Rotterdam (ship, 1897)
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The Rotterdam (III) was a passenger ship put into service in 1897 by the Dutch shipping company Holland-America Line , which was used as a transatlantic liner on the North Atlantic and carried passengers , freight and mail from Rotterdam to New York . The ship was sold twice: in 1906 to the Danish shipping company DFDS (new name CF Tietgen ) and in 1913 to the Russian American Line (new name Dwinsk ). Under the British flag since 1917, the steamer was sunk by a German submarine north of Bermuda on June 18, 1918 . 23 people died.
The ship
The 8,173-ton steamer was on 15 December 1896, the shipyard Harland & Wolff in the Northern Ireland Belfast for the Holland-America Line on Kiel placed and ran on 18 February 1897 by the stack. She was the third ship of the shipping company with this name. The Rotterdam was a 143.3 meters long and 16.2 meters wide, steel- built passenger and mail ship with a chimney, two masts and two propellers .
She was powered by two six-cylinder triple expansion steam engines from Harland & Wolff, which developed 5250 PSi and allowed a speed of 14 knots. The coal was burned in three double-ended and two single-ended steam boilers with a total of 24 furnaces. The passenger accommodations were designed for 200 travelers in first, 150 in second and 2000 in third class. The ship had a total of three decks , eight watertight bulkheads , electric lights and a double bottom .
The Rotterdam was completed on July 29, 1897 and on August 18, she sailed from Rotterdam on her maiden voyage via Boulogne-sur-Mer to New York . She stayed on this route throughout her time with the Holland-America Line. Her last voyage under the Dutch flag began on February 18, 1906.
DFDS and Russian American Line
On April 5, 1906, the Rotterdam was bought by the Danish shipping company Det Forenede Dampskibs-Selskab (DFDS) based in Copenhagen and renamed CF Tietgen (after one of the co-founders of the shipping company, Carl Frederik Tietgen ). AG Thomsen, who had been with DFDS since 1898, was appointed the new captain of the ship. On April 26, 1906, the CF Tietgen left Copenhagen for her first Atlantic crossing via Kristiania and Kristiansand to New York. On June 28, 1906, she collided with the schooner E. G. Hay , which sank. There were no fatalities.
On July 7, 1910, the CF Tietgen set out on her first cruise , which took her from Copenhagen up the Norwegian coast to the North Cape . Stopovers were Bergen and Trondheim . In July 1913, the ship was chartered to the film production company Nordisk Film A / S to serve as the backdrop in August Blom's Gerhart-Hauptmann film adaptation of Atlantis , which is about a ship disaster on the Atlantic. On November 6, 1913, the CF Tietgen cast off for her last crossing for the DFDS. During her time with the Danish shipping company, the ship had crossed the Atlantic 110 times .
The ship was then sold to the Russian American Line , renamed Dvinsk and used from February 10, 1914 on the route from Libau via Arkhangelsk to New York. From September 20, 1914, the Dvinsk operated the route from Arkhangelsk via Hammerfest to New York.
First World War and sinking
In 1917, the Dvinsk came under the management of the Cunard Line and continued to operate under the British flag. On June 18, 1918, she was under the command of Captain Henry Nelson on a crossing from Brest (France) to Newport News in the US state of Virginia . The ship was traveling at a speed of 13 knots, not zigzagging, and about 400 nautical miles from Bermuda . Around 09.20 in the morning, a torpedo was sighted on port from a short distance , whereupon the ship turned. The torpedo nevertheless struck hold no. 4 and tore a large hole in the ship's side.
It was a torpedo from the German U 151 submarine , which was under the command of Corvette Captain Heinrich von Nostitz and Jänckendorf on patrol . Captain Nelson had the ship evacuated. All people on board were disembarked in seven lifeboats . U 151 then appeared and opened fire on the steamer. One of the volleys hit the magazine, which then exploded. The Dvinsk sank at about 11.15 a.m. at position 39.10N, 63.10W.
The submarine crew questioned the occupants of one of the boats, but no prisoners were taken. Second Officer Joseph William Coppin's boat with 22 people in it disappeared without a trace and was never found. In addition, a man fell from the chief officer's boat and drowned. The remaining six boats were gradually picked up by various ships and brought ashore in New York, Bermuda, Newport News or Nova Scotia . Two boats were picked up by the troop carrier USS Siboney on June 21 . The occupants of the last boat was discovered by the USS Rondo on June 28, ten days after the sinking .
The USS Von Steuben (the former German ocean liner Kronprinz Wilhelm ) also took part in the recovery of the survivors. When the ship was torpedoed by U 151 , it dropped depth charges on the submarine and drove it away.
The Dvinsk was the largest ship sunk by U 151 .
Web links
- Summary in The Ships List (top)
- Entry in the wreck database (with picture)
- Entry as Dvinsk in the submarine database (with picture)
- Full technical and historical details in NorwayHeritage (with pictures)
- More pictures and key technical data