get seasick; in addition, the temperature fell to just above freezing point . In this situation, a submarine alarm went off at around 2:30 p.m. and the security ships dropped numerous depth charges. However, it is unclear whether a submarine was actually there or whether an incorrectly interpreted ASDIC contact was the cause of the incident. In general, very few German submarines were still active in the English Channel in the winter of 1944/45 .

Torpedo hit

At around 5:45 p.m., the WEP-3 convoy was only about eight nautical miles from the port of Cherbourg, the German submarine U 486 under the command of First Lieutenant Gerhard Meyer sighted the approaching ship formation. The snorkel - submarine had been lying for almost 30 hours before the harbor in wait, to wait for worthwhile goals. When Meyer recognized the two large transporters despite the approaching storm and the falling dusk, he immediately decided to attack and fired two torpedoes at the Léopoldville at around 5:53 p.m. The first torpedo passed just behind the stern of the ship - and was also noticed by the lookout - but the second torpedo hit at 5:54 p.m., before the crew could initiate an evasive maneuver.

The torpedo hit the Léopoldville on the starboard side near the aft hold no. 4. The consequences were devastating: Due to the force of the explosion, two of the temporary decks occupied by troops (sections F-4 and G-4) were completely destroyed and collapsed. In addition, the steel girders of the bulkheads buckled in this area and tore down the companionway with them. As a result, it was almost impossible to escape from these lower sections of the ship. It is estimated that around 300 US soldiers were killed as a result of this torpedo hit alone. Of the 159 soldiers who were housed in Section F-4, only six survived the sinking.

Downfall

After the torpedoing, the heavily damaged Léopoldville anchored about five and a half nautical miles off Cherbourg, whereupon part of the Belgian and Congolese crew left the ship due to an incorrectly transmitted order. It then took three quarters of an hour before starting to leave the ship. The US soldiers, who gradually streamed up from the holds, were initially not informed of the situation and found a ship largely abandoned by the crew. Since the transporter took water slowly despite the considerable damage, many soldiers believed that the Léopoldville would not sink. In addition, Captain Limbor did not inform the US officers about the necessary rescue measures and the true damage situation of the ship and that only a few crew members were present who could have instructed the Americans in the operation of the davits and lifeboats. For almost an hour, 1,900 soldiers initially stood idle, albeit very disciplined, on the upper deck, waiting for instructions that never came.

In this situation the ship might still have been rescued and put on the beach, but for reasons not known exactly, Captain Limbor had the engines - which had not been damaged by the torpedo hit - switched off and the anchor dropped, presumably to allow it to drift away in the storm prevent. This wasted the last chance to save the ship.

The crews of the other ships in the convoy also misjudged the situation. The troop transport HMT Chesire , which was only about 200 meters away during the torpedoing and which could have picked up the soldiers of the Léopoldville , ran after a short stop to Cherbourg, since the crew assumed that the escort would take over the rescue in the event of sinking ; In addition, the crew did not want to expose their ship to a torpedo attack themselves. Of the four security ships, the destroyer HMS Anthony and the two frigates first went on the hunt for the submarine (which later escaped unscathed) and so only the destroyer HMS Brilliant stayed with the Léopoldville, which was hit and slowly sinking over the stern . The commander of this destroyer, Captain John Pringle, realized that the ship was going to sink and went alongside the troop transport around 7 p.m. - despite the high waves and the storm. Within twenty minutes, around 700 soldiers climbed from the Léopoldville to the destroyer. Only now did panic break out among the soldiers on board the steamer and many jumped into the water or tried to fire off the remaining dinghies. In the storm and in the dark and without knowledge, however, this largely failed (only two boats with soldiers ultimately came safely to the water); several boats crashed and killed shipwrecked people swimming in the sea. Around 7:30 p.m., the HMS Brilliant had to cast off from the Léopoldville again because the increasing swell hit the two ships against each other and the destroyer damaged the hull. In the following 45 minutes the crew of the HMS Brilliant rescued another 300 men from the water.

At 20:20, about two and a half hours after the torpedo hit, there was a violent boiler explosion on board the Léopoldville (presumably because a transverse bulkhead could no longer withstand the water pressure and cold seawater had touched the still hot boiler), which accelerated the sinking rapidly . Within ten minutes, the large steamer sank over the stern, pulling many of the soldiers floating in the water with it. About 450 other soldiers drowned or went down with the transporter.

Meanwhile, many of Cherbourg rescue vehicles, including the US Navy were mountains tug USS ATR-3 (850  ts ), approached, but could only salvage a few survivors. In the storm and in the dark, the rescue took several hours, the last survivor was not found until around 11 p.m. After that only corpses were recovered. In the port, the tragedy, which took place only a few nautical miles away, was only learned when the first lifeboats of the Léopoldville (in which crew members sat) and the troop transport HMT Chesire arrived at the pier. For example, the port vehicles had lain at anchor for almost two hours, ignorant and inactive, while well over 2,000 people were fighting for their lives just a few kilometers from the port. When the ships finally swarmed out, the Léopoldville was almost sunk. A total of 1,665 people were rescued by 2,235 soldiers and 249 crew members (another source gives 802 soldiers and six crew members as the number of victims).

Soldiers were ordered not to tell anyone about the ship's sinking, and their letters home were censored by the army during the remainder of World War II. After the war the soldiers were instructed not to speak to the press about the sinking of the Léopoldville, even when they were released.

Victim

For a long time it was unclear about the exact number of dead in this sinking. In addition to Captain Charles Limbor, who went down with his ship and whose body was never found (he was also the only officer of the crew who was killed), at least one Belgian crew member (the ship's carpenter), three Congolese and twelve British soldiers from the gun crews came about life. The number of US soldiers killed was initially and is still partially given as 763. However, other publications assume up to 802 deaths among members of the 66th US Infantry Division. Thus a total of 819 people would have died when the Léopoldville was sunk . However, this number is not completely certain, as there are contradicting data, for example, about the number of British seafarers who died (some sources speak of ten dead, others of twelve). Details about the losses were partly published in 1995.

For the Black Panther Division , Christmas Eve 1944 was the day with the most losses during the entire Second World War. In January 2005 , a memorial was erected in Titusville , Florida, to commemorate the killed and missing members of the 66th US Infantry Division - the bodies of 493 American soldiers were never found .

Ira Rumburg

In the chaos of sinking, there were several cases on board the Léopoldville in which soldiers supported their comrades trapped or trapped in the lower part of the ship through prudent and self-sacrificing efforts. The soldiers on board the transport remembered Colonel Ira Rumburg among others . The officer, who is almost 1.90 meters tall and weighs around 115 kilograms, let himself down on a tether through holes in the deck into the dark and destroyed cargo holds around ten times and each time pulled two of his comrades, who were no longer able to get to the upper deck because of the destroyed stairs managed to go up with it. When the ship sank quickly after the boiler explosion, Rumburg, who was currently in the hold, could no longer get on deck quickly enough and was pulled into the depths by the Léopoldville . Presumably he saved the lives of around 20 to 25 comrades with his tragic mission alone. Survivors of the disaster still remember Rumburg today.

Aftermath

The submarine U 486 , which had caused the momentous downfall, escaped about two hours lasting persecution by the destroyer HMS Anthony and the two frigates undamaged and torpedoed two days later off Cherbourg also the British frigate HMS Capel , with 76 Mann on board went down, and HMS Affleck , which was brought in badly damaged, but was later declared a total loss due to the damage and was decommissioned. The boat then circled Scotland and returned to its base in Norway in mid-January 1945.

Oberleutnant zur See Gerhard Meyer and the entire crew of U 486 (47 men) died on April 12, 1945 when their submarine was north-west of Bergen , in the immediate vicinity of the coast, from the British submarine HMS Tapir under the command of Lieutenant John CY Roxburgh was sighted and sunk with two torpedo hits.

Whereabouts of the wreck

The remains of the Léopoldville are now about five nautical miles from the port of Cherbourg at an average depth of about 50 meters. The wreck is at 49 ° 44 ′ 40 ″  N , 1 ° 36 ′ 40 ″  W, coordinates: 49 ° 44 ′ 40 ″  N , 1 ° 36 ′ 40 ″  W and is relatively well preserved and lies on the port side. However, an approximately 20-meter-long section of the stern has broken off - presumably a result of the torpedo hit or the impact on the seabed (the ship's stern touched the bottom first) - and lies on a level keel behind the main hull. The ship is declared a war grave in terms of the Protection of Military Remains Act and may not be dived. Presumably, the remains of 200 to 300 soldiers and sailors are still inside the wreck.

literature

  • Clive Cussler, Craig Dirgo: Hunting on the Sea Floor. Adventurous dives to famous shipwrecks. Munich 1998, pp. 403-428.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Clive Cussler, Craig Dirgo: Hunt on the sea floor. Adventurous dives to famous shipwrecks . P. 405f.
  2. ↑ Clive Cussler, Craig Dirgo: Hunt on the sea floor. Adventurous dives to famous shipwrecks . P. 409.
  3. ↑ Clive Cussler, Craig Dirgo: Hunt on the sea floor. Adventurous dives to famous shipwrecks . P. 414.
  4. ↑ a b c Hocking, Charles: Dictionary of Disasters at Sea During the Age of Steam: Including Sailing Ships and Ships of War Lost in Action, 1824-1962 . Lloyd's Register of Shipping, London 1990, ISBN 0-948130-68-7 , pp. 421 .
  5. ↑ a b Clive Cussler, Craig Dirgo: Hunt on the sea floor. Adventurous dives to famous shipwrecks . P. 415.
  6. ↑ uboat.net
  7. ↑ Clive Cussler, Craig Dirgo: Hunt on the sea floor. Adventurous dives to famous shipwrecks . P. 427.
  8. ↑ nbbd.com
  9. ↑ Clive Cussler, Craig Dirgo: Hunt on the sea floor. Adventurous dives to famous shipwrecks . P. 422f.
  10. ↑ uboat.net
  11. ^ Paul Kemp: The German and Austrian submarine losses in both world wars . Munich 1998. p. 261.
  12. ↑ wrecksite.eu
  13. ↑ The Sinking of SS Leopoldville (uboat.net)