Marienfels (ship, 1901)
 The sister ship Lichtenfels in Boston in 1905
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The Marienfels was launched on July 3, 1901 for the Deutsche Dampfschiffahrts-Gesellschaft “Hansa” (DDG “Hansa”) at the Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft (FSG) and on August 21, 1901 came into service with the Bremen freight shipping company. She was one of a series of seven ships for the East India Service of the shipping company, which were built from 1901 to 1903 at Wigham & Richardson in Newcastle and the FSG. She was the largest ship delivered by the shipyard to the DDG "Hansa" until then and the second for the main line of the shipping company after the Bärenfels of 1898. However, since 1888 the shipyard had already delivered five smaller ships for the La Plata service.
When the First World War broke out, the ship was together with the sister ship Lichtenfels in the Portuguese Mormugoa in the Indian Ocean.
In 1916 the Portuguese confiscated the German ships and put them under their flag on the Entente side . The service of the Marienfels , renamed Diu , ended on October 14, 1917, when it was sunk by the German submarine U 57 in the St. Georgs Canal .
History of the ship
At the end of 1896, the DDG “Hansa” received the Neidenfels for the first time, a ship of over 5000 GRT. The shipyard Wigham & Richardson delivered three sister ships and the FSG with the Bärenfels a replica until 1898. The following series of seven ships with the Marienfels for the East India Service of the shipping company, which were delivered from 1901 to 1903 by Wigham & Richardson and the FSG was largely identical. Ships of this size formed the core of the shipping company's fleet until 1914, which, with the Rheinfels , Ockenfels and Rappenfels class, received a further 23 cargo ships of a similar design until the war, four of which were also at Wigham & Richardson and of the FSG.
The Marienfels was named after a place in the Taunus. She was 127.9 m long, 16.9 m wide and had a draft of up to 6.2 m. The 4-cylinder quadruple expansion engine developed 2600 PSi, acted on a screw and gave the ship a speed of 11 knots (kn). The Marienfels was measured with 5683 GRT and had a carrying capacity of 8320 dwt.
Mission history of the Marienfels
The Marienfels was used on the main line of the DDG "Hansa" to East India. On March 9, 1903, she ran aground on the Deadalus Reef near Hurghada in the Red Sea . With the help of the "Hansa" ship Schwarzenfels (1901, 3920 GRT / 6000 tdw) she was taken away and towed to Suez .
After the outbreak of war in 1914, the Marienfels remained in the neutral Mormugoa in Portuguese India, where the sister ship Lichtenfels had also found refuge. In addition to the two “Hansa” cargo ships, the Kommodore (1904, 6064 BRT) of the DOAL , the Brisbane (1911, 5668 BRT) of the DADG and the Numantia (1901, 5503 BRT) of the Hapag also found refuge there. In addition there was the freighter Vorwaerts (1906, 5990 GRT) of the Austrian Lloyd .
A total of 72 German and two Austro-Hungarian ships had sought protection in Portuguese ports. There were 35 ships in Lisbon alone. Portugal was neutral, but it was also allied with Great Britain since 1912. The British pushed for the ships to be confiscated because they lacked space. At the end of February 1916, the Portuguese government decided to confiscate the German ships. This was followed by the German declaration of war on Portugal on March 9, 1916.
The crews of the ships lying in India had previously been able to leave their ships during the day and only had to return at night. On orders from Lisbon, colonial troops occupied the ships and brought the crews ashore. In June, the Austrian freighter was also confiscated and three prison camps set up on land. 177 men of the six ships were interned, whereby the nations were separated and an extra camp was set up for the 67 citizens of Austria-Hungary. The bulk of the prisoners remained in internment until well after the end of the war, as their home states could not raise the money for the repatriation, and did not return to Europe until 1919 and 1920. As a result of the measures taken by the Portuguese government, the shipping company also lost the motor ship Rolandseck and the steamer Lahneck in Lisbon and the Heimburg in São Vicente (Cape Verde) .
Service under the Portuguese flag
The seized Marienfels as Diu came into the service of the newly founded state shipping company "Transportes Maritimos Do Estado" like the other ships seized in Mormugoa Lichtenfels as Goa , Commodore as Mormugão , Brisbane as Damão , Numantia as Pangim and the Austrian Vorwärts as India . They were deployed in the North Atlantic in support of the Entente's war effort.
The Diu was, however, already on October 14, 1917 on a ballast voyage from Limerick , Ireland, to Port Talbot , Wales, four miles south of Tuskar Rock, Ireland, by the German submarine U 57 at position 52 ° 9 ′ N , 6 ° 12 ′ W. Countersunk. She was one of 95 ships sunk by German submarines, of which only 24 were steamships over 1000 GRT, the majority of which were confiscated as German merchant ships in Portugal in 1916.
Argenfels- class East India cargo ships
| Surname | Shipyard | GRT tdw |
Launched in service |
further fate |
| Argenfels | Wigham & Richardson construction no. 373 |
5654 8000 |
January 7, 1901 February 12, 1901 |
Confiscated in Saigon in 1914 , not renamed, to Greece in 1921, 1922: Demetrios Diacakis , Dimitrios M. Diacakis , broken up in 1932 |
| Wildenfels | Wigham & Richardson construction no. 374 |
5652 8570 |
5.03.1901 04.11.1901 |
Seized in Melbourne in 1914 , 1923: Gilgai , 1925 Italy: Sursum Corda , 1937: Manon , 13 February 1941 captured by the Royal Navy on the way from Kismayu to Madagascar , 7 October 1942 in the Indian Ocean under the British flag by the Japanese U. -Boat I 162 sunk |
| Neuenfels | Wigham & Richardson construction no. 375 |
5650 8470 |
19.04.1901 05.22.1901 |
Laid up in Vigo in 1914 , Spain in 1918: Espana No.6 , 1922 Dédalo aircraft mother ship , out of service in 1935, sunk in 1936, demolished in 1940 |
| Scharzfels | Wigham & Richardson construction no. 376 |
5649 8550 |
5.06.1901 25.07.1901 |
1914 in Adelaide seized: Araluen , 1924 Japan: Daikoku Maru , Ohkuni Maru , 31 August 1944 by US submarine Barb sunk |
| Marienfels | Flensburg building no. 206 |
5683 8320 |
3.07.1901 21.08.1901 |
Laid up in Mormugoa in 1914, Portugal 1916: Diu , October 14, 1917 sunk by U 57 |
| Schönfels | Flensburg building no. 209 |
5734 8340 |
12/10/1901 02/19/1902 |
Launched in Sabang in 1914 , delivered to Great Britain in 1919, 1920: Lord Londonderry , demolished in 1935 |
| Lichtenfels | Flensburg building no. 222 |
5734 8350 |
01/28/1903 03/14/1903 |
Laid up in Mormugoa in 1914, 1916 Portugal: Goa , 1924: Cubango , 1931 to combat the revolt on Madeira as a seaplane carrier with three CAMS 37 in service, 1950 demolition |
literature
- Hans Georg Prager: DDG Hansa - from liner service to special shipping , Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft, Herford 1976, ISBN = 3-7822-0105-1
Web links
- The Marienfels 1901–1917 on ddghansa
- Fall of the Diu in 1917
- Sinking of the Diu in 1917
- Report on the German prisoners of war in Portuguese India ( Portuguese )
- Place of sinking of the Diu