Python (ship, 1935)
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The Python was a reefer ship for the transport of bananas, which was converted by the German Navy into a submarine supplier during the Second World War , but was lost during its first mission in the South Atlantic .
At this time she had the crew of the previously sunk auxiliary cruiser Atlantis on board. The 414 men on both ships were brought to France by German and Italian submarines.
Banana truck
As early as 1912, the Hamburg shipping company F. Laeisz founded the African Fruit Compagnie as a subsidiary . Their first banana steamer Pionier and Pungo did not get going for society due to the war events , but the Pungo caused a sensation as an auxiliary cruiser Möve with two successful trips. From 1930 onwards, the banana journey became the main activity of the Laeisz shipping company, which until then had mainly gained fame as a sailing ship shipping company, but was involved in a large number of shipping companies in Hamburg.
The first German pure refrigerated ships (starting with the Panther and Puma ) for the banana voyage from Cameroon , but also from Jamaica and Colombia to Europe, were also given names that began with P according to shipping tradition. The first modern refrigerated ships with motor drive, Pioneer and Pelikan , built the Bremer Vulkan .
First Works of the shipping company for a refrigeration ship to the German shipyard in Hamburg was the Python that there with the hull number 170 on 23 November 1935 by stacking ran. She was 110.5 m long and 14.4 m wide and had a draft of 7.6 m . She was with 3664 BRT measured and had a capacity of 3626 dwt A 5-cylinder. MAN - marine diesel with 3050 hp allowed a service speed of 15 knots . The crew consisted of 36 men. The ship with the callsign DJQK could take up to 12 passengers.
The Python had a sister ship with the Palime , which was completed the following year and which was built on the branch at Reiherstieg .
The Python entered service on January 27, 1936 and was used on the Cameroon route. At the beginning of the war in 1939 she was on her way from Tiko (Cameroon) to Hamburg. She had left Las Palmas on August 29, 1939 and, driving to camouflage as Norwegian Jamaica , reached Hamburg via Måløy and Sweden on September 13.
War effort
On October 25, 1939, the Python was taken over by the Navy and initially used as a target ship for Luftwaffe exercises . From May 1941 she was converted into a submarine supplier ( Z-ship ) and put into service as such in November.
On November 6th, she left western France, accompanied by U 124 and U 129 , to supply submarines in the Central and South Atlantic . On November 20, she gave diesel fuel to her two companions in the Cape Verde Islands . Called in by U 126 , the Python took over four days later from U 126 or from the lifeboats towed by the submarine 305 castaways of the auxiliary cruiser Atlantis , which sank on November 22nd before the approaching British heavy cruiser Devonshire .
Sinking
For the period from November 30 to December 4, 780 nm south of St. Helena , several submarines ( U 68 , U A , U 124 and U 129 ) were to be supplied, which would then operate off Cape Town . U 68 and UA took over on November 30th / 1st December Provisions, torpedoes and oil. The German ships were surprised when the British heavy cruiser Dorsetshire was oiling the two submarines . The two submarines dived immediately and UA fired five torpedoes on the Dorsetshire , but they missed their target. After the cruiser fired a volley in front of the Python's bow , the crew went into the boats and sank their ship with explosive charges at 27 ° 53 ′ 0 ″ S , 3 ° 55 ′ 0 ″ W . The Dorsetshire left the area without taking in castaways because of the obvious submarine danger.
Rescue the crew
The crew of the Python and the survivors of the Atlantis , a total of 414 men, were partly picked up by U 68 and U A after the expiry of the Dorsetshire , partly dragged north in boats and on rafts. On December 3, U 129 joined them and took over the entire Python crew of 109 men. On December 5, U 124 came and also took over a number of the castaways. Between December 14 and 18, the Italian submarines Luigi Torelli , Enrico Tazzoli , Giuseppe Finzi and Pietro Calvi took over part of the Atlantis crew near the Cape Verde Islands and brought them to Saint-Nazaire . The castaways were distributed so that the diving ability of all boats was guaranteed.
Between December 23 and 29, 1941, all survivors of the Python and Atlantis were landed in Saint-Nazaire.
Notes and individual references
- ↑ website of the company. F.Laisz
- ↑ Rohwer, p. 170.
- ^ Rohwer, p. 190.
- ^ Rohwer, p. 196.
Web links
- http://www.wlb-stuttgart.de/seekrieg/km/versorgung/z-schiffe.htm
- http://www.wlb-stuttgart.de/seekrieg/41-12.htm
literature
- Dieter Jung, Martin Maass, Berndt Wenzel: Tankers and suppliers of the German fleet. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 1981, ISBN 3-87943-780-7 .
- Roger W. Jordan: The World's Merchant Fleets, 1939: The Particulars and Wartime Fates of 6,000 Ships. Naval Institute Press, 1999, ISBN 1-55750-959-X .
- John F. White: Underwater supplier for the wolf pack in the Atlantic. Koehler, Herford 2000, ISBN 3-7822-0790-4 .
- Arnold Kludas , Ralf Witthohn: The German reefer ships . Koehler, Herford 1981, ISBN 3-7822-0248-1 .