Werra (ship, 1923)
 The Werra as Calabria
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The Werra (II) was a passenger ship of the North German Lloyd put into service in 1923 . She was one of the six Weser-class combination ships built by AG Weser . Like the type ship Weser , she was mainly used in the South American service, while the other sister ships spent their service time with the NDL on the East Asia route.
In 1935 the Werra and two of her sister ships were sold to Italy in preparation for the Abyssinian War and renamed Calabria . In 1940 the now Italian East Asia liner was confiscated in India and placed under the British government. On December 8, 1940, the Calabria was sunk west of Ireland by a German submarine , killing all 360 people on board.
History of the ship
The 9,475 GRT steamship Werra was built by AG Weser in Bremen for North German Lloyd and was launched on September 21, 1922. She was completed as the second ship of the Weser class. Similar to the cargo ships of the Minden class , the NDL also had a turbine or motor ship built for this class in addition to the steam ships still preferred by the shipping company. Her sister ships were the Weser (1922), the Saarbrücken (1923), the turbine ship Coblenz (1924), the Trier (1924) and the motor ship Fulda (1924).
The 146-meter-long twin screw steamer Werra , named after one of the headwaters of the Weser, could reach a maximum speed of 12.5 knots and was designed to carry 145 passengers in the second class and 818 passengers in the third class. Only the first two ships for emigrant and seasonal worker traffic to South America had the large passenger facility. The following East Asian ships should only offer space for up to 200 passengers.
The first Werra of the NDL was the second express steamer in the river class . It was delivered to the NDL in 1882 and remained in service until autumn 1899. Since a planned sale could not be realized, it was scrapped in 1901.
On February 3, 1923, the Werra left Bremen on her maiden voyage, like the type ship Weser , to East Asia . The ship was then used on the Bremen - La Plata route, to which the type ship Weser was then transferred, while the other sister ships on the East Asia route came into service and were used at NDL until the end of their service life.
Before the Weser and Werra , on the passenger line to La Plata, which was reopened in 1921, first the old Seydlitz and Gotha, then from 1922 the new buildings Cologne and Crefeld (9,300 GRT) and the new Sierra Nevada (from 1925 Madrid , 8,736 GRT) were used. From the end of 1923, the three larger steamers of the new Sierra class (11,400 GRT) were also used. Later the Werra was also used on the route from Bremen to Havana in Cuba and Galveston in Texas next to the Karlsruhe , where it was the last NDL passenger ship from 1933, before service was completely abandoned in the summer of 1933.
Sale to Italy
On August 13, 1935, the Werra was sold to the Italian government, which needed it as a troop transport for the Abyssinian War. In addition to the Werra , Italy also acquired its sister ships Coblenz and Saarbrücken as well as the Sierra Ventana from NDL and from Hapag the Resolute and General Miter through the mediation of the Reich government . The Werra was handed over to the shipping company "Società Italia Flotte Riuniti", which had been nationalized three years earlier and renamed it Calabria . In 1936 the ship was transferred to Lloyd Triestino , based in Trieste , when the Italian shipping companies, which were united under state control, were privatized again. Lloyd Triestino used them in the East Asian service, as did the other two sister ships sold to the Italian government in 1935.
In World War II
On June 10, 1940, the Calabria in Calcutta was confiscated by Great Britain and placed under the British Ministry of War Transport (MoWT). The British India Steam Navigation Company took over management . The ship was supposed to be renamed the British Inventor , but before that it was sunk.
On December 8, 1940, the Calabria was with 140 crew members, a gunner and 230 passengers on a journey from Calcutta via Freetown to Belfast and Glasgow . The passengers were Indian sailors who were intended as crew members for other ships. Captain David Lonie was in command. The cargo consisted of 4,000 tons of iron, 3,050 tons of tea and 1,870 tons of press cake .
At 8:58 p.m. on December 8th, the Calabria , which had separated from its SLS-56 convoy , was hit 295 nautical miles west of the Slyne Head lighthouse on the coast of Ireland's County Galway by two torpedoes from the German submarine U 103 ( Corvette Captain Viktor Schütze ). The vessel decreased after a fishing shot to 21:06 on the position of 52 ° 43 '0 " N , 18 ° 7' 0 ' W . Captain Lonie, 128 crew members, the gunner and all 230 passengers were killed (360 people). Only 21 crew members survived and were rescued by the Royal Navy Sikh destroyer (Commander Graham Henry Stokes) and brought to Derry .
The sister ships
| Launched in service |
Surname | tonnage | B.No. | fate |
| 06.07.1922 25.10.1922 |
Weser | 9450 GRT | 323 | After two trips to East Asia in the La Plata service, the first post-war building to be scrapped in 1933 |
| 21.06.1923 10.31.1923 |
Saarbrücken | 9429 GRT | 325 | East Asian service with up to 198 passengers, 1935 sold to Italy: Toscana , 1940 to 1945 hospital ship, from 1948 Australian service, scrapped in 1962 |
| 17.08.1923 01.15.1924 |
Coblenz | 9449 GRT | 326 | Turbine ship , East Asian service, 1935 Sale to Italy: Sicilia , sunk as a hospital ship on April 5, 1943 in Naples after being hit by a bomb |
| 11/17/1923 07/12/1924 |
trier | 9415 GRT | 327 | East Asian service, 1937 sold to Turkey: Erkin , submarine depot ship, decommissioned and scrapped in 1956 |
| June 16, 1924 December 1, 1924 |
Fulda | 9,492 GRT | 328 | Motor ship , East Asian service, 1935 passenger facility expanded to 24 seats (7744 GRT), sold to Japan in 1940: Teikoku Maru , Teikai Maru , sunk by air raid on December 30, 1944 |
literature
- Arnold Kludas : The ships of the North German Lloyd 1857 to 1919 . Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft, Herford 1991, ISBN 3-7822-0524-3 .
- Arnold Kludas: The ships of the North German Lloyd 1920 to 1970 . Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft, Herford 1992, ISBN 3-7822-0534-0 .
- Arnold Kludas: The History of German Passenger Shipping. Volume IV: Destruction and Rebirth 1914 to 1930. (Writings of the German Maritime Museum, Volume 21). Kabel, Hamburg 1989, ISBN 3-8225-0047-X .
- Arnold Kludas: The History of German Passenger Shipping. Volume V: An era comes to an end from 1930 to 1990. (Writings of the Deutsches Schiffahrtsmuseum, Volume 22). Kabel, Hamburg 1990, ISBN 3-8225-0041-0 .
- Claus Rothe: German ocean passenger ships 1919 to 1985 . Steiger Verlag, 1987, ISBN 3-921564-97-2 .
- Reinhardt Schmelzkopf: German merchant shipping 1919–1939 . Verlag Gerhard Stalling, Oldenburg approx. 1974, ISBN 3-7979-1847-X .
Web links
- Illustrated summary of the Werra / Calabria period of service
- Data on the last trip and listing of some fatalities
- Key data about the ship on wrecksite.eu
- The sinking of the Calabria in the submarine database
Footnotes
- ↑ a b c d e Kludas: NDL-Seeschiffe 1920–1970, p. 20ff.
- ↑ Kludas, Seeschiffe NDL, 1857–1919, p. 30.
- ^ Kludas: The history of the German passenger shipping. Vol. IV, 1989, p. 137 ff.
- ^ Kludas: The history of the German passenger shipping. Vol. V, 1990, p. 51.
- ↑ Schmelzkopf: The German Merchant Shipping 1919–1939 . 1974, p. 184.
- ^ Kludas: The ships of the North German Lloyd 1920 to 1970 . 1992, p. 20.
- ^ Rothe: German Ocean Passenger Ships 1919 to 1985 . 1987, p. 77.
- ↑ The sinking of the Sicilia