Moldavia (ship, 1903)
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The Moldavia (I) was put into service in 1903 by the British shipping company Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company (P&O), which was used in passenger and mail traffic between Great Britain and Australia . The ship was taken over by the British Admiralty in 1915 and used as an auxiliary cruiser . On May 23, 1918, the Moldavia was sunk in the English Channel by a German submarine, killing 56 American soldiers. This event marks the largest loss of American troops on a boat sinking in the First World War .
The ship
The 9,505 GRT, steel-built steamship Moldavia was the first of P & O's passenger and mail ships of the M-class. By 1911, nine more ships of this class were put into service. The Moldavia was 158.49 meters long, 17.77 meters wide and had a maximum draft of 7.55 meters. The ship was propelled by two three-cylinder triple expansion steam engines, which acted on two propellers and had also been manufactured by Caird & Co. The coal was shoveled into three double-ended and four single- ended kettles . The machines made 12,000 PSi. The maximum speed was 16.5 knots. The Moldavia was built for the Australian route and could carry 348 passengers in First Class and 166 in Saloon Class. In addition, 90,000 cubic feet of cargo could be stowed in the six cargo holds, which could be loaded and unloaded with ten electrically operated cranes .
The sister ships of the Moldavia were the Mongolia (1903), the Marmora (1903), the Macedonia (1904), the Mooltan (1905), the Morea (1908), the Malwa (1909), the Mantua (1909), the Maloja ( 1911) and the Medina (1911). Of these ten ships, six were sunk by German torpedoes or sea mines during the First World War , killing a total of 250 people. The last one to be scrapped was the Mantua in Shanghai in 1935 .
Passenger ship at P&O
The Moldavia was launched on March 28, 1903 at 11 a.m. at the Caird & Company shipyard in the Scottish city of Greenock . The daughter of Sir Thomas Sutherland (1834–1922), the then director of P&O, took over the christening of the ship. During the completion work on April 20, 1903, a fire broke out in a fuel tank. Although it could be extinguished, it caused damage to the bulkheads . On June 30, the ship was completed and then went through its test drives. On July 30, 1903, the Moldavia was handed over to its owners. On August 21, the Moldavia set off from Gravesend for a three-day tour. Those in attendance included Sir Thomas Sutherland and selected guests of honor, including the Director of the Bank of England .
On September 11, 1903, the new ship was opened to the public for inspection and on September 25, 1903, it set sail for its maiden voyage to Bombay . In December of the same year, the first crossing to Australia followed via Marseille and Colombo . On January 19, 1907, the Moldavia ran aground at the Goodwin Sands in the Dover Strait . Tugs came from Dover to the scene of the accident, but the Moldavia was released unaided during the next flood and was able to continue its journey.
Auxiliary cruiser in the First World War
1915 was Mongolia by the British government requested for the war effort and the Royal Albert Dock in London into an armed merchant cruiser converted (Armed Merchant Cruiser). On February 1, 1916, she joined the Royal Navy as HMS Moldavia . She was assigned to the 10th Cruiser Squadron (10th Cruiser Squadron) of the Royal Navy, whose job it was to form a blockade in the waters between Iceland and the north of Scotland . The ships of the squadron were to intercept merchant ships, leave an armed guard on board and ensure that the ships headed for an Allied port where the cargo could be inspected. The base of the 10th Cruiser Squadron was in the village of Busta Voe on the Shetland Islands .
During her time as an auxiliary cruiser, the Moldavia stopped several ships and escorted them to the next port for inspection. In November 1916, the ship was called in to sink the abandoned steamer Patio . In the same month it was bought by the government, but immediately returned to P&O after the purchase was challenged. On February 9, 1917, she stopped the Italian merchant steamer Famiglia , which had already been captured by a German submarine crew and was on its way to Germany . When the Famiglia stopped, the Moldavia was under fire from the Germans.
From July 30, 1917, the HMS Moldavia served as an escort for ship convoys between West Africa and Plymouth . In November 1917 she had 609 boxes of gold bars on board on a crossing from Freetown to Plymouth . In March 1918, the ship was sent to Halifax (Canada) to pick up American troops and bring them to Europe.
Sinking
On Saturday, May 11, 1918, the Moldavia ran under the command of Captain Adrian Holt Smyth (1878-1951) in Halifax as part of convoy HC-1 for the return journey to London. Smyth had previously been in command of the Teutonic , which was also used as an auxiliary cruiser, from September 1915 to January 1916 . In addition to the crew and cargo, 477 men of the 28th United States Army regiment were on board. On May 23, the ship was hit on the port side at Beachy Head on the south coast of England by a torpedo from UB 57 , a German submarine under the command of Oberleutnant zur See Johannes Lohs . A severe explosion shook the steamer and severely damaged it.
The ship initially developed a list of 25 degrees to port before it straightened up again and then finally leaned to starboard. The Moldavia continued to steam for about 15 minutes before it began to sink. Captain Smythe ordered the abandonment of the ship and ordered crew and soldiers to go to the lifeboats . Twenty minutes later the Moldavia went under. There were no fatalities among the crew, but the torpedo detonation had killed 56 American soldiers below deck. This represented the largest loss of American armed forces in a ship sinking in World War I. The Moldavia was also the largest ship sunk by UB 57 with a ship measurement of 9,505 GRT . The submarine itself ran into a mine on the coast of Flanders less than three months later and sank with the entire 34-man crew.
wreck
The wreck of the Moldavia lies 25 miles off Littlehampton on the West Sussex coast at position 50 ° 23 ′ N , 0 ° 29 ′ W at a depth of 48 meters its port side. It is now a popular diving destination, with diving excursions only recommended to professionals and only in good weather and calm seas.
The highest point of the wreck is 30 meters below the water surface. Two of her eight 6-inch cannons are still visible in their stances. Most of the upper decks have collapsed, but the lower, more stable decks are still intact. In contrast to other wrecks, much of the processed wood has been preserved. Many items such as portholes and brassware have already been recovered.