Varna (ship, 1937)

Varna

Ship data flag  Bulgaria Ship type Cargo ship Callsign LZDG home port Varna , Bulgaria Shipping company Societé Commerciale Bulgare de Navigation à Vapeur Shipyard Neptun shipyard , Rostock Build number 466 Launch March 2, 1937 Commissioning May 4, 1937 Whereabouts Sunk by the Soviet submarine D-4 on August 20, 1943

Ship dimensions and crew length 92.35 m ( Lüa ) width 13.26 m Draft Max. 4.98 m measurement 2141 BRT , 1083 NRT

Machine system machine Double compound machine with exhaust turbine Machine performance 1,600 hp (1,177 kW) Top speed 12.0 kn (22 km / h) propeller 1

Transport capacities Load capacity 3000 tdw tdw Permitted number of passengers 10

The Varna was a cargo ship built in 1937 for the Bulgarian shipping company Societé Commerciale Bulgare de Navigation à Vapeur . During the Second World War it was chartered by Germany and sunk by the Soviet submarine D-4 in August 1943 .

Construction and technical data

The ship was a cargo ship to order the Bulgarian shipping company at the Neptun shipyard in Rostock under the hull number 466 laid on keel and expired on March 2, 1937 from the stack . The completion and delivery took place on May 4th, 1937. The new building was the shipping company's second ship to bear the name of the city of the same name, Varna in Bulgaria. The first Varna sank in a collision in 1929.

The new ship was 92.35 meters long, 13.26 meters wide and had a draft of 4.98 meters. It was measured with 2141 GRT or 1083 NRT and had a load capacity of 3000 tdw . A double compound machine with exhaust steam turbine and two-cylinder single-end boiler generated 1600 indexed horsepower and enabled a speed of 12.0 knots via one screw . The ship offered accommodation for ten passengers.

history

Immediately after completion, the ship was handed over to the Societé Commerciale Bulgare de Navigation à Vapeur and reached the new home port Varna on June 20, 1937. The Varna was the first and only ship in the Black Sea equipped with cooling systems. Little is known about her voyages in the few years of peace and the literature leaves it open as to whether the shipping company used the ship in regular services from Bulgaria across the eastern Mediterranean.

After the start of the German attack on the Soviet Union ( Operation Barbarossa ), the Bulgarian government leased the Varna to the German Empire, which used the ship for military supplies. The Varna was attacked by the Soviet submarine Shch-209 in escort with the booty ship Boy Feddersen (ex Soviet Charkov ) on June 9, 1943 off Eupatoria , but missed. Two months later, the submarine D-4 attacked : On August 20, 1943, the D-4 sank the Varna off Eupatoria.

literature

• Reinhart Schmelzkopf: Foreign ships in German hands 1939–1945. Strandgut-Verlag, Cuxhaven 2004, DNB 972151001 .
• Jürgen Rohwer , Gerhard Hümmelchen : Chronik des Seekrieges 1939–1945 , edited by the working group for military research and by the library for contemporary history , Manfred Pawlak Verlagsgesellschaft, Herrsching o. J. [1968], ISBN 3-88199-0097 , ( http: // www.wlb-stuttgart.de/seekrieg/chronik.htm extended online version).

Web links

• SS Varna (+1943) at wrecksite.eu , accessed on March 31, 2019
• Website of the Bulgarian successor shipping company Navibulgar (Bulgarian / English) , accessed on March 31, 2019
• Russian forum "forums.airbase.ru": Photo of the ship (in Russian), accessed on March 31, 2019
• Navibulgar news December 2012 - January 2013 (history of the shipping company with many photos) , accessed on March 29, 2019

Footnotes

1. ↑ ^{a b} melt head, p. 260
2. ^ Website of the Bulgarian successor shipping company Navibulgar
3. ↑ also the magazine of the successor shipping company “Navibulgar” from 2012 with the history of the shipping company (Bulgarian) does not mention any trips or routes.
4. ↑ Chronicle of Naval War: June 1–29, 1943 Black Sea
5. ↑ Chronicle of Naval War: August 1–31, 1943 Black Sea