Traffic (ship)
 The Traffic in Cherbourg
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The Traffic was a feeder and tender ship of the White Star Line , which was used from the port of Cherbourg . In particular, she served the Olympic and Titanic , which were too large to dock in the Cherbourg harbor basin. During the Second World War the ship was sunk in 1941.
Construction and technical data
The Traffic was commissioned by the White Star Line in 1910 together with the slightly larger Nomadic . Its purpose was to bring passengers, mail and supplies from the French port of Cherbourg to the Olympic- class ships ( Olympic , Titanic , Britannic ) that could not call at the port due to their size. It was in the shipyard Harland & Wolff in Belfast under the hull number 423 attached to Kiel . The sister ship Nomadic as well as the Olympic and the Titanic were built on the other slipways of the shipyard . The launch of the Traffic took place on April 27, 1911.
Its length was 53.55 meters, it was 10.70 meters wide and had a draft of 3.76 meters. It was measured with 675 GRT and 420 NRT. The drive consisted of two compound steam engines with two steam boilers , whose output was 550 PSi . This acted on two propellers , the steamer reached a speed of 12.0 knots . It could carry up to 1,200 passengers, the crew consisted of 16 officers and men.
History as a feeder ship
After the commissioning of Traffic and Nomadic , the two tenders drove together via Southampton to Cherbourg, where they were stationed. As a tender boat, the Traffic carried third class passengers as well as mail and luggage, while the Nomadic carried first and second class passengers to the ocean liners. On April 10, 1912, Traffic brought passengers, luggage and mail to the Titanic , which was about to go on its maiden voyage .
During the First World War the ship continued to be used as a tender, but now American, Canadian and British soldiers were their passengers to the waiting troop carriers . After the end of the war she took on this task until 1919.
In 1927 the White Star Line sold Traffic and Nomadic to the Société Cherbourgeoise Transbordement . Their tasks remained the same, but the two ships no longer only served the ships of the White Star Line, but all passenger ships in the port. Two years later, on June 5, 1929, the Traffic collided with the White Star Line ship RMS Homeric and had to be repaired. It also received a new screw in October of that year. The ship collided again in December 1929, this time with the 21,716 GRT passenger ship Minnewaska (III) of the American shipping company Atlantic Transport Line .
In 1934 the ship was sold again - this time to the Sociétié Cherbourgeoise de Remorquage et Sauvetage . In addition to a new coat of paint, it was also given the new name Ingénieur Riebell .
World War II and fall
With the beginning of the Second World War , the ship lying in Cherbourg was requisitioned by the French Navy and also put into service as an auxiliary ship with the identification X 23 . With the French defeat, the crew sank the ship in Cherbourg on June 18, 1940 to block the port and not let it fall into the hands of the Germans.
The Navy lifted and repaired the ship in the same year. She then used it as an armed patrol and escort vehicle on the French coast. On January 17, 1941, the Royal Navy torpedoed and sank the ship in the English Channel . The ship was lifted again and scrapped in Cherbourg in March.
literature
- Erich Gröner , Dieter Jung, Martin Maass: The German warships 1815-1945, Volume 8/2: Outpost boats, auxiliary minesweepers, coastal protection associations (part 2), small combat associations, dinghies , Bernard & Graefe Verlag, Bonn 1993, ISBN 3-7637-4807- 5 .
Web links
- Entry in Lloyd's Register: Steamers & Motorships 1931 , accessed July 14, 2018
- Information about the ship at titanic-titanic.com , accessed on July 14, 2018
- technical data and history of the ship at encyclopedia-titanica.org , accessed on July 14, 2018
- technical data and history of the ship at rms-titanic.fr , accessed on 14 July 2018
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Gröner, p. 431
- ↑ a b Traffic - technical data and history , titanic-titanic.com
- ^ Titanic ships: Traffic , encyclopedia-titanica.org