Stocznia Gdańska B-54
 The Marceli Nowotko
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Stocznia Gdanska B-54 (unofficially also Dziesięciotysięcznik , German "ten thousand tons" ) was a general cargo ship developed and built in several series at the Danziger shipyard (Lenin shipyard, Stocznia Gdańska im. Lenina ) . With the Polskie Linie Oceaniczne (PLO) 19 of the 35 ships of the type were in service.
On December 13, 1961, after a test drive on the Maria Konopnicka , a fire broke out in which 22 people died.
General cargo ship of the type B-54
The model of the general cargo carriers were Italian ships of a similar design. The type B-54 was from shipbuilding Office "one" in Gdansk on a carrying capacity of 10,273 dwt designed. The vehicles were 153.9 meters long and measured at 6660 GRT . They had two continuous decks and five cargo holds that were served by 18 loading booms , one of which was designed for a load of 50 tons. The streamlined superstructures were amidships and extended beyond the fourth hold. The basic engine was a two - stroke diesel engine with an output of around 8000 hp from FIAT , which was later also manufactured by Cegielski under a Polish license . The freighters had a speed of 16 knots and were approved for 12 passengers, their crew was 47 men.
History of the "ten thousand tons"
The type ship Marceli Nowotko was the first Polish cargo ship to call in Japan in 1957. It opened traffic to Australia in 1971 and the route via Indonesia and the Philippines in 1979 . The Stefan Okrzeja was the first PLO ship to call at Australia in 1959 and had opened services to the United States the year before .
The sale of the Rhône and Rhin to Switzerland was a success for Polish shipbuilding . The Soviet Union took nine ships, two of which were built in Stettin, the Guo Ji went to China , three to Cuba . The latter were completed in the shipyard in Gdynia . The Fryderyk Chopin drove 1960-1967 as Orlik under the Czechoslovak flag and as Hoping Wu Shi and Lin Tong for China.
The Cuban Aracello Iglesias was rammed by the Nidareid off the Panama Canal in 1970 and sank. Through the Six Day War were Boleslaw Bierut and Jakarta from 1967 to 1975 on the Great Bitter eight years blocked long. In 1975 they were sold to Greece . The Manina III (formerly Djakarta ) sank on March 30, 1981 after touching the ground off the island of Kinaros .
The Reymont burned down on April 16, 1979 off Gdynia. Two of the crew members were killed, 37 and seven passengers could be saved. The ship was canceled. Blamed for the accident in front of the Chamber of Commerce, the captain committed suicide .
The last two units of the Polskie line Oceaniczne were sold for demolition in 1986. Her sister ships had been displaced by fast freighters and semi-container ships . The Soviet Union decommissioned its ships from 1983-1995, one of them was sold to China and sailed until 2010.
The 1960-built for the Soviet Union Lesozavodsk ( IMO 5206996, call sign UQIS) was in June 2012 still stationary for training in Ukrainian Odessa .
Type B-454 and others
In addition, six more ships of the further developed type B-454 were built on the Stocznia Szczecińska . Two were put into service by Polskie Line Oceaniczne, the others were sold to China and Indonesia.
The Danzig shipyard further developed the type B-54 into the series B-43, B-44, B-40 and B-442, of which a total of 66 units were built between 1962 and 1972.
Fire of Maria Konopnicka
The Maria Konopnicka , named after the Polish poet , was laid on December 12, 1960 as the 24th ship of the type B-54 in Kiel and ran on 17 April 1961 by the stack . After several days of test drive, she returned to the shipyard on December 11, 1961 and was towed to the equipment basin on the island of Ostrów the next day . On December 16, the shipyard wanted to sign a handover protocol with Polskie Linie Oceaniczne. Under time pressure, 150 workers were to carry out the final equipment and remedy the deficiencies found at sea.
Most of the workers disembarked during the breakfast break on December 13 at around 9:00 a.m. During this time a fire broke out while welding work on the fuel lines. The fire spread quickly and cut off the escape route for 22 people in the engine room. However, the harbor fire brigade initially did not go to the scene of the fire, but to the harbor basin where the ship had docked after the test voyage. The lack of heat-resistant clothing and breathing equipment added to the delay. The shipyard director refused to cut a rescue opening in the ship's hull. The matter was discussed with the Ministry of Shipping in Warsaw, which gave its approval when it was too late for those trapped. The main source of the fire was contained around 5 p.m., but the fire flared up again during the night. The victims were eleven employees of the Gdansk shipyard, eight of a service provider in the port, an electrician and two members of the ship's crew.
The incident was investigated by the court in Gdansk. In the verdict of April 19, 1962, three employees of the shipyard were sentenced to imprisonment of one or three years, and another to eight months' probation. The general manager of the shipyard, like six other defendants, was acquitted, but committed suicide on December 7, 1962, at the age of 43. The Chamber of Commerce dropped out of the proceedings because the ship was not officially in service.
After the necessary repairs, the ship was renamed Konopnicka and chartered to the Sino-Polish company "Chipolbrok" on June 30, 1963. It was sold in 1979 and went under the name Yixing . After a fire on October 30, 1980, the ship was scrapped.
After the disaster, the shipyard set up the hall for occupational health and safety ( Sala Bezpieczeństwo i higiena pracy , or Sala BHP ). The former “ torpedo warehouse” of the Imperial Shipyard has become a place for employee training. In the great hall on August 31, 1980, Lech Wałęsa and the Deputy Prime Minister of the People's Republic , Mieczysław Jagielski , signed the important August Agreement , which allowed the establishment of the independent Solidarność trade union .
On December 13, 2004, the city of Gdansk put a plaque on the wall next to the memorial for the fallen shipyard workers from 1970 . Your text reads:
“Ofiarom pożaru statku m / s Konopnicka . Niech ta tragedia przypomina, iż życie człowieka jest najwyższą wartością. ”
“The victims of the fire on the MS Konopnicka . May this tragedy be a reminder that human life is of the highest value. "
Web links
- Błażej Śliwiński : Konopnicka, statek handlowy. In: Gedanopedia . (Polish)
- Marek Błuś: Dziesięciotysięcznik. In: Gedanopedia. (Polish)
- salabhp.pl : B-54 / Marceli Nowotko. (English)
Footnotes
- ↑ a b c d e f salabhp.pl: B-54 / Marceli Nowotko. (English, accessed December 9, 2021).
- ↑ salabhp.pl: B-479 / Bodrog. (English, accessed December 10, 2021)
- ↑ shipspotting.com: Lesozavodsk IMO 5206996. (English, with photo; accessed December 10, 2021)
- ↑ a b c d Błażej Śliwiński: Konopnicka, statek handlowy. (Polish, accessed December 8, 2021)
- ↑ salabhp.pl : Sala BHP. (Polish, accessed December 10, 2021)
- ↑ See the photo on the board.