Fatherland (ship, 1926)

Fatherland

The Fatherland at Boppard (1936)

Ship data flag  Germany Ship type Paddle steamer home port Cologne (last) Shipping company Cologne-Düsseldorf German Rhine Shipping Shipyard Sachsenberg brothers , Cologne-Deutz Build number 905 building-costs 461,000 RM Order August 1925 Keel laying December 11, 1925 Launch April 10, 1926 Commissioning June 11, 1926 Decommissioning October 1972 Removal from the ship register April 29, 1974 Whereabouts scrapped

Ship dimensions and crew length 79.03 m ( Lüa ) width 8.27 m above wheel arches: 15.60 m Draft Max. 1.54 m displacement 448  t

Machine system machine 2-cylinder superheated steam compound machine Machine performance 720 hp (530 kW) propeller 2 side wheels ∅ 4.50 m

Transport capacities Load capacity 250 dw Permitted number of passengers 1600

The Vaterland was a side paddle steamer built in 1925/26 for the Preussisch-Rheinische-Dampfschiffahrtgesellschaft in Cologne , which was put into service on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the shipping company . After the steamer got stuck between two blown bridges in Neuwied at the end of World War II , German pioneers destroyed the ship. After the uplift, the ship was rebuilt in several stages until 1949 and then used by the Cologne-Düsseldorfer in plan service on the Rhine . Finally, at the end of the 1972 season, the ship was decommissioned due to repeated boiler damage and a defective steering system and scrapped in Bruges in December 1975 .

technical description

Hull, decks and fittings

The Fatherland in August 1970

The Vaterland was a monohull ship with a pointed bow , vertical stern and a cruiser stern . The fuselage consisted of riveted steel plates on frames . To protect against uncontrollable water ingress in the event of leaks , six lockable watertight transverse bulkheads were installed in the ship's hull. The ship had two solid decks and complete with an awning covered protective cover , the front half was provided with a fixed windowed panel. The covered rear area of ​​the deck was open at the sides and secured with a railing. It offered space for 224 passengers. During a renovation in 1962, the permanently clad part was set back and provided with an exterior walkway similar to the promenade deck. The open space at the bow created by the renovation could be used by the passengers as a sun deck. In the front closed part of the deck was the cafeteria with 76 seats, to which the veranda with 64 seats was connected. From there, passengers could see the steam engine through an open shaft . The passengers reached the entrance hall of the main deck via a staircase . In the front part of this deck there was a saloon with 66 seats, in the rear the dining room with 183 seats. A kiosk, the buffet room, the kitchen, the washing-up room, the toilets and the cabin of the second  helmsman were installed in the wheel arches . When the steamer started operating, there was a ladies' salon on the lower deck. After the renovation in 1962, only crew, utility and engine rooms were left on the lower deck.

Drive and control

The Vaterland was driven by an inclined two-cylinder composite steam engine with valve control from the Sachsenberg Roßlau brothers with an output of 720  hp via two 4.50 m high paddle wheels , each with eight movable paddles, controlled by push rods and eccentrics . The steam required was generated by two twin-flame tube cylinder boilers , each with a heating surface of 137 m² . The vapor pressure was 10.5  kp / cm³. She was the first ship of the shipping company to be steered with a 360 ° rotating Flettner rudder .

history

Construction and commissioning

The PRDG ordered in August 1925 at the shipyard of the brothers Sachsenberg AG in Cologne-Deutz for the first time after the First World War, a passenger ship for the then with the -Steamship Company for the Lower and Middle Rhine ( DGNM ) conducted joint business Cologne and Duesseldorf Society for Rhine- Steamship . Previously, only combined passenger and freight ships, such as the Goethe , had been converted into luxurious saloon steamers. This type of ship was built to meet the demands of increasing prosperity in the Roaring Twenties . The keel was laid on December 11, 1925, the launch on April 10 of the following year. The interior of the two-deck saloon steamer was carried out by Bernhard Stadler AG according to plans by the Berlin architect Heinrich Alfred Kaiser . In terms of propulsion and boiler systems, the ship was structurally identical to the Rhineland , which had been completed for the DGNM a month earlier . At the beginning of June 1926 the acceptance test took place, which led from Uerdingen to Cologne . In the course of the anniversary celebrations for the 100th anniversary of the PRDG on June 11, 1926, the fatherland was baptized in the Rheinauhafen in the presence of the Reich Minister of Transport, Rudolf Krohne, and the Mayor of Cologne, Konrad Adenauer . The subsequent maiden voyage led from Cologne to Remagen and back. From the following day, the steamer was used as scheduled on the high-speed trip from Cologne to Mainz . The coal-fired steamship was approved for up to 2250 passengers at that time.

World War II and post-war period

In the first years of the Second World War , the shipping company continued to use the ship for passenger transport in the summer months. For better protection from air raids, the Vaterland was given a blue-gray camouflage in March 1941 . During Operation Millennium , the first 1000 bomber attack on Cologne, on the night of May 30th to 31st, 1942, the ship lying in the Rheinauhafen was damaged, but could be used again in the same year after repairs. From 1943 the Cologne-Düsseldorfer also transported goods with the Vaterland . Freight traffic had become necessary to maintain the status of war importance for the KD . This was the only way to ensure that the shipping company was allocated the necessary operating materials, such as coal, lubricants and metal spare parts. In addition, the draft personnel could therefore remain on the ships. In an air raid on October 17, 1944, the upper deck and the helm of the ship burned out completely. In January 1945 the steamer was transferred to the Werlauhafen below Sankt Goar for repairs . There it was confiscated and converted into a hospital ship. After completion, it took over the wounded from the hospital ship Stahleck south of the destroyed Neuwied Rhine Bridge , which commuted north of the bridge between Neuwied and Remagen . The Vaterland transported the injured people they had taken over to Mainz. When the Kronprinz-Wilhelm-Brücke near Engers was blown up on March 7, 1945 , the ship was trapped between two destroyed bridges. So that the paddle steamer located below the Neuwied Dykerhoff works on the Steiger does not fall into the hands of the approaching American troops, pioneers sank it on March 19, 1945 using dynamite .

After the French Allies had initially selected the Vaterland as a representation ship for General Kœnig , they lifted the wreck in July 1946 and transferred it to the Hilgers shipyard in Rheinbrohl for reconstruction . During the repair work, however, the occupiers decided on another ship, so that work was stopped again in August. The buoyant ship was towed to Brohler Hafen and parked there. In the summer of 1947, the KD commissioned the Hilgers shipyard to rebuild. However, this work was interrupted several times by the French authorities, so that the final, pre-war reconstruction took until spring 1949. The overhaul of the expanded steam engine was carried out by the shipyard and machine factory Christof Ruthof in Mainz-Kastel . After the festive restart on May 6, 1949, the Vaterland operated the express service between Cologne and Mainz again.

From the 1950s to retirement

In the spring of 1957, the shipping company, in cooperation with the steam boiler manufacturer Babcock & Wilcox, switched the Vaterland's drive to oil-firing; at the same time, the permitted passenger capacity was reduced to 1,600. The Hilgers shipyard modernized the interior in the winter of 1961/62, the chimney was also renewed and the previously closed front area of ​​the upper deck was converted into an open sun deck. Although the entire machine system had received a general overhaul in 1964, defects repeatedly occurred in the following years that made longer stays in the shipyard necessary. On May 16, 1967, the DGMN and the Preußisch-Rheinische Dampfschiffahrtsgesellschaft merged to form the Cologne-Düsseldorfer Deutsche Rheinschiffahrt AG . Ownership of all ships of the two companies was transferred to the new company.

On the afternoon of September 24th, 1967, the downhill driving Vaterland collided at river kilometer 628 near Leubsdorf with the uphill 900-t motor ship Offenbach . Some passengers on the liner were slightly injured as a result of the impact and had to be treated on an outpatient basis. Due to severe damage to the front area of ​​the starboard wheel arch, the Vaterland had become unable to maneuver, so that the passengers had to transfer to the Cologne passenger ship in the middle of the Rhine . The fore section of the freighter was so badly damaged that it had to be aground on the bank. The Vaterland was brought to the Linz jetty and towed to the Cologne shipyard in the port of Mülheim the next day to repair the damage . The ship could be used again from May 1968.

Due to the ailing steam boiler, the frequent defects in the machine system and a steering system in need of repair , the Cologne-Düsseldorfer decided not to repair the Vaterland after the 1972 season for economic reasons and shut it down in the port of Cologne-Niehl . There she lay without further use until she was transferred on April 29, 1974 from the push ship Oranje 1 in the side coupling to the Dutch ship broker Nimeta in Sliedrecht . He sold the Vaterland to a ship recycling facility in Bruges , Belgium , where it was scrapped by the end of December 1975.

literature

• Georg Fischbach: The ships of the Cologne-Düsseldorfer 1826-2004 . Self-published, Marienhausen 2004, ISBN 3-00-016046-9 .
• AF Napp-Zinn: 100 years of Cologne-Düsseldorf Rhine steam shipping, in particular destruction and reconstruction 1939-1953 . M. DuMont Schauberg, Cologne 1953.
• Stephan Nuding: 175 years of Cologne-Düsseldorf Deutsche Rheinschiffahrt AG . Schardt Oldenburg 2001, ISBN 978-3-8984-1035-9 .

Web links

Commons : Fatherland  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ^ Georg Fischbach: The ships of the Cologne-Düsseldorfer 1826-2004 , self-published, Marienhausen 2004, pp. 546, 549 and 550
2. ^ Georg Fischbach: The ships of the Cologne-Düsseldorfer 1826-2004 , self-published, Marienhausen 2004, p. 546
3. ^ Georg Fischbach: The ships of the Cologne-Düsseldorfer 1826-2004 , self-published, Marienhausen 2004, pp. 546 and 547
4. ↑ Generalanzeiger Bonn of March 30, 2005: Cologne-Düsseldorfer - a fleet without ships ( Memento of the original of April 24, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
5. ↑ AF Napp-Zinn: 100 years of Cologne-Düsseldorf Rhine steam shipping, especially destruction and reconstruction 1939-1953 . M. DuMont Schauberg, Cologne 1953, p. 37
6. ^ Georg Fischbach: The ships of the Köln-Düsseldorfer 1826-2004 , self-published, Marienhausen 2004, p. 548
7. ^ Ship investigation commission Cologne: Official ship certificate from June 7, 1957 . Quoted from Georg Fischbach: The ships of the Cologne-Düsseldorfer 1826–2004 , p. 549
8. ^ Georg Fischbach: The ships of the Köln-Düsseldorfer 1826-2004 , self-published, Marienhausen 2004, p. 549
9. ^ Georg Fischbach: The ships of the Cologne-Düsseldorfer 1826-2004 , self-published, Marienhausen 2004, p. 550