Schwabenstein class
 The Hessenstein
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The ship class known as the Schwabenstein class is a series of three combined ships of the North German Lloyd (NDL). They were used together with three identical HAPAG ships and followed up on the East Asia passenger service operated by the two shipping companies before the Second World War .
history
construction
After the extensive loosening of the shipbuilding restrictions of the Potsdam Agreement , North German Lloyd rebuilt its cargo ship fleet from 1950. Starting with the Rheinstein class , the NDL fleet grew again continuously. About three years later, Norddeutsche Lloyd ordered three fast combined cargo and passenger ships for service to the Far East. On January 24, 1954, the shipping company was able to take over the first ship, the Schwabenstein , from the shipyard. Almost a year later, on January 3, 1955, the NDL trio was complete.
For the resumption of the first passenger service after the war, Lloyd and Hapag decided to build six identical combi ships which, although designed as cargo ships, could also take passengers. The NDL combined ships Schwabenstein , Hessenstein and Bayernstein , like the three Hapag ships Hamburg , Frankfurt and Hanover , had facilities for up to 87 first-class passengers and crews of up to 90 men. All six ships were built at the Vulkan shipyard in Bremen-Vegesack.
The ship's propulsion system consisted of two double-acting 7-cylinder diesel engines that acted on a screw via a gearbox and helped the ships to reach a speed of 17 knots. The motors worked on both sides of the piston from above and below, which regularly led to sealing problems between the lower chambers and the piston rod.
Use at the NDL
All three ships of the series were used on the longest route of the Lloyd, the East Asia service, at the same time three sister ships of the shipping company HAPAG were used in the jointly operated service. Initially, the three ships of the NDL were registered with the Orlanda Reederei GmbH , Bremen and in 1959 they were all incorporated directly into the NDL. The Orlanda shipping company had been revived by Lloyd in order to avoid confiscation due to any old debts in the post-war years.
On April 18, 1957, the lead ship of the class, the Schwabenstein , approaching Rotterdam just outside the Nieuwe Waterweg collided in thick fog with the departing Norwegian tanker Bjorgholm . Extensive damage occurred in the fore section of both ships. In the port of Rotterdam in the front cargo hold of the Schwabenstein , chemicals in the cargo caught fire due to penetrating water, which could only be unloaded in the morning hours.
Although the ships were very well received by the travel public and the shippers, they soon turned out to be unprofitable, as the number of passengers increasingly turned to air traffic, not least due to the complex propulsion system. Since the increase in speed was on the long routes of East Asia service, the only means of long wait times of ships in Asia catch, Lloyd followed this trend and left the series in 1967 by the fast freighters of Friesenstein class to replace. These only had twelve passenger seats.
Later career
In 1967 the NDL sold its three ships to the shipping company Malaysia Overseas Lines . This kept the ships in service for a further eleven to twelve years as the Oriental Ruler , Oriental Musician and Oriental Lady before they were scrapped in 1978/79.
The ships
| The combined ships of the Schwabenstein class | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Building name | Build number | IMO number | Launch | delivery | measurement | Renaming and whereabouts |
| Schwabenstein | 829 | 5315565 | October 24, 1953 | January 24, 1954 | 8955 GRT | 1967 Oriental Ruler , demolished February 4, 1979 in Kaohsiung |
| Hessenstein | 833 | 5149942 | March 22, 1954 | June 17, 1954 | 8929 GRT | 1967 Oriental Musician , discontinued on February 17, 1978 in Hong Kong |
| Bayernstein | 839 | - | October 12, 1953 | January 3, 1955 | 8,999 GRT | 1967 Oriental Lady , demolished on January 25, 1979 in Kaohsiung |
literature
- Arnold Kludas : The ships of the North German Lloyd . 1857 to 1970. Weltbild Verlag, Augsburg 1998, ISBN 3-86047-262-3 .
- Harald Focke / Frank Scherer: With the combined ship to Rio and the Far East. Hamburg Süd, Hapag and NDL . Oceanum Verlag, Wiefelstede. ISBN 978-3-86927-421-8
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Aanvaring voor New Waterway , In: Haarlem Dagblad , volume 71, number 240, April 20, 1957, p.1.