Roda (ship, 1928)
 The Roda
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The combined ship Roda of the Hamburg-American Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft (Hapag) started under her original name Los Angeles on May 5, 1928 on her maiden voyage to the North American Pacific coast. From 1935 the motor ship was primarily used in service to Chile and was renamed Roda . In 1940 the ship was used as part of the so-called "export relay" as part of the "Weser Exercise" company . The seven transporters deployed here were supposed to follow the first landing troops with heavy equipment and supplies as soon as possible.
On the day of the attack on Norway, the Roda was sunk off Stavanger on April 9, 1940 by the Norwegian destroyer Æger .
History of the ship
In order to expand its position in service on the Pacific coast of the USA, Hapag ordered two diesel-powered combi ships for up to 48 passengers in two classes, 9000 t load capacity and a service speed of 13 knots from the Deutsche Werft shipyard in Hamburg-Finkenwerder. When it was planned, Helgoland and Westerland were intended as names, but they actually came to water as San Francisco and Los Angeles . During construction, Hapag placed further orders for two somewhat larger ships with Deutsche Werft ( Seattle ) and the Bremer Vulkan ( Portland ). At the end of the series, Deutsche Werft delivered a fifth ship with the slightly smaller Oakland .
The Los Angeles hardly differed from her sister ship. It was 131.8 m long and 18.0 m wide. The ship was measured with 6780 GRT with a load capacity of 9000 tdw. The drive was via a diesel engine of 3750 PSe, which enabled her to operate at a speed of 13.5 knots .
Commitment to Hapag
The sister ship San Francisco opened the mixed passenger and cargo service on March 10, 1928 and the Los Angeles followed on May 5 on her maiden voyage to the North American Pacific coast. The first four ships were in service by July 1928. However, other ships also had to be called in to reinforce and secure the three-weekly departures. The motor ships Ramses (7983 GRT, 13 kn, up to 33 passengers, DDG Kosmos), Duisburg were then renamed Heidelberg (7389 GRT, 13.5 kn, up to 37 passengers, DADG), Münsterland (6408 GRT, 12 kn, to 18 Passengers, East Asian service Hapag) and the former Stinness ship Emil Kirdorf (5695 GRT, 12 kn, up to 74 passengers) on the route. The freighters Saxony and Hesse also returned to the US west coast route for two years.
There was no serious attack on Hapag's position in this trade area, especially since Hapag further strengthened its fleet in 1930 with the 8,300 GRT, 14.5 kn fast turbine ships Tacoma and Vancouver . But the political situation led to a decline in traffic with the USA and Canada. In addition, state regulation had made internal German competition impossible.
In order to upgrade the politically wanted and promising South American west coast service, Hapag deployed the Saarland and Vogtland in 1934 and then, from March 1935, the sister ships San Francisco and Los Angeles on this route. Like the cargo ships Spreewald and Odenwald with Anubis and Aswan , the two combination ships also received traditional DDG Kosmos names. The Los Angeles became the Roda .
The name of one of the Nile islands in Cairo was given as early as 1908 by a 7,266 GRT combined ship of the DDG Kosmos, delivered by the Reiherstieg shipyard, which was demolished in 1934 as the City of Valencia of the Ellerman Lines . The sister ship Heluan of the first Roda was bought back from 1923 to 1931 in the service of DDG Kosmos and Hapag. These two ships had the largest passenger facility of the pre-war ships with space for 113 passengers in three classes.
The second Roda ship left Antwerp for Chile on August 23, 1939 . When the first warnings were received about a possible outbreak of war, the ship changed course several times to finally run north around Great Britain to Norway, where it reached the Bay of Lista on September 4th . The ship then arrived in Hamburg on September 8th.
War effort
In March 1940, the Roda was used as a transporter for Operation Weser Exercise , the German occupation of Norway. She was assigned to the export squadron that was supposed to transport the heavy equipment of the first landing units. It was supposed to transport twelve 20 mm anti-aircraft guns for a motorized unit as well as the staff of an anti-aircraft regiment, along with other military goods, to Stavanger , which was essentially to be taken from the air.
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In the early morning of April 7th, the Roda was the last ship of the export squadron to leave Brunsbüttel in order to reach its destination on time. The Roda was attacked and damaged by the Norwegian destroyer Æger on the morning of April 9 near Stavanger . The captain tried to put his ship on the nearest cliff in order to enable the cargo to be salvaged after overcoming the Norwegian resistance. Initially, the Roda was partially aggravated and the crew was able to save themselves completely. In the afternoon, however, the ship slipped, capsized and sank in deep water.
In 1953 the ship was lifted by a Norwegian salvage company, but sank again when being towed to a safe berth. In the winter of 1955/1956 there was another rescue attempt with German participation. The ship was successfully lifted and towed into the dock at Stavanger. A repair did not seem worthwhile, so Roda was towed to Germany at the end of June 1956 and dismantled in Bremerhaven .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Kludas, Vol. IV, p. 193.
- ↑ a b c d e Kludas, Vol. IV, p. 192.
- ↑ Kludas, Vol. IV, p. 195.
- ↑ Kludas, Vol. V, p. 67.
- ↑ Kludas, Vol. V, p. 73.
- ^ Kludas: passenger shipping . Vol. III, p. 106 ff.
- ↑ " Sea War, April 3-14, 1940 Norway" , the Norwegian destroyer Aeger sunk by III./KG.4 aircraft afterwards.
Web links
- Use of the Levant
- TK Derry: THE CAMPAIGN IN NORWAY
- NAVAL EVENTS, APRIL1940 (Part 2 of 4)
- Equipment Transport Echelon ( Memento from November 10, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
literature
- Arnold Kludas : The History of the German Passenger Shipping Volume III Leap growth 1900 to 1914, Writings of the German Shipping Museum, Volume 20
- Arnold Kludas: The History of German Passenger Shipping Vol. IV Destruction and Rebirth 1914 to 1930 , Writings of the German Maritime Museum, Volume 21
- Arnold Kludas: The History of German Passenger Shipping Vol. V An era comes to an end from 1930 to 1990 , Writings of the German Shipping Museum, Volume 22
- Jürgen Rohwer , Gerhard Hümmelchen: Chronicle of the naval war 1939-1945 , Manfred Pawlak VerlagsGmbH (Herrsching 1968), ISBN 3-88199-0097
- Reinhardt Schmelzkopf: German merchant shipping 1919–1939 . Verlag Gerhard Stalling, Oldenburg, ISBN 3 7979 1847 X .
- Trygve Sandvik: Krigen i Norge 1940 - Operasjonene til lands i Nord-Norge 1940 , 2 volumes, Forsvarets Krigshistoriske Avdeling / Gyldendal Norsk Forlag, Oslo (1965).
- Erik Anker Steen: Norge sjøkrig 1940-1945 - Sjøforsvarets kamper og virke i Nord-Norge 1940 , Forsvarets Krigshistoriske Avdeling / Gyldendal Norsk Forlag, Oslo (1958).