Tirranna (ship, 1938)
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The Tirranna was a motor cargo ship built in Gdansk for the Norwegian shipping company Wilhelmsen .
It was applied on June 10, 1940 by the German auxiliary cruiser Atlantis in the Indian Ocean . The auxiliary cruiser sent them with the majority of their prisoners to France on August 5, 1940. On September 22, 1940, she was sunk by the British submarine Tuna shortly before the Gironde . Of the 292 people on board, 87 died (only one German).
Building history
The Tirranna was a fast liner of the Norwegian shipping company Wilh. Wilhelmsen in Tønsberg . It was built under construction number 1396 at the Danzig shipyard of Schichau-Werke , where it was launched on December 11, 1937. The shipping company Wihelmsen had built twenty motor freighters in Germany since 1922. When the Tirranna was delivered on March 10, 1938, the shipping company had a fleet of 49 freighters, of which only six were steamers, as well as two older steam-powered tankers. Schichau first built a ship for the Norwegian shipping company in 1936 with the very similar Tarifa , which was followed by the smaller Tatra in 1937 .
The Tirranna was measured with 7230 GRT and 4410 NRT and had a deadweight of 10,850 t. It is powered by two was built in Schichau two-stroke Sulzer - diesel engines , which together contributed to two screws 10,600 horsepower and the ship a possible service speed of 16.25 knots gave. Like almost all Wilhelmsen ships, she was able to take up to twelve passengers. The ship also had a large refrigerated hold.
Schichau built five very similar ships of this type. In addition to Tarifa and the Tirranna , a third ship, the Tamaris, was delivered to the Wilhelmsen shipping company in September 1939. Two other ships, the Abbekerk and the Arendskerk , went to the Dutch shipping company Vereenigde Nederlandsche Scheepvaart Maatschappij (VNS) before the war began .
Fate of war
In February 1940 the Tirranna left Oslo under captain Edvard Hauff Gundersen on her last voyage through the Mediterranean and via Aden to Japan . From April 7th she was in front of Hakodate when her homeland became a participant in the war due to the attack of the Germans. The ship then ran to Australia and took over cargo to supply Australian troops in the Middle East. Before they left Melbourne on May 30, 1940, a 12 cm gun was set up at the stern and five men were instructed in its operation. With a load of 3,000 t of wheat, 27,000 sacks of flour, 6,000 bales of wool and 178 military vehicles on board, plus large quantities of beer, tobacco, canned peaches and jam for the Australian troops, the Tirranna left Melbourne for Mombasa with nine Norwegian passengers .
Meeting with the Atlantis
On June 10, 1940, when the last Norwegian troops surrendered at home, the Atlantis discovered the Tirranna southeast of Mauritius . The German auxiliary cruiser, an alleged Dutch Abbekerk , approached within 5400 meters and then fired a shot to stop the Tirranna . Their captain immediately ordered the highest speed and tried to escape at 17 knots. The rear gun was manned and the radio operator gave distress signals.
After three and a half hours, the Norwegian master gave up the escape and stopped at position 22 ° 40 ′ 0 ″ S , 69 ° 20 ′ 0 ″ E , although he had long prevented hits through his zigzag course and increased the distance to 8,200 meters. The pursuing Atlantis had fired 150 rounds, most of which had failed. But a direct hit had killed the Norwegian ship's five trained gunners and the Atlantis' gunfire became more precise. Of the 44 people on board the Tirranna , five were dead and six were seriously injured. A prize squad from Atlantis boarded the Tirranna . The wounded were taken to the auxiliary cruiser, where they were well cared for. One still died the following day.
Because of her valuable cargo and to free himself from prisoners, the commandant of the Atlantis , Bernhard Rogge , decided to send the ship to France. However, the Tirranna had very little fuel. The prize was therefore sent further south off the normal shipping routes and Rogge hoped to be able to raise a tanker from which both ships could supply themselves. The damage from the bombardment should be repaired by the meeting scheduled for early August. The Atlantis , which disguised itself as the Wilhelmsen freighter Tarifa , did not, however, have the expected success. Only on July 11th they sank the freighter City of Baghdad and on the 13th the freighter Kemmendine , which was also suitable as a prisoner transporter due to its larger passenger facility , but was set on fire when it was detained. When she met the Tirranna again on July 29, she had over 300 prisoners. The commander Rogge decided to give oil to the Tirranna from his fuel supply in order to largely free himself from the prisoners, especially since the Kemmendine had also had 35 passengers, including 5 women and two children, on board.
When the two ships were still exchanging supplies with boats and transferring the prisoners, the Wilhelmsen motor ship Talleyrand, also built in Germany, ran towards them on August 2nd, which had discovered the idle ships and the moving boats earlier. They had clearly identified Tirranna, who belonged to the shipping company , suspected a drive problem and wanted to provide help. The Atlantis managed in time to become conditionally ready for action and to bring up the approaching ship. The Talleyrand had a cargo similar to the Tirranna , but not enough fuel to reach Europe either. However, this was enough to largely offset the taxes on the Tirranna on the Atlantis . Her crew and ammunition supplies were taken over by the Tirranna and the Talleyrand then sunk. 274 of the 365 prisoners of Atlantis were housed on the Tirranna and sent to France.
The auxiliary cruisers Orion , Widder and Thor had already sent prizes to France. As the first auxiliary cruiser, the tanker Krossfonn , which was later used as a supply tanker Spichern , reached Lorient on July 7, 1940 .
Return to Europe
On August 4, 1940, the Tirranna had 274 prisoners from the Atlantis on board and the two ships separated the following day. 18 men were supposed to bring the prize with the prisoners on board to southern France. Under Lieutenants Waldmann and Mundt, the ship ran through the Indian Ocean, around the Cape of Good Hope and through the Atlantic to the Bay of Biscay without major difficulties for the small crew. Only the communication with the operations management in Berlin did not work.
On the evening of September 22, 1940, the Tirranna approached the Gironde and asked for a pilot. The local command posts gave orders to wait until the morning of the following day, secured by minesweepers, before entering. Shortly after noon on the 23rd, the prize was still waiting at position 45 ° 19 ′ 0 ″ N , 1 ° 20 ′ 0 ″ W when it was leaving three torpedoes of the British submarine HMS Tuna under Lieutenant Cavenagh-Mainwaring was hit. The Tirranna sank in a matter of minutes. Some of the survivors were only rescued by German security forces after four hours. 87 of the castaways could not be rescued. 71 Indians, nine British and six Norwegians died, including the Talleyrand's stewardess and three men from the Tirranna's original crew . Only one non-commissioned officer from the German prize garrison was among the victims. The 70 Norwegian survivors were interned in Royan and returned to Oslo on December 17, 1940.
Web links
- The Tirranna is on the shipping company Wilh's list of ships. Wilhelmsen
- The fate of the Tirranna on the side of the Norwegian merchant navy in World War II
- engl. Report on the journey of the Atlantis
