Tübingen (ship, 1922)
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The Tübingen was a German hospital ship in World War II . The former French passenger ship was launched on 25 February 1922 under the name Governor Général Tirman at Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée in Graville at Le Havre from the stack . It was used by the shipping company Société Générale de Transport Maritimes (SGTM) in passenger traffic.
The ship was confiscated by the German occupation forces in Marseille in November 1942 and served there from January 1, 1943 as a barge for the German Navy . On July 24, 1943, the conversion to a hospital ship began and from November 1, 1943 it was used as such under the name Tübingen .
The last days before the sinking
By mid-October 1944, the hospital ship Tübingen had brought around 14,000 wounded across the Adriatic to safety. On October 24, 1944, the Tübingen arrived in Saloniki and took over 1,019 wounded men to take them to northern Italy. Before Chios she was stopped and examined by a British naval association. Since everything was fine, she was allowed to continue.
Three days later she was stopped again by the British who asked her to follow them to Alexandria . The Tübingen had no choice, and on October 30 she ran into Alexandria. There the ship was examined again thoroughly and without any complaints. Nevertheless, on October 31, all wounded were disembarked and taken into British captivity. The Tübingen itself was allowed to leave Alexandria again.
Then she lay in front of the Montenegrin port of Bar and took over the wounded there, where she got into a battle between British destroyers and a German coastal battery. In fact, the British moved their fire further inland and finally stopped it completely when the Tübingen pointed out that it was a hospital ship and that their safety was in danger.
A little later, the ship was seized again by the British and forcibly directed to the Italian port of Bari . There all the wounded were disembarked and taken prisoner. Another German hospital ship, the Bonn, was already in the harbor .
The attack
The Tübingen left the Italian port of Bari on November 17, 1944 under Captain Dietrich Hermichen to pick up wounded German soldiers from the Balkan Peninsula . The ship was thoroughly examined beforehand. The British government was informed in good time about the course and purpose of the trip.
On November 18, 1944, the weather was clear, cloudless, and the ship was near Pola , 3.5 nautical miles south of Cape Promontore , when three British fighter bombers overflowed it. They were followed by two British Beaufighters at 7.45 a.m. , but they did not fly over the ship, but attacked it from the starboard side with on-board weapons and missiles. They then attacked separately from both sides and scored numerous hits. The engine room was hit and a diesel oil tank was set on fire. The ship was listed and the radio had failed when the third attack began. The steering gear was destroyed.
The air strikes lasted about ten to twelve minutes. After that, the sinking Tübingen was alone. The ship sank 30 minutes after the attack. Nine crew members were killed and others injured. Most of the castaways managed to save themselves in lifeboats . In addition, the attack did not go unnoticed and German speedboats came to the rescue from Pola .
War crimes
The ship was duly marked as a hospital ship, which means that the bombing was a violation of human rights in sea warfare ( war crimes ). The British declaration that the lack of lighting caused the mistake is not valid because the lighting had been switched off an hour before the attack due to the good visibility and it was already bright as day at the time of the attack.
Footnotes
- ↑ a b Tübingen passenger ship 1922-1944. The Wreck Site, accessed February 12, 2014 .
- ↑ a b The sinking of the "Tübingen"
- ↑ Württemberg State Library.
- ^ Destruction of the hospital ship in Tübingen
- ^ Hospital ship Tübingen on TÜpedia with video link.
- ^ Violation of human rights in naval warfare 1939–1945.
Coordinates: 44 ° 41 ′ 51.7 " N , 13 ° 54 ′ 58.5" E