SS Kanguroo

Last updated
KangurooPlan&Elevation.tiff
Plan and elevation drawings of Kanguroo
History
Flag of France.svgFrance
Name:Kanguroo
Namesake: Kangaroo
Owner: Schneider et Cie
Builder: Forges et Chantiers de la Gironde, Bordeaux
Launched: 12 April 1912
Maiden voyage: 1912
Fate: Requisitioned by the French Navy, 1914
Civil and Naval Ensign of France.svgFrance
Acquired: Requisitioned, 1914
Fate: Sunk by U-38, 3 December 1916
General characteristics
Type: Heavy-lift ship
Tonnage: 2,493  gross register tons (GRT)
Displacement: 5,630 t (5,540 long tons)
Length: 93 m (305 ft 1 in)
Beam: 12 m (39 ft 4 in)
Draft: 5.95 m (19 ft 6 in)
Installed power: 850  PS (630 kW)
Propulsion:
Speed: 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Capacity: 3,830 t (3,770 long tons)
Crew: 22

SS Kanguroo was a French heavy-lift ship built to transport submarines before World War I. She delivered submarines to Brazil and Peru before the war began. Requisitioned in 1914 by the French Navy, she was torpedoed by a German submarine in late 1916 and sunk at Funchal, Madeira.

Heavy-lift ship ship type

A heavy-lift ship is a vessel designed to move very large loads that cannot be handled by normal ships. They are of two types:

Submarine Watercraft capable of independent operation underwater

A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term most commonly refers to a large, crewed vessel. It is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely operated vehicles and robots, as well as medium-sized or smaller vessels, such as the midget submarine and the wet sub. The noun submarine evolved as a shortened form of submarine boat; by naval tradition, submarines are usually referred to as "boats" rather than as "ships", regardless of their size.

French Navy Maritime arm of the French Armed Forces

The French Navy, informally "La Royale", is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces. Dating back to 1624, the French Navy is one of the world's oldest naval forces. It has participated in conflicts around the globe and played a key part in establishing the French colonial empire.

Contents

Background and description

Kanguroo was a ship built to transport submarines for the shipbuilder Schneider et Cie. The company's submarines were too small and their endurance too limited to cross the oceans on their own. Schneider deemed towing them too risky so the company commissioned a purpose-built ship to deliver them safely to their destination. She was 93 meters (305 ft 1 in) long with a beam of 12 meters (39 ft 4 in) and a draft of 5.95 meters (19 ft 6 in). [1] The 2,493- gross register ton (GRT) ship [2] displaced 5,630 metric tons (5,540 long tons) and could carry out-sized cargo up to 3,830 metric tons (3,770 long tons) in weight. Kanguroo was powered by a 850- metric-horsepower (630 kW) triple-expansion steam engine driving a single shaft that gave her a speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph). [1] She had a crew of four officers and eighteen enlisted crewmen. [3]

Beam (nautical) width of a ship at its widest point measured at its nominal waterline

The beam of a ship is its width at the widest point as measured at the ship's nominal waterline. The beam is a bearing projected at right-angles from the fore and aft line, outwards from the widest part of ship. Beam may also be used to define the maximum width of a ship's hull, or maximum width including superstructure overhangs.

Gross register tonnage or gross registered tonnage, is a ship's total internal volume expressed in "register tons", each of which is equal to 100 cubic feet (2.83 m3). Gross register tonnage uses the total permanently enclosed capacity of the vessel as its basis for volume. Typically this is used for dockage fees, canal transit fees, and similar purposes where it is appropriate to charge based on the size of the entire vessel.

Displacement (ship) ships weight

The displacement or displacement tonnage of a ship is its weight based on the amount of water its hull displaces at varying loads. It is measured indirectly using Archimedes' principle by first calculating the volume of water displaced by the ship then converting that value into weight displaced. Traditionally, various measurement rules have been in use, giving various measures in long tons. Today, metric tonnes are more used.

Bow of the Kanguroo with the plating removed KangurooBow.tiff
Bow of the Kanguroo with the plating removed

The ship was essentially a self-propelled floating dry dock with three main sections. The stern contained the engine, bridge, crew accommodations, workshops, pumps, electric generators and storage facilities for the submarine's torpedoes. The submarine's batteries were kept charged during the voyage by the current from the generators. The middle section consisted of a 58-meter (190 ft 3 in) double-hulled well deck with ballast tanks between its inner walls and the outer hull. The well deck had a capacity of 3,300 cubic meters (120,000 cu ft) and was closed off by a pair of water-tight doors at its forward end. The outer plating and structural members of Kanguroo's bow were designed to be partially dismantled to give access to the short tunnel through the bow to the well deck. [4] Additional ballast tanks were positioned below and on each side of the tunnel to raise and lower the bow. [4]

Bridge (nautical) room or platform from which a ship can be commanded

The bridge of a ship is the room or platform from which the ship can be commanded. When a ship is under way, the bridge is manned by an officer of the watch aided usually by an able seaman acting as lookout. During critical maneuvers the captain will be on the bridge, often supported by an officer of the watch, an able seaman on the wheel and sometimes a pilot, if required.

Electric generator device that converts other energy to electrical energy

In electricity generation, a generator is a device that converts motive power into electrical power for use in an external circuit. Sources of mechanical energy include steam turbines, gas turbines, water turbines, internal combustion engines and even hand cranks. The first electromagnetic generator, the Faraday disk, was invented in 1831 by British scientist Michael Faraday. Generators provide nearly all of the power for electric power grids.

Well deck

In traditional nautical use, well decks were decks lower than decks fore and aft, usually at the main deck level, so that breaks appear in the main deck profile, as opposed to a flush deck profile. The term goes back to the days of sail. Late-20th-century commercial and military amphibious ships have applied the term to an entirely different type of hangar-like structure, evolving from exaggerated deep "well decks" of World War II amphibious vessels, that can be flooded for lighters or landing craft.

Loading a submarine was a lengthy process that took weeks. The first step was to pump the forward ballast tanks empty which elevated the bow out of the water. Once it was dismantled, the ballast tanks were then filled to lower the bow and flood the well deck to allow the submarine to be winched aboard. The well deck's water-tight doors were then closed and the water in the dock was pumped overboard while the submarine settled onto its wooden bilge blocks. The bow was then reassembled and hatch covers were installed over the well deck. These prevented the ship from taking on water during a storm and allowed the crew to perform any necessary maintenance on the submarine while under way. [5]

Construction and service

The Peruvian submarine Ferre being loaded aboard Kanguroo FerreLoading.tiff
The Peruvian submarine Ferre being loaded aboard Kanguroo

Kanguroo was launched by Forges et Chantiers de la Gironde on 12 April 1912 at their shipyard in Bordeaux. [6] She loaded the Peruvian submarine Ferre on 28 June at Saint-Mandrier-sur-Mer, but did not depart for Callao until 30 July. She arrived in Peru on 19 October, after stops in São Vicente, Cape Verde, Buenos Aires, and Montevideo, but could not unload the submarine until 29 October. The ship delivered Ferre's sister ship Palacios in 1913 and the Brazilian submarine F1 the following year. [7]

Forges et Chantiers de la Gironde organization

Forges et Chantiers de la Gironde was a French shipbuilder at Lormont near Bordeaux on the Gironde estuary. The company was previously called Usine de construction navale Chaigneau et Bichon, then Chantiers et Ateliers de la Gironde S.A. Ets Schneider, before becoming Forges et Chantiers de la Gironde. It is today the Construction Navale de Bordeaux (CNB).

Bordeaux Prefecture and commune in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France

Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne in the Gironde department in Southwestern France.

Saint-Mandrier-sur-Mer Commune in Provence-Alpes-Côte dAzur, France

Saint-Mandrier-sur-Mer is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France.

Kanguroo (foreground) sinking, 3 December 1916 Wreck of the Dacia and of the Kanguroo.jpg
Kanguroo (foreground) sinking, 3 December 1916

After the start of World War I in August 1914, the French Navy requisitioned the Kanguroo. She was torpedoed and sank at the Port of Funchal, Madeira on 3 December 1916, together with the French gunboat Surprise and the elderly British 1,856- gross register ton (GRT) cable layer SS Dacia, by the German submarine U-38. [7] A total of thirty-three foreign crewmen and eight Portuguese nationals died during the attack. A monument with a sculpture by Francisco Franco de Sousa was raised in 1917 to commemorate the incident. [8]

Port of Funchal

The Port of Funchal is the port and harbour of Funchal and is frequently used as a stop-over by transatlantic ships, en route from Europe to the Caribbean, as it is the northern most Atlantic island that lies in the path of the Westerlies.

Madeira Autonomous Region of Portugal in the archipelago of Madeira

Madeira, officially the Autonomous Region of Madeira, is one of the two autonomous regions of Portugal. It is an archipelago situated in the north Atlantic Ocean, southwest of Portugal. Its total population was estimated in 2011 at 267,785. The capital of Madeira is Funchal, which is located on the main island's south coast.

Cable layer ship type

A cable layer or cable ship is a deep-sea vessel designed and used to lay underwater cables for telecommunications, electric power transmission, or other purposes. Cable ships are distinguished by large cable sheaves for guiding cable over bow or stern or both. Bow sheaves, some very large, were characteristic of all cable ships in the past, but newer ships are tending toward having stern sheaves only, as seen in the photo of CS Cable Innovator at the Port of Astoria on this page. The names of cable ships are often preceded by "C.S." as in CS Long Lines.

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References

  1. 1 2 Croce, p. 199
  2. ↑ Couhat, p. 247
  3. ↑ Garier, p. 231
  4. 1 2 Croce, pp. 199–200
  5. ↑ Croce, p. 200
  6. ↑ Garier, p. 233
  7. 1 2 Croce, p. 202
  8. ↑ Van der Krogt, René & Peter (2014). "Monumento às Vítimas da Guerra". STATUES - HITHER & THITHER. Retrieved 7 May 2014.

Bibliography

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