Before the First World War, the Deutsch-Amerikanische Petroleum Gesellschaft ("German-American Petroleum Company", known by its German acronym DAPOL) ordered a pair of large oil tankers from Howaldtswerke in Kiel. The war delayed their building. Yard number 587 was launched in September 1919, and completed in October 1920 as Gedania, which is a Latinisation of the name of the city of Danzig (now Gdańsk).[1] Yard number 588 was launched in April 1920, and completed in January 1921 as Vistula, named after the river on which Danzig is built.[2][3]
Gedania's lengths were 516ft 6in (157.43m)overall and 500.5ft (152.6m) registered. Her beam was 64.6ft (19.7m) and her depth was 32ft (9.8m).[4] As built, her tonnages were 8,966GRT and 5,107NRT.[5] She had a single screw, driven by a quadruple expansion engine that was rated at 404 NHP,[5] and gave her a speed of 10+1⁄4 knots (19km/h). Her machinery was aft, where she had a single funnel. Her bridge was on her main superstructure, which was about two-thirds of the way forward. She carried four lifeboats; two each on her main and aft superstructures. She had two masts: a foremast on her foredeck, and a mainmast between her two superstructures.[6] She was equipped with wireless telegraphy and submarine signalling.[5]
In the 1920s and 1930s, Gedania mostly carried oil from the Gulf Coast of the United States to Germany. The Waried Tankschiff Rhederei ("Waried Tankship Company") was one of Standard Oil's partners in DAPOL, and by 1931 was managingGedania.[8] By 1933, Waried owned Gedania; her registration had been transferred to Hamburg; and her code letters had been changed to RJGH.[9]
By 1932, Gedania had been fitted with a low-pressure turbine, which ran on exhaust steam from the low-pressure cylinder of her reciprocating engine. This improved her fuel efficiency, and raised her power to 462 NHP,[10] or 3,000 ihp.[11] Her navigation equipment was augmented with wireless direction finding by 1930,[12] and an echo sounding device by 1937.[13] By 1934, the call sign DJLT had superseded her code letters.[14]
Conversion to supply ship
When the Second World War began in September 1939, Gedania was en route from Aruba to Germany. To avoid capture, she took refuge in Las Palmas in the Canary Islands. On 1 October 1940 the Kriegsmarine requisitioned her, and on 15 October she left for German-occupied France. On 2 November she arrived off Saint-Nazaire.[15]
In St-Nazaire, Gedania was fitted out as an oiler and supply ship for the battleship Bismark. The plan for her refit was not finalised until February 1941. Store rooms were to be built on either side of her forward tween deck. A refrigerator was to be built in. On her aft tween deck, accommodation for 120 prisoners was to be built. In her forward hold, an ammunition store was to be built. Two outboard motor boats were added to her after boat deck, in addition to her existing lifeboats. Guns were also mounted on her after boat deck. For navigation, her wireless direction finder was to be replaced with a more accurate and modern one, and an Anschütz gyrocompass was to be added. She was armed with two 75 mm guns with large stereoscopic rangefinders, and four 20mm anti-aircraft guns.[16] She was given the code name Maikäfer (cockchafer).[17][18]
Before leaving St-Nazaire, Gedania loaded stores, including: 48 torpedoes with fitted warheads; 48 torpedo pistols, detonators and primers; 200 gallons of lubricating oil and a similar amount of torpedo fuel; 500 shells and 500 cordite charges for 150 mm guns; 1,600 rounds of fixed 105 mm ammunition; 1,000 rounds of fixed 75 mm ammunition; 2,000 rounds of fixed 20 mm ammunition; a large cargo of diesel and bunker oil; engineers tools, including portable welding equipment, and a new 8-inch (200mm) lathe; a wireless telegraph (WT), including direction finding; two portable WT sets for use ashore; canned provisions, including butter, sausages and fruit; and fresh bacon, frozen meat and potatoes. She was said to have loaded enough food and water to support 100 crew and 200 prisoners for two months, and to victual a battleship with a complement of 2,000 for one week, and the crews of three large U-boats for six weeks. When she entered naval service, her complement was 101 men, of whom 45 were Kriegsmarine. All of her officers were civilians, except for her ship's doctor.[19]
Wartime operational cruise
On 25 May 1941, Gedania sailed north from St-Nazaire to La Pallice. There she loaded 60 tons of water, and awaited orders. On 29 May she left La Pallice, escorted by naval trawlers. She headed south in the direction of Bilbao; then turned west along the north coast of Spain; past Corunna; and out of the Bay of Biscay. On 4 June 1941, the ocean boarding vesselHMSMarsdale sighted her; chased her for two hours; and captured her and her crew at position 44°N27°W / 44°N 27°W / 44; -27.[20]
Gedania's codebooks were thrown overboard before the British captured her,[15] and her crew detonated scuttling charges that were meant to sink her, but she remained afloat. A boarding party found some of her cryptographic material that had not been destroyed, and soon repaired her enough for her to proceed under her own steam. A prize crew from Marsdale then sailed her to Greenock in Scotland,[21] where she arrived on 12 June.[11]
The UK Naval Intelligence Division surmised that Gedania's mission was to supply a group of submarines referred to as the "Southern U-boats", and also German surface craft. She was then to have taken over from the supply ship Egerland which had been on station in the central Atlantic. Some of her crew speculated that her mission included supplying the battleship Bismarck and cruiser Prinz Eugen, both of which had armament that included 105mm guns.[20]
Empire Garden
The Ministry of War Transport (MoWT) took ownership of Gedania, renamed her Empire Garden, and registered her in London. Her UK official number was 168211, and her call sign was BFXQ. The MoWT appointed Gow, Harrison & Co of Glasgow to manage her.[22][23] For her years in UK government ownership, her annual entries in Lloyd's Register did not include a gyrocompass. The Germans may have failed to fitted the Anschütz device that they had planned to install, or the British may have removed it.[4][23]
In 1946, Empire Garden was damaged by fire in Singapore. She was released from Royal Navy service in March 1947. She took six months to return from Hong Kong to the UK, with stops for repairs in Singapore, Colombo, and Karachi for repairs; and in Abadan, Iran to load a cargo of oil.[24][25]
Southern Garden
While Empire Garden was en route to the UK, the South Georgia Company, a subsidiary of Christian Salvesen, bought her from the Ministry of Transport. She was converted into a supply ship for the company's Southern Oceanwhaling operation, based in Leith Harbour, South Georgia.[11][26] The accommodation added in 1941 for prisoners of war was upgraded to accommodate crews for whalers, and other employees.[27] The refit increased her tonnages to 10,263GRT and 6,763NRT. Radar was added to her navigating equipment. She was renamed Southern Garden; registered at Leith; and her call sign was changed to MASF.[4]
During the refit, the ship caught fire. When she left Liverpool in May 1948, she developed engine trouble, and returned for repairs at Birkenhead, where another fire broke out.[24] She had further engine trouble returning from South Georgia; had to be helped back to the UK; and went to South Shields for more repairs.[11][28] By 1957, her navigating equipment included a gyrocompass.[29]
Tango Maru (丹後丸) was a cargo motor ship that was built in Germany in 1926 and sunk off the coast of Bali in 1944. She was launched as Rendsburg for the Deutsch-Australische Dampfschiffs-Gesellschaft (DADG), which in 1926 merged with Hamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft (HAPAG).
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SS Empire Energy was a cargo steamship. She was built in Germany in 1923 as Grete for small German tramp shipping company. In 1934 the Italian shipping magnate Achille Lauro bought her and renamed her Gabbiano.
SS Hertford was a refrigerated cargo steamship that was launched in Germany in 1917, seized by the United Kingdom in 1920 as World War I reparations, and sunk by a U-boat in 1942 with the loss of four members of her crew.
HMS Agamemnon was originally the Blue Funnel Line refrigerated cargo ship Agamemnon. She was built in 1929, traded between the United Kingdom and the Far East, and was scrapped in 1963. During the Second World War she was converted into an auxiliary minelayer in 1940, and then into an amenities ship in 1943.
HMS Menestheus was originally the Blue Funnel Line refrigerated cargo ship Menestheus. She was built in 1929, and traded between the UK and the Far East. She was an auxiliary minelayer from 1940 to 1943. In 1945, during the Second World War, she was converted into an amenities ship. She was scrapped in 1953 after being gutted by fire.
SS Rio Tercero was a cargo steamship that was launched in England in 1912 as Eboe. She was renamed Fortunstella in 1938, and Rio Tercero in 1941. A U-boat sank her in the Battle of the Atlantic in 1942.
Tiger Hill was a Greek-owned steamship that was launched in Scotland in 1887 as Thrace. In 1910 she was renamed Thraki, and from 1916 to 1939 she underwent several changes of owner and name.
SS Antonios Chandris was a cargo steamship. She was built in Japan in 1918 as Easterling, and renamed Antonios Chandris when she changed owners in 1937. A German merchant raider sank her in the Atlantic Ocean in 1940. 32 of her crew survived a month in two lifeboats before being rescued.
SS Mari Chandris was a cargo steamship. She was built in Japan in 1918 as Seifuku Maru No. 20, and bought that year by the United States Shipping Board (USSB), who renamed her Easterner. From November 1918 to May 1919 she spent six months in the United States Navy as USS Easterner (ID–3331), carrying cargo between the East Coast of the United States and France.
↑ "Whalers are rolling in the barrels". Shields Evening News. No.28001. North Shields. 18 January 1949. p.4. Retrieved 23 December 2019– via The British Newspaper Archive.
Lloyd's Register of Shipping(PDF). Vol.II.–Steamers and Motorships of 300 tons gross and over. London: Lloyd's Register of Shipping. 1931 – via Southampton City Council.
Lloyd's Register of Shipping(PDF). Vol.II.–Steamers and Motorships of 300 tons gross and over. London: Lloyd's Register of Shipping. 1932 – via Southampton City Council.
Lloyd's Register of Shipping(PDF). Vol.II.–Steamers and Motorships of 300 tons gross and over. London: Lloyd's Register of Shipping. 1933 – via Southampton City Council.
Lloyd's Register of Shipping(PDF). Vol.II.–Steamers and Motorships of 300 tons gross and over. London: Lloyd's Register of Shipping. 1934 – via Southampton City Council.
Lloyd's Register of Shipping(PDF). Vol.II.–Steamers and Motorships of 300 tons gross and over. London: Lloyd's Register of Shipping. 1937 – via Southampton City Council.
Lloyd's Register of Shipping(PDF). Vol.II.–Steamers and Motorships of 300 tons gross and over. London: Lloyd's Register of Shipping. 1945 – via Southampton City Council.
Karlsch, Rainer; Stokes, Raymond G (2003). Faktor Öl: die Mineralölwirtschaft in Deutschland 1859–1974 (in German). Munich: C. H. Beck. ISBN978-3-406-50276-7.
Mitchell, WH; Sawyer, AS (1990). The Empire ships: a Record of British-built and acquired Merchant Ships during the Second World War (2nded.). London: Lloyd's of London Press. ISBN1-85044-275-4.
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